L.A. To Tokyo Airfare Check For December

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios. The King of the Monsters will be making a new movie
 there in 2015. It will be the first Toho Godzilla production in 12 years. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As promised, I am now reporting on the state of airfares between Los Angeles and Tokyo as reported by the Los Angeles Times for December.

In my report of December 1, the airfares between L.A. and Tokyo were between $1,186 and $1,710 as reported in the Times Travel section dated November 30. These fares are before any taxes or fees are added in.

In their first report for December, the Times Travel section finds the airfares are unchanged. They are still at $1,186 on the low end and $1,710 on the high end. Again, these are before any taxes or fees are added in.

I then checked with my favorite source for airline tickets, GatewayLAX, and they came up with the following non-stop airfare between Los Angeles and Tokyo:

The above shows non-stop, direct flights between Los Angeles and Narita International and back. This was the lowest fare GatewayLAX came up with for non-stop direct flights. Initially, when looking at it, I was wondering why the price is so high. Then I remembered that the flights are just before the Christmas and New Year's holidays. This is a peak period for air travel. This is especially true as New Year's Day is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, holidays in Japan.

One would be surprised at some of the non-direct flights that came up. For example, one had the flight depart Los Angeles and fly to Chicago's O'Hare Airport and, after that, then depart for Narita.

This is one time where the Los Angeles Times Travel section came up with lower fares than did GatewayLAX. We'll have to see how both compare once the holiday season is over.