Flying with AirJapan

Outbound · 25 February 2024

This was our first trip with AirJapan. At one point, I wondered if it might also be our last.

We chose AirJapan because it launched just as we were planning our trip. We weren't letting the children use screens yet, so even on a full-service airline, we wouldn't have been able to settle down with a film ourselves. We thought we'd try something new. It was an ANA subsidiary, after all, and we hoped it would live up to that name.

We came across several restrictions when booking. The front row had a 2-3-2 layout, but children couldn't sit in the pairs of seats. And, as we understood it at the time, there was no stroller gate-check service.

On departure day, recent events had us nervous enough to keep checking the flight before ours. Then, at the check-in counter, the staff told us that if we wanted to put our stroller in the overhead compartment, it needed to be fully enclosed in a bag.

I felt this was something we should have been told beforehand, though I'm not sure whether it was standard practice across airlines. Luckily, we'd brought a bag anyway, because we couldn't attach a carrying strap directly to our stroller.

In the end, we wheeled the stroller all the way to our seats. We were allowed to board early because we were travelling with young children, which made folding it and putting it away a little less hectic.

Front-row seats, and a quiet flight for Mum and Dad

Apart from the delay, the staff handled everything well during the flight. The aircraft was still new, and overall it was a good experience.

I hadn't ordered any food, as I'd planned to eat in the lounge while we waited. But seeing meals being served still made me hungry. I found myself opening the menu on my phone again and again.

The little ones made this flight easy for us. They fell asleep as we took off, woke up 1 hour before landing, and weren't fussy at all. 😁😀 So we could save the toys we'd brought for the flight home. I expected that one to be much harder, since it wouldn't be their bedtime.

A two-hour delay, and the Gundam visit we missed

Our flight was delayed by a little over 2 hours, so the day's plans didn't work out as we'd hoped.

We'd booked our Airport Limousine pickup for 9:45 a.m. and nearly missed it. Luckily, our driver kindly waited, even though he had another customer that afternoon. He did pick up the pace a little on the drive.

I'd kept the rest of our plans fairly loose, knowing that travelling with children meant being flexible about time. We'd also chosen a hotel right by Tokyo Station, our base for getting around on this trip.

But the delay meant we had to cancel our visit to see Gundam, even though we'd already bought the tickets. We'd allowed extra time for the children, but it simply wasn't enough once the flight delay was added in.

If delays like this were going to keep happening, I wasn't sure we'd fly with AirJapan again. 😪

Return · 4 March 2024

✨ “A completely different story” ✨

Our AirJapan flight home from Narita to Bangkok on 4 March left on time and reached Suvarnabhumi about 30 minutes early. Quite a change from the 2-hour delay on the way out. I wondered if it helped that there was no Incheon flight on Mondays at the time.

Boarding was called at 17:15. I'd been a little too relaxed and reached the gate at around 17:25. Our gate that day, 85B, was quite a walk, so it was worth allowing extra time. There was already a long queue when we arrived. We hurried to sort out the little one's nappy, then rushed onto the plane.

The stroller confusion was much the same. One member of staff at the gate seemed to say they could check it for us and asked us to fold it. Then another came over and told us to carry it aboard and put it in the overhead compartment as before. 😐

The children were a different story this time too.

On the way to Japan, they'd been so quiet and well behaved that the passenger behind us even complimented them. On the way home, though, they had their noisy moments, and Mum and Dad were getting worn out. We brought out every toy we had, but each one only helped for a while.

They finally fell asleep about 3 hours after takeoff. To anyone who was on that flight with us, I'm sorry. 🙏

Next time, I think late-night flights in both directions might work better for us.