Japan Airlines (JAL) currently has some excellent Premium Economy airfares available to European destinations including Paris, London, Helsinki and Frankfurt. Tickets are available for under $3,000 return from multiple Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

These prices are available on various travel dates. The best availability is between November 2023 and February 2024. That may not be Europe’s peak summer season, but it can still be a great time to visit!

Japan Airlines offers a very comfortable Premium Economy product on its long-haul Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 aircraft. The service on board is great too, and Japan Airlines even provides lounge access to Premium Economy passengers.

Japan Airlines is a member of the Oneworld alliance. You can earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points and status credits with these fares, albeit at the lower partner airline earn rate. As an example, you would earn 21,400 Qantas points and 180 status credits on a round-trip Japan Airlines Premium Economy trip from Sydney to Helsinki via Tokyo.

The main catch is that many itineraries require you to stop overnight in Tokyo on the way to Europe. But this may not be required if you’re flying to London. There are short connections available through Tokyo on the return journey back to Australia.

Stopovers are allowed on these fares, which book into “R” class.

Some examples of cheap Japan Airlines itineraries to Europe

The best deals are out of Sydney, which Japan Airlines serves with a daily flight to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. From Haneda, Japan Airlines flies non-stop to Helsinki, Paris and London. Japan Airlines also flies from Narita to Frankfurt.

For example, you could fly JAL Premium Economy from Sydney to Helsinki from $2,743 return when booking on the Japan Airlines website.

Japan Airlines also flies from Melbourne to Tokyo’s Narita Airport, but Premium Economy is not consistently available on that route.

Don’t live in Sydney? The good news is that it only costs slightly more to fly from Australian cities other than Sydney. Domestic connections in Qantas Economy are available from Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Darwin.

For example, you could fly from Sydney to Paris (via Tokyo) from $2,833 return. But Perth to Paris (via Sydney and Tokyo) starts from around $2,894 return on the Japan Airlines website.

Admittedly, travelling from Perth to Europe via Sydney does add quite a bit of a detour. Also, the Perth-Sydney leg books into Economy Class.

Flights returning from London are a few hundred dollars more expensive than other European destinations due to the UK’s Air Passenger Duty.

How to book

You can book these fares on the Japan Airlines website or through a travel agent. You may also find it useful to search for cheap flights using Google Flights.

Japan Airlines also has some reasonable Business Class fares from Australia to Europe from around $6,000 return at the moment.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.