Japan Airlines has announced the end of inflight shopping on its domestic flights and a shift to a fully online format starting on March 1, 2026.
The airline cites smoother onboard operations and quicker turnaround times at airports as reasons. Many Japanese domestic flights have less than an hour of flying time, and this move hopes to lift the burden that the inflight shopping takes on flight attendants conducting service on such short trips.
Interestingly, the airline also noted that a sizable portion of customers already preferred and requested that inflight shopping products be sent to their home or other final destination, given the lack of bag space a passenger may deal with on an airplane. The online format can be expected to address this inconvenience.
International flights will still offer inflight shopping (duty-free), but passengers will also be able to access the online option. The airline began the online portal back in 2023.
Japanese carriers have struggled financially with their domestic operations since the pandemic. Although inflight shopping accounts for a minor portion of JAL’s domestic service, the airline is no doubt eager to cut areas of service when possible to reduce the burden of its money-losing endeavor of flying domestic flights.
I personally have never bothered with inflight shopping, but I understand the appeal of the exclusive items offered only onboard.
With that said, they’re also a major reason for JAL’s slow service on international flights. It’s not uncommon for the airline to turn the lights on with about 3 hours remaining on a transpacific flight, serve food, and then leave the lights on for the remaining 2 hours trying to sell their inflight shopping products.
But given duty-free benefits, I don’t see it going away on international flights for some time.
Featured image by the author.
