NH LAX-HND-TSA in Y
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
NH LAX-HND-TSA in Y
As an UA 1P, I've mainly avoided NH like the plague due to NH's stinginess in regards to awarding miles. However, as with my past few trips to Taipei, UA was priced too high for me to even truly consider going with them. Unfortunately, *A's network to TPE from the States is pretty dire so it was either UA or NH. At the end of the day, I decided that saving actual money was more important than having the 100% RDM bonus.
7 December 2010
All Nippon Airways 1005
Los Angeles International 00:06
Tokyo International (Haneda) 04:40 +1
11h 34m
Boeing 777-200ER
JA715A
Prior to boarding at LAX
After my PDX - LAX flight on UA, I walked from T8 to TBIT. It was actually a shorter and more pleasant walk than I anticipated. However, I was already dreading my arrival at TBIT. My last impressions of it, from 2006, were less than favourable.
LAX T8 hallway
Great looking wet paint sign
Airline connections sign located curbside, arrivals level TBIT
I braced myself for the worst, walked into TBIT and found that it wasn't as terrible as I remembered it. After a quick visit to the men's room, I proceeded to check in for my NH flights through the C line for check in. Overall, there weren't very many people checking in at this time, which was around 9:45pm. Check in was quick and painless and I was issued my BPs, along a printed flyer showing directions to the *A lounge. I hadn't heard great things about the selection of food in the lounge, so I wandered a bit landside, took some pictures and then had myself something to eat from Pink's Hot Dogs.
NH check in was in aisle A, along with CI & PR
TBIT, landside
Unfortunately, LAX was not equipped with elite/priority security lines, so security took quite awhile due to the multiple longhauls heading out for various Asian and Australian destinations. After security, I headed up to the *A lounge, which I found to be nicer than your run of the mill RCC. In terms of the food and drink on offer, I found it to be on par with AC's MLLs. Unlike MLLs, it featured free wifi for all, which was nice as I had an important document to email prior to leaving the continent.
Having had dinner already, I settled on some chips, fruit and a couple glasses of whiskey ginger ales. I was surprised that there was even any hot food on offer, which I recall being some sort of basic pasta dish, although it was taken away soon after I arrived in the lounge.
Sour cream and cheddar chips, along with a whiskey ginger ale
Assorted fruit and a piece of Gouda cheese
After killing time on my laptop, I headed down to our gate, which was the the far northern end of TBIT. I was told at check in that it was a bus gate and was advised to head out of the lounge early in order to make it down there.
I still find the lack of airside dining options at TBIT to be a bit appalling
Gate area overview. This looked like a temporary shed
Boarding was done quite efficiently, although the lines were quite long. Of course, after boarding we found ourselves waiting on a bus and then we were given a tour of the tarmac at LAX. After about ten minutes or so, we were dropped off at a separate gate structure and then made our way onboard.
*G boarding line
Inside the satellite gate. This was the first time I'd been bussed to a separate structure as opposed to boarding by stairs after a bus. A bit odd.
After reading horror stories about the legroom on NH, I went ahead and nabbed an exit row aisle seat. I ended up having seatmates, which was unfortunate, although the gentleman wasn't weird and didn't have poor body odour, so I guess it was fine. The load in Y looked healthy, meaning that it was quite full but there were still some empty seats scattered about. However, the load in the premium economy section looked meager and to be honest, I wasn't really impressed by how that section looked.
We pushed back a few minutes early, taxiied all the way to one of the runways south of the airport and headed off into the night. Half an hour later, the FAs came around and handed out sandwiches and a bottle of water. They also performed a full beverage service, so I asked for a beer. As expected, the sandwich was completely terrible. It was some dry chicken breast with cheese and some attempt to make it "Mexican" with some corn and beans. Blech.
Terrible sandwich, worse than the absolute worst I've had in Y on CX from TPE - HKG
787 themed bottled water
Kirin beer
View from my exit row aisle seat
In terms of the flight, I spent it mainly sleeping having had a busy two weeks at work and school prior to this trip. Funny enough, as someone who wears glasses, one of my biggest annoyances at being in an exit row seat was the lack of a seatback pocket for me to put my glasses in while sleeping. Therefore, the table was needed for me to set my glasses down and I ended up knocking them off the table at least once, if not more. I can't recall if the IFE was AVOD or not but regardless, the only thing I watched was a show highlighting some of the best Japanese players to have ever played in the J-League. Besides that, I messed around with some Berlitz language game and worked on my basic Dutch, along with seeing how much Danish I retained from studying it for two years at university.
