Originally Posted by
LapLap
I've flown to NGO with an award ticket in Business and all the lounge people look at is the class of travel you're in - the O Booking class is not an issue. Not here, not in any other lounge. If it was, I'd hardly ever visit the lounges.
With your Business class ticket you can go to the Sakura Lounge at 2F Near Gate 18.
It's a bit clearer on this page:
http://www.delta.com/traveling_check...ions/index.jsp
It specifically says you can visit the Sakura Lounge (or the Global lounge at gate 19) as a Delta BusinessElite or as a SkyTeam Premium Cabin passenger. So you have two good valid reasons to use it.
Saying that, I didn't use the Sakura lounge at this airport. Landside, NGO has a unique and very wonderful facility - the airport sento.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_n1sjt7SfiAw/...O+up+sento.JPG
It costs about 2,000 yen but for sheer relaxation beats any lounge at that airport (and those of most others). It has a variety of hot baths - including a deliciously tingling electric bath - sauna for those who can go in later in the day once it has warmed up and an outside relaxation area to cool off in where you can see the aircraft land and look over to the plane spotters in nothing but your birthday suit (your modesty shielded by a few wood panels).
It's a quintessentially Japanese experience and somewhere you can easily spend three hours. Outside there are shops and restaurants in a sort of Disneyfied recreation of Japan (a small part shown here pre-opening at 8am)
http://bp2.blogger.com/_n1sjt7SfiAw/...F+NGO+up+2.JPG
It's worth wondering around and sampling some of the local specialities (be sure to look for Tenmesu 天むす, this is shrimp tempura wrapped in rice and seaweed and one of Nagoya's most famous snack foods - you'll find it in an onigiri rice ball shop, will cost a couple of hundred yen).
Be good to yourself and don't spend the full 9 hour layover in the Sakura Lounge.
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LapLap, thanks so so much for your response - it was very very helpful! I was afraid that since I was using an award ticket on Delta (O) that I would not be allowed to enter any of the clubs. I'm happy to know that I have access to even the Global lounge (which from the way things look, is virtually next door to Sakura). I was afraid I would have to wait around in uncomfortable seats for that period of time, or break down and grab a hotel for 6+ hours (as a last resort).
The bathhouse looks interesting, however, I guess I was just more or less looking for a place to lay back a bit, grab a bite to eat and close my eyes for awhile before my connecting flight to Honolulu. I remember my last long layover in Chicago (10+ hours or more walking around, drinking coffee and waiting for news on my standby flights).. it was a killer hehe!
A couple more questions I had -
1.) Is a boarding pass all a person needs to enter these lounges?
2.) I heard this airport has hours in which it actually CLOSES for a period of time. Is this true? If so, what happens to the people in the lounges during those hours?
Any tips or information you may have about these issues is deeply appreciated. Thank you very much in advance!