AvGeek Heaven: The Haneda Airport Observation Deck

I was in Tokyo a few months ago: I flew into Haneda on a Japan Airlines B777-300ER in Business Class (I just published my flight clip on that today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTputSFQN_g) and left from Narita. I prefer the Haneda airport as its much closer to the city center and the JAL lounge is better. Thx for the tip about the observation deck (didn't know about this). Will visit it on my next trip to Japan next month. Btw, if you are in Tokyo right now, you should visit the Aman Tokyo for afternoon tea (since I assume you are much a hotel enthousiast as I am): the lobby and overal decor is AMAZING, with terrific skyline views.

Wow! I have never been to Japan but if I did I would definitely want to check out the Observation Deck, if I fly to Haneda.

If you are in Haneda you should also visit Japan Airlines office. They do offer tour.

The observation decks on domestic terminals are even better!

This looks awesome, I could hang out here for hours. My nephew would be in heaven!

@Lucky

C'mon man....we need a separate review of the Hello Kitty store. There's not a single person who reads your blog that doesn't think you spent at least 45 minutes in there.

That's a great feature for an airport to have!
Did you sneak in to the flight simulator when the kids were gone?

If you ever come through ZRH and VCE, let me recommend those as well:

ZRH has the deck above the whole B concourse and you can walk all around, there´s a place where they patch through ATC Comms, they have binoculars with flight info overlay for all aircraft, at every gate, there´s info on flight destination and aircraft and on gate, they extended the walking area to the end of the little pier the jetbridge is attached to.

VCE´s airport operated Lounage (Sala Marco Polo) is overlooking the international gates and has an open air terrace whereby you can have a glass of Prosecco (local bubbly!) while looking at widebodies just below you.. A reason I tend to arrive way, way, way too early when flying out of VCE 😀

One benefit to the crazy arrival times HND has had is being able to take in a sunrise on the observation deck.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9ZmU9gv1O94fW57X2aLXd3hOkG0lcimdCNFXPdgNEvA-f8aWnSiqgkwTALaD8-ExIgxXkUQ5kpQi0nP5PwHdlySBbfBfW3iZdNJOYXq-SmMJfodWdQXSBd9befA8NBn1Xfk3nllzET5cR5Q2YWUxWQTnBwNbZiuMk_Qi7wkiJP7jKzdAwPNV2pPCCgs25v9O9C0c214kKYzfh9DrRhF9yHZSRMqC_cSMudAKkFT45HjKFzyd24zPHNPUYcrOaXN6Rz67Xetoz8icq0HOGKG_EB9Lu2nUZfORRkBxNI0d9qnH_abGTmaNGMroSYTlaXJ4Zlcpd2aGBU85-bmZLGNnZvlGo7tTFgMXHHbv_pkivNKGezVLtqQd9FeTYpW72XrdlECWB2OeWukZp8mwnPohO6mu1c0LIJHFSZzxCk0slwJuyn5n3zVT-CE_Troe_A29qmsKywVG2fDInb2pjP8KNYuFjFnGzd8Ufpfp1K9lIeOdOmskFa8KOmgjZuebfI__e9vhvxZWhbr5sM58TQgisvWtXsLSfluJdGTuL2tRJmy9-zvRNYJ5QJ2A1nmVx5HfGMS14jSCQxnDZ4n7Q4jL81mEAG9fxbco=w1359-h1019-no

Of course the faux traditional decor in the 2nd floor shops is an interesting local touch.

Do you have to have a boarding pass and go through security to access this area?

@steve Truth. At least 45.

(Hello Kitty is not a cat. She is a girl. She is a Scorpio and lives in suburban London, formerly of the EU.)

AMS has an unbeatable observation deck too. It stretches around the terminal and if the active runway is any other but the "Polderbaan" you have great take off and landing action within view for the normal eye (no binoculars or zoom through camera needed).

There is observation deck in Seoul too

Nagoya has a similar observation deck as well. It doesn't have as many supplementary items like model airplanes and a kid's area, but it does span the entire length of one of the concourses. The terminal at NGO is shaped like a T, and the observation deck is on the part of the T that sticks out into the airfield, so every gate is visible from the deck.

DMK Bangkok Don Mueang has this too

For many years , China Airlines (CI) was the only foreign carrier to use Haneda; that was punitive as part of a deal with the mainland airlines and Beijing. I doubt that CI complained much as they became a very popular choice for flights into Tokyo ( including from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok...with a Taipei connection).
Haneda is so much more convenient than Narita...although to and from NRT has improved greatly from the early days.
Those readers of a certain age will recall the pitched battles between police and farmers during the construction phase: land was compulsorily acquired to build it but the resistance, quite violent at times, went on for years, 10 or 15.
I suspect if they could start over they would choose a KIX type airport on reclaimed land

There's a CX lounge at HND that's supposed to be great as well. We spent all our time in the JL lounge, so we didn't get to try the CX one.

I have just read this because this week's tragic collision triggered my memory of a few hours in transit at Haneda in the mid-1970s as a teenager, before the days of Narita. I was travelling from school in New Zealand to Dubai where my parents lived. The point is that in those days there was an observation deck too - but it was in the old ATC tower! I was in heaven and I remember wishing my transit time was much longer!