The only other eventful thing to happen was that I was eventually woken up by the sound of a heavy thud, which turned out to be a Japanese gentleman in his twenties falling over in the aisle between the galley and my seat. I woke up to find him being propped up by a FA, who then laid him down in the exit row area and tended to him. He didn't pass out or anything but seemed to be dazed. Some other FAs came by with a first aid kit, another offered him some water and eventually his female companion came and sat with him. I couldn't figure out what happened but eventually his female companion walked with him back to their seats.
About an hour and half prior to landing at HND, the FAs started the main meal service, which was a lot better than the sandwich. They came around with the cart and had a laminated menu in English for those of us who didn't speak Japanese. I can't recall what the Western option was but since I was on NH, I selected the Japanese meal, which was teriyaki chicken over rice, cold soba noodles, burdock root salad, miso soup and a fruit cup. Very good stuff and much better than what I usually get on UA when flying TPAC or TATL.
Meal overview
Teriyaki chicken close up. Big chunks of chicken
Burdock root
Soba noodles and fruit cup
7 December 2010
All Nippon Airways 1005
Los Angeles International 00:06
Tokyo International (Haneda) 04:40 +1
11h 34m
Boeing 777-200ER
JA715A
Prior to boarding at LAX
After my PDX - LAX flight on UA, I walked from T8 to TBIT. It was actually a shorter and more pleasant walk than I anticipated. However, I was already dreading my arrival at TBIT. My last impressions of it, from 2006, were less than favourable.
LAX T8 hallway
Great looking wet paint sign
Airline connections sign located curbside, arrivals level TBIT
I braced myself for the worst, walked into TBIT and found that it wasn't as terrible as I remembered it. After a quick visit to the men's room, I proceeded to check in for my NH flights through the C line for check in. Overall, there weren't very many people checking in at this time, which was around 9:45pm. Check in was quick and painless and I was issued my BPs, along a printed flyer showing directions to the *A lounge. I hadn't heard great things about the selection of food in the lounge, so I wandered a bit landside, took some pictures and then had myself something to eat from Pink's Hot Dogs.
NH check in was in aisle A, along with CI & PR
TBIT, landside
Unfortunately, LAX was not equipped with elite/priority security lines, so security took quite awhile due to the multiple longhauls heading out for various Asian and Australian destinations. After security, I headed up to the *A lounge, which I found to be nicer than your run of the mill RCC. In terms of the food and drink on offer, I found it to be on par with AC's MLLs. Unlike MLLs, it featured free wifi for all, which was nice as I had an important document to email prior to leaving the continent.
Having had dinner already, I settled on some chips, fruit and a couple glasses of whiskey ginger ales. I was surprised that there was even any hot food on offer, which I recall being some sort of basic pasta dish, although it was taken away soon after I arrived in the lounge.
Sour cream and cheddar chips, along with a whiskey ginger ale
Assorted fruit and a piece of Gouda cheese
After killing time on my laptop, I headed down to our gate, which was the the far northern end of TBIT. I was told at check in that it was a bus gate and was advised to head out of the lounge early in order to make it down there.
I still find the lack of airside dining options at TBIT to be a bit appalling
Gate area overview. This looked like a temporary shed
Boarding was done quite efficiently, although the lines were quite long. Of course, after boarding we found ourselves waiting on a bus and then we were given a tour of the tarmac at LAX. After about ten minutes or so, we were dropped off at a separate gate structure and then made our way onboard.
*G boarding line
Inside the satellite gate. This was the first time I'd been bussed to a separate structure as opposed to boarding by stairs after a bus. A bit odd.
After reading horror stories about the legroom on NH, I went ahead and nabbed an exit row aisle seat. I ended up having seatmates, which was unfortunate, although the gentleman wasn't weird and didn't have poor body odour, so I guess it was fine. The load in Y looked healthy, meaning that it was quite full but there were still some empty seats scattered about. However, the load in the premium economy section looked meager and to be honest, I wasn't really impressed by how that section looked.
