The islanders can’t get on” screams some Okinawan islanders… “Nuisance and senior members” running amok in lounges and taking things out of the lounge are rampant.

Originally intended for the wealthy…a “bizarre reality” only in Japan

It has been a long time since the “shugyo” (training) boom in airplanes and hotels took root in Japan. Shugyo” refers to the practice of accumulating the number of flights and nights spent at hotels in order to obtain the status of “senior member,” which is granted to those who make the most frequent use of airplanes and hotels in a year, respectively.

Originally, this system was designed for wealthy people who use upper-class seats and rooms on airplanes and hotels, such as business class and suite rooms, as well as heavy users who frequently travel on business. However, the situation in Japan alone continues to be bizarre, and various “problems” have arisen.

Shugyo monks” filling up Okinawa routes during off-season

January is a quiet season for tourism in Okinawa.

Since the flight records are basically “reset” every year, starting from zero on January 1, people who want to maintain their “Diamond” status, the highest level of membership, make a “dash for the start” every year. They target this time of the year when fares are low due to the off-peak season. Some fly from Haneda to Naha and back in one day, and some fly from Naha to Miyako and back to Ishigaki in another day.

While airline status can only be earned by repeated flight experience each year, two Japanese airlines offer semi-permanent seniority programs: ANA’s Super Flyers Card (SFC) and JAL’s JAL Global Club (JGC).

Thefts are common… “Collapse of civilization” in senior member lounges

At major domestic airports such as Haneda, Itami, Shin-Chitose, and Fukuoka, there are “lounges” for senior members and passengers seated in business class or above, and both ANA and JAL lounges have become crowded recently. Moreover, the manners of passengers are worse than 10 years ago, with some putting a large number of snack bags into their bags and others taking out rice balls and other items from the higher-ranked lounges.

Once SFC and JGC are acquired, they can be renewed each year for an annual fee of just over 10,000 yen. The SFC and JGC certificates are called “SFC training” and “JGC training,” respectively, and have become popular over the past few years, with YouTubers, influencers, and other popular personalities introducing them on TV. COVID-19 crisis has been accompanied by frequent “double points campaigns” offered by ANA and JAL , and the number of SFC and JGC members has skyrocketed over the past 10 years. This has led to a “collapse of the public” in the lounges.

Not only at airports, but also in hotel lounges exclusively for hotel guests, the manners of passengers have deteriorated. Hotels, like airplanes, grant status according to the number of nights stayed, and not a small number of hotel guests have earned this status by training together with air travelers. Hotels are also available for guests staying in higher class rooms and for senior members, but there are many people who say that they could not enjoy an elegant stay at a hotel because it was full and noisy at certain times of the day.

Lounge Hyenas” Gobbling Up Free Food

This is not the only reason for the bad manners of Japanese people in lounges. The “Priority Pass,” which allows access to lounges at airports in Japan and abroad, has been deteriorating one after another over the past few years, partly due to its unusual usage.

For example, there are about 10 lounges and restaurants at Singapore’s Changi Airport that can be used with Priority Pass. Normally, one lounge can be used per boarding, but many passengers have “hit” several lounges in one boarding session, and Instagram and YouTube videos of this are abundant on the Internet.

Some people even stop by the “Japan Traveling Restaurant by BOTEJYU” in the domestic terminal at Kansai International Airport on both their way to and from the airport because they can eat at the restaurant for 3,400 yen. In addition, a buffet lunch (worth 3,850 yen) is available at the ALL DAY DINING GRANDE AILE restaurant in the Haneda Airport Garden, and when the author went there, most of the people around him were Priority Pass users.

It is still fresh in our minds that the Rakuten Premium Card, which was famous for its unlimited Priority Pass access, changed its rules in January 2013 to allow up to five free lounge visits per year and no access to restaurants and other facilities. The “Saison Gold American Express Card,” which was often mentioned as a card to switch from the Rakuten Premium Card, lowered the Priority Pass membership rank in November 2013, and now requires US$35 per lounge visit. Other cards also have a series of lounge access at airports, but no access to restaurants or refreshment facilities.

For example, travelers may fly on low-cost carriers (LCCs) and maximize the use of airport lounges with Priority Pass. In hotels, they stay in the cheapest rooms and eat almost exclusively in lounges.

People who behave in such a way roam around lounges like hyenas. They are “free food scavengers” who take advantage of the privilege of using the lounge and eat and drink. Some people even do not abide by the rule that they are not allowed to take food and drinks out of the lounge.

The heartrending cries of remote islanders who have “lost their livelihood

To the casual observer, the behavior of those who are called “ascetic monks” or “ascetic nuns,” who repeatedly fly the same section of an airplane in a single day, may seem bizarre. However, they are also customers of the airlines, as they have paid for the flights, which are not cheap.

Most recently, an article distributed on January 20 attracted a lot of attention. The article reported that on Tarama Island, one of the remote islands in Okinawa, the village of Tarama requested Okinawa Prefecture and the airlines to improve the situation, saying that islanders are unable to board airplanes.

Ryukyu Air Commuter (RAC), a member of the JAL Group, flies to Tarama Island twice a day on the Miyako-Tarama route. According to the article, the 50-seat plane was almost fully booked until the end of February with reservations apparently for “training” purposes by non-island residents. It is said that islanders’ hospital visits, shopping, work, and commuting to school have been hampered. Incidentally, the ferry takes about two hours to Miyakojima for one round trip per day, and there is a risk of cancellations.

In the case of Shugyo, the pattern is called “touch,” where the passenger turns back on the plane he/she came in on, and there is no economic benefit for the local people. Especially for remote islands, air travel is a valuable way of life, and it is a matter of life and death if they want to make reservations but cannot.

In response to this problem, JAL announced that the ongoing “Double Life Status Point Campaign” will no longer apply to flights on the Miyako-Tarama route newly booked on or after February3.

The Haneda-Izu Oshima route, previously operated by ANA, has become increasingly popular with SFC passengers, but at the same time, the majority of the passengers on the route were traveling for training purposes, making it difficult for islanders to make reservations on the route as a “daily fare. As a result, ANA discontinued the system of earning status based on the number of boardings. Later, this route became unprofitable due to the rivalry with high-speed jet liners, and ANA withdrew from this route at the end of October 2003.

Rush of changes…Mileage training is coming to an “end

Foreign airlines have the same status system as Japanese airlines. Senior member status can not be maintained semi-permanently with only an annual membership fee, but is basically renewed every year, and if you do not continue to fly every year, you will easily revert to a flat membership. In fact, this is the global standard.

In addition, some overseas airlines have separate lounges for “business class” and “economy class senior members. For example, at the base airports of Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Turkish Airlines, I assume that the lounges were intentionally separated to avoid complaints from high unit price business class passengers because of the different manners of the passengers.

JAL revised the rules for obtaining JGC in 2012, changing the requirement from 50 flights in a year to a total of 300 flights, raising the hurdle for new JGC holders. In addition, ANA has already announced that it will also drastically revamp its fare structure starting May 19 this year, and we can see some “rush” training until May 18, the current system.

As a matter of fact, those who frequently fly and pay are the top customers, and the membership system is, so to speak, a way to “enclose” the best customers. On the other hand, there have been slight changes over the past few years, such as a decrease in the mileage credit rate for air travel and the discontinuation of the annual upgrade points granted to ANA’s senior members as of 2014.

Although airlines and hotels have taken measures to maintain the “balance” between the original purpose and other uses to the maximum extent possible, they may be reaching their limits. These rules may be revised, but they will never get better.