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You read this right folks, American will commence flights to Tokyo’s Haneda airport beginning February 11, 2016. You can book these flights starting on November 8th.
Why does this matter?
Well, if you’ve been to Tokyo then you already know. Haneda is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay (breath) waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay closer. We’re talking the difference of a 20-30 minute taxi ride vs a minimum 90 mins and with traffic…take an Ambien cause you’re gonna be in that cab for a while.
Miles and I had the opportunity to visit Tokyo in the Around the World trip this summer and flew into Haneda and out of Narita. Boy, did we miss Haneda when we were just half way to Narita and you could hear the money being sucked from our wallets. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton on points, so I used this as the destination for both airports.
How did this happen?
Well, Delta has been squatting on some Haneda gate space for quite some time. American carriers only have 4 gate spaces at Haneda and Delta wasn’t utilizing all the space to it’s fullest capacity. American, therefore, has been battling in court to force Delta to open up that space so that they could service more people. See…Delta could squat and force other carriers to Narita – which is a trip in and of itself to Tokyo, but now, with American’s new 787 Dreamliner and new business/first class on the 777 AA was keen on putting butts in seats and getting them to Tokyo. American ultimately won back in March, and now they are starting service. Delta had lobbied an unsuccessful reversal bid with the courts because American hadn’t started utilizing the route they had fought for within 60 days, so it’s no surprise that American makes this announcement which basically settles the case.
Delta also relinquished it’s exclusivity on the Seattle route which was mandated to run daily to maintain exclusivity. They couldn’t turn a profit and now American will start flights out of Seattle as well. These are great verdicts for the consumer. With the recent news that Delta forfeiting it’s Atlanta to Dubai route, and Emirates possibly swooping in to grab it up, it’s another blow move that will endow the consumer with more options, competition, and ultimately better prices.
What will the product be?
The 787-800 ( the shorter of the two 787 models currently in production) is a brand new aircraft for AA. It’s fuselage is made of composite materials allowing for lower altitude cabin pressure, higher humidity, and bigger windows. Composite materials allow for a sturdier frame with less expansion do to altitude which allows for a longer life and better in cabin experience for passengers.
AA 787 is a “3” cabin plane with Business, Main Cabin Extra, and Main Cabin Economy. All the seats have a great IFE system built in, and as someone who has flown on a Dreamliner, I can attest that they are in fact outstanding planes for passengers. As I mentioned before, they are pressurized to a lower altitude ( which helps with jetlag because your brain gets more oxygen), have increased window size for better light, and also have higher cabin humidity ( because the materials around the windows are composite which tolerate higher humidity levels without corroding side effects.
Keep an eye on the award availability for this route. Often times when a new route is introduced the algos for seat avail will mistakenly create a plethora of availability that ordinarily wouldn’t be there. When every seat on a given route is avail, the computers may think they need to entice customers…so a deal may be had come November 8th when the seats become avail.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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