Japanese airline’s $440 ‘all you can fly’ ticket for Gen Z
Would you buy a flat-fare pass for unlimited flights to one Aussie destination? An airline has done just that in Japan.
Imagine paying for one ticket and being able to fly to that destination as many times as you want within a certain time period?
One Japanese airline has given travellers the option to do exactly that.
Star Flyer’s Star Pass has allowed customers to have unlimited flights for 30 days between Haneda Airport (also known as Tokyo International Airport) and Kitakyushu Airport, where the airline is based, near Kitakyushu City and Fukuoka City.
The 30-day unlimited fly period started on Monday, May 15 and will end on Tuesday, June 13.
Young people aged 12 to 26 pay ¥40,000 ($440) for the pass and older adults pay a more pricey ¥150,000 ($1700).
When announcing Star Pass, the airline said customers could board as many times as they wanted on weekends and weekdays during the 30 days but needed to still book a seat in advance within three timeslots – “morning, noon and night”.
According to Bloomberg, 550 people applied for the pass and 90 were chosen through a lottery, although it is unclear if all of those 90 people went ahead and bought the passes.
A 23-year-old engineer who snapped up the deal told the outlet he had taken five round trips and planned to tick off 10 before the 30 days was up.
At $440 a pass, that would make each return flight $44.
The promotion aims to help boost business for the airline as it recovers from a hard time during Covid.
Would you consider buying a flat-fare “all you can fly” pass if it was available in Australia?
According to travel search engine KAYAK the most searched domestic destinations for travel in the second half of the year are Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Gold Coast and Perth.
The cost of an average domestic return economy flight to Melbourne during the period is $324, for Sydney it is $347, Cairns is $411, Gold Coast is $279 and Perth is $547, according to the data.