I had this happen for the first time in Japan recently, with wife and kid in tow (we had been to the Snow and Ice Festival). JAL flight from CTS-KIX leaving at noon, with a KIX-SYD flight leaving at 8pm. A comedy of travel errors (on our part). Sorry if this is a bit long.
There had been substantial snowfall in Sapporo in the 36 hours before we were to leave - so much so that the day before we left, the airport buses were cancelled. Because of this our hotel advised us to take the train to the airport (with the usual Japanese earnestness) - the trains "always run".
Got to the JR station 2 hours before departure time - all trains cancelled. Flap around for a bit trying to work out alternatives. Turns out the buses were running! Hike across to the nearest bus stop (me, wife, 2.5 yo and bags). Wait 15 mins for bus. Bus arrives 10.45 am. Told by bus driver the trip out will take at least 70-80 minutes.
A few more minutes flapping. Then, a stroke of luck - there was another girl on the bus from Tokyo who spoke perfect English. After consulting her local boyfriend, she suggested we all share a taxi out to the airport, which should be faster. The taxis were 15 metres from the bus stop and we thought we were saved! Alas, our driver would have been perfect for Driving Miss Daisy (I've since nick-named him Senna-san). Even when we got onto the expressway, which was wet but clear of snow, trucks were passing us, buses were passing us, even guys on bikes would've passed us (almost).
Urging him to go faster, through our newfound interpreter/travel companion, we got the response 'it's not safe' - despite ample evidence to the contrary every 2 seconds in the right lane. We were getting quite anxious as the best ETA Senna-san could give us was 11.45am, way too late for the normal check-in - bearing in mind that we had enough hand luggage to start a travel collection and one huge bag (the rest we had takkuyubin'd to Osaka).
In the taxi, I tried to find a number for JAL. Not that easy even with google - got a number for a call centre in Sydney, but it was closed on a Sunday. Eventually, a stroke of luck found us the number for CTS airport. Rang, passed around until they found an English speaker - and we managed to relay to the local staff that 1) we were on our way 2) there were no other seats on later flights, being fully booked for the festival and 3) we were stuffed if they couldn't hold the flight. They wouldn't promise anything, but did give us some hope by asking us how many checked bags we had (one, omitting it weighed 30kgs!).
The minutes ticked by - including 11.45am, at which point Senna-san tells us it will be another 10 minutes. Our hearts sink thinking we'll be stuck in Sapporo for probably 2-3 days, let alone re-arranging our flights back to Sydney. Slow he might have been, but he was accurate as we pulled up at 11.55 am (unfortunately at the domestic arrivals floor) The wife grabs the little one and hotfoots it upstairs to find the check-in staff, while I get to play sherpa. I have to say, I have a new found appreciation of well located escalators - everything near was stairs, which was pretty useless to me with 50kgs of luggage in 5 pieces.
Eventually I get up to the departure level, managing to miss 2 phone calls from the wife, to find her sprinting towards me calling loudly to hurry up. Immediately behind her are 4 or 5 JAL ladies, immaculately turned out in their uniforms. They have issued boarding passes, and were being reassured by wife that her husband was "just behind me" .. *cough* *cough*
We get barrelled through the security screening - which was very keystone kops. With the 5 JAL ladies hovering and telling the security people we had to get through, we went through with our hand luggage AND our checked bag. We have liquids, gels, a laptop, a tripod which resembles an extending police baton and scissors. Baggage is hastily ripped open to locate the offending items and then the whole lot is put through rescanned. After more anxious moments, and the JAL ladies radio-ing ahead to the departure gate and the plane, we start running to our gate. Of course this proves to be the other end of the terminal.
The run could have been something out of a movie - the wife has hand luggage and assorted bits taken out of bags; I have our suitcase, my backpack, another piece of hand luggage and the little one's Dorothy-the-Dinosaur bag. This leaves 2 JAL ladies with the little one. We are all trotting quickly (sprinting was out of the question) to the gate, and the JAL ladies are bravely carrying the little one - all 14 kgs of her. If we weren't so anxious it would have been hilarious. Calls of sumimasen and gomenasai echo through the terminal, and the JAL ladies pass the little one between them like relay runners - as one runs out of puff, another appeared to take her on.
We get to the gate and get waved through. Our suitcase gets all the way to the airbridge and is dumped out a hatch to be shoved in the cargo hold. We pile on, to the announcement 'we apologise for our late departure' and do the walk of shame to our seats, with about 270 pairs of eyes fixed on 2 very sweaty and flustered idiots, plus the little one. We bundle into our seats, jamming everything under our feet, and the little one decides to announce brightly "we made the plane". At this point, I think I almost wanted to have missed the flight.
Anyway, top marks to JAL and their staff at Sapporo. They went completely out of their way to make sure we made that flight - I am confident in saying that almost every other airline would've shrugged their shoulders and said 'too bad'.
It was a combination of events that left us so late; each event seemed minor but together they almost left us high and dry. Lessons learned - leave more time; don't assume the train will run; find a faster taxi driver; and make sure you have the local airline phone number.
PS. The flight left at 12.10pm.
