Tokyo Seoul
Tokyo to Seoul is a two-and-a-half-hour flight with more than a dozen carriers spread across three airport pairs.
If you are staying in central Seoul, fly Haneda to Gimpo. Japan Airlines, Korean Air, ANA, and Asiana run it several times a day. Gimpo is 14 km from downtown, and the subway puts you in Gangnam in about 35 minutes.
If you are watching the budget and don't mind extra travel time, Narita to Incheon gives you the most carriers to pick from: Jeju Air, Zipair, Jin Air, Air Japan, T'way Air, and more. Flights leave roughly every hour. The trade-off is ground transport on both ends. Narita is over an hour from central Tokyo, and Incheon is 55 km from Seoul, around 90 minutes to Gangnam by road.
If you are near Haneda but Gimpo flights don't line up with your schedule, Korean Air and Asiana fly Haneda to Incheon daily, with Peach running a low-cost service on the same route.
Gimpo's subway connection is the part that doesn't show up in search results. Line 9 runs express from the airport to Gangnam in 35 minutes flat. From Incheon, the AREX express train gets you to Seoul Station fast, but then you transfer and add another 30-40 minutes to reach the same neighborhoods. On a flight this short, picking the wrong airport pair can add more time on the ground than you spent in the air.
Have a specific need? Use the decision guide below to filter by your airline, where you live, lounges, or where you're staying in Seoul.
Pick What Matters to You
Best pair by where you're coming from
Best pair by where you're staying in Seoul
Which pair your airline flies nonstop
| Airline | NRT–ICN | HND–ICN |
|---|---|---|
| Korean Air | — | ✓ |
| T'way Air | ✓ | — |
| Air Japan | ✓ | — |
| Alaska Airlines | ✓ | — |
| Air Busan | ✓ | — |
| Ethiopian Airlines | ✓ | — |
| Asiana Airlines | ✓ | ✓ |
| Skyside | ✓ | — |
| Eastar Jet | ✓ | — |
| Viva Macau | ✓ | — |
| Jin Air | ✓ | — |
| Parata Air | ✓ | — |
| Delta Air Lines | — | ✓ |
| Jeju Air | ✓ | — |
| Peach | — | ✓ |
| Aerea | ✓ | — |
Ranked by on-time performance
Lounge access by airport and terminal
Ranked by flights per week
Getting to the airport
Red-eye vs daytime departures
Premium cabin options
Connecting through Tokyo from a domestic flight
Tokyo to Seoul has nonstop flights from early morning to late evening across multiple airport pairings. Connecting through a third city adds hours to what is already a two-and-a-half-hour flight. There is no routing, fare, or schedule reason to connect.
Tokyo & Seoul Airport Profiles
Each airport has a personality. Terminal quality, transit access, lounge scene, and crowd levels vary dramatically — sometimes more than the flight itself.
Tokyo Metro
Narita sits 60 kilometers east of central Tokyo in Chiba prefecture, and that distance defines the entire airport experience. Built in the 1970s when Haneda ran out of international capacity, the location was a political compromise that passengers have been paying for ever since. The airport itself works well: three terminals, clear English and Japanese signage, efficient security lines.
Terminal 1 handles most full-service international carriers. Terminal 2 splits between international and domestic service. Terminal 3 is the budget terminal for low-cost carriers, with a stripped-down fit-out and a long walk from the train station marked by a running track painted on the floor. Food across all three terminals is good, especially the ramen shops in T1 and the family restaurants in T2.
Inside the building, the experience is smooth. Immigration has e-gates for many nationalities. Duty-free shopping is extensive. The problem starts when you leave: you are an hour from central Tokyo by express train. If you miss the last Narita Express or Skyliner, the taxi ride into the city costs around 20,000 to 30,000 yen and takes over an hour on the highway.
Haneda is a city airport in every sense, sitting 15 kilometers south of central Tokyo on the edge of Tokyo Bay. Terminal 3 handles international departures. The building is modern, well-signed in English and Japanese, and compact enough that walking from immigration to your gate rarely takes more than 10 minutes. An observation deck on the top floor looks out over the runways with the Tokyo skyline behind them.
The fourth floor of Terminal 3 recreates an Edo-period street lined with restaurants. Ramen, tonkatsu, sushi, tempura. The food is better than it has any right to be inside an airport. Below the departure level, shops carry Japanese snacks, cosmetics, and last-minute souvenirs without the tourist-trap markup you find at Narita.
Domestic terminals (T1 and T2) are separate buildings connected by free shuttle buses. If you are connecting to a domestic flight to Osaka, Sapporo, or Okinawa after arriving internationally, budget 90 minutes for the terminal transfer and second security screening. Immigration moves faster here than at Narita because international arrivals spread through the day instead of hitting in one wave.
Seoul Metro
Incheon International sits on an island in the Yellow Sea, 55 kilometers west of central Seoul. Two terminals, each the size of a standalone international airport. Terminal 1 is the original building, wide and long, with a central duty-free zone that could pass for a shopping mall. Terminal 2 opened in 2018 [VERIFY] and is newer, quieter, and better designed for connections.
Walking distances in both buildings are significant. Budget 15 minutes from security to far gates. A free shuttle runs between terminals every five minutes, but the ride itself takes 15 minutes. Transfer passengers have access to transit hotels, showers, a spa, and Korean cultural experience centers airside. The airport was designed for connections and it shows.
Gimpo handles domestic flights and short-haul international traffic, 15 kilometers from central Seoul. The international terminal is a single compact wing. Security lines are short. The walk from curb to gate takes 10 minutes on a slow day.
Seoul Metro Lines 5 and 9 and the AREX rail line all stop at Gimpo. The combination of direct subway access and short distances inside the terminal makes this the fastest major airport experience in the Seoul metro area. The domestic terminal next door handles the bulk of the traffic. The international side is quieter.
Which Airlines Fly Which Pairs
Asiana Airlines serve both NRT and HND to ICN — airport flexibility on the Tokyo side.
Not all planes are the same size. The aircraft type below each checkmark tells you whether you are getting a widebody (777, 787, A350) with wider seats and a quieter ride, or a narrowbody (737, A321) with a single aisle. On flights over five hours, the difference is significant.
A350-900
A350-900
737-800, 777-200
A321neo, A330-300
A330-300
737-800, 737 MAX 8
A321
A320
787
A321
737-800, 737 MAX 8
A330-200
787-9
737-800
787-8