TLDR; Does anyone happen to know a way to get JR Narita Express train tickets at the Haneda Airport before 5am?
Fishing for ideas. This is extremely last minute, so no worries if this is an impossible ask. Also this is probably bad timing since it’s the middle of the night in Japan.
My wife is on her way to China and currently in the middle of a 12 hour layover in Tokyo. We assumed that would be plenty of time to take a bus or train from Haneda Airport to Narita Airport, but she finally got through customs at 11pm and buses/trains stop between 11pm – 5am. Her Narita flight leaves at 8:55am. She’ll try to take a 5:37am-7:18am train ride (transferring at Shinagawa). Uber will be the expensive backup plan if that falls through.
We already set up a SUICA card for her via Apple Wallet. She wasn’t able to get cash since everything’s closed at the airport. However, the JR Narita Express trains say “reserved seats” and it seems like tickets are required in some form. We have everything figured out except where to get these tickets. Ticket offices are all closed now until after her train already leaves. The ticket vending machines nearby are also closed, but she’ll walk around in a little bit to find if any others are operating. I had trouble finding ticket machines on the Haneda Airport map. So I guess I’m wondering about the following scenarios:
* Does Haneda Airport have ticket vending machines open 24/7? And can she use them to buy a Narita Express ticket using SUICA via Apple Wallet (since she has no cash)?
* Can she just get on the Narita Express using IC at the Shinagawa station without a ticket?
* She’ll be at Shinagawa station from 5:50am-6:05am. Is this enough time to buy a ticket there?
* Any other ideas?
2 comments
You just need a reserved seat ticket on NEX. The Suica card will only cover the basic fare https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/nex/tickets/. Once you transfer at Shinagawa there is a reserve ticket vending machine inside the gates here https://goo.gl/maps/KniVo1xvh2vbiX2C8
You can reserve train online [https://www.eki-net.com/en/jreast-train-reservation/top/Index](https://www.eki-net.com/en/jreast-train-reservation/top/Index)
You then need to get the paper ticket from a vending machine [https://www.eki-net.com/top/tr/guide/receive/](https://www.eki-net.com/top/tr/guide/receive/)
It might technically be possible to link the IC card to the ticket [https://www.eki-net.com/top/tr/guide/registration/](https://www.eki-net.com/top/tr/guide/registration/) but the instruction only talk about registering a physical card then linking it to the ticket.
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Edit : there should not be a machine to buy Narita Express ticket at Haneda because it is a JR train and there is not JR train going to Haneda (so it is no a JR Station).