Consolidated Japan Customs & Immigation Discussion (was Extremely long wait times...)
Aug 31, 2016, 11:43 am
#91
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Hilton, Hyatt House, Del Taco
Posts: 5,378
Aug 31, 2016, 7:38 pm
#92
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: UKB
Posts: 11,436
Aug 21st 4:30pm.
Immigration at Terminal 2 was ugly. I had to wait 15 min (using the APEC lane).
Reentry was 40+ deep.
Foreigners was full.
Japanese queue was 30-40+.
Customs had 10+ per lane.
It did take a total of 30 min from parking to domestic checkin desk
Immigration at Terminal 2 was ugly. I had to wait 15 min (using the APEC lane).
Reentry was 40+ deep.
Foreigners was full.
Japanese queue was 30-40+.
Customs had 10+ per lane.
It did take a total of 30 min from parking to domestic checkin desk
Sep 1, 2016, 3:41 am
#93
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 380
Just a quick update from my trip.
Landed at 4pm last week (mid-week). The queue at immigration was a touch over 30 minutes for foreigners. The Japanese line was over twice as long as the foreigner one, but I don't know how long they had to queue for.
Our bags were waiting when we got to the baggage hall, but there was a fifteen minute queue at customs, which surprised me as everyone (Japanese and foreigner) was stopped and questioned.
The JR office also had a twenty minute queue.
So, overall it took over 90 minutes from getting to the gate to leaving the airport. A longest ever record for me. But Japan is totally worth it, trust me!
Landed at 4pm last week (mid-week). The queue at immigration was a touch over 30 minutes for foreigners. The Japanese line was over twice as long as the foreigner one, but I don't know how long they had to queue for.
Our bags were waiting when we got to the baggage hall, but there was a fifteen minute queue at customs, which surprised me as everyone (Japanese and foreigner) was stopped and questioned.
The JR office also had a twenty minute queue.
So, overall it took over 90 minutes from getting to the gate to leaving the airport. A longest ever record for me. But Japan is totally worth it, trust me!
I didn't see a Japan resident line, but the Japan citizen line was at least twice as long as the foreigner line. IDK how long they had to wait for though.
Sep 8, 2016, 1:23 am
#95
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Programs: KE Skypass Morning Calm Member, OZ Club
Posts: 2,352
I second 5k hours. I arrived on JL 91 from Seoul Gimpo at 9:20 or so the other week. Literally NO wait whatsoever. When we departed on Sunday night at 7:00ish back to Seoul, there was also no wait to get through departure immigration.
Sep 12, 2016, 8:24 am
#96
Moderator: Mileage Run, InterContinental Hotels
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 5,916
It's completely unpredictable. I arrived KIX at 3.32pm on a (slightly delayed) CX flight from HKG. As we got off our plane, passengers started spilling out of a NH plane that had just arrived, and another plane was docking at its stand. The shuttle train had just left, so I ran to the immigration hall, and indeed managed to arrive before anyone else. A minute through immigration, minimal wait for bags, nobody at customs, at bus ticket counter at 3.48pm, with 20 minutes to spare for a bus I would have certainly missed if I'd gotten to the immigration line 10 minutes later, with several hundred people ahead of me.
Dec 1, 2016, 12:09 am
#97
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: 1A
Programs: UA GS, NH Diamond, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist (formerly Courtesy Card sadly), Amanjunkie, CLEAR
Posts: 3,713
Very pleased today arriving on NH7 into Narita, 7-8 minutes from my seat to the curb.
First off the plane and no lines at immigration, one (very fast) Japanese passport holder in front of me at customs. It helped that the gate was fairly close to the immigration area as well.
Probably my fastest yet, almost on par with Haneda.
First off the plane and no lines at immigration, one (very fast) Japanese passport holder in front of me at customs. It helped that the gate was fairly close to the immigration area as well.
Probably my fastest yet, almost on par with Haneda.
Dec 1, 2016, 10:15 am
#98
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
ICN-NRT on OZ, arrived Tuesday at 1730.
30 minute wait at immigration. People in front of me were mainly PRC/Koreans/other Asian. Each one took about 5 minutes, the officers were flipping through everyone's passports for ages before even putting them into the reader, then took another long time before even starting the biometrics.
On my turn (European passport) and also for the few Americans, no dilly-dallying, passport straight into reader and fingers straight onto scanner - but then the machine took a while to do anything. Once it printed the sticker then sent straight through.
