Typhoon Hagibis
 

Looks like typhoon season is out to give us one last hoorah. The current storm track has it on a direct line for Tokyo, similar to Typhoon Faxai last month. ANA has put out a preliminary advisory for Osaka flights arriving and departing October 11/12 and Tokyo + Nagoya flights for October 12/13. No word from JAL yet. Probably once we get to Thursday or Friday and they know where it's making landfall for sure will they start allowing changes or refunds as necessary.

Latest weather info from the Japan Meteorological Agency: https://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a108dd5407.png


If you're flying into Japan or are gonna be in the above areas this weekend, stay safe and be prepared for any delays or cancellations! I'm supposed to be flying out on business Sunday morning, but we'll see how that goes...

Typhoon no. 19 looks like going to hit Tokyo area on Saturday, which this coming weekend is a long weekend in Japan. Monday 14th is a national holiday 体育の日. Osaka area is not out of this typhoon either. Possible that this typhoon will disrupt many weekend plans, :( Also Tokyo getting hit twice by typhoon in one season does not happen every year.

The upcoming Rugby World Cup games are extremely vulnerable. Can't imagine the scale of upset Hagibis could cause if it maintains strength and course.

Yes, forecast is saying this typhoon will be big one.

Organizer of Rugby World Cup is looking at alternate locations for this coming Saturday and Sunday games. But with this short notice they are not sure if the can make an arrangement at an alternate location, which includes transporting teams to alternate locations. Getting transportation and lodging for that large number of people in this short notice is not an easy task. The tournament rule state that except for the championship game (the final game) there is an option of cancelling a game and consider it as a tie game. The game which will be affected are:

Saturday 12th:
New Zealand vs. Italy (at Toyota Stadium at Aichi near Nagoya)
England vs. France (at Yokohama International Stadium at Yokohama)

Sunday 13th:
U.S.A. vs. Tonga (at Hanazono Rugby Stadium at Osaka)
Japan vs. Scotland (at Yokohama International Stadium at Yokohama)
Namibia vs. Canada (at Kamaishi Stadium at Iwate)

Following games will not be affected since the location is considered to be out of the typhoon path (at this moment)

Saturday 12th:
Ireland vs. Samoa (at Hakata Forest Stadium at Fukuoka)

Sunday 13th:
Wales vs. Uruguay (at Kumamoto Stadium at Kumamoto)

Also formula 1 at Suzuka this weekend, at a minimum it looks like there could be trouble getting qualifying done on saturday and there could be a real risk that the whole thing gets cancelled.

Suzuka F1 1994 and Suzuka F1 2014 are in people's minds, I would assume.

Typhoon Haggis
 

(Robert Burns)

Hi All,

Looks like we're going to be affected if the typhoon stays on its current course,

We're due to be in Nagoya this weekend, primarily for the F1 and also have Shincansen tickets to Tokyo Sunday Night, to catch a JR flight back home on Monday morning.

This will be our first time experiencing a Typhoon, therefore what can we expect this weekend?

Do the cities in effect lock down for a large duration? Should we get some simple supplies, food etc? Or would the hotel assist in these situations?

Cheers,
Matt

Anyone more Info about the Typhoon coming in to tokio October 12/13? I have an incoming flight on the 12 , outbond 13....
On the map it looks like a direct hit. An rain forecast looks like a flood?

Tokyo afternoon to late evening on the 12th seems to be the main period for the typhoon. So depends on when you land on the 12th

We are quite well organised for rain, so I don't think it will have any longer lasting effects.

coming in at about 4pm, leaving at about midnight. actually wanted to take a short trip to the city ( mori tower), but that seems not be a great idea, i guess.

Typically even with big typhoons, the major impact is that public transportation shuts down and re-opens 6 to 8 hours after the typhoon passes. No need for supplies if you're in an urban area. Rural and mountainous areas can sustain serious flooding and landslides. Wind and storm surge can be bad in Okinawa and Kyushu, but usually not an issue in Honshu.

