Just a heads up for those coming into Haneda - they are using remote stands since the crash - first time in 15 years I’ve seen this happen for an international flight to HND…. Also -- the wait times for immigration were 1+ hours (at 3:45pm when we arrived) -- thank goodness I have TTP... Our plane had three bus loads -- and three other planes were also unloading passengers from buses at T3 -- the line was out the door....

As JoeJones says, it’s less stressful to get to Kyoto by train. Flights can be cheaper but if you were planning to use a car service from ITM to Kyoto, I guess cost is not your main concern.

If I were you, I would aim to meet your elderly aunt at the arrivals hall of the terminal that she is flying to, then head to the basement to take a Narita Express train to Shinagawa and then a Shinkansen service to Kyoto. Shinkansen services are very frequent and the last one departs from Shinagawa at about 9pm but you should make it there well before the last train. On arrival in Kyoto, take a taxi to your hotel.

This is probably because it's the end of the New Year holiday week, not because of the crash.

The “holiday” week here will end on the 8th - Monday is “Coming of age day”. …

Our pilot announced that airport operations were modified due to the accident - so I felt comfortable posting it ….

It is not that rare to see aircraft at remote stands at Haneda. I have not had one since the expansion of the 140'ies gates. But I see it realtively often when flying in and out of Haneda. And I would imagine the new year's holiday ending means a lot of flights coming in. On top of the rush, the closed runway could also mean some delays and rescheduling that might stagger planes differently, meaning they run out of gate space more easily.

Totally get all this -- as someone that has travelled in and out of Japan on Holidays for 15+ years this is the first time I've seen 10+ international arrival planes at remote stands -- and given that so many domestic flights per day have been cancelled at HND I'm thinking it's not just the holidays - -which honestly don't end until the 8th this year.... The UA Pilot also mentioned that airport operations were modified due to the accident -- which is also why I posted.... Regardless -- the runway will reopen in a few days...

There were many people on today's flight that had tight connections since we were 90 minutes late -- I think that's why they shared so much information since we parked at a remote gate and had to take a bus -- truly the first time for me in 15 years for an international arrival....

Haneda T3 is pretty close to capacity around the afternoon/early evening arrival and departure bank, so yes it probably does not take too much disruption for the gates to be unavailable.

Very true. We were quite delayed in arrival and there were so many passengers with connections -- there were a lot of very angry passengers due to the buses. Typically arriving from the US you would be able to skip security on transit arriving at a normal gate -- but I don't think that is possible for bus gates...

I have some questions about our transfer through HND this Saturday 1/13. We arrive at 3:20pm (DL167 from SEA) and leave at 6:00pm (NH75 to CTS) on the same ticket. We'll have skis and other bags.

The good news is it sounds like the runway that was damaged in the crash will have reopened.

My main question is what's the best way to get between terminals (arriving in T3, leaving from T2, right?). According to https://tokyo-haneda.com/en/access/t...als/index.html, we can go by bus, monorail, or Keikyu line train. However, https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/guide/pr...l/hnd-transit/ mentions only the bus, so perhaps that's the best? Which is easiest? Which is fastest? Which would you take?

Will we need to carry our bags from T3 to T2 or can we recheck them in T3 after Customs?

Any suggestions on where to get some good food quickly in T2? Depending on timing we might need to grab bento boxes to eat on the plane.

Finally, it appears that Priority Pass has 3 lounges in T2 (Power Lounge North, Power Lounge Central, and Airport Lounge South), yet they all close at 4pm. Can this really be true?

Domestic transit counter at T3 (shown in the ANA link above) is your best bet. You can re-check bags and clear security in T3, then take an airside bus directly into the secure area of T2.

They sell bento, sandwiches, drinks, etc. at the shops in the gate area. Easy to find, lots of choices. You won't go hungry.

I think those are just the hours when they accept Priority Pass; they are open later if you pay an admission fee. They are not great lounges.

Great. I wasn't sure if we could use that because it's called "Domestic transit counter" and their link says "Please use Counter 14 located in the 2nd Floor Departure Lobby of Terminal 2 for transfers from international flights to domestic flights" which would seem to include us. But you think we can use it which is good.

Also, another member of our party will be doing the same transfer a few hours earlier (T3 intl arrival to T2 NH departure to CTS). The link above says the domestic transfer counter is closed during his arrival time (open 5:30-11:00, 15:00-19:00) so he should "proceed to Counter 14 located in the 2nd Floor Departure Lobby of Terminal 2". Should he take the same airside bus or does he need to do something different?

Arrived on UA131 today (Sunday). We were also delayed out of EWR but only about 50 minutes. Some time was made up in flight (despite doing a few laps in a holding pattern over Chiba) and we landed about 20 min late just after 1440. Gate 105 was luckily open for us, so no bus.

We briskly walked through the terminal and was pleasantly surprised that there were no lines whatsoever and we were directed to the next open Immigration desk. where we used our QR codes without issue. One of our bags was delayed in being delivered so we lost some time waiting, but it gave us ample time to scan and register our QR codes for Customs. The lines to exit customs vs the QR code was shorter than the paper form line (we had completed both QR and paper) in advance. We took advantage of the * Gold line at the transfer desk and had our bags dropped off about 90 min after deplaning.

seattlebruce , you can for sure use the T3 transfer counter. As you note, the T3 transfer counter is only open during certain hours. The afternoon hours start at 1500; if you arrive when the T3 counter is closed, then you need to go to the T2 counter 14 you reference. The agent checking us in even offered to put us on an earlier flight without charge (normally not allowed but there’s a waiver in place this weekend).

I believe the gateside ramp bus isn’t running while the airport is under recovery mode; it probably will resume in a few days. We didn’t feel like taking the curbside shuttle bus (which stops at Terminal 1 before Terminal 2), so we decided to take the Keikyu Line subway for a fast and easy transfer between the terminals. We stopped at the Information Desk to get our vouchers for the free ride; we needed to show our passports and boarding passes for the domestic ANA flight and then exchange the vouchers into train tickets at the Keikyu desk. Note that there are specific turnstiles to use the paper tickets versus tap cards and you need to use the ticket to both enter and exit the train stations. Our use of the Keikyu Line was facilitated by our familiarity with Japanese mass transit nuances and fluency in Japanese to ask questions, but it’s not that hard to navigate. Pro tip - ride in the front of the train as the exit to Terminal 2 is on that side.

Was on the same flight! :tu:
(Delay departing EWR was because of 'late' arrival of aircraft coming from SFO. Even if it had been on time, it was a terribly tight turn-around, likely never to have left on time anyway. As it turned out, it was 20+ minutes late coming in, so not a chance).

But I transited at HND...and found out the hard way that not having an Air China Boarding Pass is not ideal for gaining access to the ANA lounge. Took a while, but they did let me in eventually.

Your post made me LOL. We travel a lot via HND and we are *A gold -- it's always a battle to get into the NH lounges as for some reason our domestic flights never seem to store our international status... They are incredibly strict -- domestically or internationally...

I noticed! :)

Super friendly, but they were NOT going to let me in without a BP (which I guess is fair enough), and waited until the CA check-in agents turned up, three hours before scheduled departure.
They then called them and confirmed my reservation, and let me in. They even sought me out in the lounge and handed me the boarding pass an hour later. Can't really complain.