SFO Will Begin Nonstop Flights for Japan Skiing This Winter. What Could It Mean for Tahoe?

Winter sports enthusiasts have long complained that in many instances, it’s cheaper to fly abroad to ski than to take a trip to American resorts.

Still, these SFO-Sapporo flights — which last 11 hours each way — are not exactly cheap. Right now, they’re listed at around $1,500 for a January 2027 round trip.

But once in Japan, the skiing, accommodations, rentals and other daily costs are much lower than in most other ski destinations. So much so that U.S. travelers already mulling an international vacation this winter might just consider bringing along their skis and making a trip out of it, said Christine Savage, co-founder of Beyond the Boundaries, a women-oriented snowboard camp and tour company.

“If Japan isn’t on your bucket list, it’s just because you haven’t looked into it enough yet,” Savage said.

Savage said she’s excited to hear about the new flights — both for herself and for the tour groups she leads to Sapporo every winter.

Not only does she hope more frequent, direct flights will mean easier access to Hokkaido and “more simplified, more smooth” travel — with the nonstop route potentially reducing headaches like delays and lost luggage — there are major bonuses to going all the way to Sapporo to ski, Savage said.

Why U.S. skiers might choose Japan

For one, the snow is fantastic in Japan — something to which this author can attest. During my own winter ski trip to Rusutsu in January, courtesy of a $500 round trip budget flight on ZIPAIR, it snowed more than a foot each day I was on the mountain.

While “nowhere is guaranteed” to have snow, and Savage said she’s had “lackluster” snow years even in Japan, the city of Sapporo itself gets around 13 feet of snow each year, with higher-elevation mountains nearby getting closer to 40 feet per year.

That’s compared to Tahoe’s average annual snowfall of around 30 feet at its resorts — and the fact that particularly dismal snow seasons, like this year’s, are not uncommon here.

“In general, Japan tends to be fairly reliable,” Savage said. “The snow quality is incredible. I feel really grateful to get to ride it.”

Then there’s the lower cost of skiing in Japan. Day rates for lift tickets at major resorts like Niseko and Rusutsu can be extremely low — rates around $50 per day — as opposed to hundreds of dollars for walk-up tickets at major U.S. resorts.

Gear rentals, too, can be hundreds of dollars lower in Japan than in Tahoe or other U.S. ski destinations.

This broad difference in price has held true despite price increases across Japanese resorts in the last couple of years, as the country tries to mitigate overtourism. Savage said she expects to see prices continue to rise for people traveling into Japan from abroad to ski (some ski resorts, like Niseko, offer discounts for area residents).

For San Ramon resident Scott Yin, skiing in Japan is a way to get more bang for his buck. He started skiing when he was living in China in 2021, and said that compared to a ski vacation in Tahoe, the experience of skiing in Japan is as good, if not better, and sometimes around half the price.

For one thing, he noted the range of resorts and ski towns in Sapporo, meaning fewer crowds, lots of family-friendly options and less of a need to book far in advance. Yin has found that Sapporo lift lines are shorter, parking is easier and the food — particularly the affordable prices and high quality — is a big draw.

Yin doesn’t have an Ikon or Epic Pass, so it’s cheapest for him to get lift tickets directly from the resorts and hotels he stays at for individual trips.

“Tahoe is kind of the go-to, but we didn’t go this season because it was so expensive and there was no good date for us,” he said. “Compared to Sapporo, where there’s way more choice.”

What could this mean for Tahoe?

The announcement of United’s direct Sapporo flights comes at a time when the cost of skiing in Tahoe has reached an all-time high. That’s sent many people in the Bay Area looking for cheaper alternatives, like smaller, local mountains or independent pass options.

But it’s also driving some to head abroad for their ski trips. Tim Pham founded SnowPals, a platform that connects Bay Area skiers and snow enthusiasts who want to share rides, ski leases or days out on the mountain — and his forum’s community was abuzz at the news of the direct SFO-Sapporo flights, he said.

“People are very excited, and they’re looking to do it,” he said. “Especially if the snow is lacking [in Tahoe].”

Pham chalked the excitement up mostly to these conditions: This year’s poor snow in Tahoe was a real disappointment, he said. What’s more, many are worried next year might bring a “Super El Niño”: repeating warm, wet conditions that don’t bode well for mountain sports.

“But what can you do, right? Now there’s an option where you can hop on a plane, and you can be skiing dry powder in Japan,” he said.

For some of the higher-income skiers in the Bay Area, that direct flight will feel worth the high price, Pham said. Especially since there’s even a red-eye option that can see a traveler get onto the mountain straightaway the next day, in time for a half-day of skiing.

And it’s not just Japan, Pham said — he’s also seeing international travel to ski destinations like Chile and Europe rising in popularity among online communities like his.

But while some people might outright replace their once-yearly Tahoe trip with a ski vacation abroad, Pham said, the entry-level costs inherent in skiing and snowboarding mean that there’ll always be others who’ll just do both.

“It’s an expensive sport. It’s not cheap,” he said. “So if people have the means, they are always planning trips.”

And even as day rates and Tahoe pass prices continue to climb, Pham doubts the rise in international skiing will dent annual pass sales, either. Both the Ikon and Epic Passes have destinations in Sapporo and all over the world.

There are, in fact, two destinations on the Epic Pass in Japan — Hakuba Valley, a few hours by train from Tokyo, and Rusutsu Resort, just two hours from Sapporo — which allows passholders a total of 10 days of skiing in Japan each season.

“With Sapporo serving as a major gateway to Rusutsu, expanded flight options from SFO to Sapporo make access even more seamless,” Carly Mangan, spokesperson for Vail Resorts, told KQED. Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood resorts in Tahoe are all operated by Vail.

For Savage, an Ikon Pass holder, it’s a major selling point of the pass itself.

“It makes my Ikon Pass more worthwhile having those Japan days that I know I’ll use,” she said.

That’s exactly the marketing message being promoted by Alterra Mountain Company, which sells the Ikon Pass and has nine partner resorts in the country, Ikon spokesperson Kristin Rust said.

“The Ikon Pass is mostly rooted in aspiration,” she said. “We look at our destinations at really the tipping point of why you would choose Ikon Pass.”

United’s upcoming SFO-Sapporo flights are “a huge adjacent perk for us,” she said. “The more access and the easier access, the more skiers are going to get on a plane and go.”

As for whether or not skiers might see international destinations as equally expensive — or even cheaper — alternatives, it’s all about the trade-offs, Rust said.

“It all depends on what you want in a trip,” she said. “You gotta look at exchange rates, you gotta look at fuel rates when it comes to driving or flying.

“But oftentimes that can be the case — and so why not go explore the culture of Japan?” Rust said.

Still, not everyone is convinced it’s really worth it to go all the way to Japan just to ski — including Yin.

Even if he does travel all the way to Japan just to ski, he said, he isn’t likely to shell out to fly direct even with the new United routes.

“I’m not going to spend that much money just for the flight ticket,” Yin said. Given local airports like SFO already offer direct flights to Tokyo, “I’d rather just fly to Tokyo or anywhere that’s cheaper.”

Sapporo’s increasing popularity, he said, may have more to do with the rising popularity of Japan as a tourist destination in general. And more likely, many people already planning a multi-week international vacation may find it worthwhile to tack on some skiing while they’re there.

Savage and her tour clients have the same mentality, she said.

“I think for a lot of folks, it’s easy to be like, ‘Well, if I’m already spending this extreme amount of money, why not spend it and go see somewhere I’ve never been?’” Savage said.