Originally Posted by
joejones
A few years ago, I showed up at WKJ (Wakkanai, Japan), on a bicycle, 30 minutes before departure for the last flight to Tokyo, without a ticket. I handed over a credit card and one of the ground staff issued my ticket while another helped me pack the bike into a carry bag and check it in. Got my boarding pass, went through security and flew off without a hitch.
This sort of thing could never happen in the US, even at a small airport.
Pre-9/11 you could do this at US airports. Although I never tried the bike thing, I have bought tickets at the counter right before the flight. And even just a few weeks ago I walked up to a gate at ORD where I was booked for a later flight and did a change to the flight leaving right then. They processed my credit card for the change fee at the gate. So that's still possible.
And I recall once walking up to a JAL check in counter at KIX and buying a one way ticket in F to LAX leaving in less than an hour.
But back to the title of this thread, the difference is night and day between the US and Asia. You could say they same for the US versus Europe too. The main difference being the TSA.