I've only been in the ANA lounge at HND one time (prior to a UA flight) and it was pretty nice. It was fairly crowded, but we did get seats in a relatively quiet spot at the back and were comfortable. I remember having a curry that was really good. Other food and drinks were decent--definitely better than you'll get on your actual flight. In our case we didn't need to pay, but I would be okay pulling the trigger on $50 if I had a longer connection.

PS You might want to check if there's a time limit on the lounge pass since you'll have a fairly long stay.

If I was concerned about the clientele and could choose a lounge at an airport in Japan, then it would be ANA or JAL because they would have a higher proportion of Japanese customers.

But you are not eligible to buy an ANA lounge pass.

Eligibility:
ANA-operated international flights departing from Narita/Haneda/Honolulu Airport

• Limited to NH flight numbers.
• Excludes codeshare flights with other airlines

You are on a United-operated flight
Your ticket was issued by United (ticket number starts with 016)
Even if it was issued by ANA it would be a code share (NH7544)

Paid Lounge Access | Additional Services | Book | Plan and Book | ANA

thanks for this iteresting news, ok that removes any need to mull over the purchasing of day passes....not a big deal...used to travel BA for business and spent lots of time in lounges in the UK and other EU countries, some good, some bad........we will find a food court in HND and hunker down.

Or keep monitoring the price to upgrade to Polaris on your United flight, which would give you automatic access to the ANA lounge.

Either you fly business class, or someday your kids will...

A decent meal in the airport itself would be a better experience than paying for lounge access.

As well as regular shopping and food, there's a recreated Edo-period street of shops and restaurants (Edo Koji), an observation deck, and a Japan Airlines Museum. These are on the upper floors, outside security.

I meant buy the ticket from ANA. You're saying that United will sell you that ANA flight?

Did you buy that ticket? It was $70 economy or $342 for premium/first class at the ANA website.

Buy from ANA and you would have a chance of getting an upgrade for 10000 JPY one or two days before, or 11000 on the day. That would be worth it if it was available (which it likely won't be but there would be hope).

That $70 ticket is almost a throwaway price. For $129 it can be refundable (to some extent)
2 checked and one carryon are free

That time that you were searched/ Were you taking a domestic or international departure. Or was it an international arrival? Where?

At Haneda Airport T3, on the landside, besides the Edo Koji on the 4th floor mentioned by Someotherguy earlier, there is a connecting passageway to the Haneda Airport Garden (hotel, shops, and restaurants). If you love good eel rice, there is a branch of the Yondaime Kikugawa eel rice (うなぎ四代目菊川), hailed from Nagoya, in that garden wing.
https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1315/A131504/13280605/

The Sheraton is in the background in this photo of the train/bus station you would use..
ファイル:KINTETSU Uehommachi.JPG - Wikipedia

You could taxi from hotel to Osaka Station 6 min $19 to $24 or 11 min $30-40 to Shin Osaka

By rail, the trip would be:
Kintetsu train to Kintetsu-Namba station, maybe stand 2 min
transfer to Osaka Metro
metro to Osaka station, maybe stand 13 min
transfer to JR Osaka for JR Special Rapid to Shin Osaka (reserved seats available in advance on this train)
Transfer at JR Shin Osaka by going to/through the gate for the shinkansen to Shinagawa
Transfer from JR Shinagawa shinkansen to the Keikyu Lmited Express to the airport
Trip time about 3.5 hrs

I would want an hour padding because I remember getting lost when making that same transfer at Shin Osaka.
I also remember last year when the plan was, after spending the night at an airport hotel, to take the Keikyu train from Haneda to Shinagawa where I was to transfer to a JR line to Tokyo to get the Yamagata shinkansen. But I boarded the wrong train at Haneda. I wasn't the only one. I got off after a couple of stops and talked to a couple from Singapore (or HK) who made the same mistake. That station was one that gets skipped by the limited express. We figured out what the arrival time would be for the next train to Shinagawa. We boarded a train but were not certain it was bound for Shinagawa. At one point they announced the next stop and the stop after. That was when we knew we were on the way to Shinagawa. And then the transfer at Shinagawa was not that easy.

mrwunrfl, I’ve learned the hard way the complexity of major Japanese metro stations and the distances and multiple levels that can involve. Especially so during rush hour where everyone except me knows where they are going lol.

