Tokyo airports in chaos as tourists complain of over three-hour wait at arrival halls

Thousands of tourists were stranded at Japan Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport during a weekend of immigration clearance chaos. Some Hong Kong travellers complained they had waited nearly four hours to get their baggage.

Long queues have been seen at both airports in Tokyo over the weekend as a large number of tourists decided to enjoy their Easter break in Japan.

Tsang, a visitor from Hong Kong, expected to wait for two hours when seeing the never-ending queue at the arrival hall after his flight landed in Tokyo at 3.45 pm on Sunday, which end up leaving Narita Airport with his luggage at around 7.30 pm.

Another Hong Kong tourist said he waited over two hours at Haneda Airport's packed arrival hall last Saturday.

Yuen Chun-ning, Executive Director of a local travel agency WWPKG, said the situation worsened since the end of March. He attributes this to the manpower shortage in the Japanese airports to handle the surging number of tourists amid the Easter holiday.

Yuen expects the situation will continue until the off-season of tourism in May.