seanthepilot

Great to meet you too. Yes, we're in NRT in the Delta lounge. My layover is 7+ hours too.

737 All business was a nice flight. Old style recliner seats were pretty ok (think old style UA seat), small plug in movie player, and a very nice dinner. The all business cabin meant that everyone had a quiet flight and attentive service. But really, people slept for most of the flight.

We landed early, shortly after 6am, and had to wait about 10 minutes before transit security opened (6:30am).

The Delta lounge doesn't open until 8:00am, so had to waste a bit more time until they opened. No checkin facilities, but after confirming the booking, we were welcomed in.

Hat's off to those that found the round two fares. They're good to go! ^^

lewende

Thanks Sean for the great report!

I think LHR/MEL once reported that NH has an arrival lounge at NRT. Maybe it is a great place to kill some time for NH914 early arrivers.

cardesigner2000

Thanks for the TR ^ Have a round 2 ticket in December and hope to add a stopover at NRT. Do I need to talk to the ANA transfer desk air side or their ticketing desk land side? Should be possible to short check any luggage to NRT instead of it ending up in PDX I hope.

seanthepilot

How exactly are you hoping to add a stopover??? Any conversation you have with an agent will involve a call to discuss the request, and likely several people will be involved. I don't see NH changing the ticket from a transit to a stopover without the ticketing department being involved.

Understand that at 6:00am, there are none of these departments active in NRT. This is not a 24 hour airport. Because of noise and agreements with local landowners, this airport shuts down every night. NONE of the transfer desks were open when we arrived and for hours afterwards. Of course, we were allowed to access the lounge once they confirmed our bookings.

So, to answer your question, you will certainly need to talk to an agent landside. But, unless you booked a stopover in NRT, I would give you a slim chance of success doing this. But, of course, they CAN do anything. Your challenge will be making them WANT to.

seanthepilot

Although this is policy, it is not actually the way it may work in reality. In practical terms, you would never want to do this on a round trip, only on a one way that you were planning on completing the same day. And, of course, no one would advise it.

Because/If the carriers are not interlined, there is a good chance that boarding the second leg on an unrelated airline would work fine. I know those who have done just that on ex-Asia tickets without ever having a problem or a ticket cancellation. The (third world) airlines just don't communicate with the big players (unless they are under codeshare or alliance agreements).

The concern would be that IF you were denied in BKK, then you would have missed your initial flight out of RGN. What then would be your chances of changing the dates? Hmmmmm.... makes you think, na?

hobo13

Agreed. I'm always amazed at the number of people who state that things in absolutes. I am quite confident that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME in the modern history of aviation has skipped the first segment without issue. It's all a matter of probabilities and individual risk tolerances.

So, if one were to attempt to board segment #2 in BKK (and assuming that it is not a TG flight), but were denied, could the pax then cancel the ticket? I've always wondered a little about when a refundable ticket needs to be refunded.

And I suspect that more than a few in this thread are going to end up trying this approach at some point, though possibly without actually planning it. I have to believe that at least one FTer is going to attempt a transit visa / VOA and get denied, and then just try to board segment #2 and go home. Whether we hear about it is another matter.

*A Flyer

Except that providing advice that suggests it may be possible is not good advice as it relies on the airlines messing up and not applying their policies and rules. Yes, it may happen sometimes but I would not advise anyone that it is a real option if it isn't technically allowed.

hobo13

Trust me, no one is advising it. Mistake fares to RGN don't exactly come with training wheels, so I don't think any newbies are going to be led astray by a realistic discussion of the situation.

cmdsea

Firstly if the pax made a genuine attempt to reach RGN to start the trip but was denied boarding on the flight to RGN, due to visa issues etc. Then it might be regarded as an IRROPS situation by the onward carrier, with a greater likelihood of being allowed to board segment 2 ex-BKK but still by no means automatic..

However If the pax simply rocks up in BKK and tries to board Segment #2, since the demise of paper tickets then the chances of boarding are near zero. In this case, any refund eligibility would be in accordance with the individual ticket, specifically the no show fees

BigE

I was in the RGN lounge with gaugeguy and seanthepilot yesterday. I flew in on Air Asia with a visa from the BKK embassy but simply asked the airline staff to help me transit (without actually use a visa) based on what someone else posted here earlier. I didn't have to pay anything. This is differently from applying online for a transit visa, where you go through immigration and pay your $20. The problem with this transit visa approach is that you lose an open page in your passport. You also end up landside, unless you specifically ask a staff member to help keep you airside.

The transit approach I used (and seanthepilot also used) has some problems too. I had to wait a bit for an Air Asia staff member to come help me. She took me into the terminal, dumped me in the transfer lounge, then walked away with my passport. The English level here wasn't good, so nobody could say anything helpful beyond "please wait". She said that someone from the ANA stuff would bring it back. I thought she meant a few minutes. Taking my passport made me nervous. I was even more nervous when nobody showed up with my passport after an hour. I realized that she might have meant "wait here 6 hours until the ANA check-in opens." It was also awkward because ANA was preparing to use that room for a ceremony inaugurating the first RGN-NRT flight. The room was decorated in blue and gold and various seats had name tags like "Medical Officer, Quarantine" (this person was relegated to the 4th row). A dozen Japanese suits were pacing around, cracking jokes and strategizing. Anyway, I finally just walked myself to the lounge and asked them to sort it out. They let me wait in the lounge instead and they found my passport. I held on to that until the check-in counters opened. I don't know why my passport needed to go to the check-in counter, but I guess it's a formality (and if you had bags, they would then check those in for you).

By the way, before you get to immigration there is a sign saying "TRANSIT-->" pointing up some stairs. The problem is that it just takes you to a locked door, so you have to turn around and go back. Maybe this route will be functional later.

The flight left with a lot of open seats, which somewhat eased my guilt over paying almost nothing. I took the inaugural leak, following a brief private ceremony in the lav. The flight attendants were very attentive. As seanthepilot said, the recliner seats were decent and the food was good. I slept well.

I tried changing my tickets at the concierge desk in the ANA lounge in NRT (I wouldn't normally be let in on arrival, but the ANA counter outside was not yet open). It didn't go well. She insisted that the U.S. flights had to be on Delta. I don't know whether I would have been allowed to change to other Delta flights, because I didn't try. I didn't get a warm feeling.

cardesigner2000

That is exactly my concern, but up thread it was mentioned that adding a stopover before taking the first leg is difficult (impossible?) without a refare, hence the only chance to add a stopover is at NRT. Worst case we'll just miss our onward flight...

SK AAR

You should contact the ANA ticket office in the dep. hall. The NH staff was very helpful to me in July. Changed dates for my return flights on KE without problems. At first they wanted to reprice but after speaking on the phone, it was OK.

Round 1 ticket, NH ticket stock. Change AFTER first segment.

BigE

I was told that at the embassy that you couldn't have two visas at the same time for two future trips. But sometimes they just reject any request that they find unfamiliar. When applying for the second visa, would they actually check your passport for an existing open visa, then cancel it out?

I have a similar situation (nearly back-to-back trips) and my solution is to apply for one visa, then merely transit the first trip (not actually using the visa, except to get on the plane).

SK AAR

The ANA arrival lounge is in the arrivals hall AFTER immigration, customs etc, so no use for transit pax.

danger

My understanding is the visa is a fairly rigid piece of paper/card that is firmly affixed to the passport. It would therefore be hard to miss an existing visa in the same passport. There's a fair chance they'd then puruse it.

That said, very recent reports here suggest your idea of applying for one visa but merely transit on the first trip may well work.

I will have three entries; the first two, however, will have a layover of about six hours and from all reports Yangon airport is no Changi so I can't see myself sitting on a plastic chair awaiting my flight for all that time. For these two cases, my plan is to use a single 'full and proper' visa to get me on the inbound plane but try to get a transit visa (USD20, I think, but the process seems to not be widely understood) at the airport. If that fails on either attempt I'll have to use the visa up and pay the money to get another one.