Shortened trip and flew home yesterday (March 14) on UA Flt. 9799, which I booked by Skyping United's tollfree number. U.S. UA agent referred to it as a "rescue flight", but flight attendants later said that it was just a re-positioning flight. In any case, flight was virtually empty.

Great confusion at NRT because the NRT UA check-in counter and the Departure boards did not reflect this flight. NRT UA agent couldn't find Flt. 9799 and had already transferred us to an ANA flight when she noticed that 9799 did exist. All in all, it took her almost two hours to sort through the mess and she ended up escorting us through security so we wouldn't miss the flight.

N'EX wasn't working yesterday, so we took the Friendly Limo. The Conrad staff warned us that the bus could take 3-4 hours so we left the hotel at 9:15 am for a 3:00 p.m. departure. However, the road to NRT was fine and we were at NRT before 11:00 am. Roads into Tokyo, however, were congested.

The JR counter was closed to the public, but a NRT security guard was able to go into the JR office to get us an immediate refund for our prepaid N'Ex ticket. The security guard said that JR was processing refunds for foreigners. For local residents, JR was stamping the tickets so that the expiration date was extended for a year.

As others had indicated, the RCC is closed. A posted sign referred to earthquake damage.

I am thoroughly impressed by the efficient and friendly manner that the Japanese are handling this situation. Since we didn't get to see much of Tokyo this time, I am already making plans for a return trip at Christmas.