All's fare in Japan's cheap travel industry
Jason Cormier
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20030722zg.htm
Michael Cash
belched the alphabet and kept on going with:
>Interesting article...
>
>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20030722zg.htm
But after spending the first six paragraphs saying nothing at all, he
then spent the rest of the article saying not much.
--
Michael Cash
"There was a time, Mr. Cash, when I believed you must be the most useless
thing in the world. But that was before I read a Microsoft help file."
Prof. Ernest T. Bass
Mount Pilot College
Jason Cormier
"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote:
>> Interesting article...
>>
>> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20030722zg.htm
>
> But after spending the first six paragraphs saying nothing at all, he
> then spent the rest of the article saying not much.
Disagree. Many people are not familiar with the way discount ticket agencies
operate and set prices.
Michael Cash
belched the alphabet and kept on going with:
>On 7/22/03 15:26, in article 6u3rhv0il1sn9nskj...@4ax.com,
>"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote:
>
>
>>> Interesting article...
>>>
>>> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20030722zg.htm
>>
>> But after spending the first six paragraphs saying nothing at all, he
>> then spent the rest of the article saying not much.
>
>Disagree.
If you disagree with the part *after* the comma, I can see your point.
>Many people are not familiar with the way discount ticket agencies
>operate and set prices.
True. But take a look at paragraphs 15 and 16. They purport to answer
a question when all they actually do is take the cloud of smoke the
travel agent blew up the reporter's ass and pass it along to the
reader.
Jason Cormier
"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote:
>> Many people are not familiar with the way discount ticket agencies
>> operate and set prices.
>
> True. But take a look at paragraphs 15 and 16. They purport to answer
> a question when all they actually do is take the cloud of smoke the
> travel agent blew up the reporter's ass and pass it along to the
> reader.
I don't see a problem. Do you think there is another reason for the discount
agencies not sending the customer the ticket directly? The reasons provided
might strike you as poor justification for not putting a ticket directly in
your hands but I don't see a massive cover-up of something nefarious.
Michael Cash
belched the alphabet and kept on going with:
>On 7/22/03 17:38, in article udbrhvgip8rdomic6...@4ax.com,
======================================================================
Agencies like his, he said, like to issue tickets about three days in
advance of departure dates, rather than earlier. So to ensure that the
customer gets the tickets during such a short window, they are sent in
batches to the airport, where they are exchanged for vouchers.
And that's why the group counters are necessary: So that the tickets
have a place were they can be held and distributed after being
delivered to the airport.
======================================================================
I don't suspect any sort of coverup. It's just that when he's right on
the verge of something interesting, he doesn't. The first sentence
quoted above makes me want to know *why* they like to issue tickets
about three days in advance, rather than earlier. I doubt there's
anything nefarious going on either, and so long as I can get a
relatively cheap ticket, I don't care if they're doing it with child
slave labor in a sweatshop somewhere.
Curt Fischer
I have avoided Japanese travel agencies like the plague during my stay
here. But others have claimed that they often get calls from the agency
telling how their "reserved" fair was somehow erased, no? Perhaps the
short window from ticket printing to flight depature is to allow the
agency and the customers time to whittle down the # of tickets sold to a
number approaching th e number available?
On a good note, I have been pleasantly surprised by my new Japanese
travel book for Europe, 地球の歩き方・ヨーロッパ. It is way smaller,
has more maps, more info, and less text than the main English travel
books I saw at my local English bookseller. I had thought that Japanese
travel books would be only about crazy 犯罪 going on all over the place
in 外国, and also about 買い物. But I was wrong. Neato.
--
Curt Fischer
Rindler Sigurd
> here. But others have claimed that they often get calls from the agency
> telling how their "reserved" fair was somehow erased, no? Perhaps the
> short window from ticket printing to flight depature is to allow the
> agency and the customers time to whittle down the # of tickets sold to a
> number approaching th e number available?
>
In the 80s I was handling foreign clients for a Japanese friend who run his
own travel agency.
The cheap tickets are only available in limited numbers. You can book them
whenever you like, but the entire lot is only released after these tickets
cannot be sold for more expensive package tours anymore. Either you wait and
take your chances, or you cancel and try elsewhere. JTB will sell you
expensive tickets which are confirmed right away.
Some agencies have you pay 30 days before departure and present you a plan
with cancellation fees if you cancel 2 weeks, 1 week, etc., before your
departure. This one is a scam and at least illegal for cancellations that
occur more than 3 days before departure. This refers to flights only (not to
package tours).
Well, my statements refer to 1983 - 1985. They might have changed in the
meantime...
Sigi
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thegoons
window. Typical Japan Times crap journalism.
"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:6e3thv4vgj2bqg9il...@4ax.com...
mr.sumo snr.
news:WLRfb.137336$bo1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Agreed Michael, he never answred the question of the 3 days and the narrow
> window. Typical Japan Times crap journalism.
>
> "Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote in message
> news:6e3thv4vgj2bqg9il...@4ax.com...
> > On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 00:00:04 GMT, Jason Cormier <fj...@hotmail.com>
> > belched the alphabet and kept on going with:
> >
> > >On 7/22/03 17:38, in article
udbrhvgip8rdomic6...@4ax.com,
> > >"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote:
> > >
I'm sorry, could you please tell us all exactly WHAT you drank on the night
of July 23rd this year? I'd like to know, 'coz I can't imagine why, other
than being in a very, very severely inebriated state, you decided finally,
after about 75 days, to reply to this post.
--
jonathan
--
"Never give strong alcohol to ducks"
Michael Cash
<mr_...@hotmail.com> belched the alphabet and kept on going with:
Net lag, dood, net lag.