This definitely, but at least now there is also the "late night HND arrival shuttle bus + overnight at Heiwajima Onsen + breakfast package" option at Heiwajima Onsen provided by the Keikyu Group, which has shuttle buses at HND at 23:40, 00:40, 01:50 and 05:00.

http://www.heiwajima-onsen.jp/en/index.html
http://www.heiwajima-onsen.jp/en/images/nb201501en.pdf

For 3800 JPY, it's not a bad deal to get a bath and breakfast to kill time until the trains start running again.

It's also not on the QR English page, but QR has a Japanese "Welcome back to late night HND arrival campaign" for all passengers on QR812 DOH-HND (HND arrival 22:45) to reserve a free stay at Heiwajima Onsen. Perhaps AA can reach a similar deal as well.

Hopefully this will change the priority security lane for Haneda to allow AA elites. As of now, flying on a JL flight as a OW elite doesn't get you priority security lane access. You have to have JL, BA, etc elite status. I wish I had taken a picture of the sign for the priority lane when I was there. No alliance access, airline specific only.

It will most likely change so AA elites flying on AA gets access. But as it is now a JL elite flying BA economy does not have access to the priority line. And I imagine this setup will continue.
Sometimes the staff lets me through as a JL elite when flying on another OW carrier, but it is not the rules and it is rare. Also, I have had the JAL staff working on QR check in escort me through the crew line when flying QR business class. QR business does not give access, only their Gold and Platinum members.

Did AA have access to that lane when they flew JFK-HND?

I used that lane in September flying Premium Economy on QF26 with QF Plat status.
I'm connecting ITM-HND-SIN tomorrow. If I remember/have time, I'll look at the signs in detail.

Back when AA was flying JFK-HND the priority lane did not exist.

If flying to Tokyo or connecting, I'll continue to fly into NRT so I can either 1) get into town at a reasonable hour and have dinner and get some rest before midnight, or 2) enjoy longer connection times to either take a shower at NRT, or even go to Tokyo, have dinner and connect later at HND depending on the situation.

I would consider the HND flight back home, except it is on the 788. Not my favorite by any means. When traveling with my wife, I prefer an old 772 before that plane..

Just went through HND international security. The sign lists AC, AF, NH, BA, CX, DL, KA, JL, KE, LH, QR, SQ, TG, UA, CI, BR and GA and noting F (for those airlines with First class) and the higher FF tiers for each.

That said, they let me use it with a JL J boarding pass and QF status - neither of which is mentioned on the sign.

I was hoping I could sneak through with a JL Premium Economy boarding pass and AA status, but I got shot down decisively. The guy behind me with a JL J and AA EXP got shot down as well.

For JAL it used to be only Diamond and JGC Premier (OWE) but it has now been expanded to Sapphire. I thought I saw that Crystal (OWR) was on the list as well, but I am not sure.

I have a photo, but I need to move things around before I can post it.

I also went by there this morning, at around the same time as Himeno, and it was indeed operating airline status or F class, and nothing else.

Well it looks like the Japanese authorities are now making 5 daytime slot pairs available to U.S. carriers at HND. I'm sure AA (as well as UA and DL, and probably HA) will request one for each of their respective flights to HND. Once that happens, I wonder if AA will stick with the 788. Or upgauge it to a CIP 772 or a 77W. Moreover, I wonder if they'll keep LAX-NRT.

The slot numbers are not quite decided, from what I understand. There were supposedly nine daytime slot pairs left over following the last international slot allocation, and most if not all of these were to be eventually used for US flights. It's possible that they are pushing for a 5:4 split so that DL gets 3 slots, JL and NH each get 2 and AA and UA each get 1. Thus there would be "parity" between DL and its two transpac JV competitors, each having four routes (including their existing night flights). Of course the JVs would have the massive advantage of feed beyond Tokyo, which DL does not have at the moment. Most likely, each faction will move its most competitive business routes (NYC, LAX, SFO, maybe ORD) to HND, while "fortress" routes like DFW stay at NRT.

I doubt that HA will go for a daytime slot, as the midnight departure time is just right for HNL flights. Maybe they would try KOA again, though.

I agree that opening up five daytime slots will make things interesting. However, I think AA will apply for DFW-HND operated by a 77W as DFW-NRT no longer as the need for connecting traffic as it did in the past. But, AA does have plenty of options, so long as DL doesn't put up too much of a fight as they want to transfer their entire NRT operation to HND.