It'll definitely make FP3 and Qualifying interesting, that's for sure.

If we're lucky, it'll now pass through Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bdec7a1395.png

It all depends, each hotel will have different contingency plane for typhoon. Best is to contact your hotel directly as what is their current plan for this coming weekend in regard to typhoon.

I was at Shinjuku (Tokyo) last month when typhoon no 15 passed by, typhoon no. 19 on this coming weekend is expected to have similar strength. Typhoon no. 15 passed through Tokyo over night last months, all public transportation started to shut down around 9 p.m. Even at Shinjuku, one of central busy area, restaurants started to close around 7-8 p.m. so that their employees could get home before public transportation shut down. Convenience stores started to ran out of items on shelf. By next morning typhoon no. 15 passed Tokyo and Tokyo was not raining and no wind, but many public transportation did not start running till late in morning.

It is best to keep up to date on live local news on TV for last minute situation, what is going on in the city. Because of news last month people at Tokyo were aware that many business closed early due to typhoon, including public transportation. If you do not understand Japanese then hotel staff will be best source of up to date information about what is going on in the city.

JR Tokai has announced that due to typhoon no. 19 this coming Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th there will be possible service reduction of Shinkansen service by cancellation of some trains, and also possible to have entire Shinkansen service suspended during the peak of typhoon.

Last month during typhoon no. 15 I flew out of NRT on JL next day. Flight schedule was pretty much back to normal, but catering could not get supply and the meal service was just one small hot meal in a plastic plate (no salad, no bread, no sweet, no nothing else) that was it. Was told First and Business class were served same...

Make sure you get most up to date information as information will change constantly. For example on last month's typhoon no. 15 evening before it was thought next morning will be business as usual because typhoon would have move over to the ocean. But in the morning we all found out public transportation was not running. In the morning many business were announcing delay of opening, even though evening before was planned to open as usual. Evening before there was no mention of disruption of transportation to Narita Airport next day, but next day both Limousine Bus and JR Narita Express did not run for entire day.

My learnings from Typhoon 17 from a somewhat impacted Kitakyushu.

• Local and limited express transit may have knock on delays and status may only be reported on the JP train site. Online still might not be the actual status. In my case Google maps and JR JP website said cancelled while actual status was some departures cancelled, some delayed.
• Confirm, reconfirm, triple confirm that you are waiting for delayed transit in the correct place. There will be crowds, they will be queued, and it might not be the queue you want.
• Also confirm you're getting off at the right stop. Seems silly but when you can usually set time by the train schedule, it becomes a habit.
• Get yourself to a major station if you have a connection to running shinkansen or limited express and local line has delay. Unknown train delay at a smaller local station with 2x/hour frequency vs 15/20 min taxi. Take the taxi.

What’s the usual practice with long haul flights into Tokyo? I’m on SYD-NRT scheduled to land at 5pm Saturday.

Is it more likely they’ll cancel the flight, hold us in Sydney, or something else?

This is my first trip to Japan, so I appreciate all the advice and experience so far.

It is all airline dependent, there is no one answer applies to all airlines in every typhoon situation. JL (Japan Airlines) has crew and aircraft based at Tokyo, where QF (Qantas) has crew and aircraft based at Sydney, that situation itself will make JL and QF to make different decisions regarding how they handle their SYD-NRT flights during typhoon. Decision such as cancelling flight vs. delaying departure by half a day, etc. You just have to simply ask directly with your airline. Options which you will have in event of cancellation or delay is also dependent on an airlines you fly.

Call your airline and ask if they have made any decision regarding your Saturday flight to NRT. If an airline has not made a decision yet then only option you have at this moment is wait and see.

