Ewens-Downing Adventures in Asia

After spending the day with our friend Ernie, we left the splendor of the Peninsula Hotel in another Rolls Royce limo and headed out to the Hong Kong airport. Our flight was on All Nippon Airways (ANA), a Boeing 747, again in Business Class. The nose end of the plane was configured for first class seating, but the seats were sold as business. We had huge full reclining bed seats. We had our creature comforts. Little did we know that we would soon lose all concept of what comfort was.

Before we boarded in Hong Kong, the gate staff unfurled a large sheet of paper that had written text in Japanese and English warning us that there was a typhoon expected in Tokyo that evening and we might not be able to land there. Why they didn’t just cancel at that point still astounds us. But we took off on-time and settled in for about a 4 hour flight.

As we flew over Japan, there were numerous announcements over the P.A. from the pilot, sometimes with a broken English translation, sometimes not. The chief purser was one of our business class stewardesses and several times she came before the two of us and the other two non-Japanese speakers (in this case two German businessmen) and knelt down with a worried brow explaining that we might not get to Tokyo. At one point, they were talking about landing in Osaka, which is about 3 to 4 hours by train from Tokyo. But the plane forged onward toward Tokyo, only having to circle for about an hour before the pilot said he was going in for a landing. We started down and the landing gear came down, but then the pilot pulled up sharply and then announced we couldn’t land and were going to Osaka, about an hour away and that we should land there at 10:25 pm. Ron asked the purser what that meant–would we get a hotel? Again, she had a furrowed brow and said something like she didn’t know but not to worry. Of course, we thought, the airline would take care of us. We were, after all, in business class, right?

We landed in Osaka about when they said we would but then waited at the gate for an hour and 20 minutes. They kept saying that there was no ground personnel available (saying “so sorry”). Just before midnight, they let us off the plane to the jet way where ANA staff was handing out envelopes with $30,000 yen to each passenger (about $300), a danish and some orange juice. And that was it. Exhausted and confused, we plodded through to customs.

The customs agent wanted to know why Ron left the box saying where we were staying blank. He said basically that we didn’t plan on being in Osaka that night and had no idea where we were at or where we would stay. Next we claimed our luggage and went to the ANA service desk which was in complete chaos. Apparently quite a few other planes had landed in Osaka for this same reason. We seemed to be the last. So we of course had far fewer choices available to us.

There were no hotels available anywhere in Osaka, not at the airport and not in the center city (again “so sorry”). And besides, the last train for the center city had already left, so why did we want to go there, they asked? We thought maybe to get a train to where we were supposed to be? But the last train was at midnight and we were almost 45 minutes cab ride to the center city anyway.

Ron got the message loud and clear that it made no difference that we were in business class or that he has Gold status in the Star Alliance program (ANA is in with United, Luftansa, Singapore, etc). The $30,000 yen was it. (”So sorry”) They would make us a reservation the next morning for a flight to Tokyo that might or might not go because of the typhoon, and at our own expense. Because this was a weather diversion, they were through with us once the plane landed in Osaka.

We tried to consider our options, I called a Hilton in the center city where we’re staying in about 10 days. All they had was a smoking room for $400 and the executive suite for $1500 — those are in US dollars not yen. By the time we decided to try for a cab to the center city, they had sold the smoking room. At this point we had no other option but to spend what was left of the night at the airport. Oh, joy.

The airline had given out blankets and sleeping bags. While we were trying to find out what our options were other people had grabbed all the chairs in the airport and had settled in for the night. Someone had vacated one chair near an elevator so we grabbed it. While I went to the washroom Ron tried to get some sleep. But he was able to due to a repeating “bing bong” that the elevators make constantly. (So that’s why the other people left!) We finally ended up under an escalator on the floor, creating a little “cave” by barricading the entrance with our luggage. In under 24 hours we had gone from living the high life at the Peninsula to being essentially homeless people living under a staircase. Thanks typhoon X and ANA!

Somehow the morning managed to wind its way to around 5AM. As the sun rose we got in line to buy tickets with 300 other people noting that the display board still said “Questionable” as to whether the flight would go due to weather. When Ron purchased the tickets he asked the agent if we shouldn’t have just gotten rebooked to Tokyo at no charge. She said back in broken English “so sorry” that we’d need to pay and then talk to “International Services”. We finally boarded the flight, again being told that it might have to turn back to Osaka. Well, we finally did land in Tokyo but without a lot of translating of the announcements in Japanese.

