Air Canada Pulling out of KIX

[FG Lurker]

Air Canada has announced that they are pulling out of KIX later this year.

The last flight from Vancouver departs October 24th. The last flight from KIX is the 25th.

From October 25/26 onwards only flights in/out of Narita will be available.

[Mike Oxlong]

First the consulate, now the airlines. I wonder where Hongcouver has placed its bets?

[IkemenTommy]

Bummer.. Jack

[Buraku]

KIX is a fucking joke of a place, probably worse than Miami ok maybe Terminal 5 Heatrow is worse. Kansai still has massive landing fees and its still sinking back into the sea despite the billions spent on it. Carrier wise it was also xenophobically structured, preventing other airlines from operating and services and room were all unfairly allocated to Japanese carriers, which lead to lack of competition, price fixing etc. I try to avoid the place, if it sinks back into the Ocean I won't miss it.

[Watcher]

Do you have a source for this? I can't find anything about it and the aircanada.com website still allows me to book flights in November from YVR to KIX.

[Typhoon]

First the consulate, now the airlines. I wonder where Hongcouver has placed its bets?

Not China. Relations between the PRC and Canada are not particularly friendly at the moment.

Go figure.

[Typhoon]

First the consulate, now the airlines. I wonder where Hongcouver has placed its bets?

Not China. Relations between the PRC and Canada are not particularly friendly at the moment.

Go figure.

Getting rid of the Canadian consulate in Osaka was a dumb idea, btw.

[FG Lurker]

Do you have a source for this? I can't find anything about it and the aircanada.com website still allows me to book flights in November from YVR to KIX.

My travel agent was told this last week and he told me on Friday. I don't think it has been generally announced yet, but if you try calling your agent you won't be able to book flights after Oct 25.

[gkanai]

Carrier wise it was also xenophobically structured, preventing other airlines from operating and services and room were all unfairly allocated to Japanese carriers, which lead to lack of competition, price fixing etc.

KIX will get just what they originally wanted: an airport with only domestic carriers. And the Japanese people will get a big tax bill

[dimwit]

As the destination of my travels is usually Toronto, I never use Kansai to fly to Vancouver as the 4 hour layover there is something I don't really need.

The problem is that the place doesn't really function as a hub for western Japan. To give you an example I want to fly to Toronto from Matsuyama here are my options

1a Fly Matsuyama to Kansai (two flights a day -either too early and I wait around the airport for 4 hours or too late).

1b Fly to Itami and take a bus to Kansai.

2 Fly to Vancouver from Kansai. Do the abovementioned 4 hour stop over change planes/customs

3 Rush to catch the last plane to Toronto and arrive in Toronto at about 9:30 at night

Total time 22hours

or
Fly Matsuyama to Haneda, bus to Narita and direct flight to Toronto and arrive in Toronto at mid afternoon

Total time about 19 hours

The only issue with Narita is the terrible inbound connections with Haneda, but recently they seem to have changed that for the better so that you don't have the one day layover in Tokyo.

[james]

as much as i'd rather not fly through the paranoid states of america, northworst is definitely a better option for me to get to ottawa than trying to get from shimane to narita then having to fly to toronto pearson and from there on to ottawa.

i'd been using ac because they departed from KIX at 6 p.m. giving me enough time to get there even if i leave the same morning.

KIX -> DTW (detroit) depart 12.50, arrive 12.00
short layover
DTW -> YOW (ottawa) depart 13.47, arrive 15.50

but since now i'd have to get us to tokyo the night before, i might as well get us to osaka instead and save a lot of travel and fatigue by taking the northworst flight.

[ttjereth]

[FG Lurker]

I can't remember the exact date, but from sometime in the first half of 2010 Delta is going to start flying KIX to Seattle!

It's going to be a 767 so the plane should be okay. The old Northworst DC10 (I think?) that used to make that trip was fucking horrible. Felt like it was going to shake itself apart every time it took off...

Although I really don't want to deal with US Immigration I'll take that over the fucking disaster that is flying through Tokyo to get to Vancouver. I'm heading back for xmas, flying Itami - Narita - Vancouver - Victoria. On the way back though it's Victoria - Vancouver - Narita - bus to Haneda - KIX - long train ride back to Osaka. How fucked up is that!? Once is enough. KIX - Seattle - Victoria and the connections from Seattle to Victoria are very smooth too.

THANK YOU DELTA!

[Mike Oxlong]

You gonna be muling any packages from Scrambled Liver?:smoking:

[Catoneinutica]

I can't remember the exact date, but from sometime in the first half of 2010 Delta is going to start flying KIX to Seattle!

It's going to be a 767 so the plane should be okay. The old Northworst DC10 (I think?) that used to make that trip was fucking horrible. Felt like it was going to shake itself apart every time it took off...

Although I really don't want to deal with US Immigration I'll take that over the fucking disaster that is flying through Tokyo to get to Vancouver. I'm heading back for xmas, flying Itami - Narita - Vancouver - Victoria. On the way back though it's Victoria - Vancouver - Narita - bus to Haneda - KIX - long train ride back to Osaka. How fucked up is that!? Once is enough. KIX - Seattle - Victoria and the connections from Seattle to Victoria are very smooth too.

THANK YOU DELTA!

Happy for ya, FGL! And I'm sure there are a few Seattleites like me in Kansai who are pretty happy, too. Hope DL doesn't turn around and cancel the route after a few months. Are you going to take the scenic route and go to Vancouver via the Victoria Clipper and the BC Ferries?

[Bucky]

I can't remember the exact date, but from sometime in the first half of 2010 Delta is going to start flying KIX to Seattle!

June 7th, 2010

[Behan]

as much as i'd rather not fly through the paranoid states of america, northworst is definitely a better option for me to get to ottawa than trying to get from shimane to narita then having to fly to toronto pearson and from there on to ottawa.

Do you have to go through US customs and immigration if you are in transit?

[FG Lurker]

Do you have to go through US customs and immigration if you are in transit?

Yes, the very same ass-raping treatment as if you were actually going to visit, not just pass through.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yes, the very same ass-raping treatment as if you were actually going to visit, not just pass through.

Everytime I go through US customs and immigration I feel like renouncing my citizenship.

[FG Lurker]

Everytime I go through US customs and immigration I feel like renouncing my citizenship.

It's worse for non citizens so you can imagine how fucked up the trip through Tokyo has to be to make me want to fly through Seattle instead...

[Behan]

It's worse for non citizens so you can imagine how fucked up the trip through Tokyo has to be to make me want to fly through Seattle instead...

A bitchy US immigration officer had my wife in tears and probably caused her to miss her connecting flight. She overheard the officer saying to another official that she was making her wait just for the sake of making her wait. The only thing my wife had done wrong was mistakenly fill out a landing card for US citizens. The solution would just be to have her fill out the right one right at the counter.

[Typhoon]

I can't remember the exact date, but from sometime in the first half of 2010 Delta is going to start flying KIX to Seattle!

It's going to be a 767 so the plane should be okay. The old Northworst DC10 (I think?) that used to make that trip was fucking horrible. Felt like it was going to shake itself apart every time it took off...

Although I really don't want to deal with US Immigration I'll take that over the fucking disaster that is flying through Tokyo to get to Vancouver. I'm heading back for xmas, flying Itami - Narita - Vancouver - Victoria. On the way back though it's Victoria - Vancouver - Narita - bus to Haneda - KIX - long train ride back to Osaka. How fucked up is that!? Once is enough. KIX - Seattle - Victoria and the connections from Seattle to Victoria are very smooth too.

THANK YOU DELTA!

I prefer to take the NEX from Narita to Tokyo and then take the shinkansen to Shin Osaka and vice versa.

I can get up and leave at a reasonable hour, have lunch with friends in Tokyo, and then head to off Narita for the N America bound flight.

The worst part has been US immigration in Chicago. Loads of planes arriving from Asia, but only two immigration officers on duty as it's their lunch break . . . almost two hours to get through . . .

Haven't encountered discourtesy, just inefficiency.