My 08:10 departure meat that I wasn’t able to avail myself of the breakfast offerings in the club. Next time.
I grabbed a cab to the airport and through some low level flying and light traffic conditions at 06:07 I was being dropped off at 06:24. I thought JAL used the SATS premium check-in area and was correct, unlike CX who don’t for some reason.
At the entrance I was directed to a desk and an agent came over and logged on to the JAL system to check me in.
I was sent on my way to emigrations where I had to wait a couple of minutes before being processed.
The lounge JAL uses is the SATS Premium lounge that sits between the QF lounge and the BA lounge, neither of which were open at this hour. Inside I was welcomed and warned that they don’t make announcements.
The lounge was pretty basic and had baked eggs, beans, mushrooms and chicken sausages, eggs noodle stir fry, steamed buns, salads, pastries, cereal and toast etc along with an assortment of teas, coffee alcohol and other beverages. I think using the word ‘premium’ in the lounge title is an oxymoron.
SATS Premium Lounge SIN Snack
SAT Premium Lounge SIN
The wifi was astonishingly slow and I opted to see if I could connect to the BA wifi next door that was marginally better.
After being bored with the lounge I went to wander the terminal for a while before heading down to the gate.
After having a passport check and beeping again at security I went inside the gate lounge. After a couple of minutes waiting they started to board with those with small children and business class being asked to board first.
Flight JL0712 SIN-NRT Seat 2K
Aircraft: A767
Departure time: 08:10
I was directed to my seat on the other side of the plane. At the seat was a coat hanger with the seat number on it. I hung my jacket and as soon as I had a crew member relived me of it to store in the closet.
I took a few quick snaps of the seat before the cabin filled up too much. The seat is quite narrow and it appears that there wouldn’t be enough room for your feet when it was extended to a bed. However as I found out later this was not an issue.
JAL 767 Business Class Seat
JAL 767 Business Class Seat
JAL 767 Business Class Seat
There was a pillow, blanket and slippers at the seat and a set of nasty, non-noise cancelling headphones. Boarding was complete by 08:04 and the crew came around with a basket containing other amenity items such as masks, earplugs, toothbrush, moisturiser and immigrations and customs forms for Japan.
The lead FA announced a flight time of 6 hours and 31 minutes. She then did the rounds of the cabin and stopped to thank me for flying JAL today.
We pushed back at 08:14 and the ground staff all stood out holding a sign saying See You Again and waved as the plane taxied away.
JAL Ground Crew Farewell at SIN
After take off at 08:36 and the belt signs were extinguished the crew dropped by with a choice of welcome drink in the form or champagne or orange juice. Back on form I asked for champagne.
Champagne after Take Off
A hot towel was given out and the menus delivered. I was asked by the lead FA what I would like to eat for the meal. She explained there were both Japanese and Western options. I decided to go Western as I am not a great seafood fan and generally the Japanese menus were heavy into seafood.
Menu Cover
Menu
Clouds
The meal service began soon after and started with drinks. I opted for some Sauvignon Blanc to go with the rice crackers and fermented soybean snacks.
Snacks
The wine was presented before being poured. The crew member spilt some down the side of the glass and asked if she should get me a new glass. I said not to bother it was fine.
Wine
The soybean snack was not as bad as I thought it would be and in fact were quite palatable. I still remember the bad old days when AA decided to use soybeans as filler in their warm nut mix. Urgh.
Island in a Blue Sea
The meal service started next with the salad and soup presented on the tray together.
I was given two rolls to accompany the meal.
Lunch Meal Tray
The salmon salad was fresh and tasty but the soup a little on the bland side, but then again it was a consommé.
Salad
Soup
The salad dish was replaced with the main course steak option I chose. I also switched to some of the Shiraz Grenache wine. The steak was a little too done for my liking but was tasty to eat.
Steak
Steak
There was only one option for dessert that also only came in the ‘petite’ size. I asked for a cup of coffee with dessert. The dessert was ok for something with mango in it and the coffee nice and smooth.
Dessert
After the meal I decided to try out the Suntory single malts. I asked the crew and she said which one? I said I didn’t know either and she said why not try both? I agreed that would be good idea.
First up came the Hakushu that was quite mellow and smooth. The Yamakzaki was up next and was a little darker and I thought I would enjoy it more, however I think I preferred the Hakushu.
Single Malt
I sat and sipped my whisky and perused the offerings on the IFE. Again I was not impressed with the music offerings but the movie selection was quite good. I watched a movie and whilst the video quality was of a good standard it was let down by the cheap headphones.
I did select a playlist of music that I was listening to during the meal but it had an odd tendency to randomly replace tracks with others.
I put down the seat and got some shut eye for a few hours before sitting up again as another hot towel came around about 1 hour 40 minutes out of Tokyo.
I was offered some ice cream or noodles as a second snack and I decided to go with the JAL branded Udon pot noodles complete with small planes on the fish protein.
JAL Branded Instant Noodle
Udon Noodle
I asked for some more of the red wine to accompany this and after the noodles were gone I was offered some cheese to have with my wine that I declined.
I didn’t note what time we touched down but I recall it was earlier that scheduled.
Immigrations was quick and painless and I had to wait a few minutes before my suitcase was delivered and the priority tags worked.
Customs, who seem to normally like to pick on me, were no problem and I escaped without even the cursory bag check.
Once landside I made my way to the train station and purchased a cheap one way N’EX ticket for 1500 yen to Ebisu station. The agent said I would need to change at Shinagawa.
Narita Express Seat
Narita Express Seat
Narita Express Overhead Display
After the long ride into Tokyo the train split in two and I travelled one further stop to Shinagawa where got off and lugged my case over to the Yamanote line where I travelled 4 or 5 stops to Ebisu on the crowded commuter line. I managed to survive this and walked the 10 minutes or so to the Westin hotel that was to be my home for the following 3 nights.
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