JAL came through

My husband and I took a 3-week tour of Laos in late November ’08. About a week before we were due to fly home on Dec. 3, citizens of Bangkok, Thailand, demonstrated their dissatisfaction with their government at the airport. No planes were able to fly in or out of the city.

Since we could not fly from Vientiane, Laos, to Bangkok, we rented a van and drove there on Dec. 2. Japan Airlines was not answering the phone, so we took a cab to their downtown office. Up on the 10th floor, we found them very well organized. There were about six employees working their way through the line. We had to wait only about 10 minutes.

The young man who helped us left the room for a few minutes, and when he returned he asked if we could leave “tomorrow morning at 2 a.m.” We had originally planned to leave on Dec. 3 at 8:15 a.m. It didn’t take us long to say “Yes.” They instructed us to return to their office with our luggage between 7 and 9 p.m.

When we arrived, there were more lines, but the Japanese are very considerate of the elderly, so they moved us up in the line. Immigration officers were there as well as the baggage people, who were very efficient.

At about 9 o’clock they loaded us all in five big buses and drove three hours south of Bangkok to an American airfield (must have been left over from the Vietnam War). Within two hours of our arrival we were on a full plane on our way to Tokyo and back on schedule.

I have heard JAL referred to as the Cadillac of airlines in the Far East, and they certainly lived up to their reputation this time.

PATTIE FRAZER

Chula Vista, CA