Zipair - anyone have feedback?

[mr21]

Zipair is a budget airline and a subsidiary of Japan Airlines. Currently they only use 787 Dreamliners and operate out of Narita, Incheon, BKK, Manila, Honolulu, LAX, SFO, and San Jose (California).

https://www.zipair.net/en

• two classes of seating - standard and lay flat
• Food service is not included but food/beverages can be purchased at reasonable prices. For example about $10-$12 for hot meals, $3 for instant ramen soup, coke/water/coffee about $2
• There is no entertainment system but has free wifi for all passengers to use their own electronic devices
• Youtube reviews are overall positive - good service, comfortable seats, clean aircraft, and fair/upfront pricing for extras (seat choice, luggage, food, etc.). 
• One reviewer said he is 180 cm and was comfortable sitting in the standard seats 

So today I purchased a one-way direct flight from LAX to Narita for $356 usd; which only included a carry-on (7 kg max). I'm flying there late Oct and will give my review afterwards.

*for comparison Japanese Airlines website is showing $990 usd for the same itinerary on the same day. Probably includes checked luggage which I never do anyways. 

Anyone else have experience with Zipair?

Edited August 29, 2023 by mr21

[Luv2Phuket]

No experience - just saw a YouTube video and was intrigued. 

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts (although I am more interested in the lie flat seats).

 

[mr21]

11 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

No experience - just saw a YouTube video and was intrigued. 

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts (although I am more interested in the lie flat seats).

There weren't any lie flat seats available on my flight; however when searching I saw them priced at about $1000 usd (one-way LAX > NRT) 

[mr21]

*forgot to mention Singapore in the OP

[Luv2Phuket]

Was the $356 fare just to Tokyo or onward to Bangkok?

How good/bad is their schedule with connections?

[mr21]

10 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Was the $356 fare just to Tokyo or onward to Bangkok?

How good/bad is their schedule with connections?

Only to Tokyo because I will be staying in Japan for an unknown amount of time. Going there is on my travel "bucket list" rather than being mongering focused. 

Loose plan after that is Taiwan and then onto Philippines and Thailand but not sure which order. 

Hoping that a low-cost option, from the west coast US, will only help lowering/maintaining fares with the other carriers 

Edited August 29, 2023 by mr21

[bgtp]

Looking forward to your review. While I like the frills that come with business class, I always say that as long as I have a flat bed seat and direct aisle access , everything else is gravy. Zipair sounds like a possible option for me in the future even if I have to travel between my home in Florida and California to make it work. That sounds like a great itinerary. I spent two weeks in Japan on the way to Thailand back in May and loved it. On my upcoming Oct/Nov trip, I'm stopping in Taiwan for 10 days before Thailand.

[sadisfied]

TLDR: I'd definitely fly with them again.

A friend had flown with them a few months before and had nothing but good things to say about them, so I tried them for the first time recently. Flights were from Singapore to Tokyo Narita and back. They have only 1 flight each way on this route but the times matched what I like anyway even when flying with JAL or ANA. Both flights landed slightly earlier than scheduled.

My friend's flight to NRT was quite empty and she got to lie down and make herself comfy. A bit too comfy because she ended up forgetting her Switch on the plane, only realising it after she was a few prefectures away. But Zipair kept it for her and she collected it at NRT once she was back in Tokyo.

I flew out at the end of July and back just before their Obon week, my flights were packed. Seating is generally in a 3-3-3, except the last 2 rows being 2-3-2. I usually take seats where there's nobody behind me because I hate getting kicked every now and then, so I got the window seat on the last row of the plane on both flights. There was quite a fair bit of space between my seat and the window, which was great. After the seat belt sign was switched off, I moved my bag to that space and could easily get whatever I needed from it.

Zipair's a budget airline so gotta adjust expectations. They won't serve champagne every 10 minutes and kiss your ass but the flight attendants are polite and efficient. You pay for everything but that makes it quite flexible too. I took 14kg baggage allowance on the outbound flight and 23kg on the inbound one. If I remember correctly, my seats at the back of the plane were slightly cheaper than others to reserve, not that a few $ would have made much of a difference in my choice of seats anyway.

They sell simple food and drinks at reasonable prices but unlike other budget airlines, they were not too strict on what passengers might eat/drink onboard. On the outbound redeye, people were openly drinking from their own water bottles even when the flight attendants were nearby. On the inbound one, the guy next to me had bought some food from 7-11 and ate that openly too, which reminded me I still had some snacks in my bag so I got to work on mine. I can only imagine the shit I'd get for doing this on Scoot or Jetstar.

