American Airlines has FINALLY announced service to Tokyo Haneda which will commence service between Los Angeles and Haneda on February 11, 2016, nearly four and half months after Delta relinquished it slot on October 1, 2015. Tickets go on sale on November 8, 2015 for service and the new service will be operated by a Boeing 787-800 aircraft, an aircraft that is much smaller than the 777-200LR AA promised during their DOT petition.
LAX-HND
AA27
Departs LAX at 6 p.m.
Arrives at HND at 11 p.m. the following day
HND-LAX
AA26
Departs HND at 1:30 a.m.
Arrives at LAX at 6:20 p.m.
The new flight is timed very similarly to Delta’s A330 flight that leaves about an hour earlier, and is hours earlier than ANA’s flight that leaves after midnight to provide for better onward connects. However, due to operating restriction at Haneda, landing in the early morning at HND is not an option for US carriers.
The new flight will not offer many onward connections at Haneda, and will instead focus on Origin/Destin (O/D) traffic as most onward connections past HND will require an overnight stay or an extended layover of 6 hours or more. Minimum connection time for international flights at HND is 1 hour and American’s 11pm arrival will allow for onward connections on partner JAL to Bangkok and Singapore which departs at 0005, Doha on Qatar at 0015, Hong Kong with Dragon Air at 0130, or JAL to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) at 0130. The return flight is time perfectly for hundreds of onward connections from Domestic Japan flights and most partner flights from Southeast and East Asia.
Both Revenue and award bookings for this new fight should be available as of Saturday. Be on the lookout for hard to find business class space on American’s newest jet! All American Airlines award space is available to search via AA.com.
