Recently while trying to book a flight back to Asia from North America I was happy to find that there were a lot of award seats available right now. I mostly checked departures from the West Coast of North America, traveling from Vancouver, San Francisco or Los Angeles, to destinations such as Tokyo, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taipei. Primarily served by United, ANA, EVA, and Air Canada.

Originally I was aiming to travel to Singapore. However, since most of the flights I found connected through Tokyo, this was not an option (since Japan is not a Singapore VTL country).

Instead I decided to book a trip to Malaysia, as they are opening their borders fully from April 1st, 2022. I found plenty of options with either United & ANA or only ANA. I decided to book the United & ANA combination as I’m looking forward to try United’s Polaris business class.

Flying out of Vancouver was another option I looked at, which would have included an Air Canada flight in their Signature Class, which also on my bucket list of things to hopefully try!

Travel restrictions as of March 2022:

• Malaysia is fully opening their borders on April 1st, 2022.
• Singapore is fairly open, with Vaccinated Travel Lanes available to quite a few countries. However, since Japan is not a VTL country, you cannot transit in Japan before arriving in Singapore, unless you have a visa.
• Tokyo is still closed for non-business travelers, but transit is allowed without limitations.
• Taipei is still closed for non-residents, but direct flights are available between SFO and TPE with both EVA and United.