Japan Airlines Panic

Mom is going to be 90 years old this year and is the oldest of all her siblings. Art has been wanting for the longest time to take her to Japan one last time to see her brother in Tokyo and sister in Sendai.

I was actually against it because... for one thing... mom HATES flying and 8 hours is too long for her. And... well... she's going to be 90 years old and isn't the spry, energetic little ol' lady she used to be even three years ago.

Would you believe one morning she agreed to Art's suggestion that she see her family one last time? I was flabbergasted. I don't know what made her change her mind.

Art promised that he would do everything in his power to make it as easy a trip as possible. We would stay in Tokyo a couple of days to get acclimated to the time change and see her baby brother as well. Then my cousin would take mom to Sendai to spend four days with her sister. We would then pick mom up and take her to Yokohama where we could board the Princess Cruise Line for a trip around Japan.

It seemed fine.

Art made reservations with Japan Airlines. It's more expensive to travel with Japan Airlines but he said they would provide Japanese movies for her to enjoy.

OK... so far so good. Unfortunately, the website said he couldn't make seat selections yet. This was in October, 2018. He waited a couple months and then the website said he could only make seat selections 48 hours before fight time.

Two weeks before leaving I asked about the seat selections because I was really worried for mom. She HATES flying because she needs to go to the bathroom often. I wanted to make sure we had appropriate seats.

So I got online and saw the same message Art saw about waiting 48 hours. That's crazy! I decided to call Japan Airlines and was told that the 48 hour message shouldn't have been there. (I don't think they believed me.) All the seats were already assigned and there were only three left. Art would be separated way up front and mom and I would be in a middle and window seat. Mom would have to climb over someone to get to the bathroom. I was almost hysterical with Christina, the poor contact person. I have to tell you she did keep her cools despite my upset. She promised to send a message to the main office to let them know our predicament.

The following morning, Christina called to tell me she still hadn't heard back, but would let me know as soon as she got word from the main office.

Art checked the JAL website that now suddenly showed the seat selection. What the heck? It showed that all the seats were taken. We really felt it was hopeless and I was thinking of appealing to the person on the aisle seat when we boarded the plane to switch seats.

On the third day, I got a call from JAL. I was ready for them to tell me they were sorry that nothing could be done.

Would you believe they gave us three seats in the middle together with an aisle?

Oh my gosh! What a relief! Thank goodness I didn't hint to mom that there would be a problem.

And coming back to Hawaii? Christina had already found us seats that would make it quite comfortable for mom.

I can't stand the stress of trip planning. This is why I prefer tours. I like leaving this kind of aggravation to the tour leader.

Oh... and the Princess Cruise? Art bought the upgrade so mom could enjoy a suite with us and have some amenities for her to enjoy. She did love the Alaskan Cruise so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.