HND-NRT/NRT-HND transfers to be possible again?
 

With the border opening measures slated for Oct 11, this should mean that arriving at HND and then doing a ground transfer by bus or transfer to NRT will be possible again, right?

I have an itinerary that would get me into HND on JL and then depart on QR from NRT 4.5 hours later. I'll only have a carry-on bag, which should also expedite getting out of HND. Are the airport buses between the two airports still operating with reliable frequency?

Thanks!

Yes, airport transfers are possible. You will need to complete the MySOS app, and have a vaccine booster or a PCR test in order to do the transfer.

https://webservice.limousinebus.co.jp/web/en/Top.aspx

You can check the schedule here, but as the announcement re the borders were 10pm Thursday evening, and Friday was a public holiday, the expected increases in passengers may not be fully included yet.

Thanks very much CPH-Flyer. You are always very helpful.

It sounds like the MySOS app is similar in requirements to ArriveCan.

I also figured that it might take a week or two for the various bus and limo services to amend their schedules and websites to reflect the coming changes. If need be, I can also even splurge for a taxi/car service, as I'll be splitting the fare with someone else. CityAirportTaxis seem to offer a fare of US$146, which really isn't bad, so long as it is reliable.

Thanks again.

You need your vaccine certificate, PCR result if not boosted, and as a new thing I heard this morning, your passport image to upload. Guessing the passport is an image of the photo page, but waiting for confirmation of that. Enter your flight details and a few other things. Takes less than 5 minutes to do when you are used to it, maybe a bit longer the first time.

If you don't have luggage, there are also a direct train option. About twice every hour. Or with a change along the way more frequent. The direct train will be standard Tokyo commuter trains. If you change at Shinagawa you can get on the Narita Express.

Great, all that information is much appreciated. I have all the documentation that will be required, so I'll upload it later. I'm guessing by the end of the month that most of the teething pains of the border opening will have been worked out.

Cheers!

Did JL not allow NRT/HND transfer as it's own rule when a JL flight is involved? Asking because I've been having hard time trying to ticket a trip (far out in future) but whenever NRT/HND is involved it errors out last step.

Everything works when searching but seems to be some kind of rule being placed on TYO transfer at the moment?

There should not be. Even with Japan at its most restricted period, people could book HND/NRT connections and then complained when they could not fly them.

Do you leave enough time between flights?

Yeah it's award flight, landing JL in NRT and connecting HND-GMP next day. Tried back in July under AS and AA, both would not ticket so I eventually gave up. I was given many different reasons, one was JL's Korea flight was restriction to O/D only and not allowing connection for whatever reason.

On AA's search system this month it won't even show flight option with airport change, and manually piecing the flights into a single ticket resulted in someone from ticketing desk calling back to say system won't allow because transfer must be in same airport.

I'm just not sure whose problem it is, if it's JL adding some rule to prevent tickets being sold to partner and avoid deny boarding issue, or if it's the partner AA/AS system design.

In any case they're not even considering citizenship or entry eligibility and just flat out denying ticketing which is rather annoying

I can't replicate that problem booking with JAL miles, so I would guess it is an AA/AS restriction, as until the 11th of October airport changes are an issue for non residents and non citizens. My best guess is try after the 11th, or book two awards?

I guess, until timatic is updated they won't update the system and that won't be until Oct 11, since there's no date function on timatic. Quite annoying not able to book a single ticket.

In 2021, TPEJL was telling travel agents it is possible when both flights are JL, and a quarantine taxi must be booked. In 2022, they stopped saying it. TPENH, on the other hand, told travel agents in 2021 they didn't think they should let pax take the risk, since Japan immigration officer has the discretion to allow a pax to enter Japan or not in this circumstances (=possible but not guaranteed).

Don't know the exact issue AA and AS are having, but whatever is written on TIMATIC would not prevent a reservation from being made or a ticket from being issued.

I had SEA-NRT/HND-GMP booked for next year (overnight layover) and it got changed a couple weeks ago to SEA-LAX-HND-GMP. AA agent said it's a government restriction now not allowing connections between NRT/HND

Basically yes, unless you are citizen, resident, or have a visa. But from October 11th, no more restrictions for people from visa waiver countries.

But it seems AA has put a restriction in place just as we are about to get the restrictions removed. I wonder how long time it will take them to get it removed again.

To be honest, I'd prefer the LAX transfer over the NRT/HND transfer.