New Check-In Concept At Narita Airport

Above, Singapore Airlines Business Class check-in desks at Narita Airport. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Narita International Airport (serving Tokyo) is finally moving into the 21st Century.

The airport finally has what we, in U.S. airports, have taken for granted for years.

Japan Today reported:

TOKYO —Star Alliance has successfully completed the rollout of a new check-in concept in the south wing at Tokyo - Narita Terminal 1, offering customers a wider choice of check-in options and giving them more control over this part of the travel process, thereby creating time savings. 

The layout of the check-in area was changed and travellers can now find the check-in desks allocated by airline rather than class of travel, as was previously the case in Narita. This revised layout goes hand in hand with the installation of new self-service check-in machines which, in addition to issuing boarding passes, also print baggage tags. This makes Star Alliance the first airline alliance to offer international travellers from Japan the option of self-printing and self-tagging.

U.S. airports have had self-service check-in machines for years. Even the tiny airport at Waikoloa, Hawaii has them.

I am somewhat puzzled about the check-in desks at Narita. I have never seen them organized by class of travel, they have always (to me) been arranged by airline. Yes, there were separate lines for each class of seating (most airport arrange desks this way), but the desks were by airline. Unless, the airport made a change and it lasted only weeks before being changed back.

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