travel

U.S. airlines squeezed as Haneda goes international

23 Comments

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This article fails to mention it isn't just flights on US carriers, it's flights to the US, period. My flight on JAL was transferred to Haneda, from Narita. I thought, OK, no problem. Until I saw the take off time: 12:05 am. WTF??? Thus, I had to change my car rental, meeting times, etc... I'm not the only one. Anyone else out there been bumped by JackassAirLines?

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JAL and ANA are too expensive, I usually fly UAL or Asina. Young female flight attendants do nothing for me. The middle age women give me better service. Anyway I live in Okinawa, would rather connect in a place other than Tokyo!

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Yuri, If you fly Asiana Air, they don't have middle age women but has one of the nicest looking young female flight attendants. You must've took Aeroflot?

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Guess I'll have to stick to Continental to Narita and mid-day arrivals. Departures and arrivals between 10PM and 7AM? No thanks!

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sfip330, ah them can fly business class for the cost of ana coach. The older women are on UAL. It is even cheaper but I like to fly business class.

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"Tokyo's status as an Asian travel hub"

I believe Seoul has the status as Asia's main hub.

"I like to fly business class"

Me too, but I can only fly business class when business class is not full, and the flight attendant is kind enough to tell me I can change from my economy class seat to one of the empty business class seats.

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Yuri, the US carriers have old ladies as crew. this is because of the unions and discrimination lawsuits. So if you have tenure, you get the big international hauls.

I fly about 50K - 100K a year, and I'd prefer the younger stewardess (even in business). They are actually polite, and don't snarl "chicken or beef". Don't care what they look like, hell the guys actually provide better service than the women. I just hate these old ones that feel they do not have to provide any customer service.

And Japan sucks ass for arrival times of US flights. I'd love to fly on ANA and get to Narita in time to catch a sooner flight to Okinawa, instead I am stuck on the Gajin Express.....Not fun. Plus Narita tower has a habit of ensuring the US carriers land at the furthest runway from the terminal, so another 20 minutes is chewed up getting there.

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The date for the opening of Haneda to new international flights is wrong. It isn't October 21st, BUT October 31st.

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The terminal opens Oct. 21 but flights start from Oct. 31 for most carriers. Delta plans to start Jan. 29, though they requested to now fly 30 days later than that date.

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Korean Air is the way to go.

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Overseas travel out of Tokyo was, is and always will be an outrageous ripoff.

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I think I will continue going via Korea, this sounds like too much hassle. Plus I always get a very warm welcome there for some reason and free hotels to stay at. For me, it is like having an extra vacation.

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I believe Seoul has the status as Asia's main hub.

I'm pretty sure it would be either Narita or Hong Kong.

And the train to Narita takes 36 minutes from Nippori with the new Keisei line, not 1 hour.

Late night slots to the US are GREAT - I don't know why anyone would complain. I can work a full day before taking a flight to the US if I ever need to go. Now I lose a full day by having to take one of those stupid mid day flights - there are no other options to the US from Narita.

I love these late flights!

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pestronika..... check again, its Seoul.

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pestronika..... check again, its Seoul.

Link? Because very few non Korean airlines hub through Seoul, AFAIK.

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Not everyone lives near Nippori. I and a few million others who live in SW Tokyo have never even thought about taking the Keisei-sen. Looking forward to the possibility of flights from Haneda as they will be quite convenient for me. Article states that 30,000 more flights will be added - wow. That is about 3.5 more flights per hour, 24 hrs/day, every day of the year. Great, if they can handle it smoothly.

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"pestronika..... check again, its Seoul."

Well if you define a hub is a place catering for international travel then based on international flights Narita and Hong Kong are higher than Seoul. Actually Seoul and Narita are very similar in numbers.

So why are you so sure Seoul is THE main hub of Asia???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_busiest_airports_by_traffic_movements

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How sad that fliers care more whether their flight attendant is a kawaii asian woman or an older lady. Who cares as long as the job is done.

Anyway, tried to book a flight to Haneda airport for this March but the landing times are crummy!!! Arrive at 11pm?? NO THANKS. By the time I get my butt out of the airport to a hotel...zzzz.

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Ok, from what I understand Narita was in the past the traditional hub to Asia from the Americas and Europe, but Seoul(Incheon) has come on strong in recent years, and Tokyo(Narita and Haneda)is trying keep it's hub status and increase transfers to China,etc. That's one of the reasons that Haneda was opened up to int'l flights. Who will prevail?

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And by the way those American airlines want those flights to Haneda not only for destination Japan but for future tranfers to the rest of Asia.

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Not everyone lives near Nippori.

Indeed, and not everyone lives in or near Tokyo. For me having to fly through it is a mystery and a pain.

How sad that fliers care more whether their flight attendant is a kawaii asian woman or an older lady. Who cares as long as the job is done.

Well to be honest, in my years of flying, it's always been the kawaii asian woman that's been nicer, hasn't bumped into me, hasn't spilled things on me and has done a better job. Or, in fact, has actually done their job period - not just giving me my food and then hanging around/hiding out chatting in the galley the whole flight cough cough NORTHWEST cough AMERICAN AIRLINES cough cough

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Wow - quit with the complaining people. For the first time, those of us living in Tokyo are actually going to have a choice which airport to fly from for some destinations. Why does this have to become a debate on the difficulty and cost of flying to/from Japan. If you live here, you frankly don't have much choice, do you? I think there are enough of us on this forum who have been living in Japan for a long time. We have all complained about Narita over the years (rightly so) but they HAVE improved it by leaps and bounds. All the airlines (not JUST the American Airlines) will be restricted to night flights for long haul - I believe that the furthest you can go during the day will be to Hong Kong. Singapore, for example for this purpose is designated as long haul and all flights will depart/arrive early morning/late evening. Incheon is considered a strong North East Asian hub, for the simple fact that Korean Air and Asiana have the luxury of operating out of a 24 hour airport, Narita will however remain a gateway from the US as long as Delta and United hold on to their fifth freedom rights here. However, I don't believe that either airport will ever really compete with Hong Kong or Singapore as a hub. @the sicilian. There is no prejudice against American carriers on runway arrival. Since the second runway extension opened at the end of March, if that is the runway being used for landings on the day and you are on a plane bound for Terminal 1, then it is going to be a long taxi...ANA are are in Terminal 1. Delays are DOWN at Narita now that they are using one runway for take off and one for landings. Until the last families will move out of the way and better access can be provided between the two terminals and runways this situation is not going to improve.

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To add to the Incheon / Narita / Haneda debate. This was in Yomiuri a while back.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T100822001711.htm

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