Posted by Ed Saunders on February 11, 2002 on Dirk Pepperd's Space-A WWW Board:
LAX TO KADENA AB LEG
I am a military retiree CAT-6, Space-A and recently returned from a trip to Okinawa (31 Jan – 9 Feb) using AMC’s “Patriot Express” from Los Angeles International to Kadena AFB, Okinawa. My son is a Marine stationed on Okinawa, and I flew there for a week to see him. I flew a commercial airline to Los Angeles and then got on the Patriot Express. But I did my homework in advance.
World Airlines, a contract carrier, flies AMC’s “Patriot Express.” The aircraft is an MD-11, which is an updated DC-10. All seats on the plane are coach class, but with more leg room than a commercial carrier. Great food and great service while on the plane. I found nothing wrong with their equipment, service, airframe or flight crew.
The Thursday flight leaves LAX at 2230 hrs, flies to Seattle for a two hour lay-over, (everyone has to deplane) then a three hour flight to Anchorage International for a fuel stop (everyone has to deplane) and then a ten hour flight directly to Kadena AFB Okinawa. The Anchorage stop is NOT an embarkation or debarkation point for passengers. The plane arrives at Kadena AFB at 1145 hours on Saturday owing for the Internation Date Line.
I telephoned the AMC counter at LAX prior to getting a commercial airline ticket to Los Angeles. The LAX AMC counter telephone number is: 1-800-756-2640, or a more direct line (no electronic menu to wade through) is at 1-310-363-0715/0716 I used the latter number to get directly through to the AMC personnel who could give me the “empty seat” count. The AMC personnel told me at this time of year, the flight generally has about 100 empty seats, so my chances of getting on were good.
I then faxed my sign-up information to them. Retirees can sign up for a sixty-day block of time. I kept my confirmation of the fax and carried it with me in the event AMC at LAX said they didn’t get my fax. LAX AMC fax number is 1-310- 363-2790
I then telephoned the AMC terminal at Kadena AFB to find out the “empty seat” count for the return flight which leaves on a Saturday. Their commercial number as dialed from the States is: 011-81-611-734-2159. Kadena AFB AMC desk told me at this time of the year they always have empty seats going back to the states on the Saturday flight back to America.
With that information, I bought my round trip commercial ticket to LAX.
The LAX AMC counter is on departure level Terminal 2 left of the Northwest and Hawaiian Air counters. I double-checked with the Air Force sergeant to see if he had my sign-up information; he did. At “show time” only twelve people were there for “space A” with over one hundred empty seats. I paid my twenty-eight dollars administrative fee. We all got on.
The half empty plane allowed for us to stretch out on the seats and sleep. Very comfortable trip. No complaints here.
The entire trip, including lay-overs at Seattle and Anchorage took almost sixteen hours. Arrival at Kadena AFB is a different story for CAT-6 Space-A flyers. See my posting about Immigration and Customs.
While at the Kadena Terminal I saw numerous flights to mainland Japan, two flights weekly to Singapore, and regular flights to Bangkok, but no direct flights to Australia. If you can get to Kadena, you can get to some nice places in the Orient.
I also saw a grease board on the wall at the Space-A desk showing the daily empty-seat count on the flights back to the States and to mainland Japan. This board lists flights and the count for a month out. So the AMC people there can look over their shoulder and give you the actual empty-seat count as it shows for that day.
I’ll post separately the departure procedures at Kadena AFB. If you are not careful to ask the correct questions and do the correct procedures you will not get on the return “Patriot Express.”
RENTAL CARS AT KADENA AB
You can rent a car at Kadena AFB, Okinawa through Fuji Rental Car. They have an office at the Shogun Inn on Kadena AFB proper. I had a mid-size sedan for one week 2 Feb - 9 Feb; the final charge was $288, unlimited mileage.
Fuji's telephone number on Kadena AFB as dialed from the States is: 011-81-611-733-0007 Their agent speaks fluent English.
On base, their number is: 633-0007
I had no problems with them or their services. The small sedan was in excellent condition. I am not their agent, nor endorse their service; I'm just passing along the information.
Remember, Japanese drive on the left side of the road and their cars have the steering wheel and controls on the right side of the car. That took some getting used to.
LODGING, FUN ON OKINAWA
I visited my son, a Marine, assigned to Camp Hansen, outside of Kin, Okinawa about twenty five miles north of Kadena AFB on the east side of the island directly on Kin Bay. I stayed at the Camp Hansen Lodge. A bit careworn, but clean and comfortable, the former single floor quarters for Sergeants Major suited my purposes. A room with shared bath cost $25 nightly, with non-shared bath 40$ nightly. Their telephone number as dialed from the States is: 011-81-611-723- 4511
Camp Hansen is larger than I thought and has the Marine Corps' newest and grandest combined Officer's and Enlisted Club. Their superb Wednesday night Mongolian Barbecue packed the house.
I had a rental car so my son and I drove all over the island. The rugged, mountainous island covered with pine trees and cherry trees, doesn't have a lot to see, but we visited the numerous castle ruins on the island, the former World War II underground Naval command post in the capital city of Naha, the shopping areas in Naha, the magnificently restored Shurijo Castle in Naha.
We drove north on scenic Highway 58 on the west side of the island having numerous world-class resorts and stopped at the large and spacious U.S. Armed Forces recreation beach way north on the west side of the island.
Finding your way around the island is difficult as the Japanese don't mark their roads well. You navigate by landmark and not by roadsigns.
The expressway, a four- lane tollroad, which goes up the cental part of the island, is expensive: about twenty dollars round trip from Camp Hansen to Kadena.
Again, I was there to visit my son. If he wasn't there, I wouldn't have spent much time in Okinawa proper.
JAPANESE IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS AT KADENA AB
I was surprised to discover that military retirees (CAT 6 Space-A) and spouses of American military holding foreign passports do not process through Japanese government customs & immigration at the Kadena AFB Terminal like the active duty military personnel do.
When CAT 6 personnel arrive, along with the active duty personnel, the CAT 6 people and spouses holding foreign passports wait in the Kadena AFB terminal baggage claim area while the Air Force first processes through all the active duty personnel; this took about an hour. The Kadena Air Force authorities then gather all the CAT 6 personnel and transport you to the Japanese Customs Office, just outside of Kadena AFB’s Gate 2. Processing through Customs was effortless.
The Air Force authorities then will transport you to the Japanese Immigration Office in Kadena City. Japanese Immigration was also effortless. The Air Force will then transport you back to the Kadena AFB Terminal only. You are on your own from there.
HOWEVER, the Kadena Air Force authorities at the Kadena AFB Terminal WILL NOT transport you back to the Japanese Customs Office and then to the Immigration Office when you depart Japan. You have to get to these offices ON YOUR OWN. Customs is easy to find: just outside of Gate 2 in the small building on your right as you pass Kadena’s guard shack. But I wasn’t paying attention on how to get back to the Immigration Office.
You must FIRST outprocess Immigration and then Customs in that order. I had a rental car and could drive to the Immigration Office. Here are directions and instructions for the Japanese Immigration Office. You could get a cab and I am sure they know, but getting a cab isn't that easy.
You first must have your departure slip from the Kadena AFB Terminal. (This is another story.) Without the departure slip Japanese Immigration WILL NOT outprocess you. To get to the Immigration Office drive out Kadena’s Gate 2. Stay in the left lane. Turn left at the seventh street on your left. Japanese streets are very narrow; I counted every street, even if it looked like an alley. To double check look for the gaudy black and yellow sign reading “Lay Lehs” on the right side of the road, and the blue and white sign reading “Mayco’s Optical” on the left side. If you reach the pedestrian overpass you have gone too far. You can also count the traffic signals; the left turn is past the fourth traffic light.
After turning left, make another left turn at the fourth street on your left. The Japanese Immigration Office is on your left. You can’t miss it; the large black and white sign is in English. Park free-of- charge in their parking spaces. Go upstairs to their counter and outprocess. They open at 6 a.m. If your flight leaves before 6 a.m. you can make special arrangements for them to outprocess you before 6 a.m.
To get back to Kadena AFB, just continue the same direction down the narrow street you turned to get to Immigration. Turn left at the first main intersection, and follow it to the main street leaving Kadena AFB. Turn right and drive back to the Base. Customs will be the small building on the left behind the trees just before you enter the Base proper.
I dropped off my rental car at Kadena AFB's Shogun Inn, and then walked to Kadena AFB's PX to get a cab to go the final mile or two to Kadena’s Terminal.
KADENA AB TO LAX LEG
To return from Kadena AFB Okinawa to LAX on the Patriot Express you MUST do three things to get on the plane:
1. Sign up for the return flight to LAX as far in advance as you can but no
later than sixty days.
2. Show-up in person at the Kadena AFB AMC Space-A desk, as early as you can on
the day of the flight, to tell them you are “present” for the flight.
3. Be at the AMC counter when they call the names on the “present” list.
If you don’t do any one of these three things, you won’t get on the return flight.
As a retiree, you can sign up for the return flight via e-mail for a sixty day block of time, but I lost the e-mail address to Kadena AFB AMC desk – aargh! Telephone Kadena AFB at commercial 011-81-611-734-2159
The AMC Space-A desk at Kadena AFB opens at 0600hrs. I was first in line at 0600 hrs on the day of the return flight to say I was “present” but found out I was 87th on the list to go back to the States. I also double checked to see that they had me in their computer data base, which they did. Apparently active duty personnel at Kadena have some procedure to say they are “present” without having to be there in person.
At 0730 hrs on the day of the flight, the AMC desk posted a print-out on the terminal bulletin board of those “present,” again I found myself 87th on the list. The plane had 180 empty seats so I knew I would get on. AMC posts the number of empty seats on the bulletin board next to the Space-A sign in desk.
At 0800 hrs the AMC personnel began calling the names in order as they appeared on the “present” list. Some people on the “present” list did not answer their names. They didn’t get their authorization slips. They may have been up in the cafeteria drinking coffee, this cost them a flight home. The AMC personnel handed out authorization slips for us to get into the separate check-in line. This check-in line is agonizingly slow, taking about 14 minutes per person. With two hundred people getting on the plane, do the math. Be patient.
Kadena AFB doesn’t accept credit or charge cards for you to pay the $28 Space-A administrative fee – only cash or checks.
Once I had my boarding slip, I headed off-base to process through Japanese Customs and Immigration. (See my posting on Japanese Customs and Immigration for CAT-6 Space–A travelers).
Kadena AFB will check, double check, and triple check passenger ID’s and boarding slips. The agonizingly slow and perplexing procedure will tax even the most seasoned of Space-A and active duty traveler. You will get on the plane, but my goodness, does it take a long, long, time.
One nice thing is AMC will keep all the families with small children forward in the plane and the single, unaccompanied military personnel to the rear of the plane. I estimated the flight had between 50 and 60 children between the ages of a few months to six years of age. I love kids, but I do need to sleep sometime.
The return flight goes directly from Kadena to Seattle: a nine hour and forty-five minute flight to Seattle. You process U.S. customs and immigration at Seattle, then reboard the plane to LAX. The plane departs Kadena a 1630 hrs Saturday and arrives at LAX at 1500hrs that same Saturday owing to the International Date line.
Again not a bad flight with great food, movies, and great service, but do your homework and do the correct procedures or you won’t get on the plane.
Good luck.
-Ed
Editors note;
This was a very interesting and well written report found on the web so we published it here. It is DATED as you can see but I think the immigration and processing procedures are the same ( 2007)