We pushed back a few minutes early, taxiied all the way to one of the runways south of the airport and headed off into the night. Half an hour later, the FAs came around and handed out sandwiches and a bottle of water. They also performed a full beverage service, so I asked for a beer. As expected, the sandwich was completely terrible. It was some dry chicken breast with cheese and some attempt to make it "Mexican" with some corn and beans. Blech.
Terrible sandwich, worse than the absolute worst I've had in Y on CX from TPE - HKG
787 themed bottled water
Kirin beer
View from my exit row aisle seat
In terms of the flight, I spent it mainly sleeping having had a busy two weeks at work and school prior to this trip. Funny enough, as someone who wears glasses, one of my biggest annoyances at being in an exit row seat was the lack of a seatback pocket for me to put my glasses in while sleeping. Therefore, the table was needed for me to set my glasses down and I ended up knocking them off the table at least once, if not more. I can't recall if the IFE was AVOD or not but regardless, the only thing I watched was a show highlighting some of the best Japanese players to have ever played in the J-League. Besides that, I messed around with some Berlitz language game and worked on my basic Dutch, along with seeing how much Danish I retained from studying it for two years at university.
The only other eventful thing to happen was that I was eventually woken up by the sound of a heavy thud, which turned out to be a Japanese gentleman in his twenties falling over in the aisle between the galley and my seat. I woke up to find him being propped up by a FA, who then laid him down in the exit row area and tended to him. He didn't pass out or anything but seemed to be dazed. Some other FAs came by with a first aid kit, another offered him some water and eventually his female companion came and sat with him. I couldn't figure out what happened but eventually his female companion walked with him back to their seats.
About an hour and half prior to landing at HND, the FAs started the main meal service, which was a lot better than the sandwich. They came around with the cart and had a laminated menu in English for those of us who didn't speak Japanese. I can't recall what the Western option was but since I was on NH, I selected the Japanese meal, which was teriyaki chicken over rice, cold soba noodles, burdock root salad, miso soup and a fruit cup. Very good stuff and much better than what I usually get on UA when flying TPAC or TATL.
Meal overview
Teriyaki chicken close up. Big chunks of chicken
Burdock root
Soba noodles and fruit cup
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
We ended up arriving quite early into HND, which was still pitch black. I believe that doors were already open at 4:50am, even though our scheduled arrival time was 5:15am. I soon found myself inside the brand new international terminal at Haneda, which was very quiet at that time of the morning. Since I had a long layover, I headed through immigration and customs and into Japan itself for the first time in twenty years. While I didn't get harassed about why I was only going to be in Japan for a few hours, both the immigration and customs official looked at my passport and arrivals form longer than usual. In part, this was probably due to me not filling out an address for Japan and after explaining what I wanted to do, the immigration officer told me to write "Haneda transfer". In regards to customs, they asked me what I had planned to do in Japan, asked for my onward BP and asked me if I had any luggage.
Even after all that, I was in the arrivals hall ten minutes before our flight was even scheduled to arrive.
Deplaning. NH was really strict about letting C passengers off first and would keep the curtains closed until they were all off the plane.
Quiet early morning HND.
Even after all that, I was in the arrivals hall ten minutes before our flight was even scheduled to arrive.
Deplaning. NH was really strict about letting C passengers off first and would keep the curtains closed until they were all off the plane.
Quiet early morning HND.
#3
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HKG, BOS
Programs: CX SL, AB Gold, AF/KL FB Silver, HU/HX Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,596
#4
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,731
Probably not that bad. I had the ham and cheese sandwidth recently and it tasted fine, but just it just looks cheap.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
The ham & cheese one is fine but the cheese just tastes so... chemical and artificial. I've had some other bad ones before. It's just that CX really should be above serving sandwiches TPE-HKG when BR still serves a full meal. Anyway, I did say that the sandwich on NH was worse.
Last edited by kevincrumbs; Dec 31, 2010 at 6:15 am Reason: Grammar error
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,335
Excellent TR!! I'm glad you had a great flight and pleasant for your stays in Taiwan. Hope your flight will very successful for your returns back to USA.
#8
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,731
The ham & cheese one is fine but the cheese just tastes so... chemical and artificial. I've had some other bad ones before. It's just that CX really should be above serving sandwiches TPE-HKG when BR still serves a full meal. Anyway, I did say that the sandwich on NH was worse.
