I am planning to fly JAL between SYD and LHR in January - anyone flown Biz class and can let me know what to expect including which are the best seats to choose?

JAL offers a couple of flights ex Tokyo to London, any ideas if I should go for the flight that is three class, or will I get better service in Business Class on an aircraft offering two class only?

Cheers

WG

I flew JAL in C from BKK-NRT and the service was great. I was on a two class flight, with great entertainment at your seat and very good food. Ask to sit in the upper deck of the 747 by the exit row. Great leg room. I have also flown JAL first class from SFO-NRT and NRT-LAX. Business class for the price is FAR BETTER, IMHO on JAL

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LHR/MEL/Europe FF: I am planning to fly JAL between SYD and LHR in January </font>


I take it that you are taking advantage of JAL's biz special from OZ? I've been contemplating on using it too but so far have been kept back by the fact that there's been lack of info about their biz class product on long haul flights. For some strange reason I have been unable to come up with ANY 1st class fares on JAL from OZ to Europe. Has anyone had any luck? From various postings I'd rather fly them in 1st than biz. Their seat pitch seems to be somewhat modest even though service is great as on most Asian carriers.

JAL is upgrading their Busiiness class on NRT-LHR/JFK flights, you can see the info on their web site !

Thanks for the replies - from an e-mail to JAL in Sydney (I'm in London) - I have the following information:

"Thank you for your enquiry regarding JL Business Class service. As you are aware, from 01 October, JL will be launching "Skyluxe" seats - 157cm seat
pitch, 152 degree recline and additional legroom. This aircraft will be utilised on the Tokyo-London route from 01November. The aircraft between Australia-Japan is likely to be the "Seasons" aircraft, with seat pitch of 143cm. (It is difficult to confirm, as there is always the possibility of a last-minute aircraft rescheduling)."

So that makes the new seat pitch of 157cm equal to 62' (old Frst CLass!) and current seat pitch is 55'.

Also from their website they advise that from summer next year (which I presume is June/July) they will be introducing 'near-flat beds' in Biz Class - with increased pitch and 170 degree recline.

I'm not sure why, but I think there is some government regulation not allowing First Class on flights between Oz and Japan - hence the complete lack of First Class fares - but there must be a mixed class fare somewhere.

The fare is a good one (in Biz) but I guess that's because of the long layover on the outbound sector - but given the current Middle East climate I think it's worth it.

Cheers

WG

JAL used to offer a free night at an airport hotel on one leg of Europe-Australia flights, even in Economy class, if you stopped over in Japan. I was once able to have this offer converted into a day room at the airport Nikko hotel at KIX, although the hotel did try to make me check out five hours before the flight's departure http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Northeast asian carriers (KE, JL...) have always had competitive rates on Europe-Oz. Typically, through a good travel agent, an Europe-Oz tix costs only a little more than a Europe-Asia one.

Incidentally, KE switched to a two-class configuration on Oz flights a few years ago, not surprising given the emptiness of their F cabin in flights catering mostly to Korean holidaymakers.