Roundtrip flights to Tokyo for less than $600. It's a great value and there are even a few extras on top of the flight experience that are different from a normal flight that are super great. Food on demand, Free Wifi, and peace, quiet and dark to sleep are areas where ZipAir excels.
Baggage:
You are allowed one carry-on bag and one personal item, which need to weight less than 7kg (15 lbs) combined. They weigh your items at check-in, and they are pretty strict, so pack carefully. My partner brought his CPAP machine, which was not counted towards the weight limit or bag limit. You can also pay extra for more weight, or to check a bag. We didn't mind the weight limit. It wasn't that restrictive for us. But you do have to pack carefully. Our empty carry-on bag weighed 8 lbs alone.
Food:
There is a large selection of meals that you can order online in advance, up to 48 hours before your flight. You can see the meals available at https://www.zipair.net/en/service/meal. You can opt to have the meal delivered right after take-off, or pay a few dollars more to have the meal delivered before landing. The meals are all reasonably priced, about $10-$15. I saw a lot of reviews that the food is not good. This was not my experience. I felt the meals were above average for airline meals. I especially appreciated that I got to choose between many options, and that I had more information about what I was going to be served than the usual broad categories i.e. "chicken or pasta?" or "eggs or waffles?"
I ordered the Cheese Ravioli w/ Spinach Cream Sauce and the Gyudon. Both were tasty and I definitely would order them again. The flight attendant brings the meal you ordered to your seat, so you aren't allowed to change seats.
If you forget to order in advance, there is usually at least 1-2 entree meals available to order inflight. You just won't have as much selection as if you order online. There are also options available inflight that aren't available online in advance. For example, on the flight from Tokyo to SJC, there was a Mini Appetizer Set. Lastly, they have a wide selection of instant noodles that were quite good. I particularly liked the Nissin Foods Donbei Kitsune Deep-Fried Tofu Udon Cup. There's also a wide selection of beverages, including milk tea. However, they do charge for water. On the flight back, I loaded up on Japanese beverages at the vending machine at the airport before boarding. A great way to use up my remaining yen, and much cheaper than purchasing on the flight.
Ordering process is easy. There is a QR code on the back of every seat. Place your order and pay online (using the free in-flight wifi). The flight attendant will bring your food to your seat. It's all super fast (sub 5 minutes). I was really impressed with the service.
Electronics:
There's free wifi and also plugs at every seat. The wifi is slow but definitely useable. I'm really impressed that they offer free wifi on a budget flight.
Ambiance:
One of the best parts of this flight is that it was quiet and easy to sleep! Most international flights have three meals (one meal right after take-off, one snack in the middle of the flight, and one meal right before landing) where everyone is woken up by the lights and the hustle and bustle. And I feel like I have to eat then, even if I'm not hungry, because that's when food is available. On ZipAir, you can sleep in peace the entire flight. And you can order food whenever you are hungry. It's great.
Check-In: This was probably the worst part of the experience. Check-In lines are super long. Arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance.
Seat Selection: We paid extra to choose our seats. It wasn't very much ($18 / seat in one direction and $13 / seat in the other direction). It was definitely worth it. The seats in the very last row are the cheapest to reserve. They don't recline very much. But they are the only seats that you can get two people together without another stranger.
Overall, would absolutely recommend ZipAir and would fly them again. read more