Metro stations at train stations are probably the ones you are thinking of....everyone seems to think it's easier to stay at a hotel near those, but the reality is that even if you are block away from the entrance you can still be a few blocks away from your platform.

tough decision - but train travel seems like lots of transfers and a bit of a headache
overall seems like air is the better deal - plus 1 way tix are $80 pp
air travel is cheaper - we get free trans to ITM from the tour and as you mentioned before you can forward your luggage straight thru to USA.
i guess if we take air - get to ITM 90 minutes before flight - land at T2 - no customs i assume - take shuttle/airport train to T3 - go thru T3 security and thats it? am i missing anything?

You must have been traveling with Paul McCartney.

That is about right. You still didn't answer my question about buying that ANA ticket from United. If you can do that then have United link the ticket to your EWR ticket. That is, make sure that you can check bags from ITM through to EWR.

Correct, no immigration or customs at ITM. The security check for that domestic flight should be pretty easy.

The Hankyu bus is in the Kintetsu station building. Here is the bus schedule:
Kintetsu Uehommachi Sta. | Osaka (Itami) Airport Route | Timetable/Fare | Airport Limousine Bus | Hankyu Kanko Bus
For a 1PM departure I would take the 11AM bus arriving 35 or 40 minutes later.
My luggage would travel with me. I wheel my bag to the bus, driver loads/unloads it, then wheel it to check-in expecting to check it through to EWR.
Arriving at ITM at 11:40 I would be checked in and through security by 12:15 with plenty time to find my gate for 1PM departure
Flight arrives HND at 2:10PM. Get the terminal shuttle at 2:40 and be at T3 with just a carryon by 3PM and head to the security line.
That is 4 hours with padding.

You can, of course, send luggage from your Osaka hotel to Haneda Airport. Send a couple days in advance. I would just need to use my rollaboard carryon for those last couple of days. A couple could combine their stuff into one bag, send the other big bag containing used clothes to the airport. Or send both

who knows...we may have hit a bunch of new hires cause they all looked really young.....i also remember another japan trip prior to 9/11 and they met our car/cab outside the terminal and wrapped all suitcases in plastic wrap .....not sure if they still do that....i guess it was at Narita.

thanks again for all the great info/tips!

interestingly when booking ANA flight one way from ITM to HND via the United call center - they informed me the flights are free, they changed it to 3 one way flights and everything stayed the same as our orignal round trip regarding confirmation numbers and seats selected.
i couldn't get an satisfactory explanation why it was free except the agent said because we were premium economy but who knows....i don't dig deep when things are no charge.

Great! I think it means you could have bought it from United as an open-jaw ticket EWR-HND, ITM-HND-EWR instead of roundtrip EWR-HND-EWR

Oh, your PE fare allowed the change.

Hopefully you got an email that said your reservations are confirmed and ticketed. Might be same confirmation number but different ticket number of your original roundtrip.

You could (should/I would/maybe you already have) go to United dot com and choose My Trips- Current. Take a look at the trip. It should show as Ticketed. The reservations should show as Confirmed. Check the flight dates and times for the (now) three flight segments.

You can select seats for the United flights. For the ANA flight you should see the ANA confirmation code somewhere on that United webpage. ANA calls it a Reservation Number.

Go to ana dot co dot jp and click on My Booking. The search default is by Reservation Number but you can choose to search by e-Ticket Numer

Enter the ANA code and your name.
If your name is DAVID SCOTT JOHNSON then it looks like you would use DAVIDSCOTT as your first (given) name). Or try DAVID if that doesn't work.

You could also try the search by e-Ticket Number

Once you find your ANA reservation it should say Ticketed and you can select your seats.

Your ANA res code might also be in your United email. You could call United to get it, if necessary.

Or you can just skip all this verifying and just trust that United got it right.

Only question left would be: are you eligible for a paid upgrade. I would ask United now and then ANA at check-in.
Or just ask United (now) if you could make it Premium/First Class on ANA. Definitely worth 10000 JPY ($68).

yes got the email and-when i went into 'my united' i saw the ANA flight and was able to pick seats from there, all looks good and confirmed - all 3 flights are under the same confirmation number that i originally had for the round trip.....but the ANA flight also has a separate ANA confirmation number

for upgrade to polaris - 30k miles & $450 per long haul segment just to get on the waitlist.....we aren't high enough status and there are multiple people already on the list (i had united check for me) so we will just be happy with premium economy.