Japan Airlines has been offering these Dokokani Mile random trip redemptions since 2016 with a simple concept, exchange your Mileage Bank points for flights to an unknown destination.
How does this work? Well, it’s part of a random trip craze gripping Japan currently with people signing up to go to places that they wouldn’t normally expect to go to as part of the adventure.
Looking back, it was an instant hit on both experience and price. A normal award round trip ticket would normally require 12,000 JMB miles, but with the Dokokani Mile redemptions, an award round trip ticket could be exchanged for just 6,000 JMB miles.
Sadly though, Dokokani Mile redemptions are only available for Japan-based members of JAL’s Mileage Bank frequent flyer program, however, the ‘lottery’ arguably offers the cheapest round ticket redemptions in the world.
Table of contents
How Did A Dokokani Mile Come To Be?
The airline was one of the pioneers when it came to the idea of a Dokokani Mile roundtrip to “somewhere” for a fraction at just 6,000 JAL miles. Which now has been replicated by competitors in both the aviation and rail space.
In fact, in 2018 the programme got so much attention that JAL announced that the Dokokani Mile would extend south in what would now be called the “Southern Islands Edition” – opening up the possibility to travel to Okinawa.
In many ways, the purpose of the Dokokani Mile was to help locals to explore parts of Japan that people wouldn’t normally visit. Boosting the local economy in the process, a part that Peach Aviation has developed further recently with their “missions”.
How to Book A Dokokani Mile Trip?
Booking is pretty simple, so long as you follow the rules on the JAL website.
That said, there are two key things to note:
- There is an upper limit to the number of applications accepted per day; and
- There is an upper limit to the number of times you can re-search in a day.
In an interesting twist, and similar to that of the JAL Explorer pass in that you can pay to upgrade to a business or first-class ticket at the airport if there are seats available.
Departing Airports
The award option is currently available out of select airports. Departure points are Tokyo (Haneda), Osaka (Itami), Osaka (Itami/Kansai), and Fukuoka only for OG ‘Dokokani Mile’. With Okinawa (Naha) and Kagoshima only for ‘Dokokani Mile South Island’
As for destinations, all direct flights from the airports are part of the promotion.
When to Book A Dokokani Mile Trip?
Dokonimo Mile tickets can be booked from five days to one month ahead of the planned departure (except for some blackout dates) with a maximum stay of 10 days.
You can apply for up to 4 seats with one application. Although technically it is 4 adults and 4 children in total, and 2 infants accompanied by an adult.
The blackout dates are noted on JAL’s website.
Booking Locations
After selecting the departure airport, dates, timeframes, and number of passengers etc. JAL proposes 3 or 4 possible destinations when making a reservation depending on if you chose the south islands or ‘original’ decisions. Only direct flights can be booked.
From there, one can either proceed to book the award, or one can refresh the page (a limited number of times per day) to get a new set of destinations.
In either case, once the Dokokani Mile application has been submitted, one of the four destinations will be confirmed within three days of booking.
Booking Times
The best part of a Dokokani Mile ticket is the flexibility. You can make a booking from one week to one month ahead for the planned departure date with three to five-time frames to choose from (ie Morning, afternoon or evening)
As such, for example, one can maximize a weekend trip by selecting the 05:00-08:59 timeframe for a Saturday outbound flight, and 19:00-23:59 timeframe for a Sunday return flight next week.
Canceling Procedure
Canceling is pretty easy if you follow the JAL guidelines, however, the one point to note is that after the miles have been deducted you cannot be refunded even if you have not decided on a destination.
In Conclusion
Dokokani Mile redemptions are a pretty interesting concept and sadly it is only restricted to Japanese members of the mileage bank. Not surprising given that it offers a 50% discount on standard redemptions.
That said though, it is arguable that the JAL Explorer pass is the international equivalent as that too offers exceptionally cheap tickets which are also worth a look into.
I just wished more countries offered something similar to boost local economies.