No IFE screens but we can connect to their free wifi and see the flight path, etc on our own devices. My friend had even been able to send messages during her flight, I didn't bother.

There's a power socket at every seat, very convenient.

[mr21]

40 minutes ago, bgtp said:

Looking forward to your review. While I like the frills that come with business class, I always say that as long as I have a flat bed seat and direct aisle access , everything else is gravy. Zipair sounds like a possible option for me in the future even if I have to travel between my home in Florida and California to make it work. That sounds like a great itinerary. I spent two weeks in Japan on the way to Thailand back in May and loved it. On my upcoming Oct/Nov trip, I'm stopping in Taiwan for 10 days before Thailand.

If you fly Zipair from LAX consider a short side trip to Tijuana, enjoying the girly bars, before continuing onto Asia. 😎

In 2017 I circled Taiwan (clockwise) in 12 days: Taipei, Hualien/Taroko Gorge, Kenting, and Kaohsiung. Then took the bullet train back to Taipei for the flight home. 

Taiwan is a great place for a holiday with the culture, food, and national parks. It's also very affordable for being such a safe and developed "country". I still think about the food from the night markets. Also easy and safe to rent motorbikes if you're into that. 

I did some light mongering at massage shops in Taipei; and in Kaohsiung where the action seemed better and more in the open. Found a full-service massage shop there staffed with Cambodian ladies. 

Edited August 29, 2023 by mr21

[BIGFREE1]

They seem very promising.

Which means by Feb/March 2024, when I fly from US West coast -> Honolulu -> Tokyo -> Bangkok, the company will have doubled or tripled prices!

[mr21]

Review Zipair flight (economy class)

Zipair does not offer online check-in so I arrived to LAX about 3 hours before the flight. They had 5 agents at the counter and the line moved quickly. Zipair policy for carry-on bags is 7kg max and while in line I noticed not all agents were weighing them.

Of course the lady helping me asked to weigh mine and surprisingly it came in at 9 kg. It felt much lighter but to be fair I didn't use a scale. My plan if this happened was to transfer as much weight into my personal item (backpack) and then reweigh my carry-on. Fortunately the agent just said to be more careful next time and tagged my carry-on for approval. 

Because I was traveling with a one-way flight the the counter agent asked when I will be leaving Japan. I answered on January 26 I will continue on to Bangkok and surprisingly she just entered that info without asking to verify my onward ticket. Just in case I had printed a "burner ticket" that costs $7 with this website:

https://onwardflights.com/

She printed my boarding pass and I was on my way to the gate. I checked the Zipair website for a seating map and noticed I was assigned an aisle seat (34H) - score!

Instead of paying to pre-select my seat I risked getting the dreaded middle seat instead of paying to pre-select my seat. It turns out the flight crew is strict about not switching seats during the flight. So all said and done it was $356 total for the flight from LAX to NRT.

Pros

• the 787-8 aircraft (including lavatories) was kept immaculately clean during the flight as you would expect with a Japanese airline
• food and drinks were reasonably priced for example - sodas and coffees ($2.50 usd), instant ramen soup ($3), beers ($3.30), with the cheese ravioli being the most expensive food item ($11) and it was a large portion
• Service was quick and efficient after you placed your food/beverage order (and payment) through your electronic device
• Every seat has a power outlet and USB port
• Typical comfort and legroom for economy class seating. I'm 6-foot (183 cm) and was OK the entire 12 hour flight. the middle-seat was unoccupied which helped to stretch out a little more. Took a benadryl and slept about 4 hours. 

Cons

• The flight departed about 30 min late which isn't a big deal unless you have a tight connection to your final destination
• The free onboard Wifi was spotty the entire flight. Sometimes it was strong enough to stream Youtube, other times web pages could barely load, and then periodically it would completely go out. Definitely download your Netflix, podcasts, music, books, etc at home beforehand.

 

In summary I was overall happy with Zipair and would fly them again especially if their fares remain very low. It's not an airline for travelers that like to be pampered; or if you prefer all amenities (luggage, food/beverage, entertainment, blankets, etc.) to be included in your ticket price. 

(Bad photo of a lay flat seat when I was disembarking)

Edited November 1, 2023 by mr21