Quick trip for my wife after Christmas

[chadbag]

My experience yesterday looking for a cheap flight for the day after Christmas:

 

Backstory:  We found out about a week ago that my MIL has some sort of cancer, which the doctors are sorting out after a sonogram (which was the first clue),  CAT scan without contrast dyes and one with, a colonoscopy (to confirm it was colon cancer, which it seems not to be, but which was the first guess), and a bunch of exams, blood tests, etc.  She was in the hospital for all these tests and scans, and it was her first time in the hospital since my wife was born almost 53 years ago.  (Her later two daughters were born outside the hospital through a midwife etc).  She turned 78 yesterday.

 

Anyway, my MIL has to go back in a week and a half or so for some follow-ups and to plan her treatment and care (the doctors now are trying to diagnose all the results and conform their suspicions and map out a treatment plan before this new appointment).  My SILs (all nurses, as is the wife, btw) are quite concerned and after treatment starts in the new year (after the holidays), they don't know how well my MIL will respond and bear the treatment, so they thought it a good idea that my wife come over and see her mom, help her get ready for treatment, and support everyone.  My wife was able to get 10-12 days off work and I arranged the trip.

 

So to the main point:  I was able yesterday, to find 1 ticket at a reasonable price for Dec 26 -- Jan 7 from Salt Lake City to Kansai International Airport (Osaka).   Except for this one, most of the tickets were $1600-$3000 and most of those had not great connections (long layovers, etc).  The one I found was Delta, and is not a great connection (also long layovers), but was one of the better choices for long layover flights.  It was $1305 through Chase, where I had a hair over $300 in credit/points (the cheapest I found the same flight through other sources was $1298 and that may have had some extra fees to boot but I did not go look at it as it was substantially the same price as through Chase and I have the points there to help out. 

 

It goes through SFO and ICN (Korea) before landing at KIX and is about 25hours.  (Korean Air code share flight so service should not be as bad as a pure flight on an American carrier).   With stops and layovers.  Our normal time with just one stop (usually SFO or LAX) to KIX is 15-18 hours so this is about 7-10 hours longer 😞    But most all the other more expensive ones were 23 hours to 33 hours anyway at this late date.  Coming back it is pure Delta, one stop only, in Hawaii (HNL) but with a 12 ! hour layover.  At least that is long enough to leave the airport and go see something or go out to eat or something.  Return trip is 26 hours with layover.  Unfortunately it is a red-eye from Hawaii to SLC but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

 

I found this on the Chase website for my points, but I also searched on Momondo.com, my favorite place to check for prices (which showed the same flight), and I also searched a couple airline websites and Expedia.  Often Momondo shows me a range of possibilities and I then try and find the same deals through Chase etc if I have points to burn, or I try and get a better deal on the same flight through an airline's direct website, or through some other discount websites.  Momondo provides the base info.  (I also use Momondo to book as well sometimes).    I also looked at a day or two later leaving and returning.  And I looked at TYO flights as well.   I used OSA for Osaka and TYO for Tokyo as OSA covers all the airports in the Osaka area -- KIX, ITM, and Kobe and TYO is Narita and Haneda.  ITM is near my MIL's house apartment but right now she is staying with my SIL and her husband (who is a medical doctor) in Kobe.  So any of the Osaka areas airports would have been acceptable.  By looking at OSA, and not  just KIX, at this late date I might have found a reasonable flight into one of the lesser airports (usually via HND or NRT but sometimes they have good deals).  In my case I didn't but you never know.   None of the TYO flights were any cheaper once you added in a Shinkansen ride to Osaka and were deemed not worth the effort.  But by looking and being flexible, we broadened the field to find a reasonable flight at this late hour.  The flight time is less than 3 weeks from the day I was searching and close to the time of flight you always pay a lot more.  I was lucky to find the one flight I did that was significantly less expensive.

 

Last minute flights are always expensive.  Our July 2019 trip to Tokyo from SLC to Narita via LAX on Singapore with shorter overall flight times was only $948 per adult (my daughter was significantly less).   But we booked like 9 months in advance.

 

It pays to use multiple sites for searching, and to try and be flexible on target airports and target dates if possible.  I've had times where special rates or deals have only shown up on one website and the others showed the same flight at a much more expensive price.  And if you can fly to multiple destinations, TYO, OSA, Nagoya, etc. as possibilities, you may hit a special deal to one of those cities that can bring significant savings.   If you are traveling with a JR Pass anyway, a short Shinkansen ride will get you to where you wanted to be for no extra ¥ and just a little time.

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by chadbag
typos