ALGU

NH1941 just departed out of Gate 51 from International Terminal 1 at Narita. They even announced it in the ANA lounge. Is this so that passengers for West Japan can undergo entry restrictions there instead?

Are there other airlines that regularly offer flights like this out of Tokyo? I’ve been trying to find a good and affordable routing to KIX but most aren’t.

nishimark

Are you looking for a domestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka area? There are several each day, with 2 airports in Tokyo and 3 in Osaka area. However, I notice that your location is Guam. Are you trying to fly international, with arrival in Tokyo and then same day transfer to Osaka area?

ALGU

Yes, are these domestic flights in the international terminals aimed at passengers like me?

nishimark

Terminal 1 has both domestic and international flights. Arriving international passengers must go through immigration at the first airport they arrive at in Japan. If you are allowed to enter Japan under the current restrictions, you will need to find private transportation to your home and do a 14-day quarantine. Do you have a residence in the Osaka area?

ALGU

I just want to clarify if there’s any confusion. There was a domestic flight departing from the international terminal (post departure immigration) at Gate 51 close to the ANA Lounges and ANA Connection Counter. I’m assuming this is so you don’t have to clear immigration, customs, and quarantine in Narita for those terminating in Osaka. My family has a residence in Osaka.

flyboygoon

To my knowledge no flights like this are offered in Japan. You go through entry and quarantine at the first airport you touch down at domestically.

If it is the case, it would be interesting, though I’m not sure about the economics. The load factor of international flights is already pretty low compared to domestic flights. Many people will get off at NRT, either to enter Japan or to transfer to a third country. There would have to be several feeder flights to make this route economical.

jamar

Well, this seems to still be a thing, since the Narita Airport website still lists NH1941 as an "international" flight to KIX departing from gate 51, and the Narita airport floor map says the domestic gates are lettered, not numbered. Also it's not available for sale on its own on the ANA website. It'd be really strange to cordon off just gate 51 as an extra domestic departure gate, so it'd seem that this is indeed a case of an "international transfer" flight.

flyboygoon

From this article it seems like that flight number has been used (although in May) for rescue flights for reaching Japanese journalists in Myanmar: https://flyteam.jp/news/article/132711

It seems like it’s more likely to be a charter flight for humanitarian or diplomatic reasons, which is why common people wouldn’t be able to book it.

joejones

I'm not sure about this flight specifically, but Delta and JAL both used to offer domestic flights to NRT that were treated as international for CIQ purposes (so you would clear immigration and customs at NGO or KIX or wherever, and the NRT transit would be completely airside).

Here we go, found an 11-year-old Japanese blog post about it: http://flyingstampdealer.seesaa.net/...152551870.html

mhy

I've never been able to do an international -> domestic connection at NRT without passing through immigration / customs. If that were possible it would be great as my family is also in Osaka and currently it's extremely annoying to have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Tokyo and not be able to get on a domestic flight.

I know that Narita has a number of "shared gates" that can switch between domestic/international use. When in use as domestic gates, they close off access from the international side - the gates are only accessible from the domestic part of the airport, meaning you have to go through immigration first in order to reach it.

T1 Gate 55 (international) for example is used as Gate H domestically. I have transited JFK-NRT-ITM many times in the past and I've always had to pass immigration first. This was both JAL and ANA. Maybe there are exceptions like the flights mentioned by a few posters above. Would be nice for sure.

Im a new user

Can't you transit through Incheon or something instead?

ALGU

NH1941 departing gate 51 on 09/11 was indeed on the international side. I was personally there and saw it staffed as normal with passengers in the seating area while walking to the ANA lounge. I should have asked.

CPH-Flyer

NH 1941 seems to be a flight number more randomly applied. The latest use of the flight number was Narita to Naha with a 767-300ER.

The domestic run from the international side was probably a charter of kinds, and never for sale to the general public.

nishimark

Of course, I don't know what NH1941 was on that day, but it seems odd to me that it would be an international transit with passengers waiting to board in the seating area without going through some sort of COVID testing. Would they bother to do the testing at NRT and then send them to KIX for immigration? Again, I don't know. Just wondering out loud.

CPH-Flyer

They would probably do both testing and immigration at arrival in KIX. KIX is still operating with regular international arrivals.