I’ve written in the past about inflight duty free sales, which you’ll still find on many international airlines.
It’s an interesting business model, because it’s expensive to essentially fly a “store” around the world, and the value also typically isn’t that amazing, despite tax savings. However, you have a captive audience, so it seems to work for some airlines in some markets.
On the topic of inflight duty free sales, I wanted to cover a noteworthy promotion that’s currently available with two airlines, as I don’t recall ever seeing anything quite to this level.
In this post:
ANA & JAL selling Hibiki 100th anniversary whisky
All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) seem to have a promotion at the moment, whereby the two airlines have an exclusive duty free item that can only be purchased by first class passengers. Specifically, both airlines are selling the Hibiki 100th anniversary whisky in a commemorative box.
Each first class passenger is limited to purchasing one bottle. ANA seems to be charging 50,000 JPY (~330 USD) for this, while JAL is charging 60,000 JPY (~395 USD). It appears that the airline is loading enough for each first class passenger to purchase one, but even if there are extras, first class passengers are still limited to purchasing just one.
There are threads in both the ANA and JAL forum on FlyerTalk about this, with people sharing their experiences (here’s a picture of the purchase someone made).
I’m not a big whisky drinker, but this seems to be incredibly rare, and isn’t even available for purchase with a vast majority of retailers, even in Japan.
This is an interesting approach to duty free
I find this promotion to be fascinating on a couple of levels. For one, it’s unusual to see certain duty free items almost being a perk of flying in certain cabins. It’s not just that something random is being exclusively sold in a cabin, but many would consider the opportunity to buy this to be a legitimate perk of flying in the cabin. I don’t want to suggest that it’s Birkin-esque in terms of the buying process, but it’s still creative.
Some people may enjoy picking up a bottle of this to have at home, given how rare this is, not to mention the nice presentation. However, there’s quite a bit of discussion about how this could even be sold at a profit, either online or in a liquor store.
For example, on eBay I see people trying to sell the empty bottles of this for hundreds of dollars. Meanwhile one of the few websites that seems to be selling a full bottle is charging $1,799.
So anyway, if you do find yourself flying ANA or JAL in first class in the coming weeks (I’m not sure how long this promotion lasts), this is something that could be worth keeping in mind.
Bottom line
If you’re flying ANA or JAL first class in the near future, keep an eye out for the Hibiki 100th anniversary whisky, which can exclusively be purchased by first class passengers. I’m not a whisky drinker, but if I were on an eligible flight, this would probably be about as tempted as I’ve been to make a duty free purchase (well, in my post-Hello Kitty era, at least).
If you were flying ANA or JAL first class, would you buy a bottle of the Hibiki 100th anniversary whisky?
Lots of Google jockeys who know nothing about whiskey in these comments. This bottle and the more commercially available product are NOT the same thing... the duty free exclusive product is a unique blend whereas the one people are finding for sale in the US is just a fancy looking bottle with the same contents as their standard offering.
BBG/Danny Lee https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-25/rare-whisky-on-sale-duty-free-for-first-class-fliers-in-japan
Sounds fun even if I don’t drink whiskey!
Hope some left on my early December Tokyo Weekend ORD HND in old First. Back in New First. IHG Ambassador weekend at Tokyo InterContinental The Strings. Hope it’s not raining/Snowing ;-)
But I’ll have to gate check in Chicago for flight home. Ummm??
Anyone actually taste this thing. Lately Suntory has been pushing overpriced, underwhelming swill. The Hibiki Harmony i got recently was one such disappointment.
So not sure if this is worth the price. For $300USD you can buy some really neat stuff.
Suntory Whisky Toki and Coca Cola. A more sophisticated Jack and Coke.
I was offered this in NH FC SFONRT in August. I got the sense (pure conjecture) that the FAs get a decent commission on it bc they were unusually excited about it.
It is not the commission. It is the service mentality of helping their passengers to great experiences.
I had preordered a 25th anniversary version of the Mori Izu shochu on JAL. All you actually got on board was a card about how to complete the order and pay. You did not even pay on board, and the flight attendant was very excited about it, and interested. She had not had a passenger before who had managed to secure one, so she had not seen the card before.
The American mind cannot comprehend Japanese service mentality.
I purchased one on NH109 a few days ago. It was 50k JPY as listed here. I wouldn't have known about it but the FA offered it when I requested a glass of hibiki 21.
On JAL they are also selling a special sochu for 6000 jpy which can be sold for multiples of that.
Which shochu is this on JAL please? I don't see any 6000 jpy ones listed, only a 5600 gin.
If you were going to buy and drink it, that would just be a great deal and not an arbitrage. If you have a secured buyer for a higher price then it’s an arbitrage.
@Lucky there is a lot of confusion in the comments. You’re talking about the Hibiki Suntory 100th, NOT the Hibiki Harmony 100th that many are referencing. Or are you?
Hibiki had an art display at the Roppongi Arts weekend a few weeks ago, and they were pouring this at a very reasonable price - it was quite the treat.
Harmony 100th is a different, and much cheaper blend.
how does THIS hibiki 100th anniversary compare to hibiki 17 and or 21? i heard its a nice middle ground, with 17yr old min aged whiskey + 30 yr old yamazaki?
I did a quick search and found several stores in the USA selling this for under $400/bottle, albeit without the commemorative box.
You're looking at the wrong product.
Sadly no Hibiki for sale on JL12 HND-DFW. I was able to pick up limited edition Sake for F passenger only for 6k yen though which I consider a steal.
That is sochu not sake.
They are probably limiting sales to first class passengers only due to having only a limited inventory. In addition this keeps the airlines from having to load a lot of highly valuable bottles on any individual flight.
This is regular Hibiki harmony at 3x the price. So this is a buy only if you are a collector or want to sell it on 2ndary market to another collector. If you're going to drink it, save yourself some money and buy Hibiki harmony. It shows up at costco regularly for about $100.
This is not the Harmony 100th edition. This is a separate 100th anniversary blend. I saw it in some stores in Japan for 250.000 yen. Unfortunately I chose against buying it when I flew ANA F in August. Tried to buy on my return (in Eco), but they refused. They still gave me another first amenity kit though :)
Did more research and you are right that this is a blend different than regular harmony.
The blend includes Chita Grain Whisky amongst some older ones so I would still only buy it as a collectors item or for resale purposes.
I would absolutely buy and flip this on secondary though.
Omg, I got that FA told me to buy last week while I am flying ANA F, and it is an easy pass for me as I do not drink normally. Lol
Cool! Now how do we find a couple of saver first class award seats on a flight to or from Japan to take advantage of this?
This isn’t really arbitrage. That would be if the exchange rates didn’t match up, this is just a discount/promotion?
The arbitrage is re-selling on the secondary market for 4-5x the onboard duty free price, as many people do with special release/allocated liquor. For example the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection whiskies.
@Ben
It is quite common for JAL to have duty items that exclusively available based on cabin or status. There is a new list every two months when the shopping magazine is published
Hah, I knew it was going to be about whiskey from the headline. I still have a Hibiki 17 bottle I bought in Sendai 6 years ago, too bad I won't be able to take advantage of this offer.