標題: [Flight Report] NH 1202 Okinawa - Fukuoka [打印本頁] 作者: hkskyline 時間: 2026-3-10 07:26 標題: [Flight Report] NH 1202 Okinawa - Fukuoka Satisfied with my taste of Japan's outlying islands and eager to see Mount Fuji again after almost 2 years, today's itinerary would take me from Naha to Fukuoka, where I have a short transfer time of 55 minutes to connect to Haneda. I originally did not intend to do this 2-step itinerary, but the direct flight from Okinawa to Haneda was not available for redemption.
It's a short ride on the monorail from Naha's city centre to the airport, which is at the end of the line.
Reaching the airport, there are signs on how to get to your respective check-in area, with JAL on one side and ANA on the other. It's a bit of a walk to get there though.
I had received notification on my phone earlier that my flight to Fukuoka would be delayed today, so I headed straight to the customer service counter to see if I could still make my tight connection, or better yet, move to a direct flight to Haneda. The 20-minute delay now reduced my connection time to 35 minutes.
Staff reassured me I would make my next flight and politely sent me away. I then moved next door to the kiosks to check my bag in using automated technology.
A bit annoyed I'm trying to prevent a misconnection from happening and potentially sorting out a mess in Fukuoka, I do understand in Japan, while customer service is spectacularly good, staff are not empowered to make common sense overrides and go strictly by the book. So let's see how this all turns out ...
Scanning the departure boards, there are many domestic flights to the Japanese "mainland". Apparently, ANA has 2 flights to Tokyo within 20 minutes of my departure to Fukuoka. Tokyo and Fukuoka are the most popular domestic flights here this morning.
Japanese airports typically have observation decks, and this one has a fairly large one with really wide views of the tarmac. It is free to enter although I had to go through a turnstile.
Reaching air-side, I went up to the windows to see if there are more unique birds besides Japan's duopoly airlines.
Unfortunately, by the time I reached the gate, the delay got worse and now we're 30 minutes behind. I went up to the counter and staff reassured me I would still make my connection. So a domestic to domestic connection is possible within 20 minutes in Japan?
I settled into my seat just shy of 10:30am. I snatched up a left window beforehand (seat reservation was free as part of the original redemption) hoping to get some good views of Fukuoka on arrival. We ended up pushing back at 10:47am, almost a full hour behind schedule, and chances of catching my Haneda flight are now slim.
The IFE had a lot of entertainment options for this short domestic flight. The safety video featured Pokemon but also reminded us not to take photos of other passengers and crew without permission, a strange statement and a first on all my travels.
We took off towards the south at 10:58am for the hour and a half flight to Fukuoka. Luckily, the weather was not a washout this morning and I got pretty decent views of Okinawa as we looped around to continue north.
I haven't taken Japanese airlines for a number of years and I wasn't sure what to expect on their domestic flights. For comparison, sandwiches were offered on my last short flight from Taiwan so I was expecting a meal of some sort for today's longer flight.
However, it seems Japanese airlines have taken a page from cost cutting. We were only offered a drink and no other food. The crew had a laminated sheet showing the options. Besides the typical water and juice, the was a beef soup available, which I picked out of curiosity. It was fairly salty!
We skirted along Kyushu's western coast and I could spot Nagasaki's island airport below. So it was a bit strange that the remaining flight time seemed a bit long with Fukuoka not far away.
Following the flight map, it soon became obvious we would be taking a very long approach into Fukuoka with a number of loops in an S-shape. By now, I pretty much gave up hopes of making my Haneda flight. It was a bit hazy out there as well so I couldn't make out the city in the distance.
We landed at 12:32pm, almost an hour behind. By now, the next flight to Haneda would be 2 minutes past its departure time.
I stepped onto the air bridge and surprisingly saw a staff holding a tablet with Haneda on it. Apparently, she was there for me! I was the only one on this flight continuing to Tokyo and she used her tablet to translate she will get me onto the next available flight and to pick up my baggage at the belt. She spoke some broken English but with the tablet, communication was not an issue and she was quite friendly and nice, typical of customer service in Japan.
I asked what time would I fly out and was given the NH 254 flight at 1:20pm. This would be a 50 minute delay from my original itinerary.
However, it would be a nuisance to me since I need to drag my luggage out. A sign on the luggage belt indicated the first bags would spit out at 12:55pm, so I was curious how I could even make that 1:20pm flight if I need to exit land-side to re-check in and go back through security. The staff seemed confident it would all be OK, and updated me later that flight was delayed by 10 minutes.
With my checked bag back in my hands, the staff led me to an empty check-in counter where she discussed with the staff there what to do. It took them a bit of time for them to issue me a new boarding pass and to tag the bag again. By the time it was all done, it was 1:15pm but they seemed completely oblivious to the timeline and the big bag left the counter as if it's any normal departure. The flight is only due to depart at 1:30pm!
The staff then led me back across security. The lines were minimal so I went through pretty quickly without any additional priority. My new flight's gate was right outside security and they were starting to board. I made it.
The staff mentioned I would get 2000 yen compensation and I was impressed with their service recovery. Later, I would receive an SMS with details on how to claim that money.
It's hard to believe I could go from boarding pass to boarding in 15 minutes. It seems any worries about short transfers in Japan are not warranted. I would eventually re-unite with my checked bag at Haneda so even that made it onto the plane in such a short time. Amazing.