We found a YCAT bus from to Yokohama, arriving about 8:30 and was told by hotel staff that a room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm. Though I was a member of their frequent stay club and guaranteed early check in we still got the “so sorry, room not ready”. We finally got taken to a room at 12:45 but it was smoking, “Oh, so sorry!” And another 20 minutes before they got us non-smoking. Ron crashed in bed no doubt dreaming of people telling him “so sorry,” not to be heard from for several hours. I jumped into the tub and took a bubble bath while admiring the view and winding-down. For the moment we were once again princes.

Above is the bathtub with the portal above it. Did I mention that we were staying at the Yokohama Royal Park hotel? It is on the highest floors of the tallest building in Japan, the Landmark Tower. Our room was on the 57th floor. My ears popped every time we went up and down in the elevator.

Looking back on this experience we can laugh about it. But at the time we were exhausted and completely vexed by the circumstances that were totally beyond our control. As they say in Japan, “cho utoshi.” So irritating! This event simply gave us a low point to go up from! After all, it couldn’t get any worse. (grin)

(By Ron) It turned out to be quite a walk from the lounge to the gate and by the time we got there, it was obvious that boarding had been in progress for a while. Not to worry–there was a separate boarding area for first class and business with a dedicated jetway. So we boarded our Boeing 747 and climbed the stairs to the second level where our seats in business class were.All we could say was “wow!”. It was a new aircraft and everything was immaculate, right down to the carpet. I lost count as to how many stewardesses there were. We sat down in roomy leather seats that reclined to beds and were immediately offered a “welcome” flute of champagne. That set the standard for the rest of the flight. Someone was always available to tend to our every need, and the stewardesses asked us often if we needed anything. The service was unlike anything else I’d experienced on any other airline.

But that was just the beginning. A short while into the flight, we were offered both a dinner menu and a drink menu which offered both wines and cocktails. We both opted for the fresh mixed “Singapore Sling”, again something I’ve not seen on other airlines. The wine list was quite impressive, too. I opted for a German Riesling with dinner, which was one of the best tasting that I can remember. Dinner was very good–we both had an oven roasted chicken breast with potato and fennel. This was a signature menu item from the San Francisco restaurant “Boulevard” and was prepared for our flight. Very tasty, and still moist and juicy, unlike most airline chicken dishes, and all served with impeccable flair. Dessert was amazing–a white custard that was like nothing we’d ever had.

I decided to try to get some ZZZ’s and Louis wanted to explore the high tech entertainment system. Bose noise canceling headphones were provided that were really great.

Off to sleep and woke up early since we were still on Pacific Time, but still about 3 hours to HKG. Breakfast was good, coffee was good, and the flight was about an hour early arriving. We were both kind of asleep as was the rest of the airport. We went through customs and only had to wait about five minutes at the carousel for our luggage, another perk for travelling business class.

Now where was the driver for the limousine to the hotel??

(By Ron) The time finally arrived to board our flight to Hong Kong. Because the traffic getting to the airport was so light, we had several hours at the airport before our departure time of 1:20 am. I was surprised that many of the people at the check in counters were headed to India. I guess when you’re going halfway around the world, it doesn’t matter whether you go via London and Frankfurt or via Hong Kong and Singapore. It turns out that our flight (Singapore #001) was a code share with Air India. But all of the people going to India were in economy class and they headed off to the gate area. I had to ask if there was a Singapore Airlines departure lounge for business class. Yes, there was and it was called “Silver Kris” for the airline’s frequent flier program.

The Silver Kris departure lounge was OK, with snacks and beverages; it wouldn’t have been a bad place to hang out for an hour or so. But we were there for about 2 and 1/2 hours. Better to be early and have time to kill rather than be late and get overly stressed, right? Our boarding passes told us that boarding began at 12:50 am, so I hurried Louis to shut down his laptop at 12:40 am.

After all the build-up about the Bay Bridge being closed (”Expect delays!”, “Traffic traffic traffic!”) we left for the airport shuttle way early. But once we got to the Airporter station we knew something was up. There wasn’t anyone else there. We had a whole bus to ourselves.

When the bus got on 101 bound for SFO we were totally underwhelmed by the traffic we saw. Where were all those people that we were so fearful of running into? That million dollar advertising campaign must have worked. We both commented to the bus driver that we had never seen the traffic so light. So of course we got to the airport way ahead of schedule. We thanked our driver and lugged our luggage into the terminal.

When we got into the international terminal my jaw dropped. I had forgotten about how spectacular the inside of it is. That ceiling just goes on and on! At some angles it looks like a DNS strand stretched above us.

As we approached the Singapore Airlines ticket counter, I got a little queasy. There was a line of people waiting to get checked-in. But then I noticed it was the coach check-in. We walked past them to the posh business class and first class check-in area. I felt positively snobby… for just a moment. Then I enjoyed taking more photos as Ron checked us in.