Recent on the ground report from Narita over the weekend. I had a 3 1/2 hour transit before boarding a Singapore flight to LAX. First, my mid afternoon 2/3 full-Asiana coming into NRT was mostly full of Japanese nationals (makes sense) and transit passengers (only around a dozen of us) were allowed to deplane first. Going through security was a breeze and only took 5-7 minutes. Afterwards I found myself in T1 which was extremely crowded with other transit passengers (numerous flights were departing between 4-6 pm).

T1 conditions:
1. Air conditioning extremely weak that day to the point of barely noticeable. Although it felt cooler than the outside, the whole place simultaneously had a stuffy feel to it, especially with so many bodies around you.
2. Many shops and restaurants still closed, and even open ones close early by 5 pm. Duty free shops, a few convenience stores, Ippudo ramen (popular chain), and some random traditional Japanese handicrafts souvenir shops were all that were open. Food section duty free and Ippudo were extremely popular with long lines (since these people can't enter Japan they were taking full advantage loading up on macha cake rolls, mochi, candy, and the like.) and no room to navigate within the aisles. Barely any customers at the cosmetics, alcohol, and tobacco sections though.
3. I don't know why but it seemed easily like a 1/4 of the transit passengers were visibly and audibly sick. Near constant coughing, sniffling, and people blowing their noses. Maskless kids coughing up a lung angling their necks out like some artillery cannon, I felt so disgusted. My sympathies to the poor employees that have to work inside this place.

Fifty minutes before scheduled departure my SQ flight from Singapore pulled up to the gate. Around 10 min passed with no one deplaning. Then I watched as a nearly full flight deplaned and was taken to clear security, only to show up immediately back at the same gate for reboarding. I don't know if that's a blessing or curse. After their 7 hours in the air maybe it felt good to stretch their legs, but they had to do all that only to get immediately back in line to reboard the same plane, no time to shop. Although departure was 1/2 hour late, reboarding was very speedy and we caught up in the air, even landing at LAX 10 mins earlier.

This wasn't plan A on my itinerary but was part of a replacement flight as my original JAL flight into Haneda was cancelled last month.

I travelled in and out of Japan three times in 2020, using both Haneda and Narita airports in Tokyo.



In February I was given a pamphlet at all the airports I passed through telling me to “be careful”. Most shops and restaurants at both airports were closed and they felt eerie and abandoned. Customers looked like weirdos and oddballs. Americans looked nervous and ill at ease, very awkward. They always flocked to the fast food places, ignoring local fare.



In March I was in North America when my flight (scheduled for two weeks later) to Japan was cancelled abruptly so I decided immediately to go to the airport to book a flight for that day, since who knew whether all international flights would be banned and for how long. Why did I go to the airport? No one was responding to phone calls and email messages and the Internet system of the airline was not functioning. I booked a flight for later that day and left. Didn’t pay extra or get a discount. The plane was about 90% empty.



In May I travelled again to North America - Canada and the US. Someone at customs in Vancouver (a Chinese-Canadian immigration officer) yelled at me when I expressed a casual attitude about quarantine procedures. I finally promised that I would stay alone in someone’s basement and have my food brought to me.



In 2021 I travelled to Tokyo and spent 15 nights in a hotel of my choosing and at my expense in quarantine. I travelled from NRT to my Tokyo hotel by taxi which cost me about over 300 dollars. (I couldn’t use trains or busses because the airport posted guards everywhere.) The taxi was a limo type and my ride was really public transportation but me and the taxi company pretended that it was “private” transportation. I didn’t ask for a receipt and didn’t give my name to the driver.



In Tokyo for fifteen days I was monitored on an app that notified the gub’ment if I strayed from a designated area. I was called every day and had to video myself to prove where I was. My hotel had a washer dryer in the room, as well as a stove and cooking items. There were some other quarantined individuals in the hotel. They were .....ing and complaining all the time. I made the best of it.

Haneda Transit Procedure
 

I have an upcoming flight Haneda-London and I am looking at booking a feeder for this, e.g. Singapore-Haneda.

