Narita Airport NRT is also known as Tokyo Airport and Japan International Airport. 42 million passengers pass through its gates each year. It has very good airport lounges, but which lounge is best if you are flying in Business Class or have a Priority Pass or relevant credit card?
Narita Airport has three terminals. SkyTeam airlines fly out of Terminal 1’s North Wing, Star Alliance airlines use Terminal 1’s South Wing, and Oneworld airlines fly out of Terminal 2.
Free Airport Lounge Access
If you have not paid for Business Class or First Class, you can access airport lounges for free if you have an unlimited Priority Pass or an Amex Platinum card. To get extra bonus referral points and advice on the Platinum American Express and other free lounge access credit cards, have a read of our best credit cards for luxury travel.
1. ANA First Class Suite, Lounge T1
The ANA Suite Lounge is in the Satellite on the 4th floor and can be accessed by ANA and Star Alliance First Class passengers with same-day international boarding passes. Business Class, Premium Economy, and Star Alliance Gold passengers instead access the other ANA Lounge reviewed in our number 2 position.
In the ANA Suite Lounge, you can expect to be greeted with a cold towel and a drink as soon as you arrive. You can then choose from a sofa seat or a work cubicle, a bit like you might find in an office, but nicer. The lounge has lots of black partitions and is pleasant, although not overly stylish.
The buffet is beautifully presented, typical of Japanese food. There’s also an excellent noodle bar, a coffee machine, a water cooler, lots of spirits, beer and wine, etc.
The shower facilities are located outside the main lounge, so you need to dig out your boarding pass once again to use them, but they are classy with nice smelling toiletries and stylish tiling.
2. ANA Lounge, T1
The main ANA lounge is situated under the ANA First Class Suite Lounge in the Satellite on the 2nd floor. This lounge can get crowded during peak times but is fairly stylish with decent food and a nice look.
The lounge is split into lots of cubicles for the seating, which gives each seating section privacy which most travelers seem to like. Lots of box-shaped lighting is set up on side tables by each seat, giving the lounge a nice atmosphere
The highlight is the food which is a self-serve buffet in the center of the lounge. There is a really great spread with sandwiches, salads, sushi, and noodles. There’s also a noodle bar that serves excellent hand-made noodle dishes.
This is definitely one of the best lounges at Tokyo Narita airport, but it lacks runway and plane views which is its main disadvantage.
3. Korean Air Lounge, T1
Korean Air Lounge is open to First Class and Business Class passengers on Korean Air and all SkyTeam airlines. It is made up of a big room with wooden flooring and lots of seats with floor-to-ceiling windows to one side.
There’s a First Class section, just a room, separated by curtains from the main lounge, next to a window.
The food in this lounge is not great, with no noodle and curry bar, just pre-packaged snacks and sandwiches. There are, however, plenty of soft drinks and alcoholic drinks.
4. Delta Sky Club, T1
Business Class passengers and Delta Sky Club members with same-day international boarding passes have access to this lounge, as do SkyTeam international premium passengers and American Express Platinum cardholders.
The room housing this lounge is large and curved with curved floor-to-ceiling windows to one side, which offers great views of the planes. The look and feel are a little dated, like most of the lounges at Tokyo Narita airport. The good news is that the food is fairly good here with Western and Japanese options, including chopped veggies, a bowl of salad, sushi, chicken balls on a stick, soup, fruit, and snacks. There is enough to fill you up and plenty of healthy options.
In terms of alcohol, there are plenty of spirits and wines and two Japanese beers on tap. There are also showers and obviously bathrooms within this lounge.
5. United Global First Lounge, T1
The Global First Lounge is dated and worn. The United Club and the Global First Lounge share the same entrance. The buffet is only slightly better than the club downstairs and is nowhere near as good as the food in the ANA Lounge. The nice thing about this lounge is that it offers great views over the tarmac.
6. United Club, T1
The United Club is a large lounge is located in Terminal 1 near gate 31. It has those, oh so important, views onto the tarmac and planes and is new and modern. It is open to United Club and Star Alliance members with a same-day boarding pass. The United Club and the Global First Lounge share the same entrance, but the Global First Lounge is upstairs and is supposedly more exclusive.
Within the United Club lounge, you will notice lots of wooden Japanese-style partitions. There are some great window seats overlooking the planes too, but these are hard to take advantage of as the lounge tends to be busy.
There are two food stations offering hot soup, noodles, and sushi, plus fresh fruit and cakes. There are soft drinks and self-serve alcoholic drinks, including wine, spirits, and beer. The other side has a selection of fresh fruit, cakes, crackers, and other snacks. This is a really good United Club lounge with better than usual, but still not great food. Our only gripe is that it can get hectic.
7. KAL Lounge, T1
The KAL Lounge is the best Priority Pass lounge at Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT), located in Terminal 1 after security. The look is nice if a little Ikea and the view is out over the planes. There are snacks and soft and alcoholic drinks. You can access this lounge for free if you have a Priority Pass.
Terminal 2 also has a number of airport lounges, and we review the best ones below:
8. Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
The best airport lounge in Terminal 2 has to be the Japan Airlines First Class lounge for First Class passengers and the Sakura Lounges for Business Class passengers. Oneworld First Class passengers and Emerald members have access to this First Class Lounge, situated just past security on your right. This is the same entrance as the Japan Airlines Business Class Sakura Lounge reviewed below.
The lounge is large and smart, with leather seats and windows at one end. There are loads of seats, and the seats are quite densely packed. There are some terrific leather seats by the big windows overlooking the planes that are worth picking.
There’s also a smoking room, business center, and massage chairs by the shower rooms.
There is a great spread of alcoholic spirits, including a sake bar along with beer, wine, Champagne, and soft drinks. As you would expect, the buffet has sushi, noodles, and western options. As an example, breakfast had pastries, croissants, and jam, cheese, smoked salmon, dried sand pickled vegetables, raw sushi on spoons with greens, a huge salad bar with all sorts of sauces, hot scrambled eggs and sausages, and an excellent fresh sushi bar, which is only available from 7:30 am – 12:30 pm, and 3:00 – 8:00 pm.
I think the two disappointments of this lounge are how tightly the chairs are packed for a First Class lounge and also the fact that the sodas and beer are out of machines rather than cans and bottles.
9. Japan Airlines Business Class Sakura Lounge
Business Class passengers on Oneworld airlines can use the Sakura Lounge, which is huge and can be crowded. This Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge is located on Level 3 of the main building. There is a second Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge in the Satellite Building.
This lounge has loads of natural light and great views of the planes. The leather seats tend to be connected to side tables with power outlets.
There is an alcoholic and coffee bar where you can order drinks, and there is more than one buffet with hot and cold Western and Japanese dishes. The main dining area is on the lower level with cafe-style seats and big shared tables with seats.
The food at breakfast includes bread, pastries, yogurt with fruit salad, cheese, pickled vegetables, a generous salad bar, Japanese Curry throughout the day, along with potato and tomato soup. There are also snacks like cookies, rice crackers.
There are always seats available in this lounge as it is so big, plus there are sleep rooms available with daybeds and showers.
10. American Airlines Admirals Club, T2
American Airlines Admirals Club in Tokyo Narita Airport is open to Oneworld Business Class flyers and Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members. It is an uninteresting lounge to look at without a particular style to it. Still, it has enormous floor-to-ceiling double-height windows that will draw your eye away from the rather bland interior and out to the wonderful views of the planes.
There’s plenty of seating; relaxing, cafe style, and business center seating. There’s also a hot and cold buffet with sandwiches, desserts, whole fruit, and for breakfast, tomatoes, rocket, cold cuts, smoked salmon, cereal, yogurt, croissants, danishes, hard-boiled eggs, cookies, and cheese. There is also warm bacon, warm sausages, and warm quiche. There are plenty of spirits, beer, and wine, and soft drinks available. The lounge and the entire offering is good but not as good as the Japan Airlines lounges outlined above.
11. Emirates Lounge, T2
The Emirates lounge can be accessed by Business Class and First Class passengers on Emirates as well as Emirates Skywards Gold & Platinum guests independent of their class of travel. It is located after security clearance up on the first floor.
The look of this lounge is spacious with lots of leather seating. The food here is excellent with mouthwatering sushi, cheese, and lots of pre-plated meals like a salad with smoked salmon, salad with prawns, cut fruit, and sushi dishes. This is possibly some of the best food at Tokyo Narita Airport.
As you would expect, there are premium alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic soft drinks, tea, and coffee. There is a business center and shower suites.
12. Qantas Lounge, T2
This lounge is dated in its look but has large windows overlooking the planes, including the Qantas planes. There are iMac computers available in one area and lots of comfy seating. The best spot is in front of the window.
The food is good with plenty of hot options, including soup, fried hot fish, pasta with a tomato sauce, potato wedges, and a toasted sandwich area where you can make up a cheese and or ham sandwich and toast it in a grill. Also on offer is eggs, vegetables, and prawn sushi, and occasionally, pizzas.
There are plenty of drinks with alcoholic options, including self-pour wine and tap beer, as well as spirits.
13. Cathay Pacific lounge, T2
This Cathay Pacific and Oneworld airline lounge is reached via the same elevator used to access the Emirates lounge. Business and First Class flyers or those passengers who are Oneworld Sapphire or Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club members with Silver status can access this lounge.
The Emirates lounge is much better than this lounge in food, decor, and ambiance. This Cathay Pacific lounge is a Business Class level lounge and is not really a First Class lounge in decor, design, or food.
This lounge has big windows, but they do not look out over the tops of the building as the windows are quite a distance from the tarmac. Instead, they look out over some rather ugly rooftops. The style within the lounge is very average, and there aren’t many power outlets, but there are eight workstations and four with iMacs.
Food in this lounge is fairly decent for a Business Class lounge but rather underwhelming for a First Class lounge. Mini-baguette sandwiches containing chicken, prawn, duck, and vegetarian tomato are complemented by sushi and various noodle dishes in the buffet. Dessert is a highlight with Häagen-Dazs ice cream, including vanilla and green tea, along with less inspiring options like Danish pastries in plastic covers.
There are loads of spirits, wine, beer, and stout on tap. There’s a soda machine with coke etc., on tap. Juices are provided in jugs, and there are also bottles of orange juice. All fine but not awfully First Class, plus power points are reportedly few and far between within this lounge.
14. IASS Executive Lounge, T1 & T2
The IASS Executive and T.E.I. lounges are all located landside, before security. This means that once you leave the lounge, you will have to pass through security before making your way to the gate. This is a pain as you don’t know how long security will take.
The good news is that you will have free entry to the IASS lounges if you have an unlimited Priority Pass, whatever class you travel. The bad news is that these lounges are both horrible. These lounges are ugly with lines of seats. The coffee machine is a highlight. Next door is a soda fountain and a water cooler machine. That’s it. It is not somewhere I can imagine any frequent flyer wants to hang out.
15. T.E.I. Lounge T1 & T2
The T.E.I. lounges are also landside before security, so once you leave the lounge, you will have to pass through security which is a pain as you don’t know how long security will take.
Once again, you will have free entry to the T.E.I. lounges if you have an unlimited Priority Pass, whatever class you travel. The bad news is that these lounges are also horrible with ugly, uncomfortable lines of seats. The e’s a coffee machine, a soda fountain, and a water cooler machine. That’s it. These lounges feel very sad.
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