Traveling in Asia During a Typhoon – The Online World Still Requires a lot of Human Touch!

Off to Asia. My friend’s United’s flight pricing to Shanghai PVG reduced by several thousands of dollars when booking Premium Economy through Tokyo vs. going directly.

Hmm. 65 minutes transfer time in Narita between Star Alliance partner airlines United and Air China. Sounds aggressive but worth the risk given a difference of several thousand dollars.

The week leading up to my Saturday departure was so busy that I didn’t pay much attention to Typhoon Ampil threatening Japan.

Hurricane Ampil – Source: Japan Meteorological Agency

By the time of my departure in San Francisco, it had already bounced off Japan, but of course was still impacting flight traffic.

Did I say 65 min transfer time in Narita?

Travel Day, 10:03 am SFO: The self-check-in terminals at SFO were down. I had not used that line for at least 18 months but this time I was not allowed to check in online before departure using the United App. I am sure, a German living in the US, transferring to a partner airline going to China was giving the usually great United App a simple shoulder shrug, sending me to a human agent as a precaution. Makes sense.

The 1K line had about 15 people in front of me. Then some stragglers that cut it a bit close for the direct flight to Shanghai, added another six.

When it was my turn, my upgrade to Polaris had been confirmed and my prayers had been heard that at least I would get a boarding pass for my connecting Air China to give me a running chance to make my connection.

I was the only one at the Clear line, which didn’t accept my eyes today but my finger prints. The SFO Polaris lounge was stylish as always. With the food in transition between breakfast and lunch at around 11:00, I mistook shredded garlic for rice. A gin & tonic helped eliminate the taste, but I was sorry in advance for my fellow travelers, at least in my row.

We boarded a bit late and experienced some further delay for cargo luggage and outbound control. So, my 65 minutes transfer time became 17.

That’s quite respectable given the weather situation. During approach I checked online, and Google showed the departure on time at 3:55 despite the incoming equipment being 15 minutes late, per FlightAware. I was also wondering how many passengers were on this connection.

All ready to sprint when we parked at the gate after we got a 15 minute tour of Narita (!) during texting, my name was called to see an agent. Oh well, that meant three things.

I was the only transfer passenger
49% chance that United already had rebooked me.
51% chance that United had me on a fast pass route to my Air China flight.

A nice gate agent met me and directly routed me to Gate 36 for my connection. I did not have to go through security again, which was a big time saver.

Arriving 3 minutes later at the gate, those cardio workouts really help, it looked a bit too calm for me being late. When I identified me, they laughingly told me that the flight would be quite delayed, a good thing for my cause to make it to Shanghai today.

The friendly team at the gate tried to change my seat as I was wondering whether this plane really has 61 rows? Well, at least I was in an aisle seat. They scribbled a 17:40 boarding time on my new boarding pass, and sent me off to the lounge next to gate 31.

The Polaris lounge in Tokyo Narita is great, albeit under construction for the upper level.