maxvor

Hi folks,

Recently I had to connect in Narita on separate tickets (ICN-NRT on Zipair followed by NRT-DXB on Emirates). Little did I know about the trap I was setting myself for. Turned out they have that obscure policy described here:
https://www.zipair.net/en/important/60 stating that you're required to go through immigration in majority of cases, even if you intend to connect airside and are allowed so according to government policies. So I was denied boarding despite I'm sure I would be able to do it with no problem if I were allowed to fly. Had to by another ticket for a flight with Ethiopean afterwards and made it without much of an issue.
Needless to say this policy is not mentioned anywhere during booking process, nor it is present in the conditions of carriage.
Based on that I requested to be fully refunded because from my point of view there were no legal grounds to deny boarding. You guessed it tight: the answer was that only taxes could be refunded, no matter what.

I wonder what would be a way to complain about the airline in Japan (something similar to EU 261 or an agency like DOT in US)? I've tried googling but didn't find any portal where i could actually submit a complaint.

Thanks a lot in advance for pointing me in the right direction.

jerry a. laska

There has been quite a bit of discussion about zipair in the Japan forum and that they do not have an airside transit desk and only do point to point flights (search the thread for zipair):
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japa...dition-59.html
zipair provides a warning on their website about having to enter countries to transit from zipair to other airlines:
https://www.zipair.net/en/important/60

I'm not sure how far you'll get with a complaint. As you were departing KOR I guess you could start here:
https://www.kca.go.kr/eng/main.do

dw

Frankly, I’d think that self connecting on separate tickets between two different airlines, in a country where you are not allowed to enter, is fairly risky these days.

What would you have done if your EK flight had been cancelled after you departed ICN? Or if your Zipair flight had been delayed after pushing back from the gate?

dvs7310

I don't think you have much of a leg to stand on. Many LCCs have the same policy, they don't support transit passengers, period, end of story. In normal times you'd just proceed as usual and do the airside transit on your own, assuming no checked baggage. However since ZipAir and most LCCs don't support transit passengers in most cases, then they MUST assume that you will enter Japan, which you can not do obviously.

It's always the passengers responsibility to check these things, and Zipair even has a warning about it. Regardless of how stupid you feel the policy is, that's the way LCCs work, their business model is to operate point to point flights for the most part and they WILL treat you as a point to point passenger, regardless of what you have booked from the transit airport.

maxvor

What would i have done if I connected on single ticket, arrived in Japan and got next flight cancelled? Things happen and I'm sure those situations can be handled one way or the other. I would buy another ticket somewhere else, I had like 8 hours between flights, no checked bags and confirmed onward ticket.

maxvor

No assumptions needed: I was able to shown onward ticket, I didn't check any bags and I could demonstrate there was plenty of time between flights and Narita has proper international transit arrangements. Not sure what support transit passenger needs.
Besides, what rules from conditions of carriage did I break exactly? Did I have all the required docs? Sure (I have confirmed onward ticket which I can show and they sure can verify by PNR, I didn't need a visa as I was transiting. Full stop. Now, denied is denied, fine, but they should just refund the whole ticket as the boarding was denied on wrong reasons, as evidenced by the fact that I was able to make that same trip on another carrier same day.

maxvor

Thank you, that is actually useful.

Except for the fact that there is no way to see this warning unless you specifically look for it. They don't warn you of it anywhere during booking process, nor any mention of it is in Conditions of Carriage.

jerry a. laska

Well, it is displayed (I would say prominently) on their website before you can start entering your proposed routing to purchase a ticket. Their conditions of carriage are written so that an itinerary, booking, and ticket only includes travel with Zipair when considering if a traveler has presented proper entry or any other necessary documentation required for his/her departure; you are ending your journey at NRT and their coc's do not appear to consider another airline's ticket to be part of your itinerary. Considering that JP remains closed for the most part, transitting on separate tickets is risky especially on a point to point carrier. I'm not sure how far you will get with any complaint but good luck.

Altaflyer

Maybe someone can opine on my situation. I am considering buying a "back up" ticket to get me out of Narita on Oct 20, the same day my Air Canada flight is set to arrive in case Japan does not re-open. I know AC will check bags through to JAL on separate tickets and they have an interline agreement. There is 2:50 between arrival in NRT on AC and departure from NRT on JAL. Some questions:

• will I be able to get from the AC arrival terminal to the JAL departure terminal airside without entering Japan
• I am not sure if I will be able to have a JAL boarding pass for the onward flight as I am unsure if JAL website will issue this or if AC will be able to and am unsure if this could be a challenge as JAL likely do not have a transfer desk in the terminal I arrive in
• Would COVID rules preclude an interline of bags that in normal times would be allowed
• On the way back I also have 2 tickets - one from Phuket on SQ to NRT and the other on AC from NRT to YVR - interlining is possible but again not sure if something COVID specific would impact such a bag transfer at NRT

Please Japan, just open up!!

CPH-Flyer

• Yes, there is an inter-terminal airside bus. It runs every 15 minutes and takes about 7 minutes.
• JAL would probably need to issue your boarding pass. That can be done once you are in T2, bring a pint of your e-ticket for the transfer process, and you'll probably anyway make your life easier by having that at check in for Air Canada
• No
• No impact from, covid

lamorindaflyer

I went through this exact same problem, except I saw the notification they displayed after booking the flight, so I cancelled it. They refuse to give a full refund though, claiming the notice is posted on their homepage. That may be, but I didn't book through their homepage — I got to them through Google Flights, and the notice wasn't displayed anywhere in the process until right after I paid for the flight (at which point I cancelled it).

In any event, please let me know if you find a good way to be made whole for this. I reported them to the FTC because I think it's shady that they don't tell you until after you book the flight and they don't have free cancellation since the flight doesn't touch US soil.