nippontiger 8 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Just bought yet another higaeri ski ticket for tomorrow. Usually, this is a really good deal, but I've done it quite a few times this year now, and every single time, all of the discounted tickets have been sold out meaning I have to pay an extra 1000 yen to go on one of the other trains, or buy an unreserved seat ticket. Even when I went on a weekday late March and there was hardly anybody on the trains or at the resorts, they said all the discounted tickets had sold out, and even now its April, still sold out. Not only that, but it seems that the usual 1000 yen or so discount they apply from end of March no longer applies for tickets to Kagura, so I've ended up having to pay 10800 yen each from Omiya, which if I remember correctly is the same as it was in peak season. It seems to me that JR are getting a bit greedy with these tickets this season with the lack of spring discount as well as what seems to be an extremely limited number of discounted tickets available. Did anybody actually manage to buy any discounted tickets this year, I wonder? Link to post Share on other sites
Curt 1 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Experienced the same Gary. Got to wonder how many of these special priced ones they actually release.. Link to post Share on other sites
oblivion 5 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Is it for a particular train, Gary, or just a day? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 They are too cheap anyway, and not fair to use doing in the other way round, so no sympathy! Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 For the discount, you have to use certain trains, but every time, all of the discount tickets are sold out, no matter which train you choose. I went a couple of weeks ago on a weekday and as usual, all the discount tickets were gone, even though the station and the trains were all pretty much empty. It's now April, most people are thinking about cherry blossoms and spring, not skiing and I'm sure the numbers are well below peak season even on a weekend, but still, no discount tickets. Just seems a bit cynical to me.... Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Does sound pretty dodgy from what you said. Still, you can get it pretty cheap? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 I just used one for today.......8400 yen to kagura + 400 yen for the Yokohama area ticket, total....8800yen Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Yeah, its still a good deal, even at 10800 yen - the return shinkansen alone is 10920 from Omiya for a non-reserved seat, so you are pretty much getting the lift ticket for free. Its just a bit annoying when every time you go, the discounted tickets are all sold out - it involves getting the woman in the shop to check each train, which, this being Japan, seems to take ages only for them to say its full then you have to explain you will just pay the extra which often confuses the staff furthermore - in spite of the fact that I knew exactly which tickets and trains I wanted, it still took over 35 minutes for the lady to sell me a pair of tickets today - for some reason, she had to have a 10 minute discussion with two of her colleagues and also make two phone calls about it. Ridiculous. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 are you travelling solo or with a few other peeps? What i have experienced in the past is that they can't find us seats together and think thats some huge problem so just say that the train is full. It makes no diff to me cos if that is the case we just sit in the unreserved seats anyway. Also I've never had a problem taking any train I like. Tonight for example we were booked onto the 19:11 shink, but we jumped onto the 18.08 shink instead....there were no problems with doing this, and we just took unreserved seats Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 I just used one for today.......8400 yen to kagura + 400 yen for the Yokohama area ticket, total....8800yen I think its 8600 to Kagura + 200 for yokohama and you were fortunate enough to get the discount ticket on the train - did you buy the tickets early? Anyway, it seems the spring deals are simply not being applied to weekends this year - its an extra 1800 yen for the weekend (ie 10400) plus you've got next to no chance of getting the discount on the train (+1000) = 11400 and for me, subtract 600 from Omiya = 10800. It was the same price in January and February! Link to post Share on other sites
nippontiger 8 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Yeah, usually travelling with a friend or two but even when I went alone it was the same. I know what you mean about the unreserved tickets, but you still have to pay 1000 yen extra for the unreserved ticket. Its a good point about the seats together though - next time they say its full, I will tell her that we dont have to sit together. I remember one time there were two of us going, and she said the train was full because there were no pair seats free - they did have triple seats free though! Complete madness! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 yeah....thats what I mean. Loads of seats just not pair seats or 3 together. Crazy. I only bought the tickets yesterday about 6pm, but its definitely 400 yen for the Yokohama area. It was gonna be 8400 but I asked for the Yok-area ticket and the final price was 8800￥ Link to post Share on other sites
LiquidX 0 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 I'm confused... you can have them if they are separate seats but you can't have the deal if you want to sit together? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 I dunno what the official policy is BUT I have been told that there were no special deal tickets left only to find out that it was because they couldn't seat us all together. When i explained that we didn't care that we were split up, we got the deal. Like many things over here, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it Link to post Share on other sites
Error404 0 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 So desu ne! Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Just bought yet another higaeri ski ticket for tomorrow. Usually, this is a really good deal, but I've done it quite a few times this year now, and every single time, all of the discounted tickets have been sold out meaning I have to pay an extra 1000 yen to go on one of the other trains, or buy an unreserved seat ticket. Even when I went on a weekday late March and there was hardly anybody on the trains or at the resorts, they said all the discounted tickets had sold out, and even now its April, still sold out. Not only that, but it seems that the usual 1000 yen or so discount they apply from end of March no longer applies for tickets to Kagura, so I've ended up having to pay 10800 yen each from Omiya, which if I remember correctly is the same as it was in peak season. It seems to me that JR are getting a bit greedy with these tickets this season with the lack of spring discount as well as what seems to be an extremely limited number of discounted tickets available. Did anybody actually manage to buy any discounted tickets this year, I wonder? Perhaps they don't want people using this just to get to Yuzawa and do some spring hanami and it get in the way of other campaigns...... Just a thought, perhaps a nonsense one. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts