Ohh, ok. "Transfer" got me thinking it was something else. Gotcha. That's normal.

I see he was clarifying because if it wasn't a single ticket, I might have to collect my luggage and go through security again.

Everything will flow normally then. I bought my tickets through AC.

There is a terminal change at NRT - ANA (T1) and JAL (T2)

If you're flying with hand luggage only, think it's OK - You can take the airside bus from T1 to T2. No need to clear immigration and customs.

If you have checked luggage, I suggest that you check with ANA to see if they will interline your bags. If they will do it, then OK. If not, I think it's risky - It may take you 45 minutes to go through immigration, pick up bags, and clear customs. Then 15 minutes to transfer to T2. It leaves little margin for delays.

Both ANA (https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/domestic...n/transit.html) and JAL (Connection Information - JAL Domestic Flights) state that they interline with the other airline on domestic flights. They even provide minimum connection times which are mostly the same as connecting on their own flights. They also state they interline from their own domestic flights to the other's international flights, again with specified minimum connection times.

They do not say whether they support international to international interlining. My guess is they would still through-check your bag, but without the protection of minimum connection time guidelines. But easy enough to email/call and find out!

Thank you. I will most likely will try to interline it at LAX. An hour to leave customs and get to T2 leaves about 1:40 to check in for an inter-asia flight. Anyone knows when does baggage drop close for these kind of flights? Hopefully going business means I don't have to wait too long in the check in lines.

I think it's an hour before departure.

I have two potential options for a February 2020 trip (Sapporo Snow Festival). The international flight is booked in F via VS miles. I can reserve a direct domestic NH flight for cash, or I can use miles to add multiple connecting domestic NH flights to my existing award itinerary (unfortunately, there don't appear to be any award seats available on the direct flight).

Cash Option (Separate Tickets)
The airport(s) at which you are transiting: NRT
The airline on which you are arriving: NH173 IAH-NRT (arriving 3:15pm)
The airline on which you are departing: NH2155 NRT-CTS (departing 5:55pm)
Your connection time in hours/minutes: 2:40
How you are connecting: INT-DOM
Whether you are traveling on a single ticket, or separately-booked tickets: Separate

Miles Option (Single Ticket)
The airport(s) at which you are transiting: NRT
The airline on which you are arriving: NH173 IAH-NRT (arriving 3:15pm)
The airline on which you are departing: NH3239 + NH1115 NRT-KIJ-CTS (departing 5:35pm)
Your connection time in hours/minutes: 2:20
How you are connecting: INT-DOM
Whether you are traveling on a single ticket, or separately-booked tickets: Single Ticket

Would you recommend booking the cash option booked as separate tickets or the miles option on a single ticket?
If we were to misconnect on the separate tickets, would NH re-accommodate us on another flight or would we need to purchase another ticket at walk-up prices? I know we'd be covered for a misconnect on the single ticket itinerary.

Thank you very much!

NH Connection in NRT
 

Like @makavel , we are also going to the Snow Festival and have a connection question:

Our CTS-NRT flight is on a paid NH ticket in F.

Our NRT-HNL flight is a UA award ticket booked on NH in F.

When I talked with NH today, the staff said that most likely our baggage would be checked through, but they left a little doubt in my mind.

For those NH experts here, what is the probability that the CTS checkin agents will through-check our bags all the way to HNL.

I would go for the cash ticket option. 2h 40m, is quite decent conenction time at Narita, especially arriving in F. NH will check your luggage and you through across seperate tickets, though not protect you. So they would know that you are running late if that is the case. Either way single ticket or seperate ticket, you would need to reclaim you luggage at Narita and take it trhough customs and recheck it.

Cash option is better, simply I do not see advantage of doing NRT-KIJ-CTS on award ticket. Remember, during snow festival is snow season in Hokkaido and northern Tohoku region of Japan. Flight delay and cancellation due to snow is not anything unusual during that time of the year. I think it is better to keep routing simple.

