ANA to offer Y9,000 fares for people aged 65 or over on all routes

Thursday 12th March, 07:23 AM JST

TOKYO —

All Nippon Airways Co will offer a uniform 9,000 yen fare on all domestic one-way routes for people 65 or over starting April 1.

The fare under the new Senior Sorawari program will only be available if passengers ask for it on the day of departure, the airline said. It will be the lowest fare for seniors charged by a Japanese airline.

Travelers will not be allowed to book seats on the basis of the fare prior to the day of departure, and it will only be available at ANA’s airport counters if there are vacancies.

People taking advantage of the fare must be enrolled in ANA’s frequent-flier program.

ANA is hoping the discount will spur demand among the elderly to offset falling demand among businesspeople.

“We have reduced fares to a level that will enable the elderly to easily take advantage of air travel for such purposes as traveling to see their grandchildren, who are living in faraway locations, perform in sports competitions,” an ANA public relations official said.

Kyodo News Service

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14 Comments

depasio at 08:22 AM JST - 12th March

so they are going to let 65 year olds go all the way to the airport to be on stand by for 9,000 yen, there is always a trick
Okinawamike at 08:25 AM JST - 12th March

But, you can't schedule the flight, you must be a ANA’s frequent-flier program enrollie, and if there are no seats, then to bad, take your bags and go back home.

It's called stand-by and if there is an empty seat, we will fill it for 9000 yen one-way. Good luck on getting back.
sk4ek at 08:26 AM JST - 12th March

This is next to useless for the average senior. "Oh, I think I'll take a trip to Haneda airport and try to get a seat on a plane just for the heck of it." errr... right.
jinjapan at 08:39 AM JST - 12th March

another totally wasteful gimmick to get free advertising in the papers & on tv. putting seniors on standby. quite odd. i can't imagine there will be too many using this. they used to have the birthday discount. that was a nice program.
presto345 at 02:56 PM JST - 12th March

Dumb initiative.
Yelnats at 03:45 PM JST - 12th March

Waste of time. I would not want to fly standby as a senior citizen. What happens when no seats available. Are they going to pull out their sleeping bags and sleep all night and try again the next day. One thing for sure is they have the time, as this country is so stupid in making people retire at 60, rehire at much lower scale until 65 and then given the boot.
Statistician at 08:20 PM JST - 12th March

Isn't there a mistake here? The headline says 'all routes' but the 'offer' is clearly restricted to domestic routes.
Sarge at 10:06 PM JST - 12th March

I wish they would offer Y9,000 fares to the U.S. for everyone, and you could book your ticket a month before the flight. I'd like to see my cousin, living in a faraway location ( the U.S. ) performing in a musical competition.
Orangeporange at 10:35 PM JST - 12th March

This is a very good idea. I wish they would offer similar fares (more like 90,000 yen fares) for trips to Japan from the US to visit grandchildren! But I think it is nice that the airline do this。
bdaniel08 at 11:36 PM JST - 12th March

Thank you ANA, next week i will (try) to go to Okinawa, with your generous offer !
DeepAir65 at 01:54 PM JST - 13th March

Is that 9,000 yen or 9,000yen plus surcharges?

I wonder how many spontaneous oldies Japan has who will truck up to the airports and ask for this? If I were a betting man I would say not many.
bcbrownboy at 09:08 AM JST - 14th March

One-way! Who will fly one-way? Well, someone may be flying home to die.
helloklitty at 03:00 AM JST - 19th March

I'd like to see my cousin, living in a faraway location ( the U.S. ) performing in a musical competition.

Oh, what instrument does she play?
helloklitty at 03:01 AM JST - 19th March

I think they should be reimbursed for any travel expenses incurred, plus a free meal, if they don't get a flight.