Does anyone have experience when one can check in at NRT for the HNL flight? Asking since we
will be at the airport shortly after lunch while flight departs around 7 p.m.ish. Will we be able to use
JL check in and move up to the lounge or do we have to wait at the terminal until 3 hrs prior to
departure?

Anyone?

Unlikely to be able to check in with JL, unless you are coming in on a connecting JL flight on the same PNR.

HA still operates like it's the 1980s, especially after the latest massive reservations systems downgrade (obvious cheapening by removing what little self-service features there were), so there is no OLCI functionality and you can't even see or select your seats a week or less before flight.

You will 99% likely have to wait until the HA check-in opens. Good luck.

Just as I expected. Which wasn't much to start with. But the Business Class fare was inexpensive; nearly on par with Zipair ( when you add all their extras )
and cheaper than PE on JL.
Thanks for your response. Mahalo.

https://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app...ta-—-nrt

Counter opens 3 hrs before the flight departure.

In March I had a long layover on 2 separate tickets and arrived at NRT around noon too.
I would recommend checking out the Sora no Yu Narita Airport Onsen. You can take a taxi from the taxi stand and store your luggage there, eat at the restaurant, and relax in the onsen.

https://www.jal.co.jp/ar/en/guide-to...a-Airport.html

Is online check-in for HA international flights still gimped? I remember being told the horror stories for when this problem happened with inter-island flights, local people complaining about it for flights to Japan, and now I've run into the problem...

HA does not have online check-in, correct. Nada. None. No OLCI for int'l flights. Even for J, the line at the airport in HNL can be slow and long. (Really ridiculous how HA is so backwards in technology that it can't figure out how to do OLCI or provide any meaningful online self-service. HA is still stuck in the 1980s...)

Separately, I have a question along this same general topic. On a JL+HA itinerary, where JL is the first flight, will the JL OLCI also provide the connecting HA flight boarding pass? Anyone have experience with that?

I have checked in online for years with Hawaiian, so I'm not sure why you're making such inaccurate assertions. Yes, it was suspended to international destinations during Covid because of the arduous task of each nation having different entry requirements, all having to be verified manually. But since then, OLCI has resumed. There may be other special case ticketing scenarios that won't allow it, but by and large, OLCI is very much a thing at HAL.

The April changeover to a new and more modern reservation system, shows just that...modernization. It was kind of a mess those first days, but things have normalized. I recently traveled with zero hiccup, short lines and efficient check in process in HNL, during the busiest time.

The new system is working much better than it did at first, but still a work in progress (or at least I hope they�re not planning to stop at the current level of function). And I can�t speak to NRT, but spouse was unable to use OLCI for either direction on a recent quasi-international (US territory) trip.

I used online check-in for an HA marketed, HA operated domestic flight last week, and it worked just fine.

Perhaps the quoted statement is meant to refer to a specific smaller subset of HA operations, namely international flights, where the online check-in functionality has been slow to be implemented post-Covid.

I had a great experience with HA, as usual. There was no queue for first / elite check-in, where I dropped my bag, and it took five minutes from dropping my bag until I was through security. Helpful staff, quick and friendly in-flight service, and an early arrival, too

It has not, at least not as of a few weeks ago. There is absolutely no OLCI at HA for non-domestic flights (I don't fly domestic on HA, so I can't comment on those flights and agree that the domestic subset of flights may have OLCI). HA agents have confirmed it and have no clue when and if ever HA will get around to implementing OLCI. I've asked every time I've had to stand the 20 or 30 minutes in the J line just to check in at the airport. Airport checkin remains disorganized, be it in T2 (Japan flights) or T1 (other flights). And it's silly to have to check in at T2 for Japan flights (where the lines are always very, very long) when you have no bags to check, then walk outside along the road back to T1 for security and gate access.

The massive HA downgrade recently to a cheaper reservation system also removed ability to even pull or print your ticket receipt, among other things. Flight search still takes five fold longer, as the search isn't saved if you go back to change the date, and for non-revenue flights there is no more tab selector for different dates. I could go on and on, but the rate at which functionality is being removed is alarming. Most other airlines add functionality, HA only removes it.

Hawaiian uses contract employees at NRT and HND. 3 hours before, no exceptions. As a Hawaiian resident, I mostly refuse to use this airline. They are barely competent and run by castoffs from other, successful airlines.

There are exceptions. You need to book a ticket with a JL (or another airline) connecting flight first. Then you do normal OLCI with JAL (or whomever) and you will get a boarding pass for your Hawaiian flight. Then 4, 5, 6 hours before flight no problem, go through security (and go to JAL Sakure Lounge if you're in J). At the gate they will act as if they've never seen a mobile boarding pass and will want you to fill out the banal form that asks for your name, seat, address and phone number (all the information they already have on the record and on your HawaiianMiles account, but they want you to write down by pen, only to have noone ever look at the forms again..."barely competent" is an overly generous description of how HA is run), only to just casually toss it aside and not actually enter anything, just hit print to print your paper boarding pass. Then you can board.

Then enjoy your flight with seats, traytables, etc. left and right littered with "inoperable" stickers and then "unservicable" on top of the inop stickers (seems HA has just given up for doing any maintenance and repairs of its A330 fleet....though I sure hope the critical things a competent third party is inspecting and ensuring the planes are safe to fly). Pray for a seat that reclines and a traytable that works, for many do not.

Following up on my own post, for HA departures out of ICN and NRT last week, online check in was not available Fortunately, I could access the lounge at ICN by showing a printed copy of my itinerary and receipt.