Chicago Already Flies Narita. Sapporo Is Next.

This morning’s United flight from Chicago to Tokyo Narita left at 10:40. It is due in at 3:15 tomorrow afternoon. The return leaves Narita at 6 p.m. and reaches Chicago at 2:50. Daily service started October 24 on a Boeing 787-8, and those Chicago times are the ones that stuck after daylight saving ended.

United already flies Chicago to Haneda every day. ANA and Japan Airlines already fly Chicago to Narita. What changed is that United now does both Tokyo airports from O’Hare. Haneda is still the Tokyo city airport. Narita is the one that keeps going.

A mid-afternoon Narita arrival is for people who are not done flying. United says the Chicago flight opens one-stop trips to 21 cities across Asia and the Pacific on United or its joint-venture partner, All Nippon Airways. On United that can mean Cebu, Guam, or Kaohsiung. On ANA it can mean Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur.

If the week ends in Shinjuku, take Haneda and save the train. If Japan is night one and Southeast Asia is the point, land at Narita and put the next flight on the same ticket so the bags stay with you.

The Hokkaido flight is the one still waiting. Starting Friday, December 11, United plans three flights a week from San Francisco to New Chitose, the airport for Sapporo—the first nonstop from the continental United States. UA234 leaves at 10:30 a.m. and lands at 2:15 p.m. the next day, Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, through March 26. Coming home, the plane leaves Sapporo at 4:15 p.m. and reaches San Francisco at 8:25 a.m. It is a Boeing 787-9.

Niseko’s lifts are due to open November 28, so that first December arrival lands in an open ski season. The bus toward Niseko has taken about two and a half to three and a half hours in recent winters. A 2:15 landing can still make the afternoon coach if immigration moves; check the live board before you count on skiing the same day.

Until December 11, getting to the powder still means a domestic hop after Tokyo or another Asia city. After that Friday, a West Coast week can skip the extra flight when those three days fit. Hold the lodging first. Then buy the San Francisco seat.