Record Time Exiting Narita
 

Stepped off the plane today Gate 45 Terminal 1 at exactly 7:59 AM and made the 8:13 NEX with checked bags. I think this is about as quick as it can be done with checked luggage.

Probably OCD on my part to track this stuff.:rolleyes:

You're not the only one. I check my times too, only I don't check bags although I do usually queue up for the N'Ex-SUICA deal and do an ATM withdrawal. Problem is that I also tend to forget my best times later on, but I have done 25 minutes for sure.

The JR people won't normally sell you a ticket if the train is leaving within minutes. I guess you used a machine? I once used a machine and literally got on seconds before the doors closed. Other time when getting SUICA-NEX, I got on an earlier train.

Did you wait at all for your bag?

Recently off LH 416 from MUC. I don't know when I actually stepped off the plane. I did make a mistake because I was waiting for the middle door to open and it took longer. Official arrival was 30. I looked up at one point during the long walk (from gate 46) and the clock was 37. I exited customs (no checked bags) at 45 (when NEX departs). Took a bus that departed 50.

First one off the plane. Gate 45 is the longest haul in the airport, but zero line at immigration. Bag came out as I was walking down the stairs to baggage claim. 30 second wait at customs. I learned awhile ago that JR will actually let you through with no ticket if the train is about leave. So I just had them buzz me through the ticket gate, jumped on the train with less than 10 seconds to spare, and bought the ticket on the train.

With no bags I've made it from plane to curb in 7 minutes but that was from a much closer gate.

BTW - How's the flight through MUC. I do US east coast to NRT through FRA quite often but have never tried MUC.

That's very impressive. As it's a long walk from Gate 45 your checked bags can often beat you to the carousel if they are priority tagged. I think it all depends on the length of the queue at immigration and other flights esp. from SE Asia arriving before or after yours.

LH714 MUC-NRT arrives later in the morning which some people prefer but I don't think this is LH's prime route. Economy is often full of Japanese tour groups but the front cabins are not usually very full. For example according to Expert Flyer today's LH714 is F8A8. If you are interested you have about 64% chance of getting the new F.

MUC is a much easier airport for connection than FRA (a little boring if you ask me :p). US arrivals are on the same level as departures to NRT and you don't need to go through security or passport control. This could sometimes happen in FRA but is not always the case.

What would average time be to get through airport?
 

1st time @ NRT in early July. Arrive in the afternoon ~1630 on JL005 from JFK. About how long should I plan for getting through the airport and onto NEX? No checked bags; will need to queue for NEX+Suica (at least that's the plan) and get cash for taxi from Tokyo Station to the Peninsula. I'm trying to gauge my possible arrival time at the hotel to try and make dinner reservations that night. Thanks.

If you're committed to the N'EX, the trains you might catch are:
4:48pm - Unlikely unless you hitch yourself to 5khours
5:19pm - Doable if you don't dawdle
5:47pm - Doable unless you screw up royally

N'EX takes an hour to reach Tokyo Station. From there to the Pen = 10 minutes.

Thanks for the info - great to help plan! Would you recommend the bus instead of N'EX?

Bus is an option and is cheaper sometimes, but is not really that comfortable. The "Limousine" bus is overstating the level of service you should expect.
Take the train and get the Suica package.

Also, both T1 and T2 (the one you'll be landing at) has Citibank ATMs if that works for you.

(And latching yourself to 5khours will be harder than catching the 4:48, since you'll need to make your way over to T1 where UA and NH land :D)

MUC is a great airport. US-MUC/FRA-NRT is a bit crazy, but you would have a great connection in MUC because you arrive clean as NewbieR pointed out.

From Schengen it's also a breeze, especially compared to FRA where you encounter buses, tunnels, long walks, congested walkways, etc. Although FRA was pretty good Schengen-FRA-US for the last several years, but the escalator to passport control by A26 might be gone according NewbieR, who was kindly educating me on the latest at FRA. In the old days you would take that escalator to passport control and then right there was the Tower lounge.

I flew ORD-MUC-IST recently and my next gate was 5 min away.

I was up late here booking my next RTW. I picked FRA-NRT because I am using a UA SWU and with 60+ odd seats on the seatmap one month out it looks better to go from FRA. I did MUC a few weeks ago and I actually changed my flight date because C class was filling up on my original date.

If there is a bus to your hotel then note the departure times. When you exit customs the bus desk (look for orange) should be right in front. (I only fly *A to T1, so not sure about T2.) You can get on a bus if you have 2-3 minutes to spare. Only do it if the bus departs within 10-15 minutes.

