Imagine pushing a button, opening a capsule and discovering the destination of your next trip.
This is what Peach Aviation has been offering since August, a low cost Japanese company specializing in domestic flights.
The airline has installed vending machines in the Osaka business district and in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
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Gachapons, these surprise capsule dispensers, are very popular in Japan.
They usually contain games, figurines or key rings.
The airline, she decided to fill them with plane tickets from Narita airport in Tokyo, and to the Okinawa region and that of northern Hokkaido prefecture.
After paying 5,000 yen (38 euros), players receive mileage points worth 6,000 yen (45 euros), to be used only to order a ticket to the destination listed in the capsule.
The capsule also contains a small badge and a mission that they must complete upon arrival.
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Over 3000 capsules sold in three months
Cooking a traditional dish, dressing up as an "Osaka clown", eating until you fall to the ground or even identifying a strange object on the Ishigaki coast ...
"We are constantly looking for new missions, so that they do not become outdated and boring, ”
says Shuntaro Kosasa, project manager relayed by Vice.
When the first machine was installed in Osaka in August, the company hoped to sell at least one capsule per day.
But the success was amplified by social networks, and more than 3,000 surprise thefts were sold according to the American media.
“The stimulation comes from the excitement of not knowing what destination you're going to have,”
says Shutaro Kosasa.
According to him, this feeling missed many people during the successive lockdowns.
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Like most airlines, Peach Aviation has suffered from the pandemic.
It had to reduce the number of thefts, and announces a loss of 9.4 billion yen (70 million euros).
If these distributors are not going to make up for the losses, the company is delighted with the enthusiasm generated.
It even plans to install other machines in other cities in Japan.
