This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

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CTS-HND: My Experience Changing an Air DO Flight to ANA

We also bought our tickets from Sapporo back to Tokyo too late, and prices rose very quickly. In the end, we bought tickets on Air DO. This airline is an ANA subsidiary in Hokkaido. Other than booking tickets in English on its website, customer service and other support are available only in Japanese.

Early that morning, I woke up to a flight delay notification: the flight was delayed by 50 minutes. In theory, we could still make our connection, but based on past experience with delays, one delay often leads to a second one, so I decided to try changing flights.

After arriving at the airport, we first found the Air DO counter. They said check-in was not there and that we needed to check in at the ANA counter. We went over to the ANA counter and told the ground staff we wanted to change flights, but my Japanese was not good enough and communication was not smooth. They did not understand and thought I wanted to through-check our bags, so they led us to the international flight counter. Fortunately, the ground staff at the international flight counter understood a little English. After a lot of back-and-forth, they finally helped us change to ANA NH56.

I had heard that Sapporo New Chitose Airport is especially fun for shopping, eating, and wandering around, but all of that is before security. After all the hassle of changing flights, we did not have much time left. We just wanted to get airside quickly and rest, so we had to leave it for next time.

Even so, there were still a few places to eat and buy things after security. We bought ice cream for the kid again. We had ice cream every day on this Hokkaido trip, but the best was still at Furano Cheese Factory!

Our new flight was also delayed by 20 minutes, but luckily it did not have much impact. Although the flight was short, it was operated by a 777, and our flight that day was quite full. Before boarding, I checked the Air DO flight we had originally been on, and sure enough, it was delayed again. That was close. Good thing we changed flights, otherwise we might not have made our flight back to the U.S.

After landing, we picked up our bags first. Air DO and Delta do not have an interline baggage agreement, and we had also left enough time to collect our luggage.

Then we took the shuttle bus to the international terminal. The shuttle bus was very convenient; you could see it as soon as you came out after collecting luggage. After three months, we were back at HND again, and it was still just as crowded.

HND-SEA DL166 Delta One Suite Business Class Award Ticket

For this HND-SEA segment, we had grabbed three Delta One Suite seats when Air France previously released a lot of award space, at 94,500 miles per person. That was not cheap. But there was a transfer bonus at the time, so in the end it came out to 75,667 Ultimate Rewards points per person. Being able to book that during the first post-pandemic summer peak season was already very satisfying, especially since ANA was basically impossible to get at the time.

Delta One check-in at HND was the most ridiculous business-class check-in line I have ever seen: incredibly slow. Seeing how inefficient it was, they opened the Gold counter for business-class passengers to check in. Unfortunately, we were assigned to that counter. The ground agent was a Japanese older gentleman who seemed inexperienced and kept asking the staff at the neighboring Delta One counter questions. Not counting the time spent in line, we stood in front of the counter for at least half an hour waiting for him to complete the procedures. Even the kid got impatient.

Seeing how unfamiliar he seemed with the process, I specifically confirmed whether he had put priority tags on our bags and whether he had sent the bags onto the conveyor belt. Only after confirming everything did we leave.

As I mentioned previously in A Spring Break Japan Trip We Didn’t Want to Leave - ANA Business Class Award Search Strategy and Experience, at HND, ANA and JAL passengers can find the facial-recognition machines, register, and then use the facial-recognition security lane. Delta does not currently support facial recognition. But parents traveling with kids should use security checkpoint 2! Families can all go through this checkpoint for expedited security.

After getting through security smoothly, we first went to the Delta lounge to fill our stomachs. The kid had already fallen asleep in the stroller and could not be woken up no matter what we did, so we had no choice but to leave him sleeping on a lounge sofa.

I had thought the Delta lounge would be mediocre, but it turned out to be pretty decent. The curry rice was quite good. I saw other people eating ramen, so I asked the staff, and they cooked a bowl for me as well. The ramen was good too!

It was also a coincidence that the HND Delta lounge was celebrating its anniversary that day, and the usual ramen bar had been changed into a sushi counter. I had not expected much at first, but it turned out to be excellent!! After that, I could not stop and ate four or five plates in a row.

These cookies were amusing. They were displayed there in a way that made them look like they were meant for people to take, but the staff would occasionally come over and say they were only for display, not for taking.

The staff also handed out cookies, cake, and Champagne to everyone one by one. None of these were very good, and the cake was way too sweet.

The kid was still asleep, so we planned to go browse around first. When we left, the lounge front desk also gave us a small first-anniversary commemorative gift, including things like luggage tags.

