30th October 2026 - 6 min read
ZIPAIR started flying daily between KLIA Terminal 1 and Tokyo Narita this month. Each flight uses a 290-seat Boeing 787-8, which adds 2,030 seats a week to the 23,682 already scheduled between Malaysia and Japan. That makes ZIPAIR the fifth airline flying between KLIA and Narita, so you’ve got one more to compare on price when you book.
ZIPAIR is Japan Airlines’ budget airline for international flights. It’s based at Tokyo Narita and has flown since 2020, mostly to cities in Asia, Hawaii and North America. Like other budget airlines, its fare covers your seat and 7kg of hand luggage, and you pay for everything else separately.
If you’re planning a short trip to Tokyo on a tight budget, plan for the extras too. A bag, a seat and a meal add RM476 to a return trip. Below, we add up a return trip in ringgit and show where you can pay less.
Flight ZG62 leaves KLIA at 1.10am and arrives at Narita at 9am Japan time. The return flight, ZG61, leaves Narita at 4.50pm and arrives in KL at 11.40pm.
Fares change from flight to flight. Our totals use the cheapest return fare we found on Google Flights, RM1,401 with taxes, for a trip in early November. ZIPAIR’s own KL route page showed one-way fares from about RM715 (US$175) for flights around the same time. Most ZIPAIR return fares on Google Flights fall between RM1,900 and RM2,750, so expect to pay more if you book for later dates.
Your 7kg covers two pieces of hand luggage. One can be up to 55cm x 40cm x 25cm, and the other up to 45cm x 35cm x 25cm. Anything heavier has to be paid for, either as extra carry-on weight or as a checked bag.
ZIPAIR lists its add-on prices in the currency of the city you fly from, so the KL to Narita flight is priced in ringgit and the Narita to KL flight in yen. At checkout, the website shows them in US dollars. The ringgit amounts for the Narita flight use Bank Negara Malaysia’s rate of RM2.59 for every ¥100 on 27 October.
| Add-on | KL to Narita | Narita to KL |
| Extra 8kg of carry-on, 15kg in total | RM90 | RM78 (¥3,000) |
| Checked bag, up to 30kg | RM200 | RM181 (¥7,000) |
| Standard seat, most rows | RM30 | RM26 (¥1,000) |
| Seat with limited recline | RM15 | RM13 (¥500) |
| Rear aisle or window seat | RM45 | RM39 (¥1,500) |
| Front row or emergency exit seat | RM145 | RM130 (¥5,000) |
You can check up to five bags, and each one is charged on its own. A checked bag bought at the airport counter costs about RM26 (¥1,000) more. Adding anything through ZIPAIR’s contact centre costs up to RM52 (¥2,000) per person for each flight.
ZIPAIR’s meals page lists dishes such as butter chicken curry at RM39 (¥1,500) on the KL to Narita flight, so we’ve used the same price for the flight home. Unlike bags and seats, meals on the KL flight are priced in yen. Each meal you order in advance comes with a bottle of water, and a bottle of water bought on board costs RM6 (¥250).
When we checked on 29 October, ZIPAIR’s website charged for KL flights in US dollars, with no option to pay in ringgit yet. ZIPAIR converts its ringgit and yen prices into US dollars at its own exchange rate. Your bank then converts the charge back into ringgit and adds a foreign transaction fee, which is what your bank charges when you pay in another currency. Most Malaysian credit cards charge between 1% and 2.5%, as our guide to foreign transaction fees explains.
ZIPAIR may add ringgit as a payment option later. If it does, paying in ringgit should avoid most of the foreign transaction fee on the KL flight, so check the currency options at checkout before you pay.
The table below prices a return trip for one adult in two ways. The bag, seat and meal trip includes a checked bag and a standard seat on both flights, plus an RM39 meal (¥1,500) on the flight home. The packing-light trip has no checked bag, seat or meal. Instead, it adds 8kg to your hand luggage allowance on both flights, so you can bring up to 15kg on board.
For now, ZIPAIR charges in US dollars, so we’ve shown each total with a 1% and a 2.5% card fee. If ZIPAIR adds ringgit at checkout later, you may pay less. The totals are estimates, since ZIPAIR’s exchange rate may differ from Bank Negara’s.
| Item | With a bag, seat and meal | Packing light |
| Return fare | RM1,401 | RM1,401 |
| Checked bag, both flights | RM381 | None |
| Extra 8kg of carry-on, both flights | None | RM168 |
| Standard seat, both flights | RM56 | None |
| Meal, Narita to KL (¥1,500) | RM39 | None |
| Total before card fees | RM1,877 | RM1,569 |
| With a 1% card fee | RM1,896 | RM1,585 |
| With a 2.5% card fee | RM1,924 | RM1,608 |
Packing light saves RM308, and most of that comes from leaving out the checked bag. It’s the easiest saving to make if your things fit into 15kg of hand luggage.
Add everything you need on ZIPAIR’s website when you book. If you only need a little more space, extra carry-on weight costs less than a checked bag on both flights. Buy it at least 24 hours before you fly, because you can’t add it at the airport.
Think about when you’ll eat. The KL flight leaves at 1.10am, so you can have a meal at KLIA before you board and sleep through the flight. The Narita flight leaves at 4.50pm and arrives close to midnight, which makes it the better flight to buy a meal for.
If you’re travelling alone, you can skip seat selection and take the seat you’re given at check-in. If you’d still like to choose, seats with limited recline are the cheapest.
If you’re flying with children aged six and below, book them on ZIPAIR’s U6 fare, a flat RM145 one way from KL. Your child and one adult sitting next to them don’t pay for seat selection.
At checkout, ZIPAIR also offers a VALUE package with a seat, a checked bag of up to 30kg and a standard meal. On the KL flight, it cost about RM212 (US$51.78) when we checked, about RM57 less than buying the three separately. If you need all three, it’s the cheaper way to buy them.
Once you’ve chosen your add-ons, choose your card. The bag, seat and meal trip costs RM1,896 on a card with a 1% fee and RM1,924 on one with 2.5%, so check which fee your card charges before you pay. Even at RM1,900, the low end of the usual fares, the same trip comes to RM2,376 before card fees.
If you have a multi-currency debit card, you can buy US dollars ahead of time and use them to pay at checkout. Many of these cards don’t charge a foreign transaction fee on a currency you already hold, but check your card’s terms first.
Prices in this article were checked on 28 and 29 October 2026 and may have changed since.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for the latest money tips and updates.
Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister’s cats.
Comments (0)