slickalick

My sister is flying in from China to JFK, transiting at HND. She arrives at 9pm and the flight to JFK (i believe it's an AA Codeshare) is at about 7am. She is insisting to stay air-side for the duration.

Are there any pay-in lounges where she can catch some Zzzz? or any other suggestions as to what to do for a 10 hour air-side layover overnight?

I couldn't find anything promising online and i've never been to HND myself.

Thank you.

l etoile

Please follow this in the Japan forum.

l'etoile
sr. moderator

SBU

Try to convince your sister to leave airside and take a hotel. It's just a 20-25min ride with the monorail to Hamamatsucho / Shimbashi area. There are plenty of good choices to get a good night of sleep before taking the long flight from Tokyo to New York. Also, Japanese airports are very efficient, especially HND international.

I cannot help with recommendations airside in HND.

jib71

http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/e...ce/lounge.html

http://www.100by30.com/2011/07/sleep...ky-lounge.html

KPT

It's actually best to see if she can get some sleep on the plane - any TYO-NYC flight is going to land "earlier". That HND-JFK flight (there's only one) lands at 6AM NYC time. It'll be easier for her to adjust if she's snoozing on the plane - particularly the second half of the flight.

ksandness

I did a nonstop from HND to JFK back when HND was Tokyo's only airport. The jet lag was like none I've experienced before or since--and the flight landed in New York in the evening.

I kept dropping into sudden deep sleep at random times for three or four days, even, on one occasion, in the middle of a noisy "welcome back" party.

O Sora

I guess she is worried about high prices in Japan and relatively short time for a one-night hotel stay. How about this?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...-now-open.html

AlwaysAisle

Does your sister hold the U.S. passport or Chinese passport? I think Chinese citizens still requires visitor/tourist visa to enter Japan. If your sister is Chinese passport holder and does not have Japanese visa, then your sister does not have a choice but to stay at the gate side of HND. If your sister has the U.S. passport then all these suggestions here are possible.

MSPeconomist

Check the sleeping in airports website.

Taiwaned

Why not get your sister to see some of the Japanese nightlife?

Late night sushi, up a tower to see the night lights, bowl of ramen - lots of ways to kill time at night in Tokyo.

Mind you, I am an old fart now so sleep is more preferable but when I was young, I had a great time exploring in the middle of the night. Japan is a very safe country.

deltaflyer08

I think your sister should just go to a hotel since it will be a lot more comfortable.

evergrn

So her options are:

1). Kill time air-side.
2). Go to the capsule hotel First Cabin, located in Terminal 1. She'll need to exit completely and then shuttle over to Terminal 1 from the International Terminal. She'll need to pay for an entire night's stay, since the by-the-hour plan is available only during the hours of 10a-7p.
3). Stay at a hotel outside. Unless the sole airport hotel Excel Tokyu has reasonable rates, I'd consider JAL City Haneda which is near HND with free shuttle service and clean rooms. If she's just going to crash, there's no point in going into Tokyo. As it is, she'll only have ~7hours from check-in to check-out if she were to stay nearby at JAL City Haneda. Kamata is also very close to HND and has a bunch of average to mediocre hotels, but I don't recommend Kamata especially for a lone woman traveler new to Japan (Kamata is not unsafe by any stretch, but it's just a bit rough-edged).
4). Go experience Tokyo's nightlife.

aa4ever

I stayed near Hamamatsucho station the night before I took the AA HND-JFK fligt, and I would highly recommend it. The monorail, which I believe starts at 4:58am takes all of 12 min to bring you to the international terminal. My total commute from hotel to lounge was 30 min, and 10 of those minutes were waiting for the monorail itself (I wanted to be 100% certain that I wouldn't have trouble finding it, since I hadn't come from the station the night before). Stayed at the MyStays Hamamatsucho, which was extremely reasonably priced and about 5-8 min from station by foot.

Personally, I prefer this to the airport hotels since a) it's more fun to be in Tokyo and b) I think the monorail is probably more reliable than the hotel shuttles (and not really any longer). B though is just opinion and my generally negative experiences with airport hotel shuttles (the HND ones may be fantastic for all I know).

Tracer_SEA

I'll have just over 24 hours from arrival into HND to my departure out of it. I've been to Tokyo several times and seen the major sites, but always used NRT before. I'm looking for a reasonable hotel with easy HND access but also a decent Tokyo neighborhood feel (as opposed to the JAL City HND) and access to the local trains so I can do some shopping and have a couple great meals

I'm usually a Starwood guy, but I've been there and done that with the Sheraton Miyako and Westin Ebisu, and it seems like something like the MyStays might make more sense for this quick visit. Any other advice on Hamamatsucho / Shimbashi options close to the Monorail?

Thanks very much in advance

Tracer_SEA

Bump -- Any advice on the question above???

Thanks!