Because the previous flight was delayed and check-in took too long, we were really pressed for time this time. We just bought a few souvenirs at the shop across from the lounge downstairs. Then the kid woke up and said he wanted to eat. Seeing that boarding was about to begin, we hurried back to the lounge again to get him something to eat.

After quickly finishing, it was time to board. This DL166 flight was operated by a 330, with a 1-2-1 seat configuration (https://seatguru.com/airlines/Delta_Airlines/Delta_Airlines_Airbus_A330-900.php?flightno=166&date=). They handed out this card on the plane; I feel like aviation geeks would like it.

The seats we selected this time were 5A, 5C, and 6A. Every Delta One Suite has a door. The door can only be closed after the meal, when it is time to sleep and the flight attendants unlock it; before that, it remains locked. Other than that, the space is a bit smaller than ANA’s window seats.

After we sat down, they first served orange juice.

The pillow was the thick and soft type, and it was quite comfortable.

The amenity kit was nothing special, and I forgot to check the brand. Before takeoff, the purser, a chubby white older gentleman, greeted the Diamond Medallion members in business class one by one. I heard him tell the man behind me, “Thank you for flying one million miles.” A true frequent flyer.

Before takeoff, I went to the lavatory and noticed the cockpit door was open. I asked whether I could bring my son in to take a look, and the pilots gave us a very warm welcome. So, for the first time, the kiddo walked into the cockpit. There were 4 pilots in total.

The pilots invited him to sit on the center control panel, but he was too scared, so we just took a shy little photo together.

The flight attendant assigned to us was not very warm; she came across as a bit arrogant and impatient. My teammate and the kiddo each ordered a few different meals, but our seats were too far apart, so it was not convenient to share. The Japanese-style meal I ordered was pretty good and quite tasty. My teammate said his was also decent.

I forgot to take a photo of the kiddo’s meal. After finishing mine, I went over to his seat to see how he was doing. Just as I lowered my head to look at him, the flight attendant, walking backward without watching where she was going, stepped on my foot. She was wearing cabin shoes with a small heel, and it landed right on my ankle. It hurt so much! It immediately turned bruised and scraped the skin.

If the flight attendant had been consistently nice, I probably would have let it go. But because her service attitude had not been good earlier, I did not say it was fine. I told her it really hurt. She apologized repeatedly. Later, I lay down to sleep, and she went to get her supervisor, a white male purser, who came over to apologize but found I was asleep, so he went to talk to my teammate instead. Later still, after I woke up, they came to apologize again and said they would offer me 5,000 miles as compensation. I thought to myself, “Are they trying to brush me off?” But since we were still on the plane, I did not want to make things too unpleasant, so I accepted it for the time being. After getting off the plane, I used the almighty ChatGPT approach and got another 7,500 miles from Delta.

This is what it looks like with the door closed. The privacy is still quite good.

Putting aside that mood-ruining little incident, the Delta bed was still very comfortable to sleep in, and the pillow and blanket were both nice. The kiddo, even more impressively, slept straight through from after dinner until landing.

After I woke up midway through the flight, an older male flight attendant suddenly came over from the economy cabin and asked me in Chinese whether I wanted instant noodles, saying they were really tasty. I said sure. He made me a bowl, and it really was pretty good, with a faint yuzu flavor.

I thought it was better than breakfast. The fish and vegetables at breakfast were both a bit dry, though the flavor was still okay.

My teammate’s meal somehow looked not that different from dinner.

Later, the older flight attendant saw that my kiddo had been sleeping the whole time and had missed breakfast, so he gave me a few Japanese snacks for him. The snacks were all quite tasty too!

Back in Seattle!

One of our suitcases had been thrown around and got deformed. We went to the baggage office, and they said this level of deformation did not qualify for compensation unless it was cracked or broken to the point that it could no longer be used.

On the way back, we used Global Entry. I was asked several questions and even had to provide fingerprints again; I have no idea what that was about. Ever since Seattle airport changed the process so that you collect your luggage before going through customs, it seems everyone using Global Entry has to be questioned. It is not like before, when you could just scan your face and leave. For anyone who bought things abroad, it is probably better to keep a low profile and put everything away. Of course, if you are asked, I still recommend answering truthfully. I previously saw someone on Xiaohongshu say their Global Entry was permanently revoked for failing to declare overseas purchases.

After more than two months, I finally trudged through and finished writing this Hokkaido trip report. That is a wrap!

2023 Japan Trip Series

This series documents the author’s travels in Japan after a trip back to China and before returning to the United States.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account “懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐,” run by a reader from the WeChat group. These are all excellent original articles; follow along if you are interested.