Until the completion of the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Sapporo, travelling between these two major Japanese cities takes around 7 hours and a half using a combination of Shinkensen and local train. There can be a lot less stress taking the train option, given it’s length and the need to changeover but its less fussier than dealing with airport security and screening.
You can avoid that by taking a far shorter option, airplane. It takes 1 hour from Tokyo to Narita Airport, then one hour and half on the plane plus probably one hour waiting for the plane and checking-in, and then another 40 minutes from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo. All up it still saves around 3 to 4 hours with this option.
So is it worth it?
In my experience, using Jetstar Japan has been fine as long as you stay within the luggage limits and prepaid things. We had our two old with me and my wife, so that made it more difficult and more expensive, but since we came in accepting the reality that we had to pay for carry-on (but not the stroller, which can be checked-in without fee) we were pleasantly surprised by how easy and less stressful it was. You should purchase a portable weight measurer to make sure you prepay the right amount of kilograms you need. All up, we only paid around A$250 in airfares to get all three of us, including our two year old, from Tokyo to Sapporo via Jetstar.
Jetstar is housed in Terminal 3, which is out of the way, and requires a lot of walking to get there if you arrive by the Narita Express or Skyliner.
If you want to fill up on food before boarding, it’s best to grab some food at the restaurants before the security checkpoints and screening. Also, be prepared since even past the security checkpoints and screening, there is still heaps of walking before you actually arrival in the departure area/gates.
The departure area/gates looks like a warehouse than a proper airport. The journey to this area takes you to odd passageways that have no plasterboards nor shielding from the steel frames and pipes. Everything is done on the cheap and looks incredibly shabby. But, I thought there was some charm with its simplicity and no frills approach.
If you are interested in getting some snacks, there is a dedicated Jetstar kiosk where you can purchase what you want. It’s better to grab what you want here as there are more options and it is slightly cheaper.
We weren’t surprised that our Jetstar flight was a few minutes late.
A decent way to get from Tokyo to Sapporo faster
The seat layout is a 3-3 layout. The middle row tends to get quite busy with trolleys and people moving to and from the toilet. There is no inflight entertainment and no pocket space for your belongings.
Inflight, you can order from the Jetstar menu which mainly consists of snacks and drinks, nothing remarkable or worthy of note.
On arrival, our luggage came down the chute quickly and it was simple getting out of the airport and onto the express train from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo Station.
It was a fine flight, no issues. We were happy we did it, because later on in our holiday, we did end up on the train ride journey which took us close to 6 hours and a half from Sapporo to Sendai.
If you need some tips when in Japan for the first time, check out this post here.
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