We were up at 3:30 AM (even before our alarms) and were on our way to the airport (BKK) at 5 AM on the airport shuttle.
Thai Airways counter staff were super efficient and soon had us set up for the day (including the Air Canada portion). Because we have picked up souvenirs and some extra things our carry on bags were big and we weren’t sure there wouldn’t be issues bringing them on the plane with us so we “checked” them. There was no charge for this anyway by the airlines and we felt that if our bags were delayed we were on our way home already so no big deal.
Security and immigration were straight forward and after a short delay because of airport congestion we were on our way.
Our flight seemed to have a lot of Canadians on it. Air Canada is part of an alliance with Thai Airways and this Thai flight to Tokyo has at least two Air Canada connection flights from Tokyo Narita airport (Vancouver and Toronto).
One great thing about heading home eastbound is that due to prevailing jet streams our flights times are shorter. I noted that at one point on the Tokyo flight we had a 140 mph tailwind helping to push us along. Our ground speed was over 700 mph.
I had been hoping to see Mount Fuji when we landed but I think it is too far away from this airport. Too bad.
Upon landing we followed the crowd to the international transfer security line. We passed through security with no issues and then we had a couple of hours to just wander around the secure part of the airport until our flight. As before when we started our trip we are not officially in Japan as we didn’t need passport control (as long as we stayed in the secure area)..
Leaving Tokyo. When I booked the flight a few months ago I took a chance with seat selection (included in the cost of ticket) and chose window and aisle seats and left the middle one open. It was a calculated chance that the seat would stay open and we would have a row of three seats for the two of us. The plane was packed with hardly any open seats but we got lucky!
About three hours from Vancouver there was a call over the intercom for “a doctor or nurse on board” to help a passenger somewhere behind us. We saw some medical equipment being taken back. Upon landing in Vancouver we were asked to stay in our seats as EMT’s came aboard to check out the person. All’s well that end’s well. The person was okay.
The flight staffed announced before landing that everyone had to get their luggage for customs so we went down to the luggage carousel and waited, and waited with everyone else for the bags. SLOW!!
I happened to glance at my phone while waiting and saw a notice from Air Canada sent 17 minutes before that we DIDN’T have to wait for our bags. They were being sent right through. Now the rush was on and we hurried through the airport and made it with 15 minutes to spare. Interestingly I got a text about 10 minutes before our flight that one of our bags was loaded. I really like that Air Canada notified me. It is a good service. We were now on the plane waiting and the pilot came on and said the plane was delayed for a few minutes as there were 20-30 bags that still needed to be loaded. Right about then I got another notification that our second bad had been loaded. Obviously there had been an issue with baggage unloading/transfer. Our Edmonton flight was scheduled 1 3/4 hours after we landed in Vancouver so there had been plenty of time to get bags transferred.
The Edmonton flight went smoothly and Vanessa and Beckett picked us up. Thank you!
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