TOKYO HANEDA AIRPORT review : 6 November 2008 : by Joe Bailey

Customer Rating : 2/5

Haneda is a tale of two terminals. All the main stuff is great, but I flew to Gimpo from here and the terminal we used was a shed. I like Haneda location, and went to the main terminals and they were great, but then had to go the shed. I hope it was temporary (a bit like Dublin's shed).

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Olivier Ragu

24 January 2008   Customer Rating :

As a heavy user of this airport, I find it clean and very well organized. Convenient facilities, easy and fast access. (15 min train for monorail from central Tokyo). You can arrive 15 min before your flight at security checks and still make it, thanks to seamless check in procedure. With SkipIt for ANA, IC for JAL, you can even avoid check-in machines or manned counters. Fast security lanes, and friendly staff. Boarding very well organized either for JAL or ANA , the main carriers. Shopping and Restaurant extensive landside, but after security, not so many choices - but you normally stay long in the waiting rooms! You still have restaurants, cafeterias or have a drink at a vending machine at an affordable price, to be compared to LHR, CDG, or other airports. Baggage claim very fast and they check your baggage tag so no stress about someone else picking your luggage. All in all, for an airport with more than 40 million passengers coming through, it is more than satisfactory.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Yevheniy Kahanovych

12 November 2007   Customer Rating :

I used Haneda couple times for domestic travel to and from Sapporo. The terminal buildings are bright and nice, but somewhat confusingly laid out. Nothing is easy to find and navigation through the buildings is a sort of exercising your mind. Signposting is not clear. Security procedures are not explained in English. Check-in machines work only in japanese, so I couldn't use them and went to check in desk. Desks are specialised by directions and it is not explained where to check in for which city. After you are checked in for the flight, you have to go to another desk to check in your bag. Another queue, but like everything there moving fast. Staff speak very limited English, so listen carefully and don't shy to ask again if you need to be at the right place. Security control is not efficient, but is well staffed (overstaffed I would say), so there are lots of available desks on duty. Boarding is a funny procedure when they form two queues (priority and normal), that are of equal length, but boarding begins simultaneously for both line and looks like entering subway station during peak hours. They board 747 within 6-8 minutes. Food facilities are plentiful landside, but spreaded chaotically throughout the terminals. Airside there is almost nowhere to eat. Deplaining in Japan is like evacuation exercise. You're off the plane with your bag in the train to the city probaly within 15 minutes. Bus services to the city and Narita are very convenient, but are not easy to find, and everything stops around 930 pm.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Matthew Lubeck

19 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Fly to Haneda every other week and have mixed feelings. Both terminals feel like architectural relics of the 80s bubble era but the airport does operate efficiently. Only in Japan do they successfully and calmly board fully booked 747s beginning a mere 15 minutes before departure. I can usually go from plane to city-bound train in under 10 minutes. Wish they had non-stop train service to Shinagawa and Shinjuku to make travel time better from airport. Also, shopping is located sporadically throughout the terminal - some near ground transport, some by check-in, and a few inside the security area - its impossible to shop systematically in the terminals. All in all, an efficient domestic terminal but nothing to marvel at.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by K Armstrong

9 January 2007

First time out of here and quite impressed with Haneda. Good transport from Tokyo, huge, airy check-in halls for both terminals and loads of restaurants. Security was very quick but then it was quite a walk to the gate (my only gripe). I think Haneda is even better than Narita.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Jon Brenda

13 March 2006

Since the second terminal opened a year or so ago virtually all the complaints against Haneda have vanished. It sorely needed a lot of new space and it got it! Also the design of the new terminal makes it very comfortable. There is also wonderful non-stop service to Seoul Gimpo Airport, and if you happen to be flying between the two, this routing is absolutely a must. You could save 5 hours this way. Sadly that is the only international flight from this, by far the more convenient of the airports in Tokyo. With the natural forces favouring Haneda though, I wonder if it isn't just a matter of a couple of years before it needs more space again, and I don't know if there will be any more available.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by V Shawell

15 August 2005

Being one of the biggest airports in the world, HND impressed me with its amazing efficiency, arriving there within 10 minutes from downtown Tokyo (well ok, downtown would be relative there ;), Shinagawa, in fact) by subway, and being able to go through security after having checked in after only another 15 minutes from having left the train! Could not be better. Everything so spacious!, although being a wide- body hub. Role model for all airports I know so far. Indeed sad that not open for intl. flights!

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Takaya Ikezawa

29 May 2005

A new terminal (T2) opened in this February dedicated to ANA and ADO, a budget airline but code- share with ANA. It has a quite impressive shopping area before the security check as well as the existing T1 (currently used for JAL group) does. You can spend a half day there. You can see huge check-in hall with plenty of ticket vending and self-check-in machines and efficient staff around to assist you, but few "manned" counters, and be aware that you may need wait in lines if you have to check-in or purchase your tickets over counter. For Star Alliance Gold members, priority check-in "manned" counter as well as priority self-check-in machine and fast-track security check are available. It is quite pity that walking between two terminals is quite long since parking structures and highways are in between. You can catch shuttle busses between the terminals but you have to be careful when you need to change airlines. After you proceed to boarding area, you must not expect variety of shops, cafes and restaurants as HND T1 or other Japanese airports, yet it has been improved a bit.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Juan Ruiz

20 December 2004

I flew earlier this year from Itami to Haneda and was quite impressed. Collecting my baggage was very quick and soon I was outside. The shopping area just next to the terminals was what really shocked me as that feels like a real shopping centre in an airport. Only problem was, of course, trying to communicate in English with airport staff, but that is a Japanese thing and not a HND airport problem. Comparing NRT to HND makes me think I would prefer HND was the airport where all intl arrivals come.

Tokyo Haneda Airport review by Mike Frank

16 April 2004

Most impressive. As a Brit using this airport on my annual visit to Japan, I perhaps see Haneda from a non-Japanese perspective , and I'm impressed. Huge high-ceiling check-in hall divided between JAL & ANA which plenty of helpful staff on hand. Arrived on a Monday morning at 0630 with standby tickets and luggage hoping to still make a 0720 flight. Would you like the 0655 instead sir ? No problem ! Try that at, for example, LHR T1 ! Handling the boarding of 500 + passengers onto a domestic configured 747 or 777-300 is a model of efficiency and easily done. Speedy luggage retrieval on arrival here, with my bag marked fragile given personally to me. Loads of shops and eateries on levels 4 & 5, love the roof-top " Birds eye " aircraft (and Tokyo harbour) viewing, weather permitting. So many other nice service touches as well, like the flight display boards showing if a flight is full and the expected weather at arrival airport. Good ground links as well, express coaches operating frequently to important areas in and around Tokyo. All in all - a very nice airport.