Sorry for taking the thread off-topic from your LAX-TSA trip report.
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
Thanks!
Thanks! Speaking of which, I'll finish this TR up when I'm over the Pacific as I do the reverse of this itinerary later today.
Hey, no worries at all. I actually flew KA from HKG - TPE two weeks ago and enjoyed the real meal that they had instead of CX's sandwich. Then again, the condition of the plane was really poor compared to CX. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
Hey, no worries at all. I actually flew KA from HKG - TPE two weeks ago and enjoyed the real meal that they had instead of CX's sandwich. Then again, the condition of the plane was really poor compared to CX. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
As I alluded to earlier, I decided to leave HND during my layover as I had more than four hours between my flights. Prior to my trip, I had consulted with the Japan forum here on FT and they suggested that I go to the famous Tsukiji fish market in order to watch the live tuna auctions. To be fair, there's really not a lot going on in Tokyo so early in the morning, so it was either Tsukiji or just wandering the random streets of Tokyo.
HND is well connected with Tokyo by way of both the Keikyu rail line and the Tokyo Monorail. After exiting immigration and customs, I headed to the ATM for some Yen and then to the ticketing machines for my ticket to the end of the Monorail line, Hamamatsucho, where I would then transit to the Oedo Line at Daimon in order to head to Tsukijishijo station. The ticketing machines were easy to use and soon after, I found myself on the platform waiting for a train to head into Tokyo.
Monorail information. I think the 5:17 is the first one of the morning.
Ticketing machines and various fare maps.
Platform at the International Terminal station
Monorail
The Monorail was pretty quiet at this time of the morning. Unfortunately, due to the darkness there was not much of the city visible as we made our way to Hamamatsucho. Still, it was exciting to know that I was heading into a city that I had not been to in twenty years or so. I disembarked at the terminus and followed the signs to Daimon station, where it turns out I just missed a train and would end up waiting around fifteen minutes for the next one. Oops.
Onboard the monorail.
Oedo Line platform, Daimon station
Free wifi provided in the stations. It gave basic info like an area map, a timetable, weather, etc.
After the wait, a train arrived and took me the two stops I needed to get to Tsukijishijo. I was beyond excited at this point to be visiting the fish market, only to encounter a sign immediately in front of the fare gates that the market was closed for the day. Argh! Since I didn't have any other options besides heading back to HND and holing up the lounge, I decided to exit and at least walk around. Unfortunately, the weather was miserable with it being dark, windy and rainy. However, I remembered that the market was surrounded by other businesses, which importantly for me included sushi restaurants. I wandered a bit and eventually made my way into a restaurant for a sushi breakfast.
Onboard the Oedo Line
Part of the Outer Market of Tsukiji
Namiyoke Inari Shrine
Quiet alleyway
Nigiri sushi combo. The black thing in the lower left corner was still moving as I ate it.
Seared horsemeat
Despite some difficulties with language at the restaurant, Tsukijisushisen, I managed to order and consume my meal with no real problems. Afterwards, it was straight back to Tsukijishijo station for my return trip to the airport. The Monorail was much more crowded this time and to my surprise, most people remained on the train when I got off at the international terminal, meaning that they were all headed for the domestic terminals at HND. It was nice to at least get a view on the way back to HND and this included the famous Rainbow Bridge that spans part of Tokyo Bay.
HND is well connected with Tokyo by way of both the Keikyu rail line and the Tokyo Monorail. After exiting immigration and customs, I headed to the ATM for some Yen and then to the ticketing machines for my ticket to the end of the Monorail line, Hamamatsucho, where I would then transit to the Oedo Line at Daimon in order to head to Tsukijishijo station. The ticketing machines were easy to use and soon after, I found myself on the platform waiting for a train to head into Tokyo.
Monorail information. I think the 5:17 is the first one of the morning.
Ticketing machines and various fare maps.
Platform at the International Terminal station
Monorail
The Monorail was pretty quiet at this time of the morning. Unfortunately, due to the darkness there was not much of the city visible as we made our way to Hamamatsucho. Still, it was exciting to know that I was heading into a city that I had not been to in twenty years or so. I disembarked at the terminus and followed the signs to Daimon station, where it turns out I just missed a train and would end up waiting around fifteen minutes for the next one. Oops.
Onboard the monorail.
