progol

I’m hoping to get return tickets from Osaka to NYC shortly but not sure which ticket to get. I’m using frequent flyer miles.

From Osaka, there is a domestic flight to Tokyo, with some flights stopping in Haneda and others stopping in Narita. Since this will be a domestic flight to an international flight, which airport would be better to transit through, Narita or Haneda? Is 2 hours a good amount of time between flights?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

mrwunrfl

Both flights are on the same ticket and airline alliance? Maybe JAL/AA or ANA/United. or both legs on JAL or on AA?

The main reason ANA/JAL has flights from OSA to NRT is for international connections (I believe this has to be true). Travelers to Tokyo would take the shinansen or use HND. There are few (fewer) ANA/JAL domestic connections at NRT. A domestic traveler from OSA would have nonstops to choose from or would probably connect at HND.

First, look again for nonstops. United just added some KIX flights (maybe it was SFO and EWR). I suppose you have done that. I might choose to make the connection insteaad of nonstop depending on aircraft type. If the long haul is on JAL then you might see the nonstop KIX-NYC on a 787 but NRT-NYC on a 77W. The latter is one of the few routes that has their best business class seating.

I connected at HND last month SFO-> HND-> CTS (Sapporo) using separate ticktes. Arrive 2:50, depart 5:40, so almost 3 hours and I had lots of time waiting at the gate for the second flight. This was despite the fact that I was clueless about how to make the connection. I got on the terminal shuttle and had to ask an American where to go for a JAL flight. Am smh just thinking about it again. I was quite confused when I got to terminal, the signs not very good. But check-in was quick and security only took a few minutes.

On my flight home, nonstop to LAX, I arrived at NRT at aournd 4:45 PM, with boarding starting at 5:10. Had to pick up a bag at takkyubin and check it in, get bp, passport check and security, and made it to the gate at about 5:15. There were United flights departing to Houston and Newark before my flight, and if I had arrived at NRT an hour or more earlier I would have had to wait in line with those pax as well as everyone else on my flight. There was nobody in line when I got to check in and was alarmed but the agent was calm which gave me hope.I relaxed at the gate for at least 10 minutes before I got in line.

Going the other way three years ago, I made the connection at NRT to ITM in about an hour. It was same terminal.

progol

mrwunrfl, thank you for your detailed response! I’m still a little unclear how much applies to the flight I’m considering but it certainly gives me a picture of what the flight situation is.

I have United so am looking at flights on ANA/United. There are a few flights from ITM to HND to EWR, with 2 flights starting at 2 or 3pm, going to HND with a 2 or 3 hour layover, then a nonstop flight from HND to EWR on United Polaris. From what you’ve said, this sounds very doable. So the big question - is the 2 hour layover time at HND enough time or should I choose the flight with a 3 hour layover.

OR should I take the ITM to NRT to EWR? This leaves at 2pm from ITM, has a 2 hour 10min layover in NRT and is also a nonstop flight to EWR on United Polaris.

progol

Or, to put it simply, which one of the 3:

1) ANA/United: ITM>HND>EWR, dep ITM @ 3pm, 2 hr 10 min layover at HND, then nonstop flight to EWR in United Polaris

2) ANA/United: ITM>HND>EWR, dep ITM @ 2pm, 3hr 10 min layover at HND, then nonstop flight to EWR in United Polaris (same international flight as above )

3) ANA/United: ITM>NRT>EWR, dep ITM @ 2pm, 2 hr 10 min layover at NRT, then nonstop flight to EWR in United Polaris

lcuy

The flights are all Polaris with a layover in Tokyo at nearly the same times, so my choice would be to go through Narita. Not only do they have a United lounge (and possibly a Polaris lounge), but because I like the food and shopping options at Narita. So price or arrival time at EWR (might that hour difference put you into rush hour traffic or higher surge pricing from EWR?) would help make my decision. Or choose the Tokyo-EWR flight with the best seats available.