I'm not a bus guy. I'd probably consider Keisei Skyliner:

#36 Departs T2 at 5:02pm - arrives Nippori at 5:40pm
#38 Departs T2 at 5:22pm - arrives Nippori at 6:00pm
#40 Departs T2 at 5:43pm - arrives Nippori at 6:23pm

From Nippori, you can take the Yamanote Line to Yurakucho - a short walk from the Peninsula. If you don't like the sound of a train change and short walk, you should stay on the Skyliner until it reaches the Keisei Ueno terminus and get a cab from there.

IMHO, each of the above trains is a no-brainer if you arrive just a bit too late for the preceding N'EX.

Leaving aside the issues of price, convenience and comfort how would you rate N'EX, Keisei Skyliner and the Limo bus from the standpoint of "sightseeing"? I'll be flying into NRT mid-October, first time ever to Asia! Does one route/mode of transportation offer more interesting "views" than the others?

All rubbish. With the limo-bus, depending on the route, you might get a brief glimpse of the Tokyo skyline and rainbow bridge, but mostly you'll be looking at the barriers on either side of the highway. On the N'EX you can survey the Tokyo-Chiba suburban sprawl. On the Keisei trains you get to see the concreted rivers to the east of Tokyo.

Whoopee.

I'd appreciate advice on my upcoming NRT passage.

I arrive at T1 at 4:00pm and Mrs. Milepig arrives at T2 at 4:40. (Using miles, enough said!)

We'll be checking at least one bag and it doesn't matter which one does so. We'll both be in premium cabins.

My basic plan is to:

I arrive at T1 and [collect bag if I've checked it]
I take the shuttle to T2
If enough before 4:40 I can get our N'EX/Suica tickets while I'm waiting for her, and hit up the Citibank for cash.
But - I won't know for sure which train to book on until I see her smiling face, so I'm thinking I should wait for her arrival to buy the tickets??

Realistically, how long will it take me to deplane, collect the bag and make my way to T2, and would it work out better - timing-wise - for Mrs. Milepig to check the bag?

Your plan is a good one. The amount of time depends primarily on immigration lines and whether you have priority tags. I think 35 to 40 minutes from plane to T2 would be pretty typical.

Thanks for the input! I'll make sure to save my eyes for Tokyo proper...

My recent experiences, perhaps a dozen times this year arriving into Narita has been similar to the OP. First off the plane, arriving on NH generally, and finding the terminal completely empty as well as zero people at immigration and near or zero at customs.

Love arriving on ANA since most pax are going into the Japan passport lanes. Further, being in F makes a big difference.

I never check bags. Came in a few days ago seat to exiting Narita in < 10 minutes by my approximation.

I've been coming out so fast recently that I've had to tell the car service to ensure the driver is there immediately at the time of the plane's arrival. No sense in waiting around after having everything so expedited!

Incidentally, zero lines at outgoing immigration at Narita earlier this morning. Seems late morning is a good time to be here since many of the TPAC flights go out in the mid to late afternoon.

I think the Swiss flight is lined up for record exit. At gate 35 today. Last time that I arrived I was in F and had an escort, but she was holding me up. :-)

I think that I was out in 10 min or less but wasn't paying attention.

Know what you mean. I ditched my LH escort on my last flight. Would never have made the train if I had waited for her.

Where in Tokyo are you traveling to? For views, I'd take either train over Limo Bus. The bus travels primarily on expressways that have limited views in many areas due to fences or being down in the ditch. Views are mainly unobstructed from trains. You may not find the scenery all that exciting on NEX or Skyliner, although you're up close to houses and forests and streets and people from your train window and so you get a glimpse of everyday Japan.

On either train, much of the first portion of the trip as you depart from NRT will be in farmland, wooded areas, etc. Skyliner speeds along over a vast farmland along a lake at one point. If you're on NEX, as you get closer to Tokyo, being on the right side of the train gives you a great look at the Tokyo Sky Tree. NEX goes underground just before the Tokyo station and stays in the tunnel until ~Shinagawa. Then depending on where your final destination is, you'll get different views beyond that. View-wise, it's pretty much a toss-up between NEX and Skyliner, although a slight edge goes to NEX because a).Sky Tree; b).tends to slow down more often which affords better look at buildings, streets and people outside.

This is YMMV of course and I would think depends on arrival times. Arriving in NRT at 8am last month saw me behind a long line > 30 minute wait with only 2 counters open.

