Swanhunter

Another trundle around Asia gave me the chance to try out JAL on a couple of sectors. While BKK to ICN via NRT is a bit roundabout, the journey time is similar to the TG 1 stop flight and I happy to avoid Thai where I can.

The day began early, with checkout from the Sheraton Grande and a pleasingly fast drive to Suvarnabhumi airport. Despite the extra distance compared to Don Muang it took us a little over 20mins at 6:10 am, not much more than I would have expected to the old airport.

As well as my first trip on JAL, this was my first time departing from the new Bangkok airport. JAL check in was zone R of the cavernous check in hall. This place is huge compared to the old BKK. Check in was accomplished with only a few hiccups – the Thai agent struggled to get my bags through checked to Incheon and changing over FFP’s needed the intervention of a supervisor. Contract handling staff are rarely an asset….. As well as both BP’s, I was issued with a smart invitation to the Sakura lounge and another piece of paper showing the location of the gate along with a stern warning that it is 20mins walk away from check in.

The wait for immigration was around 10mins. As ever, a minute spent scanning the lines and working out which queued looked the shortest and least troublesome was time well spent. People who checked in before me were still waiting behind an enormous, unruly Saudi family after I had been stamped and sent on my way. A long yomp through the shopping to the junctions of concourses DEF and G. The Sakura lounge is then down an escalator and past the Louis Tavern and CX lounges.

A small gaggle of Thai women welcomed me in. The décor is – for a new lounge – pretty dated looking with lots of beech panels and fussy carpets. However there was plenty of room for everyone, and a large bank of desks with power sockets and LAN cables. No dodgy wireless to rely on! I was disappointed with the food offer – fruit, some vile looking sandwiches and pot noodles. No booze on display at all (not that I wanted any, just for research purposes) and one fridge of soft drinks. A bit underwhelming – popping into the CX lounge it looked a little better on the food and stylish décor front but was much smaller. FWIW, the JL lounge is open 05:30 – 08:30 and then from 15:00 to 21:00.

Walking down to the gate I was surprised to find another CX lounge! Both were branded Business and First which seems a slightly curious decision. There is a separate security check for each of the piers, a decent compromise between the irritating SIN style check at gate and the often congested central search used in many airports. I was through quickly, noting that the check is right by the entrance to the very sleek looking BA/QF lounges. You could do quite a lounge hop here in the afternoons.

JL708 BKK-NRT
02/08/07
747-400
J Class Seat 2K

A ramp and stairs leads you down to the gate area, where BP’s are checked before you enter the holding pen. It was at this point that a 30min delay was announced in 3 languages, while a tyre was changed on the plane. Oh well, time for a read while perched on a hard metal bench. The 30mins extended to 45 before boarding actually kicked off. Two doors enable priority boarding to be offered and the staff did an excellent job of policing this turning away at least two interlopers.

A word about seats. A little research on FT revealed JL have a myriad of different seat configurations in their fleet; and for that matter a number of different seat options too. This flight was due to be operated by a 2-class 747-400, with J on the main deck, Y upstairs and after Door 2. On boarding – with a suitably Japanese bow of the head, I turned left into the nose. 5 pairs of seats down the sides, with a captains chair in the middle at row 4 and another pair in the centre at 5. JL must be of the relatively few airlines (QF and LH are the others that spring to mind) to offer J in the nose of a 747, and very civilised it is too. The Upper Deck is very nice, but the very front is nicer still.

However, the seats were a little less nice. A cursory inspection revealed them to be identical to the older style CX regional seat. Nice enough for a 2 hour flight but starting to push things a little on a 6hour+ trip. My beef with these is that the leg rest and foot rest are too small, don’t raise up enough of provide that much support. A bit of playing revealed that the JL version is even worse – no extension to the footrest which was a horrible hard plastic mould. The seat pitch was not especially generous either, only in the mid 40” range. Bang goes my plan for 3-4 hours sleep. No in-seat power for anyone planning to work, and my lumbar support was broken too.

The cabin filled up quickly with a largely Japanese crowd, though several US citizens was also present – the flight also carries an AA number and makes connections into a number of USA bound planes at NRT. No pre-flights drinks on offer (ANA don’t offer this either, must be an Japanese thing) but papers and magazines were brought round along with the amenity basket containing eye masks, ear plugs and other stuff.

By the time we pushed back we were 60 minutes late and my leisurely 2 hour connection at Narita was starting to look a little tight. A long trundle around the airport and we growled aloft. The nose is always fun when the gear goes up and the noise level drops right down. Very nice indeed – no other widebody can provide a travelling experience like that. We looped out over the coast and headed off to the east towards Manila.

Inflight service kicked off shortly after the seat belt pinged. Menus were distributed, along with a very nice soft hot towel. The drinks cart put in an appearance swiftly after – just water for me at this hour. A short pause presaged the food arriving; here is the menu

Western

Amuse Bouche (a sliver of cheese, some dodgy ham and a grilled pepper, all rather dull)

Mixed Vegetable Cream Soup

Fllet of Beef with Onion Sauce
Or
Fillet of Red Snaper with Herb Tomato Concasse Sauce

Fresh Salad

Bread or Steamed Rice

Fresh Fruits
Or
Dessert

Japanese

Zensai
Sea Bream and Prawn Temari Sushi (tasty, sea bream had a very strong refreshing flavour)
Braised Scallop (great texture)
Capelin with Lemon (no idea what it was, left it)
Pumpkin Jelly (yuck)

Shiizakana
Seared Scallop and Salmon with Vinegar Jelly (very tasty)

Oshinogi
Japanese Cold Noodles “Somen”

Dainomon

Braised Deep Fried Pork with Egg Yolk Soy Sauce (terribly unhealthy, but it tasted great)

Steamed Rice, Pickles, Miso Soup (rice came with some seasoning to sprinkle on, tasted great)

Then as above

All in all, a