Filipino Time in Japan

We had the best time in Japan. Almost perfect, except for one mishap. I mentioned briefly in my last post about the time we missed our flight back home. Here’s what happened:

We web checked-in the night before, meaning we can arrive 45 minutes before our flight. The sad thing was our train was a bit delayed and we didn’t reach the counter at 11:00am (but heck, we were there at around 11:03am, I think). The moment our train arrived at Narita airport, we ran as fast as we could with our 30kg baggage to our counter.  The check-in officer was still there, talking to someone on the phone. My boyfriend got to the counter faster than I did. He was holding our documents and I saw him wave at the guy. It was only after a few minutes (I was also able to get there already, as well as another family of 4 – parents and 2 toddlers who were in the same delayed train as ours) when the guy finally attended to us. It may be 11:05 at this time. He told us that the counter was already closed. We begged and pleaded him if we could just check in our baggage really quickly (since we were actually already checked in after all) and then run to our gate since our plane will not even leave until 40 minutes or so. We knew that we definitely still had a lot of time.

He said that it takes 20 minutes from this check-in counter to our boarding gate. We said we could AND WOULD run really, REALLY fast.

He said maybe wr can make it but we can’t check in our bags anymore. We said, we are willing to leave our bags (thinking we’ll just have it shipped to the Philippines) just as long as we get in that plane.

I found the man to be really inconsiderate and heartless given that this wasn’t any ordinary local or domestic trip – this was an international flight we are talking about and he didn’t even find a way to help us. The father of the other family was even begging, “Please sir, we have babies, we need to get home...” but he didn’t even bat an eyelash and worse, I felt that he just didn’t really care.

After a good 20 minutes of pleading (which would have been a good time for us to already run to the gate), his radio (walkie talkie) turned up. He then told us that he’d have to excuse himself already because he had to be at the gate for boarding. I kind of got furious at this because if he only considered helping us from the very beginning (which was still not too late then), we would have been at the gate even before he had to be there to help everyone else board the plane! He was just about to leave to go to the gate, and he had the nerve to tell us (20 minutes ago) that we do not have enough time to make it?

I hoped at that time that this could just be a matter of the heart. He was in customer service and if he really cared, he would have at least tried to find a way for us. This was the only time I wished I was back in the Philippines. Filipinos are so accommodating that they will even run with you to your gate if they had to. They know what it means to work hard for your money, as well as its value especially when you use it to reward yourself such as for vacations. They will do everything they can for everyone to make it to their plane. Call your names out even if whole airport hears, shout, “Last call for flight whatever whatever..” and let those passengers cut the line just so they could help them get to their flight the fastest.

I know of stories from friends wherein they were also late for check-in but they were allowed to still make it. You might say that's just because they are very lenient here in the Philippines but I also know of friends who traveled to (Osaka) Japan, arrived 30 minutes before their flight (we were there at 42mins), but were still permitted to check in also. Hay. I didn’t want to believe that this was really happening. That we’ll be missing an international flight, spending thousands for another ticket plus additional costs of an overnight stay, just because one man didn’t care to find the slightest way to help us.

Now probably about 30 minutes of pleading, we asked what other option we might have. He said that Philippine Airlines has 2 more flights to Manila that day. He might not realize this, but we of course knew right away that it would cost us much more to fly with PAL and that might not be an actual option for us. He also suggested that we call Cebu Pacific office (in the Philippines, hello??) to ask if they could help us. He was really already very arrogant at this time, very obvious that he was more irritated than sorry for us.

He already left and there we were, helpless. Although we knew it was a long shot, we did go to Philippine Airlines to inquire. There we met a Filipino (I think he was already a boss for the ground attendants) and we shared to him what happened. He said that they also have experiences wherein passengers were late. Sometimes they consider, sometimes they also don’t. I think it just really depends on the situation. But he did say that if he were the one attending to us, he would have considered our plea. We inquired about their rates but as expected, they were too high. We did compute for a new budget and the more practical thing to do was book a flight for tomorrow and stay another night. They Filipino guy was generous enough to help us too – he pulled out his phone, asked us for a phone number, and dialed. “Hi, this is (insert name here) from Philippine Airlines and someone wants to talk you,” he said and handed the phone to Josh, with his dad on the other line. He dialed as if he was just making a local / domestic call, although I wished he had an IDD plan or something. He was also really a big help since we didn’t know how to call home because we already dropped our pocket WiFi at a post and we couldn’t connect to the airport internet at that time.

Josh relayed our situation to his dad. I was a bit worried and scared that we’ll be scolded and all for being irresponsible but I’m really thankful that what mattered to them at that time was that we’re safe and that we get home at the next fastest possible time.

After the call, we thanked the PAL guy and he even said that if we needed more help, he will just be at the counter and that he can even have his employees translate for us if we needed.

It was slowly sinking in – we’ll stay another day and would have to take in all the consequences, no matter what.

We spent a few minutes taking it all in, and then forced ourselves to get ourselves together and make a plan. We drafted a budget considering all our options and conditions. I think these are our 3 greatest considerations:

-       We didn’t have credit cards so his parents will have to book the flight for us and email our ticket. We also web checked-in that night and had our ticket and boarding pass printed at 711 (this one’s really a winner haha)

-       We knew that we can’t check-in in a hotel, and our parents might not allow us to stay in the airport overnight, so we had to travel back to Motosumiyoshi although we will incur additional costs for Narita Express, another train, and other meals we’ll need

-       Our big bags were such a hassle. Good thing we found this baggage counter at the airport where they charge you according to size and its length of stay. It was a bit pricey but considering our 5 hour travel to and fro in ease – it’s worth it (not to mention, Shibuya station Hachiko exit didn’t have an elevator that could help us get to the NEX platform). We only packed our back packs with whatever we’ll need overnight and went on our way

Although this was really a very frustrating experience, I did have a lot of learnings:

-       I know that we have different cultures and all, but I also came to think that if there are 2 places where cultures can cross borders, it has got to be hotels and airports. So sad that Narita airport is not one of them. That made me realize that time is something they value greatly. Especially on an international trip, be sure to make arrangements going to the airport at least a day before your flight and budget your time extra and very wisely.

-       Although Josh and I are different in a lot of ways and in most petty things, I realized even more that he is the perfect partner for me. I don’t know if I would have survived that time were it not for his support. His mere presence made me strong. We have the same values which helped us easily decide what we wanted and needed to do. We prioritized the same things. We didn’t have to argue. Hassle experiences such as this don’t lead us to get out of control and start a fight. Situations like this motivate us to be there for each other and work as a team. We have this chemistry that makes us work together fruitfully and be the partner that the other person needs. Our strengths and weaknesses really complement each other.

-       God’s grace is still and will always be more than enough for anything. Everything could have been a lot worse if not for His financial provision, understanding and support from our parents, wisdom on what to do, presence of mind, and protection on our extended stay.

We know that God has a reason why He didn’t allow us to be on that flight and all these other learnings are just bonuses. After all, there is a first for everything. We just like to think of it as God’s way of telling us that we will be needing this experience for more travels we will have someday.

Thank you Hiro for the pictures and also for some of the pictures in my previous post. Hihi :)