Japan Ticket Collection
 

Could somebody please offer advice with the following

I have received pricing for a 20 segment DONE4 ex NRT.

My problem is that the agent will not courier tickets to my Australian address.

I have received advice from QF that I may be denied boarding at SYD or be refused entry in NRT on my arrival there by immigration.

I am travelling on a One Way ticket SYD-NRT and I need to prove that I will be departing Japan and I have been told a receipt for the paper ticket or a letter from the agent may not be enough proof.

Has anyone had experience with a similar scenario or does anyone know of an agent in Japan that will courier the tickets to a Australia.

Thanks in advance

Although I have not heard of that happening and would seriously doubt being refused if you could show documentation that your ticket is waiting on the other side of immigration, you could also re-do your reservation so that there are fewer than 16 segments (counting open jaws) so that the RTW could be issued as an e-ticket, paid for in advance (assuming you're able to arrange this with QF - it's not a problem with AA) - thus allowing you to show the actual e-ticket printout (with ticket no.) if asked. Later, you'd pay the re-issue fee to have the "missing" segments reinstated.

Japan is pretty sticky about admission (visas were required until recently), and most countries require showing proof of onward travel and only accept a ticket number -- not just reservations. So it really is necessary to issue the tickets prior to travel commencing. The e-ticket route is the obvious solution, and can always be arranged, as Gardyloo described. I think the alternative accepted by Japan is a letter of credit from your bank for some huge amount (USD 50,000) -- then they don't worry that you'll be a financial burden to Japan.

The e-ticket is the obvious answer, although it shocks me that e-documents are accepted for almost any purpose - anyone with a computer can print himself up the most wonderful "e-ticket". It won't fool the computer at check-in, but no one else will know the difference.

It probably won't assuage OP's fears, but I don't recall ever being asked by NRT immigration for any kind of onward travel documention. Just my faulty memory? At SYD check-in, if the agent cares, s/he will probably be satisfied by pulling up the OP's ex-NRT booking and seeing that it's ticketed.

Reading these postings I started to worry about flying in to NRT in June to pick up my own DONE4 paper ticket that AA said they would have waiting at the airport. AA Japan, in making the airport pickup arrangements, did not raise the question about what to show the immigration officials upon arrival. Then I remembered that my flight to Japan is an intermediate part of another RTW ticket that has a Japan departure on it later. So no apparent problem for me. But does the fact that AA Japan didn’t raise the issue suggest that they don’t see the problem that QF does?

This is what I would be doing - knocking up an e-ticket receipt (using the real actual paper-ticket number) and presenting this. As mentioned, the QF check-in droid at SYD will be able to see that the itin is ticketted, and the NRT immigration droids won't be any the wiser.

Why won't your TA courier you the tickets? You are paying them for the service, remember, and they need to provide it. (I used to work as a retail travel consultant, and know what should be happening here). Make them work for the money you are paying them.

Dave

Been considering the NRT option for a while due to the uncertainties surrounding CMB.

Am aware of the need to present proof of onward travel.

My xONEx would be paper - don't see how i can get it down to 16. I'd have to get to NRT on an award ticket from MEL. It costs the same getting one way vs getting return AA All Partners award. Is it possible to book dummy return segments or will the AA computer detect double bookings (since the return portion of the award will obviously coincide with part of the xONEx) and cancel everything including the xONEx flights?

Alternatively, could i simply print out a copy of my xONEx itinerary from AA.com and get some form of validation letter with tix number from AA to prove that the itinerary is indeed ticketed and ready to be picked up at NRT (ie just a few feet away from the immigration hall...)?

Then again I inexplicably lost my eticket receipt on my flight to the US in Dec and was panicking over what to show the immigration officer at ORD. I entered fortress USA without the need to show proof of onward travel as the officer simply asked when I was leaving and to write down my return flight details on some questionnaire, and allowed me through!!

Another option is to book a separate ticket Japan to Seoul/Hong Kong - either cheap or refundable according to what works for you.

I visit Japan 3 - 4 times every year and never been asked to show my air ticket. If you hold an Australian passport, you should be OK.

They do not routinely check, however on the rare occasions when it is checked, the consequences are severe: refused admission (so the airline bringing you gets to take you back) and ineligible for admission to Japan for several years. Targetting is partly random, and partly profiled. If you are targeted, all your papers must be in order, and close doesn't count. Any forged documents, such as invalid ticket numbers, will be detected and you probably won't ever be going to Japan again. The US and most countries have similar procedures, it isn't unique to Japan. As mentioned, any ticket out of Japan solves the problem (even tickets to countries where you would not be admitted, ironically enough).

Hmm - just a thought; would the printed itinerary from AA.com with the real ticket number attached to it work?

