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Originally Posted by SHAD0W
Sounds like I'm going to have loads of fun then..
So what happens after you like.. walk inside the airport?
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Before you get there, do a little prep. Make sure you have your flight number written down and all your relevant paperwork somewhere easily to hand. Also, take some clear sandwich bags for your hand-luggage liquids. They can't be in any container more than 100ml. They'll confiscate it if it's over 100ml or 100ml but not in a bag, which is a pain on a long haul flight. Wear layers. It can get stuffy on-board or you can be sat under the AC and freeze so you'll want to be able to adapt, plus the obvious differences vis british weather and Japan. Wear shoes you can slip on and off easily. Cattle-class has ok leg-room, but not enough to bend down and mess about with laces every time you need to pee without annoying everyone. Consider flight socks, my legs get achey without them, other people are fine. You might well get some free on the flight anyway.
Check-in depends on what ticket you have; some do online check-in these days, others do it in the airport. I imagine you'll be on option B. It's pretty simple; if you get stuck just ask for help, BUT- British airports (esp. Heathrow) take a long time to get through security and it can take a long time to find/walk to your gate. SO GET THERE EARLY. There's a reason they put 'come three hours before take-off' and at the moment it's no exaggeration.
Go in and check the departures board. Your flight should be listed and have a check-in gate marked as soon as check-in opens. Go and line up and let the nice lady tell you what to do. It will help if you check with the airline what your luggage allowance is and try not to exceed it. It's stingy in the uk, normally about 20-30kg only, usually veering more towards 20kg and you can get fined if you're too much over the limit. They'll give you a boarding pass and things so take that and head through to the shopping area. There may or may not be a checkpoint. Boot about in duty free, keeping an eye on the boards which will list your flight number and (hopefully) a gate number. When it comes up, head towards your gate. It shouldn't be too hard to find, but it might be quite a distance as I say. Not sure about Manchester as i've never flown from there, but for example certain gates in Gatwick airport are a 25-30 minute walk from the entrance. It took me almost 40 mins to find one in Dublin air-port, but that's unusual.
At some point, you'll have to go through security. Usual rigmarole; empty your pockets into the tray, take off your watch/belt, other metally bits and put them in the tray. Bags on the conveyor belt, laptops have to be taken out and scanned sperately. No sharps or lighters/matches etc. If you buy liquids in duty free, like bottles of booze, they'll be sealed in special bags and you can carry them on even if they're over 100ml
BUT if you have a change of flight, you might have to go through another lot of security and you can stand to lose it.
They won't seal up bottles of drinking water either, so drink it or ditch it before you go through security. There are a million signs telling you what to do so you can't possibly forget. Carry on.
There's usually a waiting area at your gate but it might not have toilets or shops/cafes , and as it can take a while to seat everyone etc, sort yourself out before you get stuck. You will be an unhappy panda if you don't and something goes awry before take-off. I've spent two hours sat in my seat before whilst they tinkered about with an electrical error and the loos are off limits when the plane is on the run-way. When it's time to board, just line up and hand your boarding pass and passport over to the person at the desk; they'll check it and wave you through.
Other than that, you're a-go. Just set your watch to Japan time and try and stick to it if you can. It'll help with the jet lag. So will forgoing booze and caffine. Some people find it helps them relax but air on most commercial flights is poor quality and highly conditioned so you're more prone to dehydration and other side-affects.