Originally Posted by
milepig
I'd appreciate advice on my upcoming NRT passage.
I arrive at T1 at 4:00pm and Mrs. Milepig arrives at T2 at 4:40. (Using miles, enough said!)
We'll be checking at least one bag and it doesn't matter which one does so. We'll both be in premium cabins.
My basic plan is to:
I arrive at T1 and [collect bag if I've checked it]
I take the shuttle to T2
If enough before 4:40 I can get our N'EX/Suica tickets while I'm waiting for her, and hit up the Citibank for cash.
But - I won't know for sure which train to book on until I see her smiling face, so I'm thinking I should wait for her arrival to buy the tickets??
Realistically, how long will it take me to deplane, collect the bag and make my way to T2, and would it work out better - timing-wise - for Mrs. Milepig to check the bag?
Originally Posted by
5khours
Your plan is a good one. The amount of time depends primarily on immigration lines and whether you have priority tags. I think 35 to 40 minutes from plane to T2 would be pretty typical.
Closing the loop.
I was another "out of T1 in minutes" person. Landed, short taxi to gate, nice close in gate. No line at immigration, bag out in just a couple minutes, no line at customs. Waited maybe 2 minutes for a shuttle to T2.
At this point is was about 4:00pm, checked the monitor and Mrs. Milepig was arriving at 4:30. Found the Citibank ATM, and went to the travel center to buy the N'EX/Suica with a 5:19 departure, and also the Shinkansen tickets for Kyoto a couple days later. No line at the ticket office either. Back upstairs by 4:20 and the board said arriving. Great. Perfect. Score.
...Then I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally at 5:15 the board said "in customs" and Mrs. Milepig arrived at 5:20, missing the N'EX by minutes. Turns out they had what she described as a complete tour of the NRT taxiways for 30 minutes after landing.
Back the the Travel Center, where the line was now out the door, but I remembered the little ticket office next to the N'EX entrance. There I was pleased to find that they'd allow me to change the ticket to the 5:45ish at no charge, and we were good to go.