This is my first internal flight within Japan. I did not plan for this when I first came to Japan. However, when I was in Japan, I discovered that a friend of mine was still in Fukuoka. So I decided to visit him. I booked this ticket about 2 weeks before, and I was lucky that I was still able to get the Tokowari fare, which is one of the cheapest fare. I was actually surprised that even this was the cheapest fare, it turned out that with the fare I paid, this was equivalent to a fare that we would normally pay for flights of about 2+ hours in Europe.
NGO-FUK
Date: 25 May 2007
NH239 (all economy service)
Dept. Time: 20.35 (delayed until 20.50)
Seat: 1K
B737-800
This was my first time here in Japan leaving early from office. I left about 16.50 in order to make the 5 mins walk to the station to catch the direct bus to the airport. Actually this is a very convenient service for this rather small city and it takes about 1h30m in good traffic to the airport, stopping various times in certain long term parking area of the city. Today the bus was quite empty, in total less than 8 passengers after all the stops to the airport. It was about 6 Euro one way (they are having some sort of promotion fare until end of September.). Traffic was not too bad during this rush and rainy day. I was commented once in the bus for talking on my mobile (did not realize that we are not suppose to do that here, ironically talking to KLM Japan over my sort of MR to Singapore on NW). Anyway, arrived at the airport at about 18.30, about 1h30 mins before my flight leaves.
I was the only one without any big luggage. I was impressed with the airport, it was still looking very new, but sadly, it was the same design as all new airports these days.
I had to go up about 3 escalators before I reached the departure check-in area. Arriving at the top of the escalator, you are at the somewhat middle point, between the domestic and international departure. It was very close to the NWA check-in counters which was handling flights that night to Guam and Manila.
Followed the domestic banners (very big) and it was just ANA and JAL islands. Went directly to the self check-in machine at the ANA counter. Sadly, everything was in Japanese, but I had gone to the ANA website beforehand to see the check-in options and I knew that I had to insert my credit card into the machine. Again everything was in Japanese. I had to get a ANA agent to help me. Unfortunately, her English was not very good. However, I managed to get her to change me from 7A to 1K and insert my FF card.
After that, I made a small walk around the airport. Here are a few more pictures of the departure terminal.
Proceeded to the security check area and even though they were implementing the liquid rule like in EU, they were not very strict about it as I had with me bottles over the 100ml rule. Luckily I got through without any problem.
The waiting area was nothing much to shout about. Not much shops in there.
Do I decided to walk around a bit, but soon I got tired of it. Also what was irritating was that there was this gap between the windows the metal beams, so it was impossible to take any good shots without the light reflection. Here are some of my attempts at it.
Decided to go to the gate area, and I saw that it was actually equipped with self FF card machines. I played around with one. Below are a few shots of the gate area, which is shared by ANA and JAL.
While I was at the gate, they were boarding already the earlier flight to FUK. Tired getting on that, but was told it was completely full. After the flight left, the agents left and the gate area was empty. About 30 mins before departure time, the new set of agents started preparing the gate for the flight. I noticed that boarding was exactly 10 mins before departure time.
About 15 mins before departure time, there were some announcements, again all in Japanese. I approached the gate and was told that the flight would be 10 mins late due to the late arrival of the aircraft. Soon, it was time to board. They started the boarding process with the ANA elite members and *G. I thought I will take the chance and board together since I did not understand the announcements in Japanese. They did not even check if I was an Elite member, and managed to board. I know this is not nice..but..
I was one of the first to board and the FA was just getting ready to greet the passengers with sweets and wet towels. But, since I was the first, I was in fact greeted first by the person manning the airbridge. I made my way to my seat, which I found out was not one of the best choice of seat due to divider.
Anyway, after that everyone just kept streaming in. I think the Japanese are very fast in boarding as I hardly saw the line stopping due to passengers trying to fit their luggage overhead. Boarding was completed in actually less than 10 mins and doors were closed. The whole time, the purser was greeting the passengers with sweets and the wet towels.
A few shots of the closing door process.
After that, the FA’s distributed blankets to those that wanted it, unexpected for this 1h+ flight. The purser, double checked the door twice repeating to herself and pointing to each corner and side during the securing period. As observed on my JAL flight.
View from my seat
Soon, we pushed backed and they started with the safety demonstration. This was done manually. I was very shocked that everything was done only in Japanese. Isn’t this against IATA rules?
Here is a shot of the FA during the demonstration and the safety card.
Saw a Korean 747 preparing for her flight back to Seoul.
I saw also the Qantas plane and lots of ANA and JAL planes. After a rather short taxi, we had a powerful take off into the night sky of NGO.
The seatbelt sign did not turn off until after about 15 mins into the flight. I guess this was due to the slight turbulence we had after the initial climb. As soon as the chime came on, the FA’s sprang into action. The purser made some announcement, again in Japanese, smiling all the time. At the same time, they went round with blankets again. After that, they disappeared into the galley to prepared for service. They came out with the cart, and at this point, the FA discovered that I could not understand Japanese. So, she was nice to tell me that the flight would be delayed in arrival. I was surprised that they were only serving drinks. This makes actually domestic flights in US not too bad, since you do usually get snacks with your drink too. Furthermore, we got only a ¾ filled cup, which in one gulp was gone.
