Speaking Japanese

How to get rebooked after a cancelled flight, in Japanese

If you are in the chair right now

明日の朝では間に合わないので、今日中の便を確認していただけますか。

Tomorrow morning won't be in time, so could you check for a flight leaving today?

If that gets brushed off

今日中に到着する必要があります。ほかの経路も含めてお願いします。

I need to arrive today. Please look at other routes as well.

Reject the offer by rejecting the timing, not the agent: 間に合わない — it won't be in time — makes the schedule the problem. Then hand the work back as a request, 確認していただけますか, which is what keeps a Japanese service counter on your side.

The airline's first offer is built for the airline: tomorrow morning, next available, please step aside. Taking it is one word. Not taking it — politely, in Japanese, with a queue behind you — is a negotiation nobody's textbook staged, and it runs on three moves this page walks through.

If you need more than one line

softest

それは困りました。

Oh no, that's a problem for me. The stock phrase that registers trouble without blaming anyone.

neutral

今夜中に着く必要があります。

I need to arrive tonight. The constraint, stated once, is what every later request hangs on.

neutral

ほかの便や経路はありますか。

Are there other flights or routes? 経路 opens the door to connections the first offer ignored.

firmest

では、その便で確定でお願いします。

Then please confirm me on that flight. 確定 — fixed, final — is the word that ends the rebooking.

Two things worth knowing

The offer you are given first is rarely the only one there is.

Refuse the plan, never the person

明日の朝では間に合いません turns down the offer by pointing at the clock, and follows Japanese complaint grammar generally: the circumstance is at fault, not the speaker offering it. Add 確認していただけますか and the agent has been asked a favour rather than told they are wrong — the same request, twice as likely to be worked hard on.

Say the plan back before you leave the counter

リスボン経由で本日出発、今夜0時ごろ到着で確定でお願いします — route, date, arrival, the word 確定. Repeating the itinerary back is standard Japanese business practice, and at an airline desk it is also self-defence: what you restated and they confirmed is what you can point to later if the plan quietly changes.

What Yumi actually said

What you have to get done

  • Explain why tomorrow morning won't work
  • Ask what else could work today
  • Repeat the new plan to confirm

Yumi

申し訳ありませんが、飛行機が欠航になりました。

I'm very sorry, but the flight has been cancelled.

You

それは困りました。明日の朝では間に合わないため、本日中に出発できる便への振り替えが可能か、ほかの選択肢も含めて確認していただけますか。

That's a problem. Tomorrow morning won't be in time, so could you check whether I can be moved to a flight leaving today, including any other options?

Yumi

承知しました。本日中の別の便や経路を確認します。

Understood. I'll check other flights and routes for today.

You

ありがとうございます。お手数をおかけしますが、本日中に到着できる便または経路が見つかりましたら、確定した内容を教えていただけますか。

Thank you. Sorry for the trouble, but once you find a flight or route arriving today, could you tell me the confirmed details?

Yumi

はい、確認できました。本日、リスボン経由の便で出発し、今夜の深夜0時ごろ到着します。

Yes, I've found one. You'd leave today via Lisbon and arrive around midnight tonight.

You

ありがとうございます。リスボン経由で本日出発し、今夜0時ごろ到着する便で確定ということでお願いいたします。

Thank you. Please confirm me on the flight leaving today via Lisbon and arriving around midnight tonight.

Yumi

承知しました。リスボン経由の便で確定し、新しい搭乗券をお渡しします。どうぞお気をつけて。

Understood. You're confirmed on the flight via Lisbon and I'll hand you the new boarding pass. Safe travels.

The whole conversation, unedited

A real run in the app, nothing scripted on Yumi's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.

Turn sound on to hear it.

Now say it yourself

Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Yumi is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.

It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.

Practise this conversation
Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
Play it in yourWeb Browser