The two flights would be on separate tickets and this poses the following questions for me:

- How do I obtain my boarding pass for Haneda-London if I am unable to check in online? (Assuming the BP cannot be issued in Singapore because it is separate tickets, is there a transit counter airside in HND that can issue it for me?)

- I would like to travel with checked bags because it is a longer trip. But I understand that checking my bags through is not guaranteed even if both flights are Star Alliance, because of separate tickets. Has anyone found a reliable solution to checking bags through on separate tickets in HND?


Thank you very much in advance

It really depends on the airlines in question, so a full detailed answer would only be possible based on the combination of carriers.

If doing the connection on two flights on Star Alliance, you are either SQ/NH or NH/NH. Neither will be an issue for checked luggage. And NH will also issue both boarding passes in Singapore.

If you do Oneworld and two flights only, it would necessarily be JL/JL which would also be smooth sailing.

Thanks a lot! Apologies for the missing info, HND-LHR is on NH and my options for the feeder flight are either SQ (SIN-HND), TG (BKK-HND) or NH.

You write that it would not be an issue for checked luggage - is it guaranteed that I could check luggage through if both airlines are part of Star Alliance?

Quick question, if I were to book a KUL>NRT>KUL within the same day (Arrive into NRT and leave within the same day) for mile running purpose, would I get into trouble where Check in desk in KUL will deny me as visa-free travel is non existent currently. I believed my trip would be treated as Tokyo bound pax instead being transit to 3rd country? Please correct me if I am wrong.

Also will KUL ground staff print out the NRT>KUL boarding pass (assuming above went well during check in)?

I would be flying JL for this purpose if this info helps. Also will be only doing hand luggage.

**Edit: Reading through older post it seems like this is not possible, is it still the same of now???**
**If so would KUL>BKK>NRT>KUL routing workable with them under the same ticket?**

I currently have two separate business class award flight reservations:

JL: BOS > NRT > ITM (Osaka)
JL: NRT > BOS

It's looking very unlikely that we'll be able to stay in Japan for this trip in early September, so we'd like to get a ticket (it looks like the only timing that works is Ethiopian airlines, not on the same alliance) from NRT > ICN and go to Seoul instead. I have two questions:

1. Do you think I'll have any issue ditching the NRT > ITM leg of my JL flight so that I can take the NRT > ICN one (separate reservations, separate alliance).
2. When I check in at the airport and am asked my JL what my final destination is, what do I say to them?
3. Is there any issue when transferring in NRT from one airline to another on separate reservations?

SQ, NH, and TG are fine with handling luggage across separate tickets within Star Alliance. They are some of the good guys on that point. TG usually finds a way even to manage boarding passes.

I connected on separate tickets via NRT twice this week without any problems. Outbound JAL First to Thai First (1h50 connection) was the easiest as there was no security and I was escorted by a JL rep all the way from my inbound plane to Bus Shuttle Gate. 70. Today's return Thai First to JAL First (2h30m connection) was not as pleasant as there was no escort and I had to clear international connection security with hundreds of others. I just had carry-on bags which made it doable.

Things are slipping for TG, they used to escort connecting F passengers through the hoops in both Tokyo airports....

Interesting. I guess TG is hurting as there were also no menus on board either way.

But hey, at least they had Dom and more than one bottle.... unlike JAL who only loads one bottle of Cristal ex-US and one bottle of Salon ex-NRT. I really lucked out today as, amazingly, none of the 5 other NRT-SFO pax wanted champagne so I got to drink the entire bottle of Salon, much to the amusement and delight of the wonderful cabin crew. :cool:

Yeah, JL has become a bit stingy that way during the pandemic. They should really have a second brut option rather than only a rosé next to the Salon/Cristal, so if people just ask for a glass of champagne unspecified they should get the more humble brut.

They served crappy Delamotte as PDB today so it could be that other pax thought “yuck, I don’t want another glass of that” :D

JAL has always used the same PDB champagne between J and F, that's not new. The Delamotte brut or BdB that JAL serves are in my opinion some of the better J champagnes around. in the sky.

This was my experience on JAL F last week coming back from NRT. I had the Salon all to myself. Others in the cabin didn't drink.