Arriving at 3pm last week saw near zero lines.

The last time I arrived at NRT was at around 2PM at end of May and I ended up waiting some 20-odd minutes, though they had the sense to start opening more counters around when more people started lining up behind me.

Another datapoint at HND yesterday arriving from SHA at about 5:20pm (early arrival), I went from plane door to curbside in about 5 min flat. Gate was adjacent to empty immigration and I had no checked bags. They had plenty of immigration officers twiddling their thumbs waiting for pax.

Always YMMV, but pleasant experiences mostly for the last year or two for me into NRT and HND with a few notable (and rather annoying) exceptions.

I guess that I'll get one next week because I am going ANA F. :p
I would gladly trade this for the car service but ANA only offers it for J,C,F fare codes from what I understand.

I fly NH F TPAC 2-4 legs a month and have never received an escort of any kind with the exception of one late flight causing an extremely tight connection (noticed many C pax were also escorted presumably due to the connection vs cabin or elite status).

I guess Swiss and LH trump ANA on this point if you actually value the escort.

Have you seen any exception to the J,C,F for the limo? I was wondering about RTW tickets. They are CRTWSTAR (or something like that) but book into D. I called to book a car for my significant other but only when I knew it was a full fare C.

On my last flight I arrived at NRT at around 3PM at end of May and I ended up waiting more then 35 min.
To see how quick it can be on other times/dates makes me a bit jealous.

TG also.

If your flight arrives late after buses and trains aren't running, J or F will get you a hired car into Tokyo. Y gets you a taxi.

Door open 8:12am.

From Gate 42 to curb..... 8 min 17 sec

Gate to Immigration 6:53
Immigration 36 sec
Immigration to customs 15 sec
Customs 11 sec
Customs to curb 21 sec

In theory, sub 3 minutes should be possible from gate 31/32.

Talk about OCD :rolleyes:

15sec from immigration to customs? Just going downstairs to the baggage claim level alone is >10sec. Were you sprinting?!

We usually arrive in T1 and from gate 40's, it's:
Gate to passport control 7min
Passport control 5min (cut to front of line due to small kids)
Passport to carrousel 1-3min
Bags 10min
Customs 0.5-2min
Customs to ATM 2min
ATM 1min
ATM to train station 5min
Buy train tickets 2min
Down to platform 2min
TOTAL 35~40min

If I were on my own with no checked bags and no immigration wait, no ATM stop, I suppose I could do gate to train platform in 20min.

I've seen him to it. It's more parkour than sprint. Very entertaining.

Ok, you're on. I'll see what I can do next week. However, it's uncharted territory for me arriving ANA at 15:00ish from MUC. Maybe I should change to LX so that I can get a head start from gate 35.

But I am guessing that you are a resident so that is faster. Their lousy machines can't read my fingerprints (no, I am not a longshoreman) so they try twice; eats up some time.

I'm jealous too. We were first off the plane on our MH flight arriving 7am at NRT and ran into long lines for Japanese and Foreigners, but only 10 or so pax in line for resident foreigners. Great we thought, but officer was painfully slow and it took well over 30 min at 3-5 minutes per person :( No need to wait for our luggage at least... There were still massive lines for foreigners. Maybe lots of SE Asia flights arriving at that time which might be handled differently than American or European flights.

Walking briskly. No checked bags. There was not a single pax in either immigration or the baggage/customs hall. Immigration to customs surprised me too, but the lap timer on the iPhone stopwatch doesn't lie and Customs is basically right at the bottom of the stairs. Also I was heading to the curb not the train station.

gnaget - Non-resident! You'll have a tough time at 3pm.... and no running.

I'm a resident and use the "automated" gates, but I find that it's just as slow as the regular line, especially if you get someone ahead of you who doesn't know how to use the system (or is not eligible and is just called by the immigration agent).

Used to be a resident and used the gates. Quicker going out. Slower coming in.

I didn't rush at all. I think that I walked down one escalator; the other was blocked by other people. I got a good gate with ANA: 52. So it was close to immigration.

It was 29 past (15:29) when I walked off the plane and I exited customs at 38, so 9 minutes. I had about 20 people in line at immigration. Then I made the NEX at 44 past. I couldn't get a SUICA-NEX again unless I wanted to wait 30 min. There were these painfully slow people at the manned counter, I think Chinese tourists, even though only 3 or 4 people in line for 2 agents.

Nice try. Sub 4 minutes from gate to curb is the target with no running.

4 minutes 8 seconds from aircraft to curb this morning.