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This series will cover a quick weekend trip on NH using UA miles for some warmer weather. The goal of this series was to fly to Miyako-jima (宮古島) and the trip cost 12,000 UA miles (no tax/fees on NH award tickets). At that time, Miyako-jima (MMY) was only accessible via OKA and ISG (HND service didn't start until 2016 followed by NGO/KIX). When I was searching for the outbound flight, I saw some options via FUK so I jumped on them in order to catch a 7G flight. For the return, I originally planned on spending a 6-hour layover in OKA sightseeing, but those plans disintegrated quickly as I’ll discuss later. So the routing is fairly straightforward minus the hitch to FUK.
This report will cover the flight from the islands of Kyushu to Okinawa on NH's domestic B738.
After a quick lunch near Hakata Station, I took the metro back to the airport, which is just 2 stops away on the Kūkō Line. Cross-integration of transit networks has improved drastically, so my manaca IC card can be used here.
Arriving at the airport, the FIDS for domestic departures. Like most airports in Japan, it's a 50-50 split between NH/JL. They don't separate each other so there are flights from both carriers being operated from both terminals. There is a legend at the bottom that will let you know which routes are served by which terminals. Since I'm heading to OKA, my flight is listed for departure from Terminal 2 regardless of carrier (except for those rebels MM).
There is an observation deck at FUK up on the 4th floor. There is a nice display of the tails serving this airport to help with identification. The KL tail a reminder of their short-lived service from AMS that was terminated in early 2016.
Since the rain was very heavy, I just took 2 photos down Terminal 2's operations before heading back inside.
My favorite part of most Japanese airports is the artwork they have from local school kids on display.
My next stop will be the ANA Lounge.
The standard domestic offering, pretty much liquid only. The kelp machine is hard at work churning its green pulp waiting for a gullible taker. Since we are on Kyushu, the local nectar, shōchū, is on tap.
The lounge was actually quite full, so I went to a quiet business area in the back.
My humble offering.
At 12:55, 20 minutes to departure, I left the lounge to walk down to my gate on the Terminal 2 side of the airport.
A NH B787 bound for HND getting its wings de-iced.
All Nippon Airways, NH 1209
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [JA63AN, delivered October 2010]
Departure: 13:15 (ATD: 13:45)
Arrival: 15:00 (ATA: 15:19)
Flight time: 1:34
Reaching Gate 9, where boarding promptly started at 13:00. NH Diamonds were boarding when I arrived.
I walk over to take a photo of our B738.
I then joined the queue and headed into the jet bridge.
Joystick and 1L.
My seat was in the 2nd to last row. As you can tell, there is no window seat in Row 31, so there is no seat behind me. I'm not suite sure what is the reason for the removal of this seat since the plane's curvature does not prohibit it from being installed.
View forward as I take my window seat.
Seat pitch on these cookie cutter Recaro seats is perfectly fine for a domestic flight.
There is an entertainment box under the window seats that blocks some storage.
The tray table.
Blankets were distributed by the crew during boarding.
The seatback pocket contents.
Safety card for this B738.
Next door is a 7G A320.
As boarding completes, we get our wings de-iced.
Our neighbor pushes back.
We push back as soon as the 7G A320 clears from behind us. All kinds of exotics at the far end that I have already sampled: a rare OC Dash8-200 (that is soon to be replaced by new ATR 42s, my report on this carrier for those not familiar with the archives) and also several FW CRJ-700s.
Plenty of spotting as we make our way gradually over to Runway 34 for take off.
A JL B772 in OW livery arriving.
The 7G A320 taking off.
One of the aforementioned FW CRJ-700s ahead of us in the queue.
LJ B738 landing.
CA A319 taxing as the yellow JH ERJ-175 lands from Nagoya-Komaki (NKM).
A sister ship is behind us as we approach the runway's threshold.
Another JL B772 taking off in front of us.
And finally a sneaky little JL Saab 340 arrives.
We have our turn and take off over the rainy city center on Runway 34 just as we arrived.
Blue skies await us as we clear the clouds.
The sleepy cabin as we reach cruising altitude. Some deadheading crew were in my row and the row behind me so it was quite quiet in the back of the bus.
Drink service was done by cart and I took a coffee.
NH's route map of the Ryukyu Islands showing the limited connections to ISG and MMY.
Not as fancy as OZ's exercise video, but NH also has some stretches in the in-flight magazine.
NH's in-flight entertainment at its finest. Hopefully not a premonition for our landing…
I just watch the clouds outside and write the FR for Part 1 of this series as we slowly made our way down to Okinawa.
A second drink service was done about 30 minutes to arrival as FA's offered cups of water from a tray.
We soon started our final descent that dropped us below the clouds and the ocean became visible.
We do the standard approach into OKA to align for arrival on Runway 36.
The Kyan Fishing Port.
Nashiro Beach near some of the southern resorts.
South Shore Park.
Crossing the shipyard.
We coast into Runway 36 with a smooth landing.
We cross the sea of JMSDF Lockheed P-3Cs parked in formation.
And then onto some local wildlife as we cross a sea of NU tails.
NU B734 in Sakura Jinbei livery. This one is retired and now a B738 has this livery.
We arrive at the NH side of the airport. The observation deck is visible on the left just above the wing.
View of the cabin as we deplane.
Orchids lining the jetbridge, welcome to Naha.
Naha is not my final destination, so I follow the track to my connecting flight, which is about to board so I will head straight to the gate.
I will leave of this series here as I start my layover in OKA, thanks for stopping by!
A standard domestic flight on NH with good punctuality, clean cabins, and a comfortable seat.
FUK:
- Very accessible airport to the city center via subway, clean, and easy to navigate.
- Standard domestic NH Lounge that pretty much is limited to liquid refreshments. This lounge being on Kyushu, did have shōchū on tap^^
Flight:
- Standard domestic B738 in all Y configuration. Seats are sufficient for any domestic flight.
- IFE is limited to variety programming on the overhead monitor and seat back contents.
- Crew did 2 drink services so no complaints about them.
- 2 drink services, which is good for domestic standards although the 2nd service was limited to water since right before landing.
OKA:
- Clean and easy transits. If not transiting, easy access to the city via the monorail.
4 Comments
A blanket on a domestic flight seems like such a foreign concept now. I assume that's not happening anymore since Covid. Two drinks services on a 1.5h flight is really good. AA barely do two on 6h transcons in Y!
Thanks for sharing!
With kids, definitely easier to go the train route and cut out the long connections from airports to the city centers. Plus, with snow causing potential delays, I would avoid air travel unless necessary. The exotic vending machines at the JR stations offsets the beer dispensers in the lounges^^
I had one on my SFO-IAH redeye ;)
I am a bit surprise by the lav configuration at the rear of the aircraft, look like the airspace config of the Airbus A32S.
Otherwise a classic japanese domestic flight, nothing to write home about but it made its job.
A bientôt !
They only have 1 lavatory in the rear to allow for the installation of an additional row of seats. It is standard for Japanese carriers to have high density on domestic planes, just look at the NH B773s with >500 seats.
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