Need reserved seats on 1 Jan 2012?

Hi,

We will be departing from Kyoto on 1 or 2 Jan 2012 which is the peak period.

Do we need to get reserved seats on the JR Haruka limited express to Kansai Airport? We are hoping to use the 1-day JR West Pass to save costs but worried about being stranded.

How early should we book the train back to the airport?

Thanks!!
Junie

Do we need to get reserved seats on the JR Haruka limited express to Kansai Airport?

No, the Haruka limited express never requires a seat reservations, because it carries several cars with non-reserved seating. But I recommend to make seat reservations for convenience. I don't think that the Haruka will be overly crowded in the direction of Kansai Airport on January 1 and 2, because most people who wanted to travel overseas have left Japan before the New Year already. So, I think you should be able to make seat reservations once you arrive in Japan.

We are hoping to use the 1-day JR West Pass to save costs but worried about being stranded.

In that case you cannot use reserved seats! The JR West Pass is only valid on non-reserved seats on the Haruka.

Hi Uji,

Thanks! Just the assurance we need. In this case, we will probably buy the 1-day JR West Pass and save some $$$ :)

Happy Junie Neko.

first I took the Thunderbird back from Kanazawa to Kyoto, that was very difficult, packed and hard to get reserved seats even 2 days out. the Haruka much less so, though it was probably 3/4 full by the time we got to Kansai in the reserved carriage, and we had no trouble with it at all, we booked seats immediately before we left