All Nippon Airways Mileage Club - International ANA Flight Followed by ANA Domestic Connection

Can someone help me out here.

I plan to book an international ANA flight into Narita then connecting with ANA domestic into Osaka Itami Airport. I understand from ANA that I have to clear immigration at Narita airport before boarding domestic to Osaka Itami airport. The domestic connection is at the same terminal as the international arrival.

1) Is the checked in baggage interlined all the way from international departure origin to Osaka Itami? OR

2) Even if checked in baggage is interlined, I still need to pick up my checked in baggage at Narita, show it to Japan customs, then put it back onto domestic connection belt myself? Can anyone confirm this procedure if its true.

3) The connecting time between arrival at Narita to boarding time for Itami is 1 h 35mins. I understand that immigration queues for international visitors at Narita are long & ardous approx 45 minutes in the queue before you get fingerprinted & photographed. Arrival time at Narita is about 4.30pm in the early evening on a weekday. Then I still have to clear bag checks as Japan customs like to take a peek at baggage. I am also carrying a cabin bag.

Is 1h 35 mins enough?

4) What time does domestic ANA flight gate close? 5 mins before departure, 10 mins etc?

I have been doing these kind of trips for years now.

1) The luggage will either be checked to ITM or just to NRT (I have had both, but it does not really matter)

2) whether it is checked to ITM or just to NRT, it won't go beyond NRT. In Japan, like in Norway or the US, you must claim your luggage and clear customs at the first entry point to the country. Once you have done so, exit the luggage area and turn right, walk about 50 meters and you will see rows of counters for passengers with connections to domestic destinations. There, you can drop off your luggage (most probably, they will tear off your old label and put a new one). If you are flying business class or have a *G status, there are separate counters where this procedure takes no more than 2 minutes.

3) Even though lines may be long in NRT, Japanese are known for their efficiency. So, your connection time is more than sufficient. I have done it in 30 minutes and it was a painless transfer. Should it happen that you are cutting it very close, you can approach to NH personnel and they will help you go through.

4) The domestic gates normally close 10 minutes before departure (it is indicated so on a boarding pass which itself looks very different from what you may be used to see - it is all in Japanese with only two lines of text in English). Overall, transiting via NRT is very relaxed, unless something extraordinary happens (and I am sure even in such cases NRT will be more pleasant than normally operating CDG on the alike).

1) The luggage will either be checked to ITM or just to NRT (I have had both, but it does not really matter)

2) whether it is checked to ITM or just to NRT, it won't go beyond NRT. In Japan, like in Norway or the US, you must claim your luggage and clear customs at the first entry point to the country. Once you have done so, exit the luggage area and turn right, walk about 50 meters and you will see rows of counters for passengers with connections to domestic destinations. There, you can drop off your luggage (most probably, they will tear off your old label and put a new one). If you are flying business class or have a *G status, there are separate counters where this procedure takes no more than 2 minutes.

When you are in the baggage claim area, go through customs on the very right and you will see a sign mentioning domestic connections. If you take this exit, there is a belt where you just drop off you bag by yourself without contacting any counter.

So from my point of view it does make a difference if your bag is tagged through to your final destination (although I agree that the waiting time at the counters is never really long).

Dave

Olm022 & Dave125. Thanks for yr replies. Helps a lot, much appreciated!