Kansai Connection

Hello there,

I�fm flying JAL and have to connect to a domestic flight at KIX. My time for the connection is 2 hours and 45 minutes. I land at 6:30pm on a Thursday. Will this be enough time?

I�fve never flown in or out of KIX, only NRT and was wondering about customs and immigration. I know I have to get my bags and recheck into the domestic area. I�fve heard there�fs a special line for connections?

Any help or tips would be great.

I have never made a connection at KIX but I was always quick through immigration and luggage recovery.
Unless there are some delays in your incoming flight there should be no problem.

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you! I think I�fm just being paranoid. Close to three hours should be fine. I�fve just never done a domestic flight in Japan.

Domestic flights in Japan are much more relaxed than in many other countries and you can generally arrive there later than e.g. in EU. Also security checks are not that rigid (you can bring drinks!) and at the security gate they are normally well organized asking (often in Japanese only) "is here still someone for the 8;40 Sapporo flight?" and if yes, they pass you through a quicker gate.

Also most Japanese fly very light, so getting on and off airplanes is so much faster than in EU or US. In EU I mostly get stuck in the gangway... in Japan that never happened to me. It is always straight walk to my seat on the plane.

Thank you! I'm just so used to traveling in the US and it being kind of a nightmare.

To be fair, even in the USA 3 hours is a pretty generous connection time. Last July I had a 3 hour connection between my ANA flight from Japan to LAX and my Alaska Airlines flight from LAX to Vegas. I admit, it was nerve wracking when my flight from Japan was delayed 1 hour so I ended up with only a 2 hour transfer, but I still made my connection with a good 20 minutes before boarding started and I had to literally get my suitcases and walk between the International Terminal and Terminal 6. I personally found the longest waits were for my suitcases to get off the plane and then going through Border Patrol which just had crazy long lines.

KIX seems good at doing transfers. I use to fly into it a lot and most of the people on my flight would continue onto Okinawa.

The other answers have you pretty well covered, but I thought I'd add this for your additional piece of mind: Japanese immigration and customs tends to move quite quickly compared to the mess that is entering the US. I wouldn't worry at all, you should have plenty of time.

Thanks everyone. My mind is put at ease. Can�ft wait for my trip!