The last weeks I have followed the information about the new virus in the media, since Japan is considered a country with ongoing spreading. As the virus is not that dangerous for the vast majority of the population, I see no reasons to cancel my trip to Japan.

I think a good measure of common sense will go a long way.

BUT, the virus does mess with a lot of the airlines in Asia. First rebooking I took some time ago, was avoiding all Chinese airports. I did that before they canceled the flights, just to be sure.

But now I had to change it once more. I saw yesterday, that Thai Airways started to cancel all departures to Seoul but not my flight? Was it a reduction of capacity or just a mistake? I don’t know. I addition, the overlay in Seoul was making me think. Also here they reduced capacities to Osaka on a large scale.

Japan might be restricting immigration if you come from countries in Asia. So what to do?

I went to the SAS homepage an checking for alternatives from Frankfurt. And there were some new possibilities. Asiana Airlines was out of the question. Soul has to be avoided. The best alternative is Frankfurt to Munich with Lufthansa and so directly to Osaka with Lufthansa on their Airbus A350-900. Not the best seats (they still use a 2 -2 – 2 configuration) but otherwise a good product as it seems.

That made me calling the SAS Service center in New York to fix the change before the tickets were gone. It was midnight in Norway and I ended up with someone very service oriented in Tallinn (for a US calling fee). It took some time, but the tour was confirmed around 1:20 this morning.

I now have 900 Bath I can’t use – I will change it to Yen and accept the small loss. I don’t have to pack clothes for 35 degree and high humidity in Bangkok and I don’t have to sleep on the plane if I don’t want. All that changes tat the 10 hour overlay in Frankfurt will become a 22 hour overlay. I have to book a night in a hotel at Frankfurt airport. This is an extra cost, but as long as I still can travel, I am OK with it. Arrival day is the same day.as before.

I just hope that there will be no more complications. 🙂 It takes some time to make changes and I would rather use the time to plan my activities in Japan.