Hello there! This is my first Trip Report and I hope you can guide me along for my future ones!


INTRODUCTION
Last June, my family decided to visit Japan once again. We were originally booked on Japan Airlines as I wanted to try out the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, due to some screw-ups by the travel agent, that dream was broken (no pun intended). After calling up several other agents, we found ourselves heading to Hokkaido a week earlier than originally planned. However, this meant that we were now booked on Singapore Airlines on the SIN-HND sector, and Skymark Airlines on the HND-CTS sector. Not bad, at least I still get to try out a different airline.

Here was our flight path:

Map generated by gcmap

SIN-HND
I shall not talk too much about this sector, as it was a red-eyed flight and I'm sure everyone knows what to expect from SQ. Anyway...

FLIGHT DETAILS
Flight number: SQ636
Date: 13 December 2013
Departure Time: 10:30PM (GMT+8)
Flight Time: 7 hours
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Aircraft reg.: 9V-STY


We set off in the late afternoon on 13th December feeling excited about finally being able to get out of Singapore again.


Here's our luggages. 2 of them would be destroyed by the time we returned to Singapore...


Mandatory boarding pass shot. Checking in is a breeze at Changi Airport.

I was feeling rather tired then, so I did not bother to explore Changi a little more. However, it should be emphasized that Changi is a great airport for travelers who are transiting. There are many entertainment choices here that will keep you occupied until your next flight!


Here's 9V-STY, which would be bringing me to Tokyo.

Boarding commenced quite some time before scheduled departure and everyone got on board uneventfully.




I find SQ's economy on the A330 to be rather cramped and uncomfortable. Not a great combination when you are on a red-eyed flight..

Typical SQ service: Hot Towel Service, smiles, Supper, Ice Cream, more smiles and Breakfast. I was surprised that there was a supper service, since a year before, on SQ68 to Seoul, there wasn't any supper. Still, a nice touch and I love how heavy the supper was. I took the Japanese option of course. Soon, I fell asleep, and woke up when the lights turned on. We were about an hour and a half away from Haneda, and breakfast was served. Only one choice for breakfast: Continental Breakfast. It was pretty much just bread and pastries, and it wasn't anything to write home about. I was hungry again by the time we landed in Haneda.

We arrived before sunrise and landed about five minutes before JL36, which tailed us all the way from Singapore.


Hello Tokyo!

Now for the fun part!

SKYMARK AIRLINES 705, HND-CTS
We arrived early at the International terminal at Haneda airport. After asking for directions from a kind JAL ground staff, we found our way to Terminal 2, shared by JAL, SKY and some less-known carriers. As it was still early, hardly anything was open. So we tried to check in early, but was denied. We sat down and waited until the check-in staff signaled to us that we were finally able to check in. It was there that we realized that one of our luggages had been tampered with, as we were unable to get the correct code to unlock it. We realized that the code had been changed, possibly by someone back in Singapore. Thankfully, nothing was lost, and we were able to unlock it later on.


Haneda Airport, Terminal 2


Skymark's check-in counters

Upon passing through security (A grumpy female security guard was stationed there), we headed down for some Udon. Over there, we saw some of the best views we have ever seen. Sunrise, Shiny JAL planes, Mt. Fuji. The view was spectacular!



Some JAL aircrafts still spot their old livery.

The airport became more and more crowded as the sky became brighter.


Skymark's gates are at the right-most of the Terminal. The gates there might be cheaper, who knows.

Cherry and musical note

About 30 minutes before departure, I spotted an aircraft being towed closer and closer. It's our aircraft!


FLIGHT DETAILS
Flight number: SKY705/ BC705
Date: 14 December 2013
Departure Time: 8:25 (GMT+9)
Flight Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 with Boeing Sky Interior
Aircraft reg.: JA73NQ

The aircraft was not even a year old when it ferried me to Sapporo.

Again, the mandatory boarding pass shot. Doesn't Skymark's boarding pass look like a concert ticket?


Boarding commenced 15 minutes before departure (YES, 15 MINUTES) and we pushed back on time. Japan uses a system for their domestic flights, where passengers would only need to scan their boarding passes to pass through the gate and proceed towards the aircraft. Kinda like how Train gantries work. Cool!

"Ohaiyo gozaimasu!", greeted the cheerful looking purser as passengers boarded. That means Good Morning in Japanese. There were 3 cabin crew on board. One stood in front of the cockpit door, one in the centre of the aircraft, and one at the back. None of them checked our boarding passes, but that is probably because they are confident of how safe the gantry system is.

I noticed that Skymark's crew were dressed very casually. Not like those you would find on ANA/JAL. The crew wore Polo T-shirts and Jackets with the company logo on them, along with their Staff pass being proudly worn.

Boarding was quick and efficient!


There were no announcements by the pilots at all throughout the flight. No introduction, flight duration advisory so on... The crew didn't make any announcements during the flight too. All announcements on board were pre-recorded, in four languages. Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. Well, at least we'll understand them, so no complains here.

Of course, one of my favourite part of this flight was the mood lighting!


On board JA73NQ:



As I mentioned earlier, we pushed back on time, and the crew did their manual safety demonstration. However, it was only done in Japanese. But having flown quite a lot, it was rather easy to follow what they were demonstrating even without any translation. The aircraft taxied really quickly to the runway, I think the pilot was speeding. Then, the seatbelt sign was switched on and off five times to emphasize the need for us to fasten our seatbelts.

And soon, the engines roared and we were on our takeoff run. A powerful one this was! I'm sure he was on full-throttle! With a steep climb and a steep bank to the right, we were out of Tokyo. I was grabbing onto the armrests. My palms were all sweaty. What an experience. Hahaha.

The aircraft shook as our climb slowed down and the seatbelt sign went off. The crew then started their rounds, trying to rent out blankets and sell drinks. From what I heard, the drinks were reasonably priced. But I didn't buy anything on board. Sorry Skymark! Things were considerably better on this sector than on the return sector. A little more on that later on.


Cabin during cruise

I love how Skymark paints their 737's winglets in different design. JA73NQ's winglet was painted with a red heart, for instance, and JA737X was painted with a blue heart.



Love is in the air!


En route to Sapporo

The seats that Skymark uses on their 737s are designed by Recaro. It was definitely more than comfortable for a short hop like this one.

Picture of the seats from my return leg.

I wasn't expecting much from Skymark seeing as they are a "Low-cost carrier", or perhaps just offer lower fares than ANA/JAL does. Their service is pretty much similar to that of its rivals's domestic services. The lack of in flight entertainment was not a problem for me, as my camera is my main source of entertainment on board most flights.

Soon enough, we started our descend and we made several turns in a bid to try and avoid the clouds and turbulence. However, these attempts were not really successful as the aircraft shook around quite a bit during our descent. We landed fast and hard and the braking was really hard. But here we were at New Chitose Airport! Yay!


Taxiing past a runway.


Arriving at our gate.


Disembarking.


JA73NQ, one last time.

INITIAL CONCLUSION
Flying with Skymark was a brand new experience for me. It was my first time flying with them, first time on the 737-800 BSI and my first time flying on a low cost carrier. To say it fairly, my expectations were met. Not counting the turbulence and acrobatic flying (Which might be due to the Japanese airspace weather and restrictions altogether), I think Skymark didn't disappoint. Coupled with cheap fares and a set of cheerful crew, I'd readily recommend them to anyone looking to travel around Japan on the cheap. With their upcoming Airbus A330-300 and A380, I can't wait to see them expand!

Read on for the return sector.