jib71

IMO, most of the airport food outlets are meh. Since you'll be airside, I'd suggest Sushi Yuraku, Sushi Iwa, or Saboten if you want some tonkatsu.

ksandness

There's nothing outstanding on the restaurant floors. The eateries are all of department store quality, if you know what that means, i.e. not awful but not memorable, either.

Just walk around till something looks good and isn't too crowded.

By the way, I once encountered an American G.I. who wanted to know if any of the NRT restaurants served Cajun food. Uh...no.

KAFredericks

(I've been trying to search this thread - I know the info must be here, but I'm not finding it - sorry in advance)


Int-Dom connection in NRT (AA to Jetstar Japan, AA codeshare flight, ticketed all the way thru to OKA). This is for an 18 year-old, military, traveling alone. When she arrives in NRT, must claim baggage and clear customs. My question - what to do with the baggage after that? Is there a transit pax drop for bags checked through to final destination? Does she need to go back out to ticket counter? Is there signage in English in NRT?


Thanks for any help you can offer!

ksandness

I can answer two of the questions.

1. Yes, you go through customs at your first port of entry in a new country, so she will have to go through Customs and Immigration and claim her bags.

Unless AA and Jetstar have the kind of relationship that allows them to issue boarding passes and luggage tags for each other, she will have to take her bags to the domestic check-in counter to drop them off and receive her boarding pass for the onward flight.

I have never done this myself, so others will be able to fill you in on the details of how to do this. I believe there's a bus that runs from the international terminals to the domestic terminal. Ah yes, here it is:

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/shuttlebus

2. There is plenty of English signage in NRT. All non-commercial signs and some commercial signs are in Japanese and English. Over the years, I've seen a lot of U.S. military transit through there.

While it may be intimidating for an 18-year-old, NRT is easy to navigate, and if not, Japanese people are famous for being helpful to bewildered foreigners.

CPH-Flyer

The Jetstar counters are in terminal 3, and your daughter will need to go to terminal 3 to recheck the luggage. Depending on how much luggage she will have it us either a 700 meter walk or there is a free shuttle bus. I believe passengers can take luggage carts all the way to T3, so it should be easy to walk. As Jet Star Japan is founded in cooperation with JAL and JAL use them as domestic feeder, I would imagine AA can issue the boarding passes. But I have no specific experience.

SQ319

Thanks both.

jib71

The US military has guides for its personnel with advice on what to do to get to their destinations in japan:
http://www.militaryinstallations.dod...f?p=MI:ENTRY:0

Type in the name of any US base in Japan to open the relevant guide. The "directions" section (click "directions" in the left side menu) provides information on airport arrivals. When I looked up Kadena AB (in Okinawa) it lacked specific information about arrival at Narita, but if you look up Misawa AB, it's quite detailed.

As far as I can see, the process for military personnel arriving at NRT is not so different from civilians, except the visa status is different.

Hope this helps.

CharlieA

I would connect at NRT
I would arrive on Delta (from PDX)
I would leave on Thai Airways (to BKK)
The connection time would be 2 hours 25 minutes
This would be an international to international connection
This would be separate tickets
I would have a checked bag (with Sky Priority on Delta)

Is 2 hrs 25 minutes enough time to deplane, go through immigration, get my checked bag, go through customs and get checked in and go through security and get to my gate?

If it helps I wouldl be one of the first off the arriving plane and I would fly 1st class on Thai Airways so I know they will assist me however possible once I get to check-in

CPH-Flyer

I am guessing you are taking the Thai departure around 5pm, so land between 2pm and 3pm.

There can be a fair bit of rush in the afternoon immigration in Narita, though this might be a bit early for it.

It is possible to make the connection, but it does not leave much room for any kind of delays. Personally I would not do it, I would want more space between the two flights.

mnbp

+1

To me, it's all about "plan B", what is your plan if DL happens to get you to NRT late? Are you ok with an overnight stay at NRT (in the relatively unlikely event the DL flight is late)?

CharlieA

Thanks to both of you! If it is tight I will go another route. Through NRT would give me a one stop itinerary but getting there roughly on time is more important than the hours a one stop itinerary would save me. I have a lot of two stop itineraries I can use.

mnbp

NRT is a highly reliable connecting airport. I'd absolutely take a short NRT connection vs a longer one via a Chinese airport - if that is one of your two-connection options.

CPH-Flyer

It is indeed, but on two tickets for two non alligned airlines it is a very close call at 2h 25m.

zchapk9

Hi all

I'm flying PVG-OKA on China Eastern MU, arriving 13.30.
I want to fly straight onwards to ISG, on a separate ticket.
How long will I need to clear immigration, get bags, get to domestic terminal, and check in again please?

OKA-ISG flights are available at
14.55 or 15.45 (JAL)
16.25 (ANA)
Which flight is recommended?

And- for routes like this with regular frequencies, do the airlines typically allow you to get an earlier/later flight if possible? Or are they strict with the fare rules?

Many thanks

CPH-Flyer

The problem is not so much immigration, but potential ATC delays out of PVG. I would want to put a fair amount of space between the two flights. Somewhere around 3 hours and upwards.

Both JAL and ANA are generally reasonable to deal with, but they are very rules based. I would expect them to be accommodating for putting you on a later flight if you miss the connection, less so if you show up early.