Return Airfare

All JETs who meet the listed conditions below qualify for a travel allowance for their return flight home. The participant must complete and hand in a “JET Return Travel Itinerary” or related form by a deadline stipulated by the participant’s contracting organization. This deadline may vary between JETs.

Conditions for Airfare

1. The JET has completed his or her term of appointment.
2. The JET does not enter into a subsequent term of employment in Japan within one month of completing their term of appointment.
3. The JET will return to his or her home country within one month from the day following the end of the term of appointment. For example, if the JET’s contract ends on August 6, 2024, the JET must arrange a return flight no later than September 6, 2024.

Please note that this travel allowance is based on the most logical route and means of travel and includes domestic travel to the airport and the cost of the flight. 

Private School JETs

General Guidelines for Private School Return Flights:

1. The exact method of how the return airfare is organized is up to the discretion of each CO.
2. However, the form “JET Return Travel Itinerary” must still be completed.
3. There are no overall deadlines for when this form or the entire process must be completed. This is up to your private school, so please discuss this with them as early as possible.
4. There is no mandated procedure for how airfare tickets will be procured. Your school may ask you to fill out the Itinerary Form and then purchase the tickets for you, or they may provide you with funds in a lump sum and ask for a receipt. They may have alternative procedures as well.
5. In principle, the route taken by the JET should mirror the original route taken when the JET arrived in Tokyo.
6. Flights should also be as direct as possible.
7. Departing JETs must leave within one month of their appointment ending.
8. JETs who enter into an employment contract in Japan after their appointment has ended are ineligible for return airfare.
9. JETs can leave when their appointment has ended. If you wish to leave on the day your appointment ends, then please consult with your CO as to whether this is permissible. If you wish to leave earlier, then you may need to work out an arrangement with your CO, such as using yearly paid leave or time-in-lieu.

Some of these points may conflict, especially points 5 and 6. It is up to your school to determine how this is organized.

Information regarding return airfares can be found in the following places, however the salient points have been stated above:

• General Information Handbook- ‘Return Airfare’, page 161; and
• After JET Guide- ‘Return Airfare’

Tokyo BOE (Public School) JETs

The Tokyo BOE purchases your return ticket on your behalf and then sends you your e-ticket. Information regarding requirements, deadlines, and schedule is sent out each year around the end of April to May. If you intend to decline the ticket provided to you, please submit the form “Notification of Intent to Decline Return Ticket” to your school.

Please email the Tokyo BOE PA if you have any inquiries.

<Notes>

• The Board of Education will try to ensure that you return home (to an officially designated airport) on the most direct flight. If no direct flight is available, we will select the route with the shortest number of transfers and/or least amount of layover time.

• It is not possible to return to an airport other than those officially designated for arrival in Japan. If there is a justifiable reason (the JET’s family moves, or the JET will attend graduate school in a different location, etc.), JETs may apply to change their flight home to a different, officially designated airport. Please inquire with your school in this case.

• Indicate your desired return date on the form titled “Return Air Ticket Application Form.” (The Board cannot guarantee that all JETs will get their first choice if the desired date has no flights available.) The JET cannot choose the airline, route, or flight number. In addition, although flights will primarily depart from Narita International Airport, there may be some cases where departures will be from the Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) , if there is a direct flight from the Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) to the JET’s home airport and seats are available.

• The Board of Education is only obliged to pay for return flights from Tokyo to your home country. Flights to or from other locations (ex: Kyoto after a sightseeing tour, South Korea after visiting family, etc.) will not be compensated.

• All flights will be restricted to economy class. This cannot be cancelled or changed after ticketing.
• After confirming your application form, the Board of Education will make a tentative flight reservation for you via a travel agency. Once the tentative reservation has been made, the Board of Education will ask for your confirmation through your school. After you have confirmed the details and are satisfied with the flight, the Board of Education will purchase the ticket on your behalf. You will not be able to cancel or change your flight after the ticket is purchased. Because the tentative reservation will expire after a period of time (from 3 to 7 days, depending on the type of ticket), the Board of Education will need to receive your confirmation as soon as possible. To make sure that your flight is booked smoothly, please approach your supervisor well beforehand to assure that you can communicate quickly. It is a good idea to share your contact information with your supervisor at this time to ensure that your supervisor will be able to contact you even if it is your day off or you are on a business trip and not at school. Please keep in mind that if the tentative reservation expires because your school has not contacted the BoE to convey your acceptance for any reason, the Board of Education will not be responsible.

• You will receive the funds for transport to the airport from your school on your final work day in cash.

• For non-American JETs returning home by way of the U.S., you must acquire a U.S. visa before you leave. The visa application process requires an interview at the American Embassy, which will be counted as a business trip. You will be reimbursed for the transportation cost to and from the embassy as well as the cost of the visa. Visa acquisition must be done after securing tickets. If you start the process before the tickets are purchased, the Board of Education may not be able to purchase them. Please wait to begin the visa application process until further instructions are given.
• If you wish to return home on the same flight as a family member, please consult with your school, who will inform the BoE.
• In addition, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus, changes may be made. We appreciate your understanding.
• Each country has its own entry requirements. Please check your embassy's website for the latest information.