With a little day trip in the cards during a recent trip to Japan, I needed to fly between the major Japanese city of Sapporo and the smaller city of Sendai. Every significant player in the Japanese domestic market operates this route at least a few times per day. Peach Aviation, a low-cost carrier in the region, had the lowest fare by a healthy margin: $45US. Add in that Peach is new to me, and it was an easy sell.
As far as Japanese domestic carriers go, the booking process is very straightforward and familiar. There are three fare bundles to choose from, a nice change from the ten or more I experienced on every other airline.
Each bundle offers more perks — like seat choice, checked bags, or flight changes — than the one before it. The ticketing fee is an odd one, given that it isn’t included in the base fare but isn’t optional either. I assume it’s pulled out to make it look like both the standard and standard plus fares are a better deal, but it did make me roll my eyes a bit.
Either way, I chose the standard, as it saved me money on seat choice. It comes with a checked bag that I didn’t use, but adding another would’ve added $12 to the cost. You can even pay for priority handling for an extra $4.
On the day before the flight, I tried to download the airline’s app to avoid the check-in counter and improve my odds on a short, unprotected connection. For whatever reason the app wouldn’t download, insisting that I wasn’t in the right region of the world. If not in Japan, then where? The airline also didn’t have online check-in, which seemed odd to me.
It turned out that it didn’t really matter. My inbound arrival to Sapporo was early, and I had plenty of time. The airline has a set of self-serve kiosks, which dutifully printed off a ticket and sent me on my way. A line for bag drop and counter service looked to run about fifteen minutes.
Noticing that my gate was closer to security checkpoint two, I attempted to go through it. I was denied and sent to checkpoint one, which apparently is the only checkpoint Peach passengers can use. I found out why as I got closer, spotting a handful of cheerful employees standing next to scales ahead of the entrance.
Peach has a 7kg carry-on baggage weight limit, which is clearly stated in the purchasing process. With only a mostly empty backpack I figured I’d be waved through, but no. Everything gets weighed. That included the camera slung around my shoulder as a personal item and anything in my coat pockets. Like, say, a water bottle.
All told, between the backpack, the camera and the water bottle, the grand total came to 7.18kg. I guess that’s why they do it, but also it felt needlessly stringent. A brief discussion ensued among the staff, after which they waved me through anyways.
Boarding began on time 25 minutes before departure. Today’s bird was a three-year-old Airbus A320neo. The aircraft is configured in a 3-3, all-economy layout for 188 total passengers. The maximum allowed for the A32N is 194, so it is a dense configuration.
Most seats have 29” of pitch, though a handful of extra legroom and the exit rows provide a little more. There is no recline, though the airline says it seats have a ‘comfortable pre-recline setting. I can’t say I noticed.
Luckily I wouldn’t have to find out just how unpleasant this could be. The aircraft leapt into the sky well under half full, leaving me and most others on board with a row to ourselves.
In another sign of the dense layout, the aft end of the jet has only a half galley on one side and a lavatory on the other. In front of the lav is just another row of seats — not even a monument to create separation.
A short service began not long after departure. It was limited to buy-on board only, and the crew hurried down the aisle quickly, as though they didn’t really have any interest in collecting an order.
Screenshot
With only an hour in the air, I didn’t really need anything. Had I wanted something, though, you can also order via the airline’s on board browser-based system. A surprisingly wide variety of snacks and drinks were available at captive-audience prices. In theory you could also book onward tickets, like on a bus or train, on board. No options were available. Duty free items, including some airline merch, were also available for sale.
Surprisingly, all of it is cash only! The other feature in the ‘entertainment’ is a handy inflight map.
The flight landed on time at the sleepy Sendai airport, pulling up to a gate right away. The pre-reclined seat had already grown uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sad to move on.
All in all, this was a low-cost ticket on a low-cost carrier. Nothing more, and nothing less.
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All images credited to the author, Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren
