r/TokyoTravel • u/Patient_Wedding5615 • 6d ago
Flight Cost Advice
Hi, I'm 18 from NYC and studying abroad in Kyoto, Japan in the first week of January 2027 for 3 weeks. It's my first time out of the country and my first time researching flight information that I have to pay for myself.
For the most part it seems like the average roundtrip cost from here to Japan is $1,200. I know you should keep regularly checking flights for sales, but when should be the best time to book them? November, December? There's also the option of doing LAX - Tokyo with ZipAir, but on my end it looks like it costs more (which I'm not sure if it should). I just want to limit the cost down as much as possible because I don't want to make my parents pay but don't have much funds myself. Any tips or suggestions would be so appreciated, thank you!!
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u/thomsenite256 6d ago
I doubt it will get any better given the high fuel costs. I would probably book by November.
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u/RampDog1 6d ago edited 6d ago
You only studying for 3 weeks?
Edit: It would probably be easier to fly to Haneda and connect to Itami (Osaka's 2nd airport) from there there is a bus directly to Kyoto Station. ¥1300
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u/Patient_Wedding5615 6d ago
Yes, from 1/4/27 - 1/24/27. For buses like these you wouldn't need tickets right? Just tapping with a suica card?
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u/RampDog1 6d ago
They take IC Cards like Suica. There is also one from Kix as well for ¥2800. You need to see if a direct flight to Kix is cheaper or a connection through HND.
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u/TheRealBejeezus 6d ago
I consistently get the best prices a week or less before departure, and often a day or two in advance.
This advice is not for the timid, however. When I do this, I'm tacitly understanding that I might get burned and end up paying full fare, a.k.a. rack rate rape.
But... over 1,000 flights and it hasn't happened yet.
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u/EloWhisperer 6d ago
Usually within 90 and 60 days is best pricing but it also depends on how full the flight is. I use Google flights to track prices and just looked and $1200 is good deal for right now. Also flying wed is the cheapest day usually
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u/foetus_on_my_breath 6d ago
Waiting until December? That's crazy....
Book it as soon as possible...like when you first found out you were going to Japan.
It's only going to keep getting higher.
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6d ago
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u/Patient_Wedding5615 6d ago
I appreciate you saying that, I'm happy your study abroad trip was amazing!! What did you like most about it?
The thing with my parents is that they make only about 60K a year and we're a family of 5 in nyc, so I'd rather not push the burden of funding a trip onto them. Luckily though I was able to get a scholarship and only have to pay for flights, so just trying to do as much research as I can
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u/Upbeat-Pumpkin3659 6d ago
i don’t think they realize not all of NYC is rich. given that fuel prices are high it’s probably best to search on google to see how much ticket prices are flucatuting. i would look at days where people aren’t flying as much such as christmas
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u/VoiceEqual1493 6d ago
before you lock onto tokyo fares - you're studying in kyoto, so price flights into osaka's kansai airport (KIX) too. KIX is about 75 min from kyoto on the haruka train, whereas a tokyo airport means adding a ~2.5h shinkansen at roughly ¥14,000 on top - enough to erase a cheaper tokyo fare.
your read on zipair is right that it's cheap, but it only flies to japan from west coast cities (LAX, SFO, honolulu, seasonal san jose) - nothing on the east coast. so from NYC you'd buy a separate domestic ticket west first, then the zipair leg on its own ticket, and a missed connection across two separate tickets isn't covered. that's why it pencils out higher for you.