Looking at the current track of the Typhoon, my best guess is that JL would fly back to Japan, and land in Kansai Int or Nagoya if NRT is not an option. Either cancel there and send people by trains, or just wait it out in on of those airports. But a bit early to guess, so many things could happen to the trajectory. The Japanese airlines tend to decide quite last minute for typhoons, and not put in mass cancellations in advance.

Thank you both. Seems JL (who we’re flying) and QF (we booked on points) haven’t made decisions yet. We’ll wait it out, I guess!

Many years ago, a colleague of mine was on a Qantas flight that tried to land at NRT during a storm - after one aborted landing, it diverted to Sapporo. My colleague spent the next day on planes and trains back to Tokyo via Komatsu. Never did work out quite how he wound up with such a convoluted journey - I suspect he just felt like missing a few meetings.

Had a similar experience on a BA 747 from London. Tried to land as they eye of the typhoon was passing directly over the airport. Two flights managed to land in the eye just before us, but the eyewall hit the airport just as we were about to land. Knocked the plane two runway widths sideways in the blink of eye. Pilot pulled up and diverted to NGO. We weren't allowed off the plane and flew back up to NRT about 5 hours later.

ANA has officially canceled all domestic departures and arrivals into Haneda and Narita on the 12, while JAL is waiting until tomorrow to make their call.

I’ve shifted my international outbound out of Haneda from Sunday to Monday morning, since I don’t expect the trains or the airport to be back up and running for a while on Sunday.

Scheduled on an award flignt - ANA 173 IAH - NRT landing at 3:20 pm on Saturday. No way to know, but seems like ANA isn't afraid to land in a Typhoon assuming it's safe enough. Does this mean there is a significant possibility that we land in Narita and get stuck in the airport with trains/limo buses down? Considering flying to TPE instead on EVA and waiting it out for a couple of days but we really don't want to give up our ANA first class award. If we were flying economy, I'd re-route in a heartbeat. Any suggestions from the pros out there? We're totally conflicted. Thanks.

JR East:
Likelihood of suspension of train service at Tokyo and surrounding on 12th and 13th (Saturday and Sunday). This includes Tohoku Shinkansen and Jyoetsu Shinkansen.

JR West:
Likelihood of suspension of Shinkansen operation between Shin Osaka - Okayama starting morning of 12th (Saturday).

JR Tokai:
Likelihood of disruption/suspension of Shinkansen operation between Tokyo - Shin Osaka on 12th and 13th (Saturday and Sunday)

JAL:
Has not suspended entire operation at an airport like ANA. However, check with JAL.

11th, Friday
Some flights out of ITM and NGO have already been cancelled.

12th, Saturday
Some flights out of NRT, HND, NGO, ITM, and KIX have already been cancelled.

13th, Sunday
Some flights out of NRT have been already cancelled.

Rugby World Cup:
Following Saturday games are cancelled
New Zealand vs. Italy (at Toyota Stadium at Aichi near Nagoya)
England vs. France (at Yokohama International Stadium at Yokohama)

F1 Japan at Suzuka Circuit:
Regarding races on Saturday, 12th. Decision will be made on 2 p.m. Friday, 11th Japan time.

Update
 

ANA:
30 international flights out of HND and NRT on 12th and 13th are cancelled.

JAL:
Friday, 11th
2 domestic flights at NRT and 3 international flights at NRT and NGO are cancelled.

Saturday, 12th
377 domestic flights and 35 international flights are cancelled.

Sunday, 13th
2 domestic flights at NRT cancelled.

Express Way:
Portion of Tomei Express Way at Shizuoka pref. is closed due to high tide.

Baseball:
Saturday, 12th
Giants vs. Tigers at Tokyo Dome cancelled.
Seibu vs. Softbank at MetLife Stadium, likely to be cancelled.

Any sense of when the cancellations might start? Currently planning to travel Shin-Osaka to Hakata around 9am on Saturday 12th but it sounds like going late Friday might be advisable!

It is mother nature typhoon dealing with, will not able to predict that precise time as to when typhoon will make a land and what strength will have.

