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[edit] Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT)
- Tokyo/Narita is the largest international airport in Japan. It is located some distance away from the city of Tokyo.
- Tokyo/Haneda is the older airport for Tokyo and is inside the metro Tokyo area. Haneda airport primarily has domestic flights.
- Japanese Star Alliance partner All Nippon Airways (NH) uses Tokyo/Narita as both a domestic hub airport and an international hub airport.
- Japanese OneWorld partner Japan Airlines (JAL) uses Tokyo/Narita as both a domestic hub airport and an international hub airport.
[edit] Key Information
United Airlines' map of Tokyo/Narita Airport.
[edit] Check-in
All Nippon AIrways (NH), Continental Airlines (CO), Singapore Airlines (SQ), United Airlines (UA), and most other Star Alliance carriers have passenger check-in at Terminal 1 at Tokyo/Narita Airport.
[edit] Connections
While passengers connecting between international flights do not need to go through Customs or Immigration procedures, they do need to pass through Japanese airport security screening after disembarking the arrival flight and before entering the departure concourse for their outbound flights. Connecting passengers should allow for this process in figuring out their layover times when transiting NRT.
[edit] Flights
Most ANA flights operate out of Gates 51 through 58.
Most other Star Alliance flights, and a few ANA flights, operate from Gates 31 through 47. (Please note that Continental Airlines has moved to these gates as of late November 2009.) This makes inter-line transfers within the Star Alliance group simpler and easier.
[edit] Lounges
Many airlines have lounges at Tokyo/Narita.
[edit] UA Red Carpet Club
There is a large Red Carpet Club lounge at Tokyo/Narita airport in Terminal 1, Satellite 3, near Gate 31. This is also a Star Alliance Gold lounge.
Departing flights are not usually announced in the club.
In May 2009, no-cost wireless Internet service (using IEEE 802.11 B/G "WiFi") was available in the Red Carpet Club, although the RCC staff did not seem to have any information about this. It is not clear if this is an official UA offering, a NRT Airport offering, or a commercial service.
A small range of snacks are available. Fresh lager is available on draft. Liquor, along with a range of soft drinks, is also available at no cost since all UA flights to/from Narita are international.
There are ordinary bathrooms towards the front of the club, and also separate Shower Rooms located separately towards the rear of the club. One needs to have a boarding pass in hand to gain access to a Shower Room.
International First Class Lounge is upstairs from, and is accessed via, the Red Carpet Club.
[edit] ANA Lounges
All Nippon Airways has Star Alliance Gold lounges located in Terminal 1, Satellite 4 & 5.
ANA expects patrons of their lounge to be quiet and well-behaved; loud conversations and mobile phone calls are discouraged. Of course ,the ANA lounges offer a more Japanese set of snacks and beverages than the UA Red Carpet Club. This can be either good or bad depending upon one's taste in food and beverages.
[edit] Silver Kris Lounge
This has been closed. Singapore Airlines has made arrangements for qualified passengers to use the ANA lounges instead. A Star Alliance Gold passenger might also consider using the UA Red Carpet Club.
[edit] Access to airport
[edit] Railway Service
There are at least two different types of train serving Tokyo/Narita Airport.
[edit] Narita Express
As Narita Airport is quite a long drive from Tokyo over congested roads, most visitors travel by the Narita Express railway service. Japan Railways is divided into separate East and West operating companies. JR East operates the Narita Express (NEX) railway service. This connects not only to Tokyo, but also to Chiba, Yokohama, and various suburban Tokyo stations.
- Aboard, the NEX train, First Class is provided in labelled Green Cars".
- Other NEX train cars provide ordinary Economy service.
[edit] Other Trains
There is also lower-cost (and much slower) local JR East train service to/from Tokyo/NaritaAirport. When booking or catching a train, it is important to understand whether one is on a Narita Express (NEX) train or an ordinary JR East train.
[edit] Automobile or Bus
TBD
[edit] Other
US Military personnel might want to check in advance with the US base that they are trying to reach for specific instructions. Some military bases in central Japan have regular/scheduled private transport arrangements in place to/from Narita Airport for US military personnel who are travelling.
