Here’s the conclusion to the two days I spent in Narita. (Part one is here!) After spending the night in a Narita airport hotel, we headed back to the airport, in hope of actually getting on a flight to Seoul.

UNITED! Y U DELAY MY FLIGHT SO LONG?

Back at Narita Airport. Hey, it’s a Korean Air A380!

Because our flight wasn’t a “real” flight (it was scheduled for yesterday), we didn’t have a gate. So we got on this shuttle and drove waaaaaaaaaaay out on the tarmac to board the plane. (You can see the shuttle ride in the video above.)

Our not-so-fixed plane.

The first class seats. The first class section was empty — I assume they just don’t bother selling seats in First for such a short (2.5 hours) hop to Seoul.

Our business class seats that we sat in for approximately half an hour. It was almost comical when the pilot announced that there was another mechanical problem with the plane and that they were waiting for a part. Sixteen hours after our flight was supposed to take off, we got back on the shuttle and headed back to the terminal.

We raced back to the lounge to try to get on another airline because we had pretty much given up on that United flight ever taking off. We ended up getting rebooked on Asiana Airlines. IN SEAT 1K! ON A 747!

Why is seat 1K on a 747 so awesome? BECAUSE IT’S IN THE NOSE CONE! Here’s the 747 we were on — see the window at very front of the plane, beneath the cockpit? That’s where we were sitting. You’re so close to the front, you can almost see forwards. It’s basically an airplane nerd’s dream. AND I AM AN AIRPLANE NERD.

Mike is smug again.

Hello, comfy seat.

Trying to take a photo that shows how massive the aisle is in first class. You could probably drive a car through the cabin. And if you’re wondering why we were in first instead of business, it’s because the first class cabin on this flight was also empty (like the United one above) so Asiana used it to accomodate all the business class passengers from my United flight. Win!

Sitting at the front was cool because you get all the windows and because there’s no cockpit in front of you. The cockpit is upstairs.

Seriously! This aisle!

WINDOWS GALORE!

The empty space at the front was a closet.

Pre-take-off orange juice.

Pretty excited that we were actually on a flight that was going to take off.

Goodbye, Narita!

Japan from the air.

I love a good duty free catalogue. And Asiana’s was good. Fat like a phone book.

They even had one of my favourite Korean BB creams!

Mt. Fuji from the air. So pretty.

It was only a 2.5 hour flight but included a meal. There was a Korean option and a non-Korean option. (I don’t remember what the non-Korean option was, because obviously I picked the Korean meal.)

Ssambab! Not fancy, but seriously one of the BEST meals I’ve ever had on a plane.

Mmm, kimchi.

Soup

Bulgogi beef and rice. You put the beef and rice in a lettuce leaf, add some chili paste, and roll the whole thing up. Stuff it in your mouth and feel happy.

I drank my green tea and watched some K-pop concerts on the IFE. Really, my life doesn’t get much better than that.

Almost there!

South Korea from the air.

Mike looks very relaxed.

Almost 24 hours after we were supposed to arrive, we were finally landing in Seoul. Annyeong, Seoul!

Oh, Narita Airport. I love airports, and NRT is one of my favourites. But I never planned on spending 12+ hours there over two days. Our NRT-ICN United flight was delayed, more delayed, cancelled, rescheduled to the next day, delayed again, and then we finally ended up on another flight entirely on Asiana Airlines.

But hey, if you ever need a tour of NRT, I’ve seen it all.

On the Narita Express from Shibuya Station to Narita Airport.

This flight never actually happened, but here’s my ticket anyway.

The ANA lounge. If you’re Star Alliance Gold and wondering which lounge to visit in NRT, the ANA lounge is definitely superior to the United Club.

Mike and his fake snob look.

EAT ALL THE INARIZUZHI!

My dreams are made of a CC Lemon machine.

Inarizushi and CC Lemon. The perfect snack!

Mike’s somewhere in the distance, wandering back from the sake bar. Yes, the ANA lounge has a sake bar.

There’s also a noodle bar! I had some kitsune udon.

This is Unari-kun. He is the mascot for Narita (the city, not the airport). Fun fact: Although he looks like a bird, he’s actually an eel with airplane wings. I entertained myself for a couple hours in the duty free, buying toys and Japanese magazines, and then reading the magazines and playing with the toys.

As we waited to board our flight to Seoul, they announced that it was delayed. Sad trombone. We were told to go back to the lounge, so we headed to the United Club this time, since we were waiting for news from United.

The food in the United Club was pretty mediocre, but they had some pretty roll cake. But! The United Club also has a cool Japanese robot beer machine.

Watching the planes and waiting.

As the delay continued, we each got 2000 yen ($26 CAD) to spend on food. I mentioned this in the food entry, but it was pretty late so we decided to waste our vouchers at McDonald’s since we weren’t really hungry anyway.

Wacky burgers!

Obviously we had a lot of time to kill, so I bought more Japanese magazines and we wandered around the airport. There’s a big open space with lots of room for sitting or sleeping or whatever. Because it was so late, the airport was nearly deserted.

Whoever painted this probably had a really long delay too.

I mentioned earlier that Unari-kun is the mascot for Narita city, but Kutan here is the mascot for Narita Airport. Japan has a thing for adorable mascots.

Back at the United Club. Entirely empty now except for people on our flight.

Bad news! Flight cancelled. We were given apology cards and hotel vouchers. I have to say though, the United staff at NRT was amazing. There were a lot of angry people and they were incredibly patient and apologetic the entire time.

The weird part of having our flight cancelled was that we had already been through immigration. Someone from United had to go back to immigration, get our departure cards, and then escort us through secret doors until we emerged at the arrivals hall. We basically re-immigrated into Japan. Welcome to Japan!

On the bus to the hotel. There was definitely some passenger bonding going on, since we were all pretty tired and most of the passengers were American (or at least, English-speaking) — presumably because this was a United flight.

Mike is super excited to stay overnight at an airport hotel in boring Narita.

Next entry: the thrilling conclusion to our Narita saga! (Don’t worry, it has a mostly happy ending.) Click here to read it.