Tokyo Haneda Airport

Arrived with EK from Dubai in Haneda earlier this month. Not a very "warm" airport but very clean and efficient as one could expect in Japan. Main advantage above Narita being its proximity to the city center. Landed at 24.00 so customs immigration and luggage handling were all handled in 10min time meaning I was in a chauffeur driven car driving away from the airport within 30min of the aircraft touching down.

Used the new international area in July. Arrived about 10.45pm and found most shops and restaurants were closing. Didn't try to see the upper floors. There was a pretty long check-in queue so that was where we spent our time before the security check. Many flights are scheduled throughout the night but little including transportation is available. There are a few convenience stores and one small cafeteria style restaurant. Large crowd though with very few to no open seats limited menu some items sold out. Pretty airport terminal for public use but strangely very limited after immigration to a few duty free shops that one small cafeteria and a couple of smallish conveniences stores. I heard the shops and restaurants are something to see but we usually focus on getting checked in and cleared into the gate area.

I had a connecting flight in Haneda. I arrived on a Japan Airlines flight from Beijing and had a connecting flight on Japan Airlines to San Francisco. I had a wheelchair from one gate to the other. Transit was smooth and the little airport rail system made the transition very easy. The Tokyo Souvenir Shop (duty-free) was excellent and had an excellent selection of typical Japanese items. The smoking room was just across from my departing gate which was a welcome finding. Overall I will be pleased to use it again.

Have used the new international terminal recently for departure. The airport operates international flights between 2300 to around 0600 (when Narita is closed). There are some flights to/from Taiwan Korea and China throughout the day as well. The terminal is modern clean and beautiful. Monorail and limousine buses offer good connectivity to the airport. However these transport modes are not available after late night. Last bus to airport is around 2200 and from airport is around 2230. So if you have a flight early morning you must reach airport by 2200 and wait or should use a taxi. One weird design flaw which is not expected in a place like Japan is the way you arrive by taxi or bus. You arrive at the terminal at ground level. However departure areas are on 3F. When a bus load of people arrive at a time you end up in a queue at the elevators. Escalators are useless as most of the international passengers will have luggage and will use trolleys. To add to this when I arrived one elevator out of 2 was closed to save electricity. Not sure how things work for arrivals. Check-in is speedy. 4F has very beautifully decorated shop and rest area. The area is designed like old Japanese town street with wooden facades and lanterns. Has a good variety of shops and eateries. Beware most will be closed after 2300 though. I guess as the passenger traffic will increase these facilities will start staying open in the night. 5F has a very good and big open viewing area. Enough benches to rest and vending machines if you need drinks. Good place if you want to do some airport/aircraft photography. Spend as much free time in these areas at 4F/5F as there are not many shops once you clear immigration. Got down to 3F again to clear immigration and security. Both were breeze. Staff was friendly and smiling (as anywhere in Japan). Not many shops at this side of the building but enough area to sit and wait for boarding. Overall a swanky good looking new terminal with an annoying design flaw.

I have used both the international and domestic terminal recently the international terminal is modern with a Japanese feel and has an interesting selection of shops nice outdoor plane viewing area a lot places to eat and even a planterium before immigration! But after immigration there is only duty free and some cafes so don't go in too early. Terminal 2 is equally modern with a good range of shops places to eat before the security check once inside there nothing much to do. In general staff are friendly and helpful queuing time is short terminal building and toilets clean terminal buildings small and compact. A good range of shops and eating places before immigration/security but airside the choice is limited.

The new Haneda international terminal is quiet clean and very modern. There are quite a number of restaurants and shops in the departure hall although be warned that they all close from midnight to around 6am! So if your flight is past midnight (like ours) do take note that you will probably have to sleep outside to wait for the check-in counters to open two hours before your flight (as we did). Other than that it was a modern place nice outdoor viewing gallery on the top floor. Immigration officials were quite friendly. Not many shops or attractions in the airside areas though. Access to the airport is also quite convenient via the Tokyo Monorail.

The new Haneda International termainal is a beautiful building but designed by people who do not have any experience in using airport. If you take a taxi to Haneda International you have to get your luggage to the 3rd floor departure lounge. Usually international travellers have suitcases. If you arrive in Haneda and someone is picking you up you get to the first floor. Now you find out where you get off is not where you get picked up. Of course to make it difficult there is not pedestrian crossing. One have lug the baggage up to the second floor and then go back down again. I wonder if the firm that design the building ever took an international flight.

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).

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.

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.