Since there was nothing interesting, I tried to get some shuteye. Very soon, we were starting our descend into FUK. The cabin was prepared for landing. I was informed by my friend earlier that the airport was very near to the city, so it was quite nice landing with all the lights around. It was like landing into Lisbon airport, but with more neons.
I noticed that there was actually two terminal on either side, and later learnt that one side was for domestic and the other international. Nearing to our parking stand I wanted to take a few snapshot, but I was shocked that the purser shouted to me in English that it was prohibited. Embarrassing. I quickly kept my camera away. But I was shocked that it was not allowed, my only other experience on this was with Alitalia, but for a Japanese airline, I did not know.
I was out from plane to the teminal in less than 5 mins. We actually just landed 5 mins later than scheduled. Met up with my friend and went downtown.
After a nice weekend on Kyushu island, it was time for my return trip.
FUK-NGO
Date: 27 May 2007
NH236 (all economy service)
Dept. Time: 19.30 (delayed until 20.15)
Seat: 7H
B737-700
I decided to go to the airport earlier because I just realized yesterday evening when I checked the bus times that I will be landing in NGO 10 mins before the bus leaves from the airport back to the city where I lived. So I wanted to try and get again a seat in the front row.
I went to the airport again with the subway, and had to take two escalators up to the departure area.
Outside of departure area (city view in the background)
I was greeted by a very busy departure area.
It was just packed with people and when I looked at the information board, it was full of delayed flights. I went again directly to the self-service check in machines and with the help of my friend, he guided me through the check-in process. I went directly than to an agent to try and get a seat change, but sadly I was told that it was a full flight and she could not change anything. I checked again the information board, and I saw that my flight was actually delayed 30 mins, so I was in a way glad cause this reduced my waiting in NGO for the next bus. I said my good byes and lined up for security check. Here is a shot of the line.
Again here I did not get stopped for my liquid limit. In the line next to mine, there was this Caucasian guy who was really strange. He had with him a decorated old vacuum cleaner which he pulled like his pet and handcuffs as bracelets. He was the hippie looking type. After security check, I noticed that he was still at security arguing with the agents there, I was not sure what it was over since I was out of hearing range.
The departure lounge after the security check was a bit better compared to NGO. There were more shops here, however, again, the gap between window and metal poles.
The departure lounge was really packed with people, and I saw at many of the gates that I passed on my way to mine with flight delays. When I arrived at my gate, I approached the agent to ask why we had a delay, and I was informed again due to the late arrival of the aircraft. Since I was tired due to the whole day walking, I just sat and looked at human traffic around me.
I remembered that I had to use the self FF machine to insert my FF number. A lady before me was using it and in the end it did not seem to work. I thought I would give it a try and it had the same result as her. We both looked at each other and shrugged.
I saw that later, my flight departure was delayed for a further 20 mins. At this point, I was a bit worried in case of any further delay which means I might miss my last bus. Luckily, 10 mins before the new departure time, boarding call started. Again, the same priority boarding was given to Elite members, and I made myself elite again. No words were spoken again. I was one of the first to board and again was greeted at the door by the purser with the usual sweet and wet towel.
For the first time after so many times on a plane, I made one of the worst mistakes, I was in the wrong seat. I was thinking that mine was a window. I just sat there and after taking a few shots, I only realized that I was suppose to be in the aisle. A view shot
Luckily my seat mates had not yet arrived. I shifted to my actual sit and noticed that the man across me was an ANA Diamond member. I thought he was someone important cause there was an FA paying all her attention to him since the time I boarded, talking to him for a very long time (which I did not understand anything). Soon, the people just came in. One thing that I noticed was that people never got up to let anyone into the window seat. I think I was the only one who did that when my seat mates arrived. I have no idea how they can get in there without the person in the aisle or middle seat getting up.
Some shots of the cabin
At this point, I did not take any more shots because it was jus the same service as before. The only difference is the use of the overhead automated monitors for the safety service. During the flight, they also had inflight entertainment, with luckily a channel with English. Flight time was again around 1h+ with the same drink service. We landed around 1 hour later than the original time and I still had about ½ hour before my last bus departed. It was only the next day that I read about the computer glitch in the ANA system at Haneda that caused all the delays.
Verdict: ANA was ok. I was only surprised by the domestic service, since this is Asia. But as I experienced it on JAL and now ANA, I think it is normal However, I was told that what I paid was cheap compared to taking the Shinkansen (the bullet train) which would have cost double. I had planned to fly up to Sapporo, but I decided to cancel the plan for just a weekend visit since a return would have cost me just a bit less than what can be bought between Europe and New York. However, my next short hop would be from NGO to SIN via NRT with NW. This will be a sort of MR since prices are quite nice for this short weekend in SIN.
