Connection at NRT - Did I allow enough time??
 

I have already booked flights for my son and I am now worried that I may not have allowed enough time for the connection at NRT He flies from Seoul ICN to NRT on a Saturday arriving at 12:10 pm on an Asiana flight. The next flight is a Korean Air flight the departs for LAX at 2:55pm. It is all Terminal 1 and he won't have any checked luggage, just a backpack. Did I make a mistake????

Are they booked as one ticket or are they ticketed separately? If one ticket, not a problem. If separate tickets, it may be a problem if his Asiana flight is late. I'm pretty sure that if he is on separate tickets he will need to clear immigration/security upon arrival and then again after checking in, as the check in counters are before security.

I did it on separate tickets because when I tried to book it together on Expedia it was giving me higher prices than doing it separately. For some reason I didn't think about customs coming back from Korea...duh.

Your son's situation is not so serious, Mary2Go.

As mentioned by KimJapan, he will have to exit out and clear customs, security, passport control etc. and then re-enter for check-in.

However, you have left practically a 3-hour connection time which is generally a very good cushion (provided the incoming flight arrives on or close to schedule).

I myself did this same manoeuvre twice at Narita this past summer, with only a 2-hour cushion and yet I succeeded.

Your son should do fine, but have him make it snappy just in case.

Are you both sure, KimJapan and easywalker?? I don't recall NRT T1 specifically, but most every international airport I can think of outside North America has a transit desk where arriving international passengers can get boarding passes for onward international flights. If this is the case at NRT T1, Mary2Go's son would need to re-clear security, but would not need to go through immigration and customs.

I'm not sure...but when in Narita airport I've seen the transfers marked walkways, but thought that you had to go out if you weren't yet checked in for a flight...no, I'm not sure, but I thought so. I'll check and post back.

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guid...ter/index.html has all the answers. He will have to clear security, but not immigration. I should have just looked it up in the first place. Sorry about the misinformation.

Thank you all so much! As usual my Fodor friends come through with the best info! I am so not ready for this trip! I usually spend lots of time going over all the details but we have been shorthanded at work all week so I have been working overtime. Can one of you please go pack for me and make sure I don't have any contraband in my carryon!? Mr 2Go and I are stopping off in Hawaii for 3 days on both ends of the trip, so I need a Hawaii bag to leave at the hotel and a Japan bag. 19 yr old son who has never travelled alone and is very disorganized will meet us in Japan then stay alone for an additional week, then fly on to Korea to see his brother. He will be fine but I am still getting nervous about the details! Thanks again for squelching one of my worries!