I’ve written in the past about inflight duty free sales, which you’ll still find on many international airlines.
Continue reading: ANA & JAL First Class Duty Free Arbitrage Opportunity
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
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.
@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
This isn’t really arbitrage. That would be if the exchange rates didn’t match up, this is just a discount/promotion?
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 🙂
I did a quick search and found several stores in the USA selling this for under $400/bottle, albeit without the commemorative box.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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??
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.
technically you can purchase two, i know as am onboard atm and she offered me two...