mjs

The United club in Narita was closed as of last week. There is no Polaris club at Narita. Perhaps United Polaris uses the ANA suite lounge? There is no Polaris Lounge at Haneda either. I actually like the food options at Haneda much more than at Narita and its not close if you are looking for Japanese food. Both airports have several restaurants still closed. I do not shop at airports so have no opinion on this matter. Did try to find some Yamasaki 18 whiskey at both airports within the last several weeks and was unsuccessful. I think a two hour layover is quite possible at either airport but if you want to give yourself little margin of safety take the 3 hours. I should also note that both airports have pretty good websites. If you really want to decide on which flights you may need to find what model plane is on each possible route. ANA I believe flys 787-9's or 77W. May want to check on Flyertalk where I am sure there are people who fly regularly to Japan on United or ANA and know all the different planes.

mjs

I just realized you are flying Polaris back to the US so its just United so forget what I said about ANA.

mrwunrfl

I would choose the connection at NRT. Any of the three will do. Both UA flights are on 772.

Check the search results. You will probably see that the HND connection involves a terminal change. The details for the NRT connection very well might not include the terminal change warning. That would be a decisive difference to me.

I flew to Tokyo on a United award at the end of Oct. (the 772 Polaris fkight was good). I had originally booked it for LAX->HND, but Japan was slow to reopen and that flight was cancelled and I was put on LAX->NRT. I changed that to LAX->SFO->HND because I wanted to make a Japan domestic connection. My point being that if they were to cancel one of those EWR flights it wpuld probably be the one from HND. That would be my bet, anyway.

The lack of connections at NRT from the UA flight to a domestic flight on ANA and JAL is what made me change to HND (I was not willing to use Jetstar at NRT). Only option might have been to ITM. Turned out that I would have been better off flying to NRT and then ground transfer to HND instead of connecting in SFO.

progol

Thanks, all! I'm very reassured and am about to reserve the tickets! I'll definitely do the the ones going through Narita - it makes much more sense for our flights.

progol

Thanks, everyone! Return ticket "purchased" with miles! Yay!

mrwunrfl

Yay! Enjoy your trip!

UA canceling that flight opened up some options. I got an email and the message online said I should call about the change from HND to NRT. I did call and asked the agent if I could move the trip to two days earlier. He said he would check for award availability for that date. I knew there were none available for the 70K miles I paid for the ticket, but there was availability for more mileage. He moved me to the new date with no additional mileage charge. I guess they are in same fare bucket or something. The agent asked if I needed anything else and I said yes. I had NRT-> LAX on a differnt one-way ticket, so I just asked if he could move that to two days later. He was able to make that change with no additional cost - he didn't have to do that.

Then I decided a few days later that I really wanted to go to HND. I called that and told the agent what I wanted and that agent said I had already made the change that was available due to the flight cancellation. It would cost me miles to make that change. I said no thanks and called again and explained to the new agent about the change that i had to make due to the cancel but I that I really wanted to go to HND. I was pleasant me seeking help. The agent made the change and there was maybe some extra airpoirt fee for SFO, but that was it.

So, I was impressed with United. I was impressed with the United service onboard and at the gates. <--- this is a sentence that I never thought that I would be able to honestly write, given my experiences with United over the last 40 years, Heck, I just wrote :"impressed with United" in two consecutive sentences.

progol

<<So, I was impressed with United. I was impressed with the United service onboard and at the gates. <--- this is a sentence that I never thought that I would be able to honestly write, given my experiences with United over the last 40 years, Heck, I just wrote :"impressed with United" in two consecutive sentences.>>

Great story, mrwunrfl! And sometimes, there are good surprises!

ms_go

In 1.5 or so million miles with United, there's been good and bad, mostly okay. But I'm not sure anything made more of an impression than when we and about 40 other passengers missed a connection at Narita to Bangkok due to a mechanical. I was settling in for a big challenge. The United staff at Narita was steps ahead of us. They had rebooked everyone on Thai and ANA flights later from Haneda. Our new itineraries and documents, as well as forms for entering Japan (which wouldn't have otherwise been necessary), were organized on tables in the gate area. There were instructions to collect our bags and then meet at a particular time and place. Then, we were escorted out to two buses that took us to Haneda. Not ideal, but really well executed - probably one of the best service experiences I've had on any airline. Between that and another couple of issues on other trips, I've been impressed with United's staff in Japan.

And progol, yay! Happy planning!

progol

Wow, what a great story! It’s not the kind of service one expects from airlines these days, that’s for sure! They we’re truly going above and beyond.