JR East Rail Passes Unavailable from JTB

[Guest ___]

Trying to order a JR East Rail Pass from JTB today only to find it unavailable and unselectable from the order page. All other rail passes can be selected and ordered, just not JR East. Attempted from two different browsers with the same result.

 

Can anyone else confirm.

[bikkuri bahn]

Is it really necessary to buy it from JTB?  I see you can even buy one after you arrive in Japan.

[Guest ___]

I have dealt with my local JTB office and have known the branch manager for years, as such, I try to give them a little business here and there when I can.

 

I did see on the JR East site where you can buy the JR Rail Pass after you arrive, but elsewhere on the site it also says that the Exchange Order can only be purchased outside of the Japan only, so it seems rather contradictory to me,

 

Historically, Exchange Orders can not be exchanged after three months, but I can't find it stating this on the JR-E site now either way, however it is listed on literally every other website I have seen selling JR and JR-E rail passes.

 

And seeing how I literally get off the plane at 1600, and need to connect to JR-E for Aizuwakamatsu for my hotel, the fewer hiccups the better.

 

UPDATE: JTB replied back stating the JR-E pass can only be purchased from JR-E in Japan now.

Edited May 22, 2015 by 写真家

[Jensen]

Good to know that JR East pass are available in Japan only.

I don't think there are much difference in getting exchange voucher or buying it at Japan. The only saving would be the time needed to pay for it. You still need to fill in the details, glance at the passport and etc.

[Guest ___]

I talked with a JR East rep the other day who said they are working on some corrections for the website, but seldom get feedback from customers about grammatical errors on the site and have corrected some of the contradictory information. They also did confirm that they do sell the rail pass in Japan, and from their website. I had also been informed that the decision to remove sales of rail passes from the ""national reservations system" was to have "better control of the customer needs"  I'm not sure what that means, but I was unable to access buying a rail pass from my aunt's Sabre loggin, but could access JR West and JR Hokkaido passes from it.

 

Good to know that JR East pass are available in Japan only.

I don't think there are much difference in getting exchange voucher or buying it at Japan. The only saving would be the time needed to pay for it. You still need to fill in the details, glance at the passport and etc.

 

I once went in to JTB thinking it was a quick process to  buy the exchange order for JR-S and was kindly told for future reference to order it online through them, or if I had to do it through the office directly, to email them a request and give them a few days. Apparently, it is a time consuming endeauver, On the day I walked in to buy it, I was asked to come back and pick the exchange order later in the afternoon.

 

Due to UA's schedule change, I'm arriving later than planned to NRT with a hotel reservation already in place for Aizuwakamatsu the same day. I do not want to spend a night in Tokyo any sooner than I have to so I will not be arrive in to Aizuwakamatsu till late already; therefore I do not really have any additional time to play around waiting at a JR office. The sooner I can swap an exchange order for a pass and go, the better. Any time I can save on paperwork is much needed..

Edited June 1, 2015 by 写真家