Even with separate tickets NH will try to re-accommodate you, best is to call NH have noted on your reservation you are connecting to domestic flight to CTS. However, limitation is the lack of NRT-CTS flights, NH has only two flight a day on NRT-CTS, one in the morning and another in late afternoon. If you miss your 5 p.m. flight to CTS then NH does not have any more flights to CTS from NRT that day. Option can be to take a bus form NRT to HND and fly to CTS from HND if you miss the flight to CTS at NRT. Also, the snow festival is the biggest tourist attraction of the year in Sapporo. Hotels booked in advance (usually higher rate) and flights to/from CTS during the snow festival is pretty busy. It possible that there will be less options compare with other time of the year.

P.S.
KIJ is on western coast of Japan facing Sea of Japan, airport is located right at the shore facing the ocean. It is known for winter weather effect, delay and cancellation of flights in/out of KIJ during winter is nothing unusual. NRT-KIJ one flight per day scheduled and KIJ-CTS two flights per day scheduled only. Another reason to avoid NRT-KIJ-CTS routing. :)


Yes, NH at CTS will check your bags all the way to HNL. You do not have to deal with your checked baggage at NRT during the transit.

Another option if you are running late is to go directly from the customs entry point at NRT, turn left and leave your bags at one of the baggage delivery services. It is about $20 US a bag and the luggage will be delivered to your hotel in Sapporo the next day. Depending on the lines, it may be faster to do this than to wait at the ANA counter to recheck your bags. You also won't have to wait for your bags at CTS and then you can easily take the train to Sapporo station.

https://www.gpa-net.co.jp/en/passeng...m_airport.html

Thank you! It sounds like NH F passengers receive "Fast Lane" access for immigration, which should help us speed through to our connection. That's a relief because I've been stuck in long lines at immigration in NRT several times, especially after the photograph/biometrics collection was started. Based on your comment and the one below, I plan to go with the cash/direct option.

Thank you! Based on your comment and the one above, I plan to go with the cash/direct option.

Thanks for the heads-up about KIJ being prone to weather delays. Now that you mention it, I see that the airport is directly on the coast! To make things more complicated, the flights through KIJ would be on a Dash 8 and thus even more prone to weather delays.

I did notice that there aren't any other NRT-CTS flights after the 5pm one, so if we misconnect, I'd plan to take the limousine bus to HND and try to catch a later flight from there (as you suggested).

Thanks also for the warning about hotels in Sapporo during the Snow Festival! I noticed that the hotels were already quite booked up (and expensive), so I have made hotel reservations for our stay there.


That's a great idea! We've used takuhaibin delivery services before to send our bags between Kyoto and Tokyo, but never to send them from the airport to the hotel. I wasn't sure how it would work for getting bags from Tokyo to Hokkaido, but it sounds pretty smooth based on your description.

Is there somewhere online that lists the delivery time by destination? While researching takuhaibin for a previous Japan trip, I thought I read that deliveries to distant places like Hokkaido could take more than 1 day, but if that's not the case anymore, this could be perfect!

EDIT: I found this website that can estimate takuhaibin delivery dates based on origin and destination postal codes: http://date.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/date/Takkyubin. Google Chrome's translation feature does a pretty good job at showing the page in English.

That makes sense! Thank you for the confirmation.

UA arrival to Miat Departure?
 

Considering a short connection at NRT. Arriving NRT on UA with 1 checked bag. Departing Miat 1:10 minutes later. These would be separate tickets. I usually fly through ICN and know where to go to have my bag transferred to Miat. Would I have enough time to make this connection? Thanks.

At Narita I would expect that you'd need to reclaim your luggage, and recheck.

Even if you get someone to retrieve your bag while in transit and retag it I would be surprised if that could be done in that time. You normally only leave 1h 10m for that at ICN? First time you did this exercise at ICN how much time did you need for it?