Ven

Aug 8, 2023

JAL Poor Experience

This is a very disappointing negative experience with Japanese Airlines (JAL) Manager “Kobayashi” at the Narita Airport Departure Terminal.  Think twice before considering flying with JAL due to their leadership. Imagine being a foreign passenger flying back from Bangkok to the US.  The Bangkok to Tokyo flight is an overnight flight and you arrive at the Haneda(HND) Airport in Tokyo around 6am; go through Customs and retrieve your checked baggage and then travel via Bus while lugging this already checked baggage over1.5 hours to the Narita (NRT) Airport. Upon arriving at NRT Airport, the JAL kiosks will not allow you to check in and state “see attendant.”  After tracking down a JAL representative, she rips off your JAL baggage tag and tells you to go to the JAL Desk.  After waiting at the line for the JAL desk, she then re-appears as you are trying to explain the situation to a different JAL representative.  They both then escort you to a different JAL desk where they eventually call Manager “Kobayashi” while they speak presumably in Japanese saying things you do not understand.  You are extremely tired and want to get the bag checked in so you can sleep for a few hours at a nearby hotel before your flight departs at 6pm for the US.  Finally, Manager “Kobayashi” is able to get a Boarding Pass printed for you but asks if you had inserted anything new into your checked bag because it is now 3.6kg overweight despite it not being considered overweight when you checked in for the trip in Bangkok with JAL.  When you ask Manager “Kobayashi” if he can just let the bag through, he states that the extra 3.6kg weight of the bag can cause an uneven balance of weight on the plane and is supposedly not safe for the plane;  but then he states that if you pay a significant amount of money, he can let that same bag through.  Basically, if you pay a significant amount of money they would disregard this supposed safety hazard but they would not disregard the supposed safety hazard for free. As a premium economy passenger, you are allowed 2 free checked bags but this is the only bag you are checking in. “Kobayashi” again asks you to pay the money but you refuse and remove 3jeans, 2 shirts and a toiletry bag and place them into a plastic bag (see pictures) which you then carry.  JAL and Manager “Kobayashi” displayed extremely poor customer service; despite their errors, they refused to do the right thing in Tokyo.  It is funny that they try to charge you extra money when they screwed up. At the NRT Sakura Lounge, you insert your laptop bag and this plastic bag into one of the storage lockers but it will not open as instructed when you are trying to walk to the terminal for boarding your flight.  The lounge representatives are very concerned and eventually able to get the locker open but your boarding is delayed (see videos). I guess the bright side is that at least JAL didn’t try to charge you money for this screw up as well.