To those of you who have travelled to Japan, is a layover in LA always a much cheaper option from DFW?



I'm looking into Japan for next year and was surprised at the cost of airfare from DFW. I'm looking at pricing for May 2024 in anticipation of going in May 2025. It's roughly $3,000 pp on JAL economy for non-stop to Tokyo. I'm used to paying about $1,000-$1,800 pp on AA non-stop to Europe in May. Yes, I understand the flight is a little longer.

I'm curious. Do most recommend flying to LAX first rather than non-stop? Is this the common thing to do? For the same May 2024 dates it looks like I can fly to LAX for $400 and then to Tokyo on JAL for $1,300.

What months were you looking at in 2024? $3000 seems really high. I go to Asia 4 to 6 times a year and I typically will fly to SFO after work on Southwest, then catch the 00:50 flight on EVA to wherever I am going. It is about $300 to SFO then $1100 or so to wherever I am going(BKK, MNL, etc). I would check on something like that. SFO is pretty easy on the return and not as crowded as LAX. Or look at flying out of Seattle. Just something to think about.

I was searching the last week of May 2024 on JAL.

I'll look into the other west coast airports. I was just looking at JAL because I've read very good reviews. They seemed to be little cheaper out of LAX. We've had good luck with our AA flights to Europe but I thought since JAL flies non-stop to Tokyo it would be a new experience.

That seems crazy. I fly to SE Asia frequently and typically pay between $1,000 and $1,500 on Singapore Airlines or Eva. $3,000 to Japan seems really high.

I agree. Which is why I decided to ask this forum.
To make sure I'm not crazy I just searched google flights...

Dallas to Tokyo, Non-Stop, Economy, 5/24 - 6/2
American Airlines: $2,935
Japan Airlines: $2,985

Normally we book our May/June itineraries in January. But I'm still surprised.

Delta is showing $2,156 with a stop in HND.

I would look at flying to SFO or LAX then fly out from there, kinda like I described above. See if there is a flight right after work on the 23rd, then catch a flight a few hours after you land. Lots of options from the west coast and I bet this ends up being cheaper.

Japan is, pardon the tired phrase, so hot right now. I'm not sure I've ever seen more interest in Japan from the traveling world than right now.

Airlines are able to charge a premium for nonstops so by all means search for connecting flights, they'll likely be cheaper.

Following this thread.

Wife and I are looking to go to Japan last week of May out of Houston.

In the past, I've flown from Irvine to Narita via San Jose on American because it was ridiculously cheap ($730 RT).

In Feb 2020, I took a nonstop flight from Houston to Narita on ANA that was very enjoyable and the strangest thing was that the sun never set. We left IAH on a Tuesday morning, arrived NRT on a Wednesday afternoon.

With more carriers flying nonstop between LAX and Tokyo (NRT or HND), it makes sense that LAX would have cheaper flights than the nonstop from DFW for instance.