Oedo Line platform, Daimon station
Free wifi provided in the stations. It gave basic info like an area map, a timetable, weather, etc.
After the wait, a train arrived and took me the two stops I needed to get to Tsukijishijo. I was beyond excited at this point to be visiting the fish market, only to encounter a sign immediately in front of the fare gates that the market was closed for the day. Argh! Since I didn't have any other options besides heading back to HND and holing up the lounge, I decided to exit and at least walk around. Unfortunately, the weather was miserable with it being dark, windy and rainy. However, I remembered that the market was surrounded by other businesses, which importantly for me included sushi restaurants. I wandered a bit and eventually made my way into a restaurant for a sushi breakfast.
Onboard the Oedo Line
Part of the Outer Market of Tsukiji
Namiyoke Inari Shrine
Quiet alleyway
Nigiri sushi combo. The black thing in the lower left corner was still moving as I ate it.
Seared horsemeat
Despite some difficulties with language at the restaurant, Tsukijisushisen, I managed to order and consume my meal with no real problems. Afterwards, it was straight back to Tsukijishijo station for my return trip to the airport. The Monorail was much more crowded this time and to my surprise, most people remained on the train when I got off at the international terminal, meaning that they were all headed for the domestic terminals at HND. It was nice to at least get a view on the way back to HND and this included the famous Rainbow Bridge that spans part of Tokyo Bay.
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,335
Wow!!! Very interesting another TR. You ate at breakfast time? Why they didn't have a real breakfast with eggs, sausage, cheese and etc. I surely hope your entire trip is doing just fine. Don't you worry about Japanese foods? Do they have hash browns?
#13
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HKG, BOS
Programs: CX SL, AB Gold, AF/KL FB Silver, HU/HX Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,596
The ham & cheese one is fine but the cheese just tastes so... chemical and artificial. I've had some other bad ones before. It's just that CX really should be above serving sandwiches TPE-HKG when BR still serves a full meal. Anyway, I did say that the sandwich on NH was worse.
(sorry for being a bit off topic )
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
Thanks for reading!
Yes, I do feel that CX has gone a bit far with their cost-cutting on catering when both CI and BR offer hot full meals (for CI, they serve full hot meals even for non-meal times - not sure about BR). But really, is a full meal really that necessary for a flight that's just a bit longer than one hour? I would rather see a reduction in fares for all carriers by downgrading the meals - but certainly not removing them completely.
As to whether it's necessary or not, if I have a flight from TPE to HKG departing at 09:00, that means I leave the GF's apartment in Tianmu at 07:00 and probably skip breakfast due to the early hour. Now, at TPE I can try to grab something real quick by the time we get check in, go through immigration and security. However, if I don't have time to do this (not a lot in T1 for food if I don't want to walk to T2), it's possible that I don't eat until noon when I finally get to wherever it is in HK I'm trying to get to. So, it's not necessary as I won't die if I don't eat for five hours but it is certainly very nice to provide food, especially if your airline still aspires to be considered world class.
No worries about going off topic.
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: Free agent!
Posts: 1,427
Upon exiting the monorail station at HND's international terminal, we were greeted by a magnificent view of Mount Fuji. The picture below does it no justice as it was truly stunning, especially since the weather had finally turned nice and sunny by this point.
Mount Fuji from HND's International Terminal
I decided to walk around a bit in order to take pictures prior to going through security and immigration, seeing as I already had my BP for the flight to TSA. The new terminal is certainly very nice but having visited a lot of the newer airports in recent years (HKG, ICN, etc), I wasn't blown away or anything.
If you look closely enough, you can sort of make out the area for security checks towards the left & centre of the photo.
Looking towards the southeast, I believe.
To be honest, the terminal seems a bit smaller than I had imagined and part of me wonders exactly how many flights they plan to have to HND from international destinations. Part of this observation was from the very, very long lines at the one central security area set up. Granted, there were a few sets of lines there but it was unfortunate that they didn't build the terminal with a security area at each of the terminal, like they have it at HKG. I'm sure that the reason they don't is because of the cost savings of having one central security area but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
To add to this, by the time I made it to the front of the line, my BP set off something whereby the security people had me stand to the side while they went to inquire as to why my BP was no good. I started getting paranoid and wondered if they had flagged me when I was entering Japan. Would I soon be strip searched? Denied boarding? Spend the rest of the year in a Japanese prison? After standing to the side and waiting around ten minutes, a security officer motioned to me to follow him to NH's counters. When we got there, it seems like it took a group of three ground staff to scan my ticket, type in a bunch of stuff, talk to each other and then talk to the security guy. After all was said and done, all I got was a "Your BP should be fine now, sir". Thankfully, I was escorted to the crew security line and got through quickly after that. Immigration was much less painful and I finally found myself airside at HND.
