Originally Posted by
fudgelie
I posted on this thread during the week and got some good info, so I just want to post our final plan for a return trip to ICN via NRT to see if anyone spots anything that I've missed or haven't considered. Myself and my partner will be travelling with our 6-month old. We'll be travelling with carry-on only and gate checking a stroller and car seat.
We'll be flying ORD-NRT on JL, 12:40 - 15:35 and then NRT-ICN on ET, 21:10 - 23:50. We'll do a PCR test in Chicago, either the morning we're due to travel or the evening before (PCR is probably safer as it only needs to be done 48 hours in advance compared to 24 hours for antigen / rapid). ET have routes to ORD, so when we get to ORD we'll go to the ET desk and see if they can check us in and issue our boarding passses for NRT-ICN. In the event that they cannot issue our boarding passes, we'll just look for an NH connections / transfer desk in NRT and go there (I'm assuming there won't be an ET connections / transfer desk). If that doesn't work, we'll have to try and check-in at the gate.
For the return, we'll be flying ICN-NRT on Jin Air, 10:10 - 12:35 and then NRT-SFO on NH, 17:00 - 10:30. I'm not sure if there is an NH desk at ICN, but we'll try the OZ desk to see if they can check us in and issue our boarding passses for NRT-SFO. Failing that, we'll head to the NH connections / transfer desk in NRT.
We'll definetly be asking at ORD if they can check our bags through to ICN, but we can just bring them on the plane if they say no, which I suspect they will. There's no interline between Jin Air and NH, so it's a definite no for the return.
Is there that I haven't considered here?
There is no NH desk in Incheon, as ANA does not actually have any routes to the airport. There is no point in going to the Asiana desk, they will not be issuing a boarding pass for an ANA flight where you have no Asiana flights at all. Save yourself the trek.
Ethiopian departs from T1, and JAL from T3 in Chicago. I am not sure what the trek is to get around ORD, but you might want to contact the airport office before and see if this is something they can and will do. Running around an airport with a toddler is not the most fun thing, so you'd probably want to avoid unnecessary excursions.
While having a separate ticket connection in Japan is generally fine, I am not sure I would dare include a low cost carrier in the process. You are asking the check-in staff to validate that you have a valid ticket for the second flight, basically performing a non standard procedure. LCCs generally don't like to do that. Their standard operating procedures are usually very strongly ingrained in everything.