LGA

I spoke with peachfront today. Sounds like we're doing Sunday the 27th dinner... Who else is joining us?!

LGA

How about a small-ish FTer dinner either Tuesday or Wednesday (the 22nd or 23rd)? Either in Queens or Manhattan...?

I've got some reasonably-priced places in mind; 3 or 4 options in Queens (Indian, Thai, Mexican (not Tex-Mex)) or one of my favorite seafood restaurants which is on the Upper West Side with a well-priced 3-course prix fixe menu if dining early (seated and ordered by 6:15pm).

Also, regarding DL upgrades: I tried calling in to get myself on the list for the JFK-SEA leg to no avail. She said she couldn't do it because it wasn't booked through Delta...?! This is bad if so... (Worse for the non-Diamonds, but still.)

peachfront

I just looked over my reservation and I see you are right -- no upgrades requested for this trip. But I don't think using the outside booking agency is the reason for not being on the upgrade list. I've been added to the upgrade list before after being ticketed elsewhere. I think the reason is because it is written up as DL 183 JFK-KIX, instead of having a separate flight number for the JFK-SEA portion. As a diamond, it might be worth calling another time to see if you get a better answer. As a gold, I will just look sad and ask when I arrive at the airport if there is any chance but I won't count on too much.

Anyone else who has these travel dates, don't forget to let us know about dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday!

rajsh

For those who have to do the transfer from ITM to KIX ... how are you all doing it ... details appreciated. Thanks

tokioblue

There is the shuttle bus leaving for KIX. Right in front of the baggage claim. You buy the ticket from the vending machine and line up for the bus stop 7C which you can find in the map at the bottom of this page.
http://www.okkbus.co.jp/en/timetable/itm/t_kix.html

rajsh

Thank you!

mspflier

This link is also helpful. I'm doing the transfer later this month:

http://www.kansai-airport.or.jp/en/a...bus/index.html

MichaelKade

Any updates from those who took this trip?

Ecmhi

I just got back from a short 5 day trip using this Vayama deal. Had an amazing time! As my fiancé and I are Delta Gold Medallion, I tried calling Delta a couple days before to get on the mileage upgrade list. After being put on hold, I found out that Vayama booked tix as NYC >HND so I'm order to upgrade the JFK > SEA leg, I would have to get Vayama to redo the ticket as separate legs. Needless to say, I did not want to mess with my booking and risk cancelation so i told the agent I was fine with ticket as is. I did receive an email from Vayama that day stating "there has been a change to your flight" but all info was the same so I think Delta messing with the reservation got sent to Vayama somehow.

We left on May 25. We were not able to go to the Sky Club as Delta Gold Medallion from NYC as we were going to Seattle first. We did not check Sky Club in Seattle as we were trying to get food for the long flight. The good news is that this flight to Osaka is very empty... Everyone on board was able to get a 2 seat or 3 seat row to themselves. We slept so well being able to lie down. We then had to get our luggage and go through Japan customs. Then we went to the ANA departure desk to check in for our short 1 hr flight to Tokyo. When checking in, we were able to change our flight to an earlier one so we got into HND by about 8pm (about 2hrs earlier than our scheduled flight). I checked into my Japan Airlines flight and was able to get luggage sent though to JFK. I had a 6 hr layover in KIX as my HND > KIX flight arrived at 11:30 am and International flight was not until 5:30pm. At International check-in, I saw that Delta check-in for the KIX > SEA leg did not begin until 3pm. Luckily KIX has free wifi and lots of food options. KIX >SEA was pretty empty also so got to sleep again. In SEA, have to go through Immigration, get luggage, go through US Customs and then recheck luggage. All this was extremely fast and efficient. I think it took about 20-30 mins total. No lines as there would have been at JFK. Long day of flying but worth it for the price paid. Also my Delta miles earned has already been posted and I just got back a couple hrs ago Almost 14k miles total.

MichaelKade

Thanks! Looks like today's SEA-KIX flight is pretty full. :-/

Edit: Boy was I wrong. Full three seats to myself.

peachfront

I'm back. May 24-May 29 were my dates. I stumbled into every club I happened to pass by, and I don't think I was turned down as a Delta Gold. My liver is not too happy but otherwise the trip was a great success. Plenty of room on those flights, esp. May 24 so I don't understand why so many tix departing May 24 got cxl'd. Seems like a little money would be better than no money but what do I understand about airline economics? I will admit that I got scared of Vayama when I heard of all the other folks getting cxl'd but my experience is great and I will use them again.

Also, my ticket was changed or booked so that I had no need to change airports in Osaka, however, I did have a VERY long layover there.

MichaelKade

In Osaka now. Moved to an earlier flight so I won't have a long layover. Only downside is that I'm in a middle seat on the way to Tokyo. Who did you speak to that changed your ticket?

peachfront

I didn't speak to anyone. I think it came that way from Vayama, and I just got confused because when I was first searching to buy my tickets, all or many of the returns had to change airports at Osaka so I assumed that's what I would need to do. Two guys who went home the day before I did, I'm pretty sure both of them had to change airports. However, when I got to Osaka the next day, they told me to just come back to the same place in a couple/three hours. I fell asleep on some couches! Finally, they opened the ticket booth and I got a boarding pass so I could pass through security and visit the "Asuka" club which allows Delta Golds to visit...or at least they allowed me. There were also people there from United etc. so I am not sure if I was allowed in according to the rules or just got lucky.