Alight at Nippori with Skyliner ticket for Ueno

Question

When riding Keisei Skyliner train from Narita Airport to Tokyo, it costs the same to go to Nippori vs Ueno.

Before the pandemic, when I purchased Skyliner ticket, the staff never asked me where I am going, and just issued me a ticket for Ueno. A few months ago when I visited Tokyo again, Keisei staff took the time to ask me which station I was going to.

This makes me wonder if I would be allowed to travel to a different station than the one on the ticket.

1. If I hold a Skyliner ticket for Nippori, can I alight at Ueno station and leave through the fare gate there?
2. How about the other way round: Can I exit Nippori with a Skyliner ticket for Ueno? Does it make a difference if I "exit" Nippori vs going straight to JR fare area via transfer gate?
3. Does the same apply to trains bound for Narita Airport (Terminal 1 vs Terminal 2·3)? Can I exit one station using a Skyliner ticket for another?

(I am more interested in the case where the fares are the same in both stations. I know there would be a problem if I hold Aoto ticket but alight at Ueno...)

Answer 1

Japanese railways operate on a fare zone basis: if you buy a ticket for X yen, you can go anywhere where the fare from your departure station is X yen.

For the specific case of the Skyliner, the Skyliner fare from Narita Airport to both Ueno and Nippori is exactly the same (2470 yen at time of writing), so the two are interchangeable. This means:

1. Yes. You do not hold a ticket "for Nippori", you hold one from Narita Airport for 2470 yen.

2. Yes. Transfers into other systems is a different kettle of fish though, a paper Skyliner ticket will not entitle you to enter the JR area unless you specifically bought a transfer ticket. If you use a Suica/Pasmo, though, the appropriate transfer deductions are computed automatically.

3. Yes, the Narita Airport stations are also both in the same fare zone.

Caveat: Limited expresses with mandatory reservations can complicate things slightly, because in addition to the plain ticket (乗車券) you also have a seat reservation (指定席) which is for a specific route. This may be why the staff asked you for your destination, although it's more likely they wanted to confirm that you don't intend to continue onward on JR. However, in the case of Nippori vs Ueno approximately nobody travels only that segment by Skyliner (I'm not sure it's even possible?), so the odds of somebody booking the same seat as you are nearly zero.