Main airside corridor at HND's international terminal.
Quadlingual FIDS. Japanese and English first, followed by Simplified Chinese and Korean.
Moving walkways.
After wandering a bit, I head up to the ANA Lounge in order to grab some snacks and try to check my email. The NH lounge was nice, as I expected it to be. They're my favourite lounges, having experienced their lounges at NRT in the past year. I was surprised that the lounge was so busy at the ones at NRT certainly weren't, but I know that this was due to the time of day and the fact that there's only one NH lounge at HND's international terminal. Since I had sushi earlier, I skipped the hot noodles this time and mainly grabbed some snacks.
Lounge entrance
Inside the lounge. Tons of people but there were still seats for all.
A pint of Kirin before 9am. Why not?
Food overview. Those chocolates were fantastic and if anyone knows where I can buy them online, I'd be eternally grateful!
View of the tarmac & HND's T1 from the lounge.
After, well, lounging around a bit, I headed out of the lounge and to our plane. Waited around a bit and then boarding was done in an orderly fashion. In a few hours, I'd finally get to fly into TSA and... see my GF. Uh, not in that order of importance, of course.
Mount Fuji from HND's International Terminal
I decided to walk around a bit in order to take pictures prior to going through security and immigration, seeing as I already had my BP for the flight to TSA. The new terminal is certainly very nice but having visited a lot of the newer airports in recent years (HKG, ICN, etc), I wasn't blown away or anything.
If you look closely enough, you can sort of make out the area for security checks towards the left & centre of the photo.
Looking towards the southeast, I believe.
To be honest, the terminal seems a bit smaller than I had imagined and part of me wonders exactly how many flights they plan to have to HND from international destinations. Part of this observation was from the very, very long lines at the one central security area set up. Granted, there were a few sets of lines there but it was unfortunate that they didn't build the terminal with a security area at each of the terminal, like they have it at HKG. I'm sure that the reason they don't is because of the cost savings of having one central security area but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
To add to this, by the time I made it to the front of the line, my BP set off something whereby the security people had me stand to the side while they went to inquire as to why my BP was no good. I started getting paranoid and wondered if they had flagged me when I was entering Japan. Would I soon be strip searched? Denied boarding? Spend the rest of the year in a Japanese prison? After standing to the side and waiting around ten minutes, a security officer motioned to me to follow him to NH's counters. When we got there, it seems like it took a group of three ground staff to scan my ticket, type in a bunch of stuff, talk to each other and then talk to the security guy. After all was said and done, all I got was a "Your BP should be fine now, sir". Thankfully, I was escorted to the crew security line and got through quickly after that. Immigration was much less painful and I finally found myself airside at HND.
Main airside corridor at HND's international terminal.
Quadlingual FIDS. Japanese and English first, followed by Simplified Chinese and Korean.
Moving walkways.
After wandering a bit, I head up to the ANA Lounge in order to grab some snacks and try to check my email. The NH lounge was nice, as I expected it to be. They're my favourite lounges, having experienced their lounges at NRT in the past year. I was surprised that the lounge was so busy at the ones at NRT certainly weren't, but I know that this was due to the time of day and the fact that there's only one NH lounge at HND's international terminal. Since I had sushi earlier, I skipped the hot noodles this time and mainly grabbed some snacks.
Lounge entrance
Inside the lounge. Tons of people but there were still seats for all.
A pint of Kirin before 9am. Why not?
Food overview. Those chocolates were fantastic and if anyone knows where I can buy them online, I'd be eternally grateful!
View of the tarmac & HND's T1 from the lounge.
After, well, lounging around a bit, I headed out of the lounge and to our plane. Waited around a bit and then boarding was done in an orderly fashion. In a few hours, I'd finally get to fly into TSA and... see my GF. Uh, not in that order of importance, of course.