Planning an August trip to OKA. I'm reserved on JAL in J arriving in HND from SFO. Now I am trying to secure reservations on a domestic connecting flight to OKA. How much time is needed to clear immigration and customs and then claim/recheck luggage? Is two hours enough or must I plan for more time to connect?

Hi,

You will have to head to a different terminal to check in for your flight to OKA so I would go for a longer connection on separate tickets

Regards

TBS

I have done international-domestic transfer (AA-JL) at HND in two hours, but I will not recommend it. I just did it once and have never done it since. Luckily everything went smoothly but I was taking a chance on that. I will say three hours to be on the safe side.

Your flight is JL 1 arriving HND at 3:00 p.m. My recommendation for same day transfer to OKA will be:

6J (Solaseed Air) 25: HND 6:10 p.m., OKA 8:55 p.m.
JL 925: HND 7:55 p.m., OKA 10:25 p.m.
NH 479: HND 8:00 p.m., OKA, 10:30 p.m.

JL has 3:55 p.m. and 4:55 p.m. departure to OKA. NH has 3:30 p.m., 4:25 p.m., and 4:55 p.m. to OKA. I will not recommend any of these if your international arrival is at 3:00 p.m.

I am arriving Hnd 14:50 on a Saturday afternoon late March so likely to be busy at the airport (Cherry Blossom peak season.) I was advised by JAL call centre agent to allow 3 hours to connect comfortably (unless you have Japanese passport so immigration queue is minimal) to T1 for Fukuoka flight. I would prefer to have a drink in the lounge (Oneworld rule applies for access) in T1 and not risk my blood pressure rushing around the airport to catch a tight connection! It will also avoid the hassle of missing a short connection then having to queue to rebook on next flight which may be full or have poor seats left.

The idea that Japan's entire transportation network goes into meltdown when the cherry trees turn pink appears to have become a significant trope on English-speaking social media. While it's true that some locations (e.g. in parks in Tokyo) will get crowded, some hotels in areas that are famous for cherry blossoms will get booked up in advance, and some scenic roads will fill up with traffic, I think you can rely on Japan's busiest airport to handle the flow of people as well as it does on any Saturday that isn't the start of a three-day weekend, or Golden Week, or Obon, or the New Years holiday. Those are peak travel times. An afternoon when tipsy crowds hang out under the trees in Ueno park is not going to cause a meltdown at HND.
That said, there's nothing wrong with the advice to allow three hours for a less than nail-biting connection.