My BOE told us that we have to have flights under $2,000 (USD).
My problem is, the only flights I’m finding under that price are like 37+ hours long!
ZipAir seems like the only option so far, but unless you live in LA, you have to get *another* flight to your home airport, and I’m not sure that’s even allowed…
15 comments
I would talk to your BOE— my school asked me to find the cheapest flight available (they didn’t give a budget), but when I showed them that the cheapest flight gave me a 24 hour layover and said that I’d prefer to not have to do that (and also it was on multiple airlines so I’d have to gather my luggage and switch it at the airport) they agreed to pay for a more expensive flight that was more direct.
Though I am kind of surprised that it’s hard to find flights to the US under $2000 one way. I think my *round trip* flight (when visiting family) was less than that to Florida.
Idk how much flights cost now, but in 2019 I booked roundtrip flights from Toronto to Tokyo and back, $1000ish CAD total for just me, about 13 hours each way. Left end of June, came back 2 weeks later. I chose those dates because they were the absolute cheapest flights all summer. It might be a matter of fiddling with dates and airports? Idk
Flight costs have gone insane as a result of
1. Japanese yen rapidly loosing value relative to the dollar
2. The war in Ukraine driving up global fuel costs
3. Japan’s locked borders have resulted in airline companies reducing the number of flights to Japan
In 2019 I was able to fly from a small regional airport in Japan to Houston round trip for about $1,500. Now that same regional airport to Atlanta round trip is $2,500-$3,000 at the cheapest.
I would recommend talking to your BOE, explaining the situation, and why the current situation is different from past years
My school just asked me for the dates I want to leave 🤷♂️
200$ standby, leave whenever is my plan.
Boe doesn’t care about 37 hours journey time, that’s your problem not theirs lol. My BOE is giving us cash equivalent to the absolute cheapest flight which is plus 30 hours and 2 stopovers with only 20kg baggage allowance
I’m at a private school and my supervisor said she doesn’t know what the deal is and to get in touch with my pred from 2 years ago. But it looks like I won’t have to book through a travel agent from the looks of it. All the public ALTS need to do what you’re doing and go through a travel agent.
​
I’ve got a preferred airline I want to go with and luckily since I’m not going anywhere over Europe its not too bad.
I think considering the current circumstances (crappy yen, a war, shut borders) your BoE is going to have to raise their budget for flying you home.
Maybe show them some prices and they’ll see the situation.
You can bring the price down if you book the layovers separately and line them up to give you enough transfer time. But you’ll have to collect your luggage and check them in again which is annoying. I was looking at similar to be able to fly home to visit.
Where have you been searching for flights? Recently I’ve been looking for flights to visit family back in the US (in Florida) and have been using google flights. I have been seeing flights round trip for around $2,300. Which, as you said is over $2,000, but that’s is a multiple trip flight, with several cities over a three week period. Also at most i had a 6 hour layover between flights from my current prefecture to Tokyo.
Try fiddling with dates, like arriving or leaving on Wednesday’s (usually a cheaper day to fly) checking a couple of airports in the area. Again I cant promise that google will give you the absolute best ticket but usually I have found that it gives me fairly reasonable prices.
I have heard that you should clear your cookies as the more you search for a flight on a website the more they start to charge you. Also I was speaking to people and reading on some websites that Japan starting in June will begin almost doubling their taxes for jet fuel. Then again they have planned price hikes come August. Definitely try to get a ticket as soon as possible.
I just reread your original post and saw that you also might be restricted to having a single flight? Does the BOE really mean a single flight or do they mean a single booking? If they actually mean a non-stop direct flight that is just crazy! Unless you live near a major international airport you’re absolutely right there is no way you can find a ticket for that kind of price and to some places in the US you probably cant even find a direct flight.
Where do you live? I always found that many flights from the US fly over Russian airspace. That’s probably why the flights are so long. The price is due to current global economic conditions. There isn’t anything you can do but accept that long flight or convince your BOE to change their mind, which might be impossible lol.
Yes. Prices are high due to lack of flights caused by the pandemic
Direct one way coach was like like $1000 USD four years ago.
Did you ask your B.O.E about flights home? Did they send an email? Did someone approach you?🥲
Mine is 240,000yen which is now about $1800 USD. Luckily my BoE favored a non-stop flight over a cheaper flight
The BoE is obligated to find the most direct route. Maybe talk to your advisors about it and see if they can help.