JR West said unless there is some big change in the situation next update will be Friday 10:30 a.m. Japan time.

If I were you, I will change Shin Osaka -Hakata to Friday or cancel the trip to Hakata.

Looking at the 6am projection today (11th) Tokyo would be in the zone with winds speeds above 25 m/s in 24 hours or so. And another 6 to 8 hours to be in the center of the storm.

Sustained wind speeds are down to 50m/s with gusts at 70 m/s

Flying on points
 

Hey everyone,

Longtime stalker, first time poster. Wish my first post was under better circumstances. I run a points booking and credit card consulting agency and will look foward providing lots of value here on flyertalk.

Unfortunately I am flying rom MEX --> NRT on tomrrow flight ANA 179 (Oct 12 leaving 2am, arriving at 6:45am). I have called ANA all week trying to get rebooked and they have refused to rebook me in reasonable terms because they said my flight is an award booking (transferred 100k amex points $280 copay to fly to Bangkok RT in layflat J with only one layover in Tokyo, hell of a deal right, my bad luck though!!), so they said they can only put me on award space, there is no award space for the next 6 months. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: They could easily route me through LAX and then Taipei with EVA air or maybe even United but just absolutely refused to.

Do you guys think tomorrow's flight will be cancelled, it seems like it supposed to land just 3-4 hours after the eye of the storm passes, it seems highly unlikely the flight is going to take off, perhaps only if its delayed a few hours. On the other hand MEX is super congested and if tonights flight takes off, which appears it will, they will have TWO 787's just sitting here.

They said they could fly me via EVA air on a star alliance award from Chicago but it would need 15k more points, so I transferred those in from amex but they are SLOWWW to transfer its been nearly 48 hours now still haven't posted. (Not to mention I'd need to fly Chicago on my own money) I transferred them anyways as a form of insurance but not so sure how much of a help it will be.

My friend has said once I check in and esp if the flight is cancelled than the flight becomes "IROPS" and they can reroute me through Los Angeles or SF or whatever either on ANA metal or through another star alliance carrier. Are they allowed to tell me to take a hike during irregular operations and not reroute me because its an award? My friend who is more into the points game says once I check-in it "transforms" into a regular ticket.

All phone systems are down as in it doesn't even work when you call the Japaneese or US 1-800 number.

I really think its lame for ANA to treat award passengers so poorly. If ANA refunds me the 100k points i'll have 115k in the account I can use for another star alliance flight but will have to book a last minute economy ticket and fly RT MEX to SE asia in economy, its a LOOONNNGGG way to go in Y.

Any thoughts on what to do here?

JR Tokai:
Saturday, 12th. Operation of Tokyo-Nagoya portion of Shinkansen will be suspended entire day.

Welcome to FlyerTalk. Sorry that your first post is under such circumstance.

If you want quick to the point response then answer is yes, if the airline will give you back the points used for an award ticket then the airline will owe you nothing. Especially such situation as weather where airlines has no control over, then airline is not held responsible under such condition. If your flight was cancelled because of thing like aircraft mechanical condition then the situation likely will be different.

It is not just one flight you are schedule to fly has been cancelled, because of this typhoon hundreds of flights has been cancelled so there is not many options for airlines to begin with.

P.S.
I looked up your situation little more carefully. You are on NH179 departing MEX on Saturday 2:20 a.m. and arriving NRT on Sunday 6:45 a.m. Because your flight is arriving at NRT on Sunday, not Saturday, and ANA has not cancelled your flight yet.

Because your flight is not cancelled you are restricted to change if there is another equivalent award space. If your flight has been cancelled, then the situation can be different but still likely option will be limited because thousands of people are affected by this typhoon.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...44bf934f3.jpeg

this notice just posted at the JR office in Shizuoka, where we were queueing to rebook on an earlier Shinkansen tomorrow (12th), so back to the drawing board and to call CX!

Air Canada
 

Hi there!

I've got a return flight out of HND on Sunday evening ~5pm (which I'm doubting is gonna happen...) in J on Air Canada. I've been seeing lots of posts about ANA and JAL but nothing from AC. Does anyone know the deal on that or how to go about it? Do they follow ANA since they're Star Alliance?
I'm wondering if I should just go to the airport today and try to rebook (since I can't seem to get through on the phone and I don't want to know how much it would cost me to wait on hold for however many hours it's gonna take).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I hope everyone is staying safe!

Yeah thanks for the quick response. Not what i had hoped for. I'm still holding onto some hope they only DELAY the flight to have it land a little bit later. It seems in the forecast by 10-11am the typhoon will be far enough away for them to land planes. Plus for ANA to have TWO 787s just sitting here 10,000km from their homebase, thats going to hurt them even more as they need those planes, my assumption is they will prioritize getting these planes home.

I'm curious if the last flight was cancelled and then they have 2 planes sitting here, would they "make" an extra second special circumstance flight for that day? I couldn't imagine they would just fly it back to Tokyo empty, or would they?

I guess there is really nothing I can do except hope the flight isn't cancelled, right? Crossing my fingers if it is cancelled they allow me to take a route from West Coast USA or really anywhere in the US and then I just take a one way flight on my own expense, but you're probably right they are not going to priortize a non FF on award space to get to BKK.

Guess this is a good lesson learned that when .... hits the fan award tickets really aren't "the same" because if I was a cash paying customer they would have rerouted me.

No, this is not about "award ticket" vs. "paid ticket." Even if you had paid ticket, if the flight is not cancelled then you still are stuck with the condition and restriction of the ticket.

For example, full flexible Business Class fare on ANA MEX-BKK is 128178 MXN, where discount Business Class fare is 77400 MXN. If you bought 128178 MXN fare then you have fully flexible fare where you can pretty much switch ticket to other flights with available business class seats. If you bought 77400 MXN fare then that will have conditions and restrictions, likely 77400 MXN fare is only vaild on ANA flight where you cannot change to other airlines. Also, 77400 MXN likely has fees associated for changes, cancellation ,etc.

Even if you have paid ticket, then likely answer from ANA will be the same unless you purchased very expensive fully flexible fare.

Welcome to FlyerTalk. Sounds like you are in the same situation as another poster. Looks like Air Canada has not cancelled flights out of HND on Sunday, 13th. Your flight is not cancelled so the condition and restriction of your ticket still apply if you want to change the flight. If the flight is cancelled then airlines will usually be more lenient and usually do not enforce condition and restriction of your ticket.

JR East:
Saturday, 12th
Operation at Tokyo and surrounding area will reduced starting 9 a.m. and operation will completely suspended starting 1 p.m. Tohoku Shinkansen and Jyouetsu Shinkansen will suspend operation by 1 p.m. on Saturday 12th. Suspension of operation will least continue till noon Sunday, 13th.

I've created a wikipost -- please post updates there.

Regards,
armagebedar
Japan forum moderator

Lots and lots of people were stranded at NRT by ANA about 3 weeks ago when the last typhoon passed through. I have direct experience of this. Note that they stranded everyone, paid and award tickets both. ANA didn't even help with a hotel reservation in Narita town or (after those all filled up) transport back to Tokyo. ANA simply didn't care, period. Ironically, people who had booked the exact same ANA flights through a United codeshare were all automatically rebooked by United.

In my case, I happened to have enough miles to book an available award on UA the next day. My ANA award booked through Virgin Atlantic (which also refused to help but at least answered the phone) at least did promptly refund the points and fees.

My recommendation is to not book anything through ANA if it is during storm season. Then at least you'll only get screwed over if there is an earthquake.

I started a thread on this in the ANA forum and the consensus of the ANA fans there was that it was the way Japanese culture worked and I should just suck it up. I don't agree.