If you have ever wanted to visit Japan, it is quite likely that you have dreamed of traveling to many of Japan’s legendary destinations, such as the ancient imperial city of Kyoto, Mount Fuji, or the snowy slopes of the northern island of Hokkaido.

Nonetheless, the nation’s principal international gateways have always been Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) and Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT), both of which are located within the capital city.

Traveling to Japan, therefore, can be rather inconvenient for those looking to journey beyond the capital, as an additional connecting flight or train ticket must be booked to move beyond Tokyo’s city limits, barring one choosing to rent a car and drive.

This was until now, however, when Japan Airlines
recently introduced its latest connecting flight program, which allows passengers from a selection of foreign countries to book free connecting flights within the nation free of charge.

This program allows one to fully pay (or reserve with miles) for a ticket from any of a handful of foreign countries to Tokyo, and then Japan Airlines will cover the cost of your second flight to a destination within Japan.

Using this promotion, travelers can no longer face the financial burden of having to pay for an additional ticket, just to get to one of Japan’s famous tourist destinations that may just happen to lie outside of Tokyo.

Furthermore, this program also allows one to capitalize on stopover opportunities, if one were interested in stopping for a multi-day visit to Tokyo before heading on to another destination.

If one were looking for a quick, two-day trip to Tokyo to visit the city and see its major sites before heading on to, say, Fukuoka for a conference or a reunion with family friends, Japan Airlines has you covered. Let’s take a deeper look at this stopover and free connection program and everything it has to offer.

It is important to note that the objective of this new program is to encourage international travelers to visit Japan and to move beyond just the city of Tokyo.

The airline’s website is quick to note that to ensure eligibility for this program, customers need to book a Japan Airlines flight from an international destination to Tokyo and then another domestic flight on the same reservation. Separate bookings will not be eligible to receive this promotional offer.

Under this system, all domestic flights within Japan will be free to international travelers on Japan Airlines, giving them a broad array of destinations to choose from. The carrier, which is interested in promoting traffic to the city’s primary ski destinations from international travelers, offers the following as an example itinerary that would be eligible for the program:

JAL Stopover

Photo: Japan Airlines

The airline is also quick to support stopovers in Tokyo, denoting one as a connection of over 24 hours in the capital city of Tokyo. For travelers from most countries, a stopover will be completely free. However, the carrier does impose a $100 stopover surcharge on international travelers from the following four countries:

  • United States of America
  • China
  • Mexico
  • Canada

It is unclear why the carrier has chosen to single out these four nations to charge an extra stopover fee while all others are exempt from this kind of charge.

This could potentially relate to high air travel demand from these countries, and Japan Airlines may be willing to test out the theory that a $100 fee for a stopover is not all that much for an American or Canadian traveler to pay in the grand scheme of a multi-thousand-dollar vacation.

Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 departing Tokyo shutterstock_1982244668

Photo: viper-zero | Shutterstock

Program availability rollout

Japan Airlines’ new stopover and free connection program has not been fully rolled out across its international network. The full availability schedule can be seen in the table below:

Country of Origin:

Program availability date:

US, Canada, Mexico

September 10th

Thailand

September 11th

Singapore

September 18th

Australia, New Zealand

September 19th

Vietnam, Philippines

September 25th

Indonesia, India, China, Taiwan

September 27th

As one can immediately tell, the carrier’s priority when rolling out this new discount scheme is primarily North American customers, who already have access to such bookings.

Later this month, the airline will begin offering the promotion to residents of other countries across its network.

It has not yet been made clear when this opportunity will be made available to those from nations beyond those on this list that are served by Japan Airlines flights or those which are served by partner airlines.

Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900.

Photo: viper-zero | Shutterstock

The bottom line: a program with some opportunities to consider

At the end of the day, the Japan Airlines’ new connection and stopover program can be a good incentive to visit destinations in Japan outside of Tokyo. For those from the United States, the stopover fee does make it slightly less appealing to craft a multi-city itinerary. Nonetheless, there are still dozens of amazing destinations in Japan to explore via this program, including:

  • Sapporo
  • Aomori
  • Niigata
  • Hiroshima
  • Wakayama
  • Kyoto
  • Tokushima
  • Okinawa

With the winter ski season coming up, many have long considered traveling to the ski resorts on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, which are known for their bountiful snowfall and diversity of terrain.

Releasing this program in the months leading up to winter, Japan Airlines certainly had the potential of ski traffic in mind. At the end of the day, traveling to destinations across Japan has become significantly easier and more stress-free, even if the program falls short of offering free stopovers in Tokyo for travelers from the United States.

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