A memorable flight home with JAL

I've already shared how the flight to Japan went. Now for the journey home. We chose another late-night flight, this time with Japan Airlines. I only had so many miles to use, so we'd ended up with a different airline in each direction.

A helping hand before we'd even boarded

We started to feel good about this flight while we were still waiting to check in. The staff were cheerful and chatted with the children. When they noticed we needed a hand while waiting to check our bags, they came over straight away.

The children seemed happy too, even if they only understood parts of the conversation. 😊

As on the way out, we checked the stroller at the gate. The staff attached a baggage tag for us.

There was one thing I was a little worried about. Because we were travelling on award tickets, JAL told us that on this occasion we couldn't pay extra for Preferred Seats or seats with more legroom, unlike with Thai Airways. I couldn't help wondering whether the children might disturb the passengers sitting in front of us.

The JAL staff helped put my mind at ease. They told us they'd given us seats in the second row, just behind the Preferred Seats. That sounded like a good spot for us, and I appreciated them taking our worry seriously.

Once we'd settled the children into their seats, a crew member came over with toys and asked if they needed anything else, perhaps a blanket. It was another small thing that made us feel looked after.

A little while after takeoff, the children began falling asleep one by one. I could relax a little and grab a nap myself.

One little question made mealtime much easier

When it was time for the meal service, the crew did something else that really impressed me. They came over and asked first:

“Would you like your meals first? We can bring the children's when they wake up, or keep them for later if they're still asleep.”

Oh, I loved this! On our outbound flight, we'd been given all 4 meal boxes at once. Mum and Dad could eat, of course, but we also had to balance the children's unopened meals. It was a bit of a juggling act. We hadn't wanted to turn them down either, in case the children woke up hungry. 😅

In the end, our youngest, aged 2 years 6 months, slept right through until we were nearly ready to land.

Then came the part I was most nervous about: would there be tears when it was time to land? On the way out, the crew had asked us to put our youngest in the seat and fasten the seat belt. Our little one was still breastfeeding, sometimes while drifting in and out of sleep. Having to leave Mum's arms had meant tears all the way to touchdown.

This time, we were bracing ourselves for the same thing. But on this particular flight, the crew member seemed to take a look at the situation and allowed Mum to keep holding our little one. Everything stayed quiet, and I let out quite a sigh of relief.

Our stroller was waiting at the aircraft door

Once the aircraft had come to a complete stop, we went to collect our stroller. The staff had it waiting at the aircraft door, so we didn't have to walk to baggage claim to get it.

What really stayed with me was that the airline had put another plastic bag over the stroller, even though I'd already brought our own fabric bag. I loved that. ❤️ I'm quite particular about keeping the children's things clean.

We opened the stroller, settled our still-sleeping little one into it, then walked over to collect our bags and head home with one less thing to worry about.

We finished the trip smiling. I'd worried about the seats and about the children waking up and disturbing the other passengers, but it all worked out well. The crew's small, thoughtful gestures made the journey so much easier for us.

Five stars from us for this flight home. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read about the outbound leg of this trip—flying TG682 with the children ↗