noFODplease

Wasabi Tofu

Yes.
So, I'm carrying BA GGL, JL Diamond, and CX Diamond FFP card.
Fortunately, they don't have to be match with FFP number on the boarding pass.
A few weeks ago, I provide CX boarding pass (BA FFP printted in it), and CX Diamond card.
At first, an agent refused because of BA FFP number on the boarding pass.
I pointed out my FFP card was CX Diamond.
Then, the agent accepted.

Joely

I've been through that priority lane as a gold flying W on BA before, but I assume that is because I am BA gold on BA metal?

Is it the same at NRT? I'm flying JL J out of there in a few weeks.

flatlander

HND can definitely be a bit odd. Even flying JAL F we ended up in a quite a long queue once at the morning prime-time. Having previously been accustomed to the frankly otherworldly effortless F security at NRT, I joined the queue while looking for the F security and was told this was it. DYKWIA-ing (or worse, failing to be polite) in Japan tends to get you nowhere (and is also not my style), so we just queued. On the global scale of queues it was trivial, it took perhaps 10 minutes.

But yes, HND security is far more like Hong Kong (i.e. you are not special) than most other F airport experiences including NRT.

Once airside, the service (JAL) at least is everything you would imagine. If you are detected in the boarding queue with an F boarding pass (and the staff do go along the queue to check general paperwork and answer questions) you are likely to be whisked to the front and boarded immediately.

TBD

Respect is important in Japan. Pressuring the gatekeeper and asking for a supervisor - right or wrong - was not appropriate.

Japan is usually efficient and orderly, so going through the regular security line can't have been that bad. File it away as a cultural misunderstanding (accurate) and move along smartly to the regular queue.

kaizenflying

I get your frustration but you essentially bullied the lady until she gave in, which is uncomfortable. Having lived in Japan, the security lines are never busy like the North America or even London ones. In Japan, you'll often see staff running around to open more scanners to avoid inconveniencing customers at peak periods, too. I'm sure you'd have acted differently in the US! "Sir, stand away" scenario.

bocastephen

This is normal and can be expected in other countries - for example, Hong Kong charges airlines a fee for their passengers to use the priority line, so the airline needs to give you a coupon when checking in to access the line, otherwise you don't get in regardless of cabin or status.

LBP2

Easiest way is to make sure you have a stamp on your boarding card from check-in. I have never had an issue at NRT but the red 'JAL Fast Security Lane' stamp avoids any doubt.

Flexible preferences

I am not so sure, my current thinking is that he did not bully the lady. Firstly, this does sound like an unusual circumstance, where access would be understandably expected - it certainly seems quite a surprise that a J class passenger on JL in HND is denied priority security, so snaxmuppet may have very understandably assumed the lady was mistaken. Secondly, it seems that the OP followed a logical procedure for a dispute - after he couldn't reach an agreement with the lady (with a language barrier don't forget) he quite legitimately asked to speak with a supervisor. The fact that at this point the lady manning the security access changed her mind was up to her. So, I think to say he 'bullied' is too strong and actually incorrect.

mrow

CCayley

OP admits that he allowed a queue of people, presumably entitled to use the line, to build up behind him. Whether one calls it bullying or not, his behaviour, if reported here by someone in that queue, would undoubtedly qualify for a place in the DYKWIA thread...

snaxmuppet

I totally disagree with that.

I understood, mistakenly I accept now, that J/F passengers and those with Silver/Gold status had access to priority security and boarding EVERYWHERE when travelling on OW airlines. I wasn't trying to pull a fast one or to try to get something I didn't genuinely believe I was entitled to. That is not a DYKWIA... that is a passenger that felt he wasn't getting what he was entitled to... completely different.

Dr. HFH

And presumably they have a table at each gate of the name/designation of each airline FFP's top tier? Unless I've misinterpreted something, this rule sounds bizarre to me.

LTN Phobia

She was in fact correct. It's a HND thing, and they do not provide priority security for business class passengers.

It's generally only provided on the basis of higher tier membership of the airline you are flying with, and not the alliance tiers.

In other words, you needed to your OW Sapphire to be a JL one, and not the BA one. What you said, "Japan Airlines Sapphire" is not correct because it was a BA one. That is why the lady kept saying "British Airways" to you, because it was a BA one. Had your OWS been a JL one, you would not have had any issues.

The supervisor relented, not on the basis of the rules, but possibly because of the language issues and found it to be too hard to explain the rules.

It's not just JL, ANA has the same thing at HND.

It's frankly an annoying rule because people flying Y are getting through purely on the basis of their OWS or above membership being with the airline they're flying with, while they make J passengers who are OWEs go through normal security, but at least, one saving grace is that the normal security is usually pretty quick despite what appears to be an enormous queue.

(My emphasis)

It does not need to be the top membership. It can even be JL JGC which is OWS. You'd then qualify even if you are in Y as long as you are flying with JL.

To be honest, NRT is much better than HND International for priority security. It has a dedicated JL F security, as well as OW priority security at T2, and Gold Track at T1 for Star Gold.

(On the other hand, NRT domestic priority security at T2 is essentially non-existent, whereas HND T1 domestic security has dedicated JL F/OWE security, which makes domestic security at HND much better than NRT domestic.)

CCayley