The Offer
- Japan Airlines is offering 50,000 free round trip tickets. The whole process is a bit complicated, but it looks like the aim is to get people to travel to destinations they might not normally travel to before/during/after the Olympics. You have to apply for these tickets and applications don’t open until late February 2020. When you apply you’ll be shown four possible destinations and they will tell you which one you’ll got to within 3 days of your application
The Fine Print
- Travel period: July 1, 2020 (Wed) – September 30 (Wed)
- This service is available only to visitors to Japan between June 1, 2020 (Mon) and October 31 (Sat).
- Flights depart from / return to Tokyo (Haneda) and Osaka (Itami / Kansai) only.
- Can apply as a group of up to four people
- Choose from three or five departure / arrival time slots and find sightseeing tips and information on local specialties when you apply, making it easy to plan your trip
Our Verdict
Seems like a fun promotion, but might be a little bit too confusing for most people. I probably wouldn’t want to travel to Japan during this period due to the Olympics, but obviously if you’re going to the Olympics itself then this could be a fun way to travel to a random destination.
Hat tip to OMaaT
Would you have to pay taxes on the value of the tickets?
Wonder if you get FF miles (albeit not a lot) on those flights?
I’d rather ride the bullet train
These routes are only a few thousand avois plus about $6. I did most those routes last year with avois on JAL and availability was wide open even last minute.
Free is always good but for those of us with a ton of avios, this is marginally good.
Since the trips leave/return to Tokyo and Osaka you’d have to purchase your own ticket to Tokyo/Osaka and then get a free domestic flight if you’re not already in Japan though
But if you were a first time tourist to Japan there’s already a lot to see in Tokyo/Osaka though
Is there a better place to go?
For a first trip to Japan Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto areas are going to have easy access to most things tourists would want to see given the options of high speed trains. Sapporo & the Hokkaido region would require flights or down to Okinawa, but while cool those are not areas I would go on a first trip to Japan. Subsequent trips to Japan sure but the country is really densely packed with places to visit already. Have gone four times and still lots of places to visit.
This is pretty cool if your planning on going to Japan next year. Hopefully some of our fellow readers will get a spot.
I think the only places worth flying domestically from Tokyo/Osaka would be Sapporo and maybe Hiroshima from Tokyo. Otherwise the Tokyo-Okayama corridor is all accessible via train and the Shinkansen bullet train is an experience in itself.