Bag was already off the belt and waiting, but customs wanted to look through it as well (but they didn't look through my backpack or rollaboard)
Before entering the immigration queue, there was someone making sure the forms had been properly filled out, so this wasn't the cause of any of the slowness.
30 minute wait at immigration. People in front of me were mainly PRC/Koreans/other Asian. Each one took about 5 minutes, the officers were flipping through everyone's passports for ages before even putting them into the reader, then took another long time before even starting the biometrics.
On my turn (European passport) and also for the few Americans, no dilly-dallying, passport straight into reader and fingers straight onto scanner - but then the machine took a while to do anything. Once it printed the sticker then sent straight through.
Bag was already off the belt and waiting, but customs wanted to look through it as well (but they didn't look through my backpack or rollaboard)
Before entering the immigration queue, there was someone making sure the forms had been properly filled out, so this wasn't the cause of any of the slowness.
Dec 1, 2016, 11:44 am
#99
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,412
Dec 4, 2016, 12:25 am
#100
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Riding the rails
Programs: Japan Forum, Skyteam Elite Plus, BW Diamond Select, HHonors Gold, NWA, DL, NH
Posts: 1,936
Narita Airport T1 yesterday about 4pm. Foreign line looked pretty quick, Japanese like not many. I use the automatic gate for re-entry, only one other foreign re-entry in front of me and only 1 Japanese person using the Japanese automatic gate, only took about 70 seconds. I noticed the automatic gate has been updated with "Trusted Traveler" sign as well and noticed there was a card reader machine installed that was not installed there before, not sure if this is for the trusted traveler system or not.
Dec 4, 2016, 11:05 pm
#101
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Tokyo
Programs: SPG LT Plat ANA Plat
Posts: 596
I'd also mention that in my experience applying for this at Narita seemed to be more successful than at Haneda.
I initially tried at Haneda but my fingerprints were too weak to be picked up. The guys there just shrugged their shoulders and said sorry..can't help you. Then I tried again at Narita and there's a lady there who has been doing this for like 8 years and knows a bunch of tricks to get it to work. I eventually got registered after much persistence and I've since never had any issue using these gates.
I initially tried at Haneda but my fingerprints were too weak to be picked up. The guys there just shrugged their shoulders and said sorry..can't help you. Then I tried again at Narita and there's a lady there who has been doing this for like 8 years and knows a bunch of tricks to get it to work. I eventually got registered after much persistence and I've since never had any issue using these gates.
Dec 6, 2016, 12:56 am
#102
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
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Next to the passport reader? I think that's also a printer. The Trusted Traveler Program uses a registered user card to record up to 15 entry "stamps/lines" or something similar apparently.
Dec 18, 2016, 8:20 am
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Boston, Jo'burg, HK
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Landed into KIX, they have a completely new system that seems to speed things up massively. Basically, they have a couple dozen "mini-terminals" where an immigration officer (looks like newbies or trainees) will take your fingerprints and photo and then send you to a separate line with immigration officers who do the final inspection and put the sticker on your passport. It took 5 minutes tops, after coming at the tail end of a couple of fully-loaded arrivals.
Dec 18, 2016, 6:24 pm
#104
Join Date: May 2016
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ TPPS, QR Gold
Posts: 380
Landed into KIX, they have a completely new system that seems to speed things up massively. Basically, they have a couple dozen "mini-terminals" where an immigration officer (looks like newbies or trainees) will take your fingerprints and photo and then send you to a separate line with immigration officers who do the final inspection and put the sticker on your passport. It took 5 minutes tops, after coming at the tail end of a couple of fully-loaded arrivals.
May 26, 2017, 2:26 pm
#105
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: AUH
Posts: 8,266
I tried to look through the thread but couldn't find anything which answers my question -
What is Haneda like at 5am-6am? Looking at the arrivals list, there are a few widebody flights arriving quite close to each other so I would guess it will be quite busy, but how long should I expect to wait in practice?
I have a flight arriving at around 6am and would want to be landside by about 7am in order to visit Air-BigCamera before my onward flight departing 0850. Does it sound doable?
What is Haneda like at 5am-6am? Looking at the arrivals list, there are a few widebody flights arriving quite close to each other so I would guess it will be quite busy, but how long should I expect to wait in practice?
I have a flight arriving at around 6am and would want to be landside by about 7am in order to visit Air-BigCamera before my onward flight departing 0850. Does it sound doable?