The Patriot Express is running again. Much to every-one’s chagrin who actually has to take the plane.
The Patriot Express is the name of the Air Mobility Command charter plane that runs from LAX to the bases in Japan. For several years now the AMC was trying to kill the service in order to save money. For equally as many years the Navy and Marine Corps have whined and whined about the need to keep the service running. I’ve never understood why. For someone PCS’ing out of Japan having to take the aircraft was nothing but a royal pain in the ass. Same is true if you were coming into Japan PCS.
At least in this interation it is being run by Northwest-so perhaps the experience of the traveler is better than it used to be. Before it was run by lowest bidder airlines, left at an ugodly hour from the states and arrived at a bad time over here. Any one who could work the system did-to avoid having to use it. ( I know because I was one of those people).
Arriving at Yokota from Okinawa on Thursday, Staff Sgt. Angelo Bryant said Northwest’s Patriot Express was problem-free and things ran “really smooth” even though he had four small children in tow.
“Compared to riding in the back of a [military aircraft], this was heaven,” he said.
Maybe-but you have an entitlement to an commercial air ticket that does not cost much more than the Express does. And I’ll bet would have made your travel time a lot less and more comfortable.
Problem is, it is still the USAF and AMC running the boarding and debarking, and you still have to show up 4 and 1/2 hours before your flight. So that you can sit around and log J-time in the terminal. Even having to go to Narita by bus is not that bad.
If one is stationed in the Kanto Plain there is no benefit to using the aircraft. For Misawa based personnel there is some, less so for Iwakuni and or Kadena based personnel. Flying into and out of Osaka pretty much negates any advantage of using the aircraft for those folks. And, as I mentioned-the advantage of being able to go direct to the East Coast outweighs any other advantage that taking the aircraft creates-if one is moving to the East Coast. (Or east of Denver…).
So this is nothing to celebrate. The thing to celebrate is the day that AMC and the USAF cancels the route for good.
I guess you haven’t been stationed on Iwakuni. It sucks getting off an flight in Osaka and then zippiing to the Shin station, with four kids and suitcases. It is especially difficult if it’s your first time there. Give me the Freedom Bird anytime.
I’ve never done it with four kids, that is correct. I have gone through Osaka to Iwakuni though. Seems to me they could connect people to Hiroshima then run a bus from MCAS though.
The only time I did the Patriot Express was arriving at Yokota at 6 in the morning after having to wait in LA for 10 hours because SATO was stupid.
joshos,
Which is exactly my point. If you compare City Pair airfares they are not that different between going to LAX and DFW. However going out of Narita would have allowed you to go direct to DFW and your luggage would have been able to be checked all the way to Kansas city.
One thing that has always mystified me is how SATO thinks in Mecator map terms instead of polar map terms. When a person takes emergency leave he is always brought to Seattle-even though on a polar projection it is no more expensive to bring him to Chicago or New York-and it saves the guy money out his own pocket.
Don’t think that the rest of AMC is invulnerable to the foibles of travelling via the Patriot Express. A few years ago I did an aircraft transfer from Hawaii to San Diego. We had to take our billion dollar blender (read: helicopter) apart and then stuff it into a C-5 Galaxy, which should not have been a big deal. The taking bits off stage went well, as did navigating the byzantine requirements for having everything weighed and then certified for shipment from Hickam AFB to Travis AFB (where we would put things back together and then fly to San Diego).
What went sideways was the actual sked for the flight from Hickam to the mainland.
Day 1: Air Force tells us to be there at 0430 to ensure we’re ready to go and waiting on the plane. We arrive at 0415. We are told: “Plane is late. Be here in a couple of hours.” I spend the day laying on a creeper under the bird on the flightline (I had no uniforms the Air Force considered “acceptable” to wear while using their lounge) reading books and sneaking into their smoking area. Apparently, clean and somewhat pressed coveralls are not considered, or were not at the time considered, acceptable attire for smoking onboard Air Force bases. 1900 rolls around and they finally tell us the bird went down at 1300 and won’t be there until tomorrow.
Day 2: Please reread Day 1, as it was the same.
Day 3: Please reread Day 1, as it was the same.
Day 4: Blah blah Day 1 blah blah. Except now I am permitted to use the smoking area and occasionally hide out in the lounge when it is raining.
Day 5: Plane arrives. At 2100. Three hours later we’re wheels up and flying toward — New Mexico.
Day 6: Arrive Kirkland AFB in New Mexico. C-5 pilot complains that “there is a [minor] leak he doesn’t like.” The LT that I was travelling with (I was an AT2 at the time) threaten him with great bodily harm should he not fly us to California that same day. Pilot capitulates, plane arrives Travis AFB.
Day 7: Upon arrival, squadron inquires as to what took so long. Much profanity ensues.
Right now I deal with travel arrangements (meaning SATO) on a fairly regular basis. Although the Defense Travel Website (DTS) was supposed to make things easier, it has not at all improved the experience of travelling to and from Japan. I did a trip out to Atsugi last year for some TAD and had a hell of a time getting the system to approve the trip because DTS interpreted my movement across the International Date Line as some sort of attempt at a scam.
Moreover, your comments about people being unable to adequately deal with Great Circle routes to and from the States brought up a specific case that happened to a friend of mine a couple of years ago. He was doing a PCS out to Atsugi and wound up travelling separately from his pregnant Japanese wife, their 18-month old son, and their dog due to some weird mess with his orders and intermediate schooling. She was travelling from the D.C. area to Japan, and AMC / SATO wound up putting her on a ramp in Ancorage for nearly an hour before catching a civilian flight into Narita. They provided no excuses and no apologies, despite the fact that it was early March and Alaska is at that time of the year, fairly cold. Or so I am led to believe.
SATO and DTS can get stuffed for all I care. I’ll book through DTS if required, but I won’t use it if I have even the thinnest of excuses available. Too many horror stories (first and second hand), and poor implementation.
Mike,
I’ve used DTS a lot too-and while I do not like it-much of the ease of use has to do with the level of knowledge of your approving authority and how well they track and fund the requests. For example the IDL issue is not that much of a problem simply fill in the justification block. Your approval guy needs to know how to then approve the request as written. If they don’t-you are right it gets hard.
DTS at least allows you to choose the airline you want-but they screw you and a lot of people don’t realize it. If you don’t get the city pair, then you get f@#$ing S class tickets. Which do not allow you to upgrade, no way no how. On a flight to or from Narita that is a big deal.
And you story about Anchorage gets repeated too many times. The lady could have gone DC to Narita direct on ANA or even to Chicago. Except that the SATO goons are hung up on the whole city pair program.
I’ll give you a tip. Pay the 25 dollars to book on the phone with United and have the city pair air fare at your disposal. They can give you an equivlant fare many times and it will be upgradable. If I had my way SATO would be disestablished-you would be given an target figure in dollars to spend and you would book the tickets your self.