travel

British Airways, VisitBritain campaign offers Y35,000 return fare from Tokyo to London

30 Comments

British Airways and VisitBritain, Britain’s national tourism agency, have teamed up to offer travelers fares from Tokyo to London starting from 35,000 yen return (excluding fuel tax) in World Traveller economy class. The special fare is available on flights between Tokyo and London from Feb 1 to Sept 30 in World Traveller, and available for purchase on ba.com from Feb 1 to Feb 28. There are no blackout dates, so travelers can easily find a flight that fits their schedule. However, seats are limited.

Joerg Tuensmeyer, British Airways Regional General Manager Greater China and Japan said, “There really is no better time to visit Britain; you can now get about 35% more sterling for your yen than at this time last year, and thanks to a 2.5% drop in British consumption tax, massive savings can be had on hotel stays, dining out and shopping.”

For more information about the fare and for other UK-related travel from British Airways and VisitBritain please visit ba.com and visitbritain.com.

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30 Comments
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Because Britain is London and Japan is Tokyo. Apparently.

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...excluding fuel tax? no-thanks!

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Yeah, I remember a story like this 6 months ago, which didn't include the surcharge either. I'm sure it goes up a lot in the final picture.

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I remember a BA press release like this before here. You think the ticket is cheap and then they throw in a Y60,000+ fuel tax in there. Show the prices with tax as that's what people have to pay. Nobody cares about the prices excluding tax.

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Why is there even a fuel tax now when petrol is down to the price it was in the mid 1970s? I am sure jet fuel is also down in price.

This is just a rip-off.

Why doesn't a journalist ever ask why they are still adding dubious charges?

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Exactly! Wait for the final price.

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Exactly! Wait for the final price.

I remember finding a flight to Manchester last year for JPY47,000. When I enquired further I found that after taxes, of which Heathrow charges a staggering JPY21,000, the ticket price was closer to JPY160,000. You are fooling no-one BA. I would love to go home for a visit but will not be paying a premium to do so!!

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Exactly! Wait for the final price.

I refuse to deal with any airline or travel agent that doesn't give me the final price. The travel agent I use now knows this. She doesn't give me the price from Tokyo, which some agents used to -- despite my living in Sapporom, and she includes everything. The bottom line is, I want the bottom line.

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gaijintraveller is spot on! Last April when the tax term ended we had 1-2 months with gasoline costing about 122 yen. After the government reinforced the tax the price jumped to 145 and in the early summer all air companies raised their fuel surcharge fees. Now... gasoline is about 100 with the taxes! WTF is going on with air companies? They should drop the surcharges all together!

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What a scam, since fuel tax is 65,000yen this ticket is 100,000yen... who cares now?

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Just checked the BA site. Airfare 35,000. Taxes 50,960 Total = 85,960 Taxes may be a lot but it is a reasonable fare. Flying from the other countries to Japan isn't or wasn't this cheap really. Unless you take into account the the pound is very low vs the yen at the moment.

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They won't drop the taxes because they know people will pay it. And the government won't force them to drop surcharges and taxes because it will make them a pretty penny too.

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BA is now much cheaper than the other three airlines which fly direct to London. At the moment ANA is quoting Y150000 for flights leaving at the end of March. JAL and Virgin were similar last time I checked.

The surcharge is gradually going down, but airlines such as JAL and ANA are increasing their base fares to compensate.

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I am going to Europ in end of February and investigated many flight companies, including British Airways. At that time, the promotion was not available yet but I could find tickets around those price or just a little more expensive ... but then, fuel tax were ven more expensive than the ticket itself!

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I dont know why anyone wud want to fly BA, they treat my freight so bad I wud never want to fly as a passenger on their planes.

Nessie, dont know where you wud want to go but there are flights out of Chitose to Seoul, Taipei & Hong Kong which wud probably be better then going via Narita & maybe cheaper to boot!

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"Massive savings can be had on hotel stays, dining out and shopping.” 2.5 percent drop??? You've got to be kidding.

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"Massive savings can be had on hotel stays, dining out and shopping.” 2.5 percent drop??? You've got to be kidding.

Once you add on the insane drop in the exchange rate then yup - Japanese tourists are having a Beano over here at the moment. 210 yen to 120 yen in less than 6 months.

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KLM: Fly the Dutchman every time.

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What a generous offer! Thanks!..:) I still feel it's worth it cause I had to use 65,000 mileage points & paid 60,000 yen surcharge and flew via the 'unfriendly' Frankfurt Airport for my last Summer holidays....

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GW - got to agree from my limited experience of flying with BA. Would much rather fly with an Asian airline. The service just seems to be so much better.

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I flew once with BA and it was nice. But then, I've never tried an asian airline ...

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The article is wrong. The website specifies that you have to take off before March 31st.

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Another rip-off from BA. When you log onto their website, you discover that the so-called special price is impossible to get. Rip off merchants.

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I just checked out this "cheap" fare to London, folks. The ACTUAL price worked out as 129,000 yen! Its a one month fixed ticket. I just booked a fare to London with an Asian airline and also get a nice stopover in a nice Asian city, and the price I paid was less than this "wonderful cheap fare" offered by BA. Oh - and I am going for longer than a month, too.

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One more thing - this 35,000 yen price is NOT a return fare, according to the website - its one way.

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Wow, good that the person who comment did the job for the "newspaper" ...

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The dates are wrong: this is a copy&paste from the web: Special offer - London return from JPY35,000

Book by 28 February 2009 and fly to London from just JPY35,000. This fare is available for departures from Tokyo between 10 January 2009 and 31 March 2009.

Fare does not include airport taxes, fees, charges and fuel surcharges.
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It is indeed return, but you have to try different dates to find it:

Try this: February 1st 17500 yen NRT-LHR February 7th 17500 yen LHR-NRT

Final price with surcharges: 85120 yen

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Some airlines no longer charge the fuel surcharge. We are waiting for them to fly to Japan.

Copied from AirAsia's site.

When does "No Fuel Surcharge" come into effect? A: "No Fuel Surcharge" is applicable to AirAsia and AirAsia X seats purchased from 11 November 2008 onwards.

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British Midland BMI abolished fuel taxes a while back, but greedy BA has still not folloowed suit. I wont be wasting my hard earned money on BA.

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