Otherwise can someone confirm whether my xONEx will be safe from AA computer cancellation if i do the dummy award return segments?

It never occurred to me that I would need proof of onward travel for Japan. I've been through NRT several times this year, including one-ways from HKG and Europe. I had no problem whatsoever at immigration and was never asked for such proof. In one case I was there to pick up an AONE4 issued by AA. I'm not even sure I had the right documentation printed. Something to bear in mind for next time.

Providing a valid ticket number by any means works fine.

AA does have special software for detecting duplicate bookings, so if you had an award and OWE booking for the same name and flight/date, then it would be detected and one of them would be canceled by the software (in theory it would prevent booking the 2nd one at time of booking). But within the past couple of weeks AA seems to have changed this software to be more lenient in allowing duplicates. Still booking an award that you don't intend to use does deprive someone else of an award seat. Often canceled awards are not returned to award inventory.

That's what I'd do then.
I'm assuming QF check in at MEL will somehow be able to verify that I've actually got a ticket with that number alone?

Yes. That is routine. Ticket number works with any airline (PNR only works with the same system).

If you put the PNR into www.checkmytrip.com the ticket number will be a the bottom of the page. (or www.viewtrip.com or www.virtuallythere.com) For examble a QF ticket is aways 081-xxxxxxx

That number sometimes does not appear on checkmytrip when using paper tickets.

Hi All

Many thanks for the input so far. I am still trying to have an agent in Japan contact me re E-ticket possibilities. Does anyone have a reliable contact in Japan or can someone send me an email address for AA in Japan.

Am I right in assuming that any OW partner can reissue/reroute this E-Ticket and can this be done worldwide. Is this the fixed $125USD per transaction rule?

I'm going to have to collect a ticket through NRT now (either there or TPE...) now that CX has suspended CMB operations. I am wondering what time the AA ticketing desk at the airport closes.

The CX flight from TPE arrives at about 1715 I think, and we would be leaving on the CX flight to HKG the next morning. I am just wondering if we could get the tickets on arrival, or if we would have to head to the airport extra early, and get the tickets issued by AA before CX will let us check in our luggage.

On one entry out of 8 to NRT during last 12 months I've been asked to show my return ticket. And that was when I entered Japan second time that week. And of course that was the only time I didn't have my ticket with me. I was heading for a holiday and all I had was a printed itinerary from expedia web page. Not sure if it had ticket number in it, but they didn't ask anything else. Of course that's no guarantee for any other occasion.

The Expedia final confirmation does include ticket number (it is updated from the preliminary confirmation, which does not -- so you have to wait a few hours after booking to get the ticket number at Expedia).

*Gentle nudge*
Am wondering the same. Anyone? :)

Tried calling AA NRT twice during the advertised office hours but the office was closed on both days. :td:

If in the last day or two then this is "Golden Week" in Japan - the country is more or less closed. Should be back to normal next week.

Ah - cheers. :)
I was beginning to think that the number was outdated. :o

It probably has the same hours as the rest of AA's ops at NRT - it's just one of the kiosk lines. The NRT ticketing desk at NRT is not the same as the call center listed on aa.com.

I would go for this option and make a dummy return booking 3 months from now or however long your entry stamp would be valid without visa. In no way AA would double-check it with your RTW booking.

And even if they would, on what reason would they be able to cancel the booking? If you are in, let's say, Germany two months from now according to your RTW, what could possibly hold you back from buying a (for example) SQ ticket to NRT, use your return portion of the award ticket, and fly back to Germany on SQ or whatever other airline. I have done such things and never had any problem at all.

Actually - I realised that a one way oneworld award there was 10 000 miles cheaper than an All Partners.

I'll issue my (paper ticket) RTW prior to departing MEL and have the itinerary with ticket number to show Japan's consulate for my visitor's visa, QF check in at MEL and passport control at NRT. Unfortunately there's no way immigration officials won't demand to see proof of onward travel as I'm on a Malaysian passport (and have been asked for proof 2 out of 2 times into KIX and NRT respectively).

The dummy return would be more secure though. Might call the consulate at some stage and see what they say.

We'll I've booked out tickets to NRT, via TPE as it is less than $180 a person more to fly via TPE with CX than to fly direct with JL! We will arrive on CX450, and leave on CX451 the next day. This should give us plenty of time to get to the AA ticket desk to collect our tickets. We have booked a cheap room at the Narita Raddison for the night.

Our tickets our of Japan are for November. We will have the ticket number I assume for our DONE4, as I will get it from AA in Japan when I pay for the ticket over the phone by Amex. The last 4 times I entered Japan (1xNRT, 1time KIX and twice via FUK) I've not been asked to show proof of outward ticket, as and Australian passport holder. Hope they don't want anymore than the booking confirmation an ticket number, rather than the actual ticket when we get there this time!