Travel has changed. Travel to Japan has changed. And if you don’t do the following, it may get you into a little trouble.
This is something I learned after a family member was stranded at Haneda Airport.
Since travel was allowed into Japan back in late November, there are rules of how a QR Code is needed for Immigration, Customs and Health.
For this family member, they weren’t told, and all they were told from an airline in another country was visit Japan Web to know of procedures of visiting Japan.
For me, I always have to do my research but for a lot of people who think travel is the same as it was pre-pandemic, no, you need those three QR codes.
When the family member arrived to Narita Airport and had 4.5 hours to get to Haneda Airport for her flight, she thought it was enough time.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of people who didn’t know about the three QR codes and thus the line was so long that she had to fill out papers (which you can do if you don’t have your QR codes ready) but by the time she was done, five hours had passed.
By the the time she took the airbus to Haneda airport, her connecting flight was missed. To make matters worse, with the flight situation that has affected people worldwide, not enough flights and instead of going home on a Saturday, there was a chance that she was not going to leave until Monday or Tuesday.
I was fortunate that when I got the call, I was able to call the airline to discuss my family member’s situation and their health issues, and the airline was able to get them in the one seat available and she was able to get home on Sunday.
So, she was stranded for a day but the lesson is that people should due their diligence and research what is needed and not expect flights to be the same as it was pre-pandemic.
Visit JapanWeb and sign up for your three QR codes, have the printed version ready and have screen captures ready on your phone. This will help expedite things much better. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck in the airport for a long time.
