JAL apologizes for canceling overbooked Tokyo-Fukuoka flight

It's an annoying as hell practice as the airlines got ya by the cojone's if you have to get somewhere!

The airport closes at 10pm ?

Japan is very odd in that outside of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya it isn’t very convenient or vibrant. It is strange that they are so eager to send tourists to out of the way places that have almost nothing to offer.

"out of the way places that have almost nothing to offer"

Like Fukuoka?

Agree that 10pm for a city of 1.5 million people seems odd.

Fukuoka has a lot to offer, far better than the nonsense in Tokyo which us way over rated.

This was probably the last flight, lots of businessmen go to Tokyo for the day and return home at night. Also there is a 3-day week-end starting on Friday today, some Tokyo families might have been returning to their hometown for a short vacation. I don't think the tourists were to blame.

They cancelled it? Was that really the only solution?

"If nobody owns up to who broke the blackboard eraser cleaner, then all of you will stay late for detention!"...

I mean, I'm no expert in these matters, but instead of wasting time expecting passengers to do your job for you, how about removing the last 25 who booked (for example) and finding them a hotel and another flight?

Probably due to sound restrictions and typical Japanese red tape having the Airport close at 10pm. Fukuoka Airport is pretty much located in the city... but I'd be steaming if I had to be at a wedding Fri morning..

So they have find a hotel room in Tokyo at the last minute, pay for hotel room in Fukuoka, and not be able to eat delicious fukouka street food? Good luck finding a hotel in Tokyo, on the beginning of a 3 day holiday.

Narita has a curfew of 23:00 and transport towards Tokyo is pretty much non exsistent after then including taxis.

Haneda is open 24 hours, but try getting public transport out of the city after 23:30.

There is a 24 hour airport in Fukuoka, but it's over an hour outside the city. One of the joys of Fukuoka is that you can be in the middle of the city 10 minutes after leaving the airport. One of the drawbacks is the 10pm shut down.

Fukuoka-Tokyo is the 4th busiest air route in the world. The in-city airport is not really up to that traffic volume, but few people want to travel to the distant 24-hour airport near Kitakyushu.

@Maria.... yes! exactly!

If they had an auction system as they do in the US, they would quickly have found volunteers.

What this shows is that JAL are too tight and did not offer enough money to persuade some passengers to miss the flight. In the EU JAL would have to pay large sums in compensation for cancelling the flight, but I guess they pay nothing in Japan so they don't really care about inconveniencing their passengers.

"400 people showed up at Tokyo's Haneda airport with a reservation for a plane that could only take 375"

Mistake #1.

"JAL canceled flight JL335"

Mistake #2.

"The time spent trying to persuade some passengers to give up their seats made it difficult for the flight to arrive at Fukuoka airport before its closure at 10 p.m."

That'll teach you sheep to insist on keeping your seats! Ya'll get out!

Offer them lots of money like foreign carriers.

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase3-united-voucher-20180324-story.html

Why not offer Standby seating... making them much cheaper than regular, but may involve a very long wait until a seat becomes available on a flight to that destination. And for all ticket purchases, embed an insurance cost for missing the flight due to transportation delays whilst at the same time offering no refunds for no-shows that aren't covered by that insurance.