Tokyo to Rome, first class for $90 sounds too good to be true.
Those booking these “flights†might never leave the ground but they don’t feel short changed, as passengers on Japan’s leading “virtual reality†airline.
First Airlines offers time-strapped tourists “virtual holiday packages†with in-flight meals, top destinations and entertainment on offer – all in a 110-minute simulation.
Operating out of Ikebukuro, the simulation facility in downtown Tokyo is nowhere near an airport. But don’t let that ruin your experience. First Airlines needs no runway to visit destinations as far away as Paris, New York, Rome and Hawaii. The fact that you save 12 hours in the air, can only make the prospect more appealing.
Passengers have the choice of business class ¥4,980 or first class ¥5980 ($72-$90) fares with a slight difference in catering and seats. However, all passengers are treated to the same surreal experience.
The seats have been retrieved from the first class of an A310-340 and the meals are wheeled round in catering trolleys that wouldn’t be out of place in an Airbus galley.
The final piece of realism is provided by the cabin crew, all of whom are former airline workers, says First Air.
Catering is designed by destination. A menu of lamb cutlet, Puha thistle soup and Pavlova is offered on the virtual New Zealand service to Auckland.
The 50†TV sets installed above passenger’s heads are far more generous than anything you’ll find in the back of an air plane seat.
On arrival to their chosen “destinationâ€, passengers are handed VR headsets for a themed holiday experience. This might be a brisk stroll aux Champs-Elysées or on a Hawaiian beach.
The virtual airline’s president Hiroaki Abe said business has been good, with bookings doubling since the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
