Hokkaido Shinkansen and flight reservations?

Hi all,

We are planning to go to go from Tokyo to Hakodate via Hokkaido Shinkansen in end Jan, then fly from Sapporo to Tokyo in early-mid Feb. For the flight, plan to use a low-cost carrier like AirDo or whatever is available. The idea is to drive from Hakodate to Sapporo, stopping along a few places.
However, since we do not have the exact dates or number of people yet, we have not booked flights or the shinkansen ticket.

I note the relatively similar thread recently https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+176465

I was wondering if Hokkaido Shinkansen has non-reserved tickets or one needs to reserve in advance?
And if one does not reserve in advance, is it possible to just buy on the day or will likely all be sold out? Will be around snow festival time, though not on those dates itself since we are going few days before.
Not using rail pass, not worth it for a single trip, will be driving everywhere in Hokkaido.

For the flight back, possible to buy at the airport or must reserve in advance?

Thanks

Trip Planner

I would not be concerned about Shinkansen ticket. I don�ft think they ever sell out except maybe at the end of the year. But not mid Jan / Feb.

Regarding the flights:

Skymark is always our first option. They are easy to book, have frequent connections to Haneda and offer reasonable prices.

Early booking will get you much cheaper rates and guaranteed travel, so it never even crossed my mind not to book as soon as our itineraries were fixed.

Certainly ad-hoc travel will be way more expensive but at least due to the frequent connections you should be able to book a flight at the airport if you don't want to reserve in advance.

Thanks for the replies.
I do intend to book the flight tickets a week or so before our flight. Will that be a problem?
Basically plan is to take a train up to Hokkaido, drive around a bit from Hakodate to Sapporo, then take a flight back to Tokyo after a week and a half in Hokkaido.
Problem is we won't know if we are flying or how many of us can make it until we are actually in Hokkaido.

Welcome :)

I don't see a real problem.
Just familiarize yourself with the costs of a different drop of station for your car before and decide if that's worth it for you.

For the flights I can just again stress that the closer you get to your travel date the more expensive the flights are most probably gonna get.
If that is of no matter to you or you haven't even decided if you want to fly at all of course, you can disregard this aspect.

Just be prepared that even the low-cost carriers might be not so low-cost anymore if you decide to just hop on a plane ad-hoc ;)
I'd have a look at the rates before just to avoid wrong expectations.

@Likebike - while overall loadings on the extension to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto are at the lower end, other sections of the line are busy and do sell out. However, usually there are alternatives (earlier/later), and I have recently had to use different times for a trip on the Hayabusa when heading south towards Tokyo.

@JapanCustomTours
We are taking the shinkansen from Tokyo to Hakodate on a Saturday and prefer late morning or early afternoon, would reserving be essential then?
And what is the best way to reserve from abroad?
Thanks

Please be aware that if you rent a car in Hokkaido and then return it to a different location, there can be some extra drop off surcharges. Toyota for example charges an extra 9900 yen for renting in Hakodate and dropping the car off in Sapporo.

@TP - JREast do have an online reservation system (Ekinet), but I don't use it because I find buying at my local station an easy option, so others probably have more experience with that system than I do.
You can book when you arrive. That way if some sections are full (say Tokyo to Sendai for the Hayabusa), the JR staff will be able to suggest using one of the other services to that point and then a Hayabusa service further north.
For a Saturday I would expect the trains running towards Tokyo to be busier - that was my experience when I did a short break to Sendai last year taking advantage of a half/price deal.

To access eki net reservations (JR East ), the first thing is you need to establish an account with yr credit card details. This is for no shows ie ppl making reservations and don�ft turn up.
You can make reservations up to 1 month ahead.
I usually make a list and make the relevant reservations as soon as the month occurs.
Nominate yr preferred pick up stations.

Here�fs the link, read theFAQ.

https://www.eki-net.com/en/jreast-train-reservation/Top/Index

From memory, reservations are required travelling this route tho I did recall not making one because it was just a short one station ride & was prepared to stand.
I have experienced full trains travelling from Aomori to Sapporo. And also from Morioka to Tokyo.
So reservations are highly recommended especially weekends.