jpatokal

So this April the jpatokal crew is heading to Ishigaki (woohoo!). We're arriving in NRT at 5 PM on JL and plan to continue onward to ISG in a speedy but sane fashion. We have effectively two flight choices:

1) HND-ISG on JTA (NU 71), leaving at 06:25 AM. This would in practice mean taking the limousine bus from NRT, staying in/near HND (Haneda Excel Tokyu?), and we'd be at ISG by 10 AM. I'm currently leaning this way.

2) NRT-ISG on Skymark (BC 895), leaving at 13:15. This would spare us the HND transit, but we'd be stuck in NRT for ~20 hours, instead of having half a day at the beach. Also, Skymark. Just how bad is the seat pitch and do they offer some sort of business class on their 737s? I'm finding a lot of promotional hype about their upcoming 38" "Green Seats", but nothing -- even on their own website -- about what they offer right now.

To complicate things further, we're traveling with a toddler and a baby. Thoughts? Other options? NH also flies the route, but is pricier since we can't use Visit Japan fares.

joejones

Skymark is getting Green Seats on the 737s at a later date, but I don't think they will have them by April. You wouldn't even get the promotional uniforms.

Do you have to fly to NRT? No way to go through KIX or NGO or somewhere else where you can do a same-airport transfer?

jpatokal

Mm, would've paid a bit extra for those uniforms!

Unfortunately arriving at NRT is fixed: a) it's the only place in Japan with direct flights from SYD, and b) we've bought the tickets already. Plus we're spending a week or so in Tokyo after Ishigaki.

I did look very carefully into doing a SYD-TPE-ISG-HND-xTPE-SYD triangle routing instead, but getting decent fares for SYD-TPE-ISG proved impossible (not helped by the fact that all TPE-ISG flights are seasonal "scheduled charters") and JAL had an irresistible promo.

jpatokal

Going once, going twice... any other opinions on this? Limousine bus to HND, overnight at Excel Tokyu and the 6 AM departure sounds like the sensible thing to do.

Also, any thoughts on Hotel JAL City Haneda? The main advantage that is that we could get it cheaply on JAL points. It's not directly at the airport, but since our flight leaves from T1 and the Excel Tokyu is at T2, we have to use the shuttle bus in both cases. Not really seeing a great way of getting here from NRT though with kids & luggage etc, maybe N'EX to Shinagawa and a taxi from there...? Or limousine bus to HND and shuttle bus/taxi from there?

jib71

Like you, I would go for the flight from HND.

That's probably the most painless option. The terminal has a pretty good mall if you find that you have energy. [/QUOTE]

Yes. It's messy. Short of renting a car at NRT, I don't see any way to avoid the shuttle buses.

O Sora

Most of the shops are closed before 6 am.

joejones

Incidentally, I just read in the paper today that Skymark is cancelling the plan to put premium economy class in its 737s.

jib71

But most everything will be open when jani arrives.

jpatokal

So we've decided to compress the pain and take the 06:35 JTA flight from HND, overnighting at JAL City Haneda (so we can burn some old JAL miles). Departing from NRT 6-ish, there appear to be at least four ways to get there from NRT:

1. Occasional Keisei-Keikyu through trains from NRT to HND, most of which stop near the hotel at Anamoriinari. However, these are normal subway trains in rush hour with dozens of stops, so it's about 2 hours -- not going to happen. Would be cheap though!
2. N'EX to Shinagawa (70 min), Keikyu to Anamoriinari (15 min), walk 300 min. Google Maps says 1:45 (give or take), feasible but still a bit ambitious with two kids & bags.
3. N'EX to Shinagawa, cab it from there (10 km/Y3500-ish). Easier, more expensive, slightly faster (traffic permitting).
4. Limousine Bus to HND, then the hotel's shuttle bus (every 30-40 min in the evenings) or, more likely, a cab (5 km). 1:30-ish?

I'm kind of leaning towards the N'EX as a rather civilized option with some space for the rugrats, and then train/taxi depending on energy levels. But the limousine bus might be faster and more straightforward. Thoughts? Would traffic be an issue at that time? I presume the bus skirts central Tokyo and goes via the Wangan-sen.

Also, I gather there's no meal service on the ISG flight even though it's 3.5 hours, so early-morning breakfast and/or bento ideas for the JAL side of Haneda would be welcome.

joejones

My inclination would be to take the bus to HND and cab it from there. I think traffic would not be a major issue going straight from NRT to HND, but it would be an issue if leaving Shinagawa around 7 PM, and the train from Shinagawa to HND would almost certainly be packed.

jpatokal

For posterity, we ended up taking Joe's advice and doing the Limousine Bus + taxi combo via HND. Worked out reasonably well, especially since we could dump our bags on a trolley and do a dinner & konbini pitstop at HND T1 along the way (Tenya Tendon in B1F for the win!).