Japan Airlines Flight Attendants

In 1997 I flew Japan Airlines (JAL) to Manila with an overnight layover at Narita International, Tokyo. Their flight attendants are lovely and wear stylish, but conservative uniforms.

The plane got in around 4pm. I went through customs and got outside just as the Hotel Nikko’s bus pulled up. I grabbed a seat near the front.

At the time, JAL had a subsidiary called  JALways Reso’cha with tropically painted 747s. Their flight attendants had very beautiful uniforms with big, colorful tropical hats. While I was waiting, teams of girls started boarding the bus as their flights came in. Every single one of them walked past me to get to the back of the bus.

The ride to the hotel was paradise. I could hear them happily chattering away behind me. That was the day I decided female Japanese is the most beautiful language on the planet.

Fatal error #1: Always sit at the back of the bus. I would have had a longer view as they came up the aisle and I could have observed them during the 15 minute ride to the Hotel. Optimistically, I decided there was no way I would miss paying a visit to the hotel bar that evening.

I got off the bus and checked in. Fatal error #2. Don’t be in a hurry to check in at a hotel. The line of JAL girls behind you should be in front of you.

I put my stuff up in the room and came down, had dinner and went back up to my room. It was still early, so I showered and fell asleep (fatal error #3) watching the Japanese news. When I woke up it was well after 11pm and I got up to the bar as fast as I could.

It was empty except for an old Australian having a whisky. I joined him and ordered a coke. The Australian had been there all night. “Nothing much happening up here,” he said.

These are the events that shape my life.

United Flight 862

Across the Pacific and the South China Sea

Manila 19 December 2006

Manila, Suzhou, and Shanghai

Narita Landing

Several years back, I was on a flight into the international airport at Narita.  I was on board a 747, I don't want to name the airline but it begins with "J" and ends with "apan Airlines." 

It was a long flight across the Pacific.  Some people slept and some had stayed up to watch the movies.  The captain turned on the cabin lights and the passengers around me were waking up, yawning and stretching.

While most of the passengers slept,

Hong Kong and Kai Tak

I was on the internet today, planning a trip to the Philippines with a high probability I'll be flying Cathay Pacific from SFO to Hong Kong to Manila.  It's been at least 20 years since I've been to Hong Kong.

In the late 60s and early 70s, flying across the Pacific was done in a single aisle 707 or DC-8.  The airlines were just starting to use 747s and the original -100 and -200 variants had a fraction of the range of today's 747-400.  Our routes took us from JFK to either LAX or SFO.  The first leg across the Pacific was flown from California to Honolulu.  The next leg was grueling: a 7 hour stretch from HNL to Guam, which was followed by a 4 hour layover to maintain, refuel and refit the plane.  We'd then reboard and continue on.

Before working for Pan Am, Dad was with TWA, which only flew as far as Guam or Hong Kong.  From there we had to take another carrier for the last leg into Manila, usually Pan Am, Philippine Airlines, or Cathay Pacific.  I remember flying a Cathay Pacific 707 out of the now-closed, Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport.  I specifically remember the old shelves above the seats, stacked with neatly folded green blankets, before they had the overhead bins.

Kai Tak was an exciting airport because the big jets would come in extremely low over the city and have to execute a sharp banking maneuver to line up with Kai Tak's man-made runway, which jutted out into Kowloon Bay.  For a plane spotter, it's one of those great international airports with colorful birds coming in from all over the world.

Hong Kong still belonged to Great Britain at the time.  I remember riding in the front of a taxi cab, and thinking about how weird it felt to be sitting in what normally was the driver's seat.  Anthony used to pretend he was driving.

We often stayed at the Sheraton and our hotel room had shiny red foil wallpaper.  Our room was always high up and overlooked the bay which was crowded with sampans and ferries.  Grey shark-like destroyers from the British Royal Navy sometimes prowled the bay, too.

Later, Dad switched to Pan Am and the 747SPs went into service, which meant we could fly non-stop from JFK to Tokyo, and then directly on to Manila.  The 747SP went into service in 1975, so I had to be well-under 10 when HK was a regular on the itinerary.  Most of my memories are just images: black taxis, lots of neon, and impossibly crowded streets.

I remember eating birds nest soup in a restaurant we had to climb stairs to get to.  There's a story about baby Lellie throwing up on a Chinese man's suit, and Dad still imitates his reaction.

Hong Kong was a fun and exciting waypoint, though we were usually eager to get onto Manila.  I remember one flight from Kai Tak to Manila in a Philippine Airlines DC-8 that had been converted into a frieghter.  There were only 4 or 5 rows of seats and behind them was a heavy curtain.  Behind the curtain, was a bare metal interior with a steel conveyor floor.  Besides an older man and his wife, we had the plane to ourselves and Anthony and I both got window seats.

As we taxied to the runway, heavy winds and rains buffeted the aircraft.  The pilot and copilot kept the door open talked to us throughout the flight.  There was one stewardess, too.  I'll never forget the take-off run beside the grey waters of Kowloon Bay, and the amazing effect the jet blast had on the rainwater on the runway as the DC-8 rotated and climbed out and headed towards Manila.

Kai Tak is closed now, so it will be interesting to see the new airport and the new Hong Kong.  I can't wait.

The China Clipper

Imagine it’s November 22nd, 1935 and you’re aboard the China Clipper, a Martin M-130, one of three flying boats built exclusively for Pan Am.  Tiny by today’s standards, she rocks gently at anchor in San Francisco Bay, ready for her maiden voyage across the Pacific to Manila.

The engines roar and the Clipper picks up speed and becomes airborne.  The boat has become a plane.  She flies over San Francisco’s waterfront, over the Golden Gate Bridge (still under construction) and heads west towards Pearl Harbor.  Her cruising speed is 163 mph and altitude is 17,000 feet.

The trip to Manila will take six days, with an actual flying time of 59 hours and 48 minutes, and cover 8,210 miles.  Overnight stops along the way are at Honolulu, Midway, Wake Island, and Guam, each a speck of land in the vast Pacific Ocean.  There’s no GPS, computers, or air traffic controllers.  The navigator must be precise.  He does it the old-fashioned way, with a map, a compass, a sexton and the stars.

After this historic flight, China Clipper will soon be joined by her two sisters, Hawaii Clipper and Philippine Clipper.  Hawaii Clipper will make the first revenue-generating transoceanic flight and Philippine Clipper will make the first passenger flight into Hong Kong on 14 October 1936.

The Clippers and their pilots were true pioneers, embarking on journeys as dangerous and difficult in their day as a trip to the moon.  There’s something romantic about the Golden Age of Travel and the Pan Am Clippers.

Today, you can board a Boeing 747 in San Francisco and fly nearly 600 mph at 37,000 feet.  You could be in Manila in 16 hours.  Compare that to six days of travel!  But there was no way you could get jet lag with the old Clippers.  They were propeller-driven.