Some days ago, I wrote a preview article to a trip I had coming up to fly on Jinbei Jet inaugural.
Thanks to a typhoon that is making its way towards Japan looking like it could affect the flight, I decided to cancel the trip. Well, sort of… I was able to come up with an alternative plan that is not bad at all either…
【今年初の超大型台風21号 月曜に直撃】 https://t.co/Cs2mb2BixD 台風21号は今年初めて超大型に。23日(月)に本州にかなり接近・上陸の恐れ。朝の通勤・通学時は広く大..
— tenki.jp (@tenkijp) 2017年10月20日
4 (Almost) Free Cancellations & 1 Ferry Ticket Thrown Away
While the Jinbei Jet flight did not get cancelled – likely it will fly as scheduled – a waiver was issued allowing passengers to refund their tickets for free. Given that my schedule was quite tight and any missed connection would result in high costs to get myself back home, I decided it was safer to scrap the plans to fly the inaugural.
I was also able to cancel my hotels in Okinawa and Busan for free. To cancel my positioning flight from Tokyo to Okinawa, I gave up what only what I paid in taxes – 290 yen or about 2.5 dollars. and my hotel in Busan for free.
Even though I wasn’t able to refund my Fukuoka to Busan ferry ticket (about 25 dollars), I decided to scrap that part of the trip as well since it looked like the typhoon might affect it.
Doing the above left me with a business class ticket from Busan to Narita – that one, I decided to keep – after all, I wasn’t going to let a typhoon ruin my flying plan to do some flying over the weekend!
The New Plan
While it is unfortunate that I won’t be taking the inaugural Jinbei Jet, the new plan turned out fairly well too…
First, I will be flying from Tokyo Haneda to Seoul Gimpo tomorrow night with JAL. The flight is supposed to be operated by a 767 and I booked it using 7,500 Avios miles.
After staying a night in Seoul and spending half a day there either sightseeing or plane spotting, I will take a Korean Air flight from Gimpo to Jeju. This is a very busy domestic route and so Korean Air deploys its 747s on it at certain times of the day.
Of course, I booked a flight at one of the “certain times!” And, in fact, that Jumbo flight turned into the highlight of the trip…
Then, I will spend the afternoon doing a bit of sightseeing in Jeju, stay there overnight, and finally take a flight from Jeju to Busan with Jeju Air – a new airline for me – the next morning.
Finally, after about 2 hours of transit time (hope the Jeju Air flight will be on time!), I will catch the JAL business class flight from Busan to Tokyo Narita bringing the trip to an end. The flight is scheduled to be operated by a 737 and is the only flight that “survived the typhoon cancellations.”
Thanks, Typhoon, for Giving Me a Chance to Fly on a 747!
So, now, the whole trip looks as follows (map generated by Great Circle Mapper):
All in all, I might even be happier with the revised itinerary that the original one.
While I will miss the Jinbei Jet inaugural which I was quite looking forward to, the Korean Air 744 flight is not a bad consolation prize!
Plus, when it comes to Japanese inaugurals, I will have a chance to enjoy one of those next weekend when I’ll take the first AirAsia Japan flight. But, more on that later!
