Last year, I made it to Japan from Hong Kong roughly an hour before the quarantine was set to begin and ended up spending six months in the country.
I had to move my flights around quite a few times, and ditched the return of the paid Oneworld RTW ticket (not sure if I can ever use it), and ended up redeeming an ANA First-class ticket using my Virgin Atlantic miles earned in the 2000s.
I honestly had forgotten the return flight to Japan altogether and had assumed that it would have been canceled/modified, but that was not the case.
The day before I was supposed to fly back to Japan on my Virgin Atlantic issued ticket, I received the above check-in invitation from ANA.
I quickly fired up my WhatsApp chat with Virgin Atlantic and was surprised to get a reply in less than half an hour. The Virgin left the return open, and I hope to be able to use it one day.
Here’s my take on ANA Haneda – London flight back in September:
ANA First Class Haneda – London Pandemic Flight Review (September 2, 2020)
Conclusion
ANA and JAL have continued their London Heathrow services mostly on alternate days. I was surprised that ANA didn’t make any changes to the return flights since the ticket was issued nine or so months ago.
My preferred way to communicate with Virgin Atlantic is using WhatsApp chat. There is an audit trail of what was agreed and when compared to telephone calls.
Let’s hope that Japan opens up for the Olympics or later this year so that I can eventually use this return segment.
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Please post more reviews/ stories about you adventures in Japan during Covid.
I am glad you made the flight to Japan.
Local news this week says foreign visitors will not be allowed to the Olympics. It hasn’t been fully implemented yet, but I certainly don’t expect any rollback on that decision. Most residents want the games cancelled or postponed another year, so this was the best compromise the govt could come up with.
They are considering allowing foreigners invited by the corporate sponsors, but this is being hit with equally negative public opinion, and don’t expect it either.
I was trying to be optimistic and scheduled a short trip to Japan in September. But with each passing day, week and month is seems less likely to happen. I am waiting to see what happens this summer but if they still have the quarantine in place I won’t be going.
I’d like to know more about the WhatsApp chat. I don’t use the app but depending on how the chat function works it may be worth checking into.