If you're looking across the Pacific Ocean for a trip in 2024, your timing is impeccable.
Flights to Asia from the U.S. are long, but they don't have to be expensive if you know where to look. Travel to Asia is as affordable as ever – and that's doubly so if you have some points and miles.
From Tokyo to Thailand, our Thrifty Traveler Premium team of flight deal analysts keeps finding tons of great fares to visit some of the best destinations on the continent. And our subscribers have their pick of whether to spend their money or their credit card points or airline miles to get there.
Let's take a look around the continent and see what flight prices are looking like for a trip in 2024.
Cheap Flights to Japan
Japan is hot right now. Travelers in our hemisphere have been honed in on travel to Japan lately, and for good reason. It's a special place, with a long peak travel season from January to May.
With this flight deal that we sent to our subscribers, you could fly to Japan anytime from peak ski season in Hokkaido to the cherry blossom bloom in Tokyo and more through the spring.
Get deals like this in your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
It wasn't just to Tokyo either. You could get to many Japanese prefectures to see everything this country has to offer – and explore you should!
Read next: Takeaways From a Recent Trip to Tokyo
Cheap Flights to Southeast Asia
If something a little more tropical is your speed this year, we also recently dug up some fantastic fares to Southeast Asia and the countries of Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
When one airline lowers fares, they all tend to follow suit, leading to some stiff competition on routes across the Pacific and some low fares for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members to get to far-flung places locales like Cebu (CEB) in the Phillippines or Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) this year.
Those seats are a terrific value, but they're going to be in the back of the plane. Let's move up a class, shall we? Enter Premium economy.
Singapore Airlines Premium Economy is a more-than-comfortable way to get to Singapore and beyond in 2024, and this flight deal could put you in one of those seats from New York City (JFK, EWR) for $1,248 roundtrip!
Amazing Points Deals to Get to Asia, Too
What beats a cheap flight to Asia? Just one thing: A nearly free flight to Asia … using your points and miles.
You're in luck: With most of Asia open for travelers and airlines ramping up flights, we've sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members more and more deals to put their points and miles to use for a trip to Asia this year or next.
Only Thrifty Traveler Premium members get Delta SkyMiles deals and other award alerts like this!
Flying Delta partner Korean Airlines is a sneaky good way to reap maximum value from your Delta miles. With quick connections in Seoul (ICN), you can make a Southeast Asia trip happen starting at just 68,000 Delta SkyMiles roundtrip!
Another sweet way to use your SkyMiles? Flying Delta's brand new route to Taipei, Taiwan (TPE). When airlines launch brand new routes, they'll often put those routes on super sale to sell all those empty seats. These nonstop flights to TPE came at near-record lows for our members with SkyMiles in their accounts.
Finally, there's a single cheapest way to use points and miles to get to South Korea, and that's using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. For Korean Air flights, the cheapest way to book them is through Virgin.
We love this deal because you can transfer points from Chase, Capital One, or American Express (among others) to Virgin Atlantic, so you might have these points sitting around and not even know it!
These nonstop flights come at some outstanding rates for a flight this year.
Stellar Business Class Award Deals to Asia!
Again and again, we've found great award space – flights you can actually book with your points and miles – to help our Thrifty Traveler Premium members get to Asia next year flying amazing business class seats. Nothing beats a great meal and a full night's sleep on a 12-hour long flight.
We'll start again in Japan, where one trend is very clear: If you want to book Japan Airlines (JAL) business class seats to Tokyo, you'd better start earning some American Airlines miles. We've found wide-open opportunities to fly Japan Airlines business class to Tokyo over the last several months always for at least two passengers – or more!
Want to fly business class? Get the next award alert we send with Thrifty Traveler Premium+!
That's right: Just 60,000 American Airlines miles and $5.60 in taxes and fees for a lie-flat business class trip to Japan. It might be the best way to get to Tokyo.
If you don't have the points to make it happen, there's another super-affordable way to fly lie-flat to Japan: ZIPAIR Business Class.
ZIPAIR is as bare bones as it gets: No meals, no amenities, no nothing. Just a lie-flat seat across the Pacific. Stripping away those amenities gets you value like these $1,925 roundtrip business class fares, though.
Read our ZIPAIR Business Class Review!
Delta One Suites are not stripped down or bare bones…not even close. These swanky suites are some of the best lie-flat offerings in the sky right now but are notoriously hard to book using points and miles. That is, until last month when nearly all Delta One routes went on sale using Air France/KLM FlyingBlue miles.
The result was availability on all of these amazing routes across the Pacific, most of which were into Tokyo (HND) or Seoul (ICN.)
Finally, Singapore Airlines, the best airline in the world, also has a beautiful business class crisscrossing the Pacific every day. And when you book with Singapore Airlines themselves, you get the best chance at snagging one of these seats. Plus, you can transfer points to Singapore from Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi.
While the availability was a little less when booking through partner Air Canada, you could possibly book these seats with Air Canada Aeroplan miles, too. This availability for nonstop flights to Singapore was as good as it gets!
Let's go one step further at look at first class like this first class ride to Hong Kong (HKG). And Cathay Pacific first class doesn't mess around: This is one of the most luxurious ways to fly to Asia. Soon after relaunching first class flights to the U.S., Cathay opened up some award space for savvy travelers to book a bucket list flight.
These flights were bookable using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, which can be transferred from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, or Citi.
There's comfort, and then there's the full-service, never-see-the-bottom-of-your-glass service of first class. See for yourself!
Read next: 6 of the Best First Class Flights You Can Book with Miles
There's a comfortable seat out there for you if you want a stylish ride to Asia this year or next. Subscribe to Thrifty Traveler Premium so you don't miss out on the next bucket-list points and miles deal.
Bottom Line
Asia is firmly back on travelers' wish lists for 2024, and a slew of amazing flight deals have arrived just in time to take you there.
If you have had an Asia trip on your bucket list and have held off for the last few years, it's time to start planning because the flight deals are plentiful. Whether you want points and miles business class deals or a cheap cash fare, there's been a little something for everyone lately.
Please tell me more on this deal to Manila – I would love to get this price as my son and wife live there and are having their first baby and I want to go visit – please help?
Speaking of flight deal guru Jon, he’s still raving about the Philippines after returning from his honeymoon in February. Days after his return, we dug up this deal to Manila (MNL) with fares roughly 30 to 40% off the usual prices.
Phillippines flight deal