Welcome to the third in a series of reports I wrote on a recent trip to Japan. In part one I take a Lufthansa Regional Jet from Basel to Frankfurt in Business Class and then have the pleasure of sampling Asiana’s excellent First Class service from Frankfurt to Seoul. You can read that report here: Asiana First Class: Via Frankfurt To Seoul (by Knightsofmalta Jun 3 2012 in Trip Reports)

In part two I take a short hop across the Yellow Sea from Seoul in South Korea to Fukuoka in Japan. You can read that report here: Asiana Business Class From Seoul To Fukuoka (by Knightsofmalta Jun 3 2012 in Trip Reports)

Date: 28 May 2012
From: Fukuoka
To: Naha, Okinawa
Airline: Air Nippon for ANA
Aircraft: Boeing B 767-300
Class: Economy
Seat: 22H, aisle


GETTING TO THE AIRPORT

I spend the day exploring Fukuoka, a lively and vibrant city. It may not be as cool as Tokyo, but it certainly has its own charm. Most of all, its people are really friendly and many of them go out of their way to make a foreigner feel welcome. At around 16h00 I decide it is time to head for the airport. I still have loads of time to kill until my 18h30 departure. But I am simply too exhausted from all the walking to do anything else. It is a ten minutes walk to Hakata Station, from where I catch the Metro line number 1 for the two stops to the airport. With a journey time of only five minutes, this must really be the airport closest to any city I have ever visited.















AT THE AIRPORT

Check-in at one of the self-service devices is out of the question for me, as I have none of the information required to avail myself of the service. So I head over to a check-in counter, where a friendly check-in agent welcomes me. She takes my passport and starts hammering away at the keyboard like something I have never seen. After about five minutes of typing, she asks to see my e-ticket number, types some more and eventually informs me that I have 22H, an aisle seat on the right-hand row of two. She then proceeds to print my first boarding card for this flight. This one is green.





From there I head one floor up to security. You pick up a basket and place all your belongings into that. Before you put your things on the conveyor belt, you must scan your boarding pass. Subsequently the machine prints a second boarding card. This one is white and printed on flimsy cashier receipt type paper.

THE LOUNGE EXPERIENCE

Yes, indeed there is a domestic ANA lounge here. It is surprisingly large and beautifully finished in what I would refer to as Japanese minimalist design. It is very nice. Food options are limited to packets of Japanese crackers, and the drinks selection is limited. But is serves its purpose and the sofas are comfy enough for me to spend the time until boarding lounging about and catching up on the latest trip reports on airliners.net.











This here was vile and tasted of spinach.



On my way to the gate.













DEPARTURE

Boarding is somewhat cumbersome, to say the least. What ever happened to Japanese high-tech and efficiency? There are four attendants staffing the counter. Four does seem like a bit of an overkill, and to be honest, I do not think they are quite sure what they are all supposed to be doing there either. One girl is making the announcements, to which all of them bow, while another shows us how to put the boarding pass on the scanner using an oversized cardboard model of the scanner and a huge plastic boarding pass. To watch her one might easily think she is playing to an audience of kindergarten kiddies. Another one wheels a sign to the front of the gate and flips it from ‘service’ to ‘pre-boarding’, to ‘premium boarding’ before eventually an announcement is made that general boarding has started and the corresponding sign has been flipped to ‘general boarding’. As I pass the gate and scan my green boarding card, a third one is issued, this time a pink one, which is subsequently handed to me by one of the four gate attendants. What on earth is the point of having self-service boarding anyway, and what with the three boarding passes in different shapes and sizes?

Like everything in Japan, boarding a plane is an orderly affair. At the entry door to the plane, there is another ANA employee, this time one of the James-Bond-You-Only-Live-Twice-With-A-Crash-Helmet-On variety, holding a sign up that explains which seat numbers are on which aisle.





THE CABIN

The cabin looks well maintained. Only the old angular overhead bins betray the real age of the aircraft. The distribution of the passengers in the cabin is strange. The forward Economy Class cabin is packed. The rear Economy Class cabin though, is only full in the front part. Towards the back there are much less passengers and there are quite a few rows in between the two aisles that are totally empty.

As soon as the fasten seat belt sign is turned off after take-off, I walk towards the back of the plane, originally with the intention of going to the loo. That is when I spot 36A, a window on the left side of the aircraft and above all, behind the wing. So I quickly return to my seat, grab my belongings and change seats. Brilliant, total bliss in fact!





























THE SERVICE

There is not really very much to say about this flight in terms of service. The crew seem pleasant enough and take their job, especially the safety bit, very seriously. No more, no less.

THE MEAL

Catering on this flight consists of drinks only. Luckily I bought myself a couple of sandwiches on my way to the gate. There is also a menu with buy on board items. But when the cabin attendant reaches my row, it turns out there is no food for purchase at all in Economy Class but at least the drinks are for free. I am not quite sure what to make of that, but thanks for the free apple juice anyway. The sandwiches are very tasty, thanks very much.







ARRIVAL

The views outside are lovely.









Unfortunately it gets dark very early down south. By the time we are approaching Naha it is nearly 20h00 and pitch dark. Further more, the crew do not dim the lights for arrival, despite the darkness outside, making photos perfectly impossible.

There are these containers in the arrivals hall for you to dump your baggage tags.



GETTING IN TO TOWN

Well, strictly speaking I am not going into town. I am heading for Manza Beach, about one hour’s drive away from the airport. During the low seasons, now, the last bus leaves Naha airport for Manza at 15h00, long before my flight had even left Fukuoka. So I have no other choice but to pay the EUR70 for a taxi.

This concludes this report. I like the ANA brand and I like the Japanese way of doing things. On this occasion however, I have to say I was somewhat taken aback by how complicated and cumbersome flying domestic in Japan is. Three boarding passes is simply pointless, as is having a pro forma automated boarding process if you have to show your boarding pass and passport to an attendant again anyway.

Next up will be the trip in Asiana Business Class from Naha back to Incheon and then the return trip to Europe.