"PRICING
BY NATIONALITY"
JAPANESE TRAVEL AGENCIES
ALLEGEDLY CHARGE FOREIGNERS MORE THAN JAPANESE,
BUT DEFINITELY REQUIRE
JAPANESE CITIZENSHIP FOR SOME FARES.
Travel firm rapped over foreigner ticket policy
Top travel agency charges foreigners more for 'discount' air tickets
By VANESSA MITCHELL
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fl20060704zg.html
H.I.S TRAVEL AGENCY ALLEGEDLY
OVERCHARGING GAIJIN
Part of update report
dated April 7, 2006
Here's
something to consider before buying any more plane tickets--shop around
a bit.
Forwarding collated emails with permission:
===========================
From:
gameboy rock <the6955@yahoo.com>
Date:
March 17, 2006 9:30:15 PM JST
Subject:
H.I.S. travel agency, different ticket prices for japanese/gaijin
Hi
Debito. Just a heads up, you might consider writing about:
My
girlfriend
called H.I.S. travel agency in Shinjuku about tickets from Narita to LA
this May. After my GF gave all the details (dates, etc), the
staff asked if the buyer was Japanese. she told them no, Canadian. The
price for me was quoted at 70000yen, and for Japanese customers it was
57000yen.
The
justification
was vague, something about a cancelled tour, so they were offering the
tickets at a discount, to Japanese only.
We
called another
HIS-affilliated travel agent "No.1 Travel" in Shinjuku, which serves a
large majority of foreigners here in Tokyo. They had the same
deal.
Finally,
my GF
went to the HIS Iidabashi branch office [in March 2006] with a mic and
recorder, and
recorded a conversation with the staff about the tickets, giving the
different prices, and claiming it was legal, and saying that they do
these Japanese-only campaigns regularly. That recording is
available at
http://www.baitohell.com/his/voice20.mp3
(There's
a lot of
silence as the agent checks the ticket info. Near the end [about four-fifths down the
playback bar], you can hear
the agent explain the pricing difference. Also, the general volume is
low.)
I
don't know how legal this is, but if you'd like to talk to HIS
yourself, the website is:
http://www.his-j.com/index.html
I
spoke to a cabin
attendant I know at ANA, and she said it was unlikely that the pricing
is from ANA. Debito: feel free to post it on the
forums. I figure the more people who stop dealing with HIS,
the
better.
===========================
Something to look into. Debito
UPDATES ON HIS TRAVEL
April 28, 2006
I have followed up on two recent points of contention--travel agents HIS and No. 1 Travel charging foreigners substantially higher fares than Japanese (try 57,000 yen for Japanese, 70,000 yen for foreigners for NRT to LAX). Friend Kirk even found an HIS website requiring Japanese citizenship for eligibility to purchase some tickets.
http://www.his-j.com/tyo/air/ovs/ovspar.htm
(do a word search for "kokuseki" in Japanese)
Screen captures (pertinent parts underlined in red) from HIS website:
I then contacted customer service at HIS and told them I told MLIT all about it.
I got something from HIS in writing in Japanese saying that they would cease this practice (I haven't had time to translate it yet) more than a week ago. Yet the abovementioned link still contains the Japanese-citizens-only fares. More to come.
Arudou Debito
Sapporo, Japan
http://www.debito.org
April 28, 2006
HIS TRAVEL ADMITS TO HAVING DIFFERENT AIRFARES FOR FOREIGNERS
May 8, 2006
I told you that HIS Travel (and No. 1 Travel, in the same keiretsu) has been offering differing airfares based upon whether the customer is foreign or not. The estimate in question, as I reported a little over a month ago to some lists, was NRT <-> LAX 57,000 yen for Japanese, 70,000 yen for foreigners, on ANA (NB: ANA denies that it offers different fares by nationality).
After contacting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (Ryokou Shinkou Ka, Mr Ohzaki, Tel 03-5253-8111, ext 27313), I confirmed that this pricing structure was not permitted. They are looking into it.
I then called HIS's Customer Service Center (Okyakusama Soudan Shitsu, Mr Kitahara) to tell him that MLIT had been appraised. He sent me the following email (my translation, original email here):
------------------------------------------------
From: sodan@his-world.co.jp
Subject: About the sale of airplane tickets
Date: April 19, 2006 4:12:42 PM JST
Mr Arudou Debito. This is Kitahara of the Customer Service Center.
Regarding your recent inquiry, regarding the sale of airplane tickets from Narita Airport, and not allowing tickets to be sold to foreigners.
As a result of our company's deliberations, we have gotten rid of that condition. We will be offering tickets to all customers regardless of nationality. HIS KK
------------------------------------------------
Although this isn't exactly the issue I brought up, HIS has been caught out in a lie. As of May 13 2006, they still have on their website Tokyo <-> Paris tickets with requirements that purchasers hold Japanese nationality.
http://www.his-j.com/tyo/air/ovs/ovspar.htm
(Do a word search for "kokuseki" in Japanese. Courtesy Kirk M.)
If you're going to do business with HIS or No. 1 Travel in future, I daresay you'd better ask a native Japanese speaker to make your ticket reservations for you if you want to get the best prices. FYI.
I'd say make a long and expensive plan with them and cancel it saying you've heard about their discrimination.
Wasting their time costs them money, and the prospect of missing out on expensive bookings might encourage them to change their policy.
-------------------------
Posted: 12 May 2006 6:43pm
Solid idea. I shall place a call today for a package trip for ten with various special meal requests to London, Paris, Kelowna and Palau. All in that order. Each member will need to have differing departure times throughout. Oh and of course I will want the transaction all in Japanese, now this will eat up the clock.
JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE ON THIS SUBJECT (July 4, 2006)
Travel firm rapped over foreigner ticket policy
Top travel agency charges foreigners more for 'discount' air tickets
By VANESSA MITCHELL
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fl20060704zg.html
３月中旬、知り合いから聞いたことだが、旅行会社「HIS」渋谷と飯田橋、及び同じ系列に入っている「No. 1
Travel」は外国人・日本人向けの値段を見積もっているようです。知り合いの日本人友人は見積もりをもらって（成田空港＜＝＞ロサンジェルス、５月出
発）から、外国人の名前を行ってからHISの方は「外国人なら値段が違います」。外国人ならば元の見積もりの５７，０００円から７０，０００円に上乗せと
なりました。知り合いは割り増しの理由を聞いたが、「そういう値段です」と言われたようです。提供している航空会社の全日空に問い合わせたが、ANAは国
籍別で異料金は発行していないようです。
私は国土交通省旅行振興の大崎さま（TEL０３−５２５３−８１１１内
27313）に連絡しこの件を通報しました。やはり、国籍別の料金差は容認されていません。現在調査中。そのことをHISの相談窓口まで報告すると、後日
こういう返答が届きました。
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
sodan@his-world.co.jp
Subject: 航空券販売条件について
Date: April 19, 2006 4:12:42 PM JST
To: debito@debito.org
有道 出人 様
HISお客様相談室の北原と申します。
先日お問い合わせいただきました、成田発航空券の販売条件の中で
外国籍のお客様販売不可というものがございました。
社内で検討した結果、現在はその条件は削除いたしました。今後は
あらゆるお客様に同じ条件で販売していく所存でございます。
株式会社 エイチ・アイ・エス
----------------------------------------------------------------------
それにしてもかかわらず、HISは現在でも東京＜＝＞巴里の料金は国籍別の料金を提供しています。
http://www.his-j.com/tyo/air/ovs/ovspar.htm
（当件に関わる券は「日本国籍保持者とそのご家族の方にのみ適用可能な料金です」と。)
これは国土交通省及びIATAのルール違反なのではないでしょうか。日本で住む外国人、特別永住者はどうしますか。当会社の見積もりを気を付けましょう。
JAPAN TIMES ARTICLE ON THIS SUBJECT (July 4, 2006)
Travel firm rapped over foreigner ticket policy
Top travel agency charges foreigners more for 'discount' air tickets
By VANESSA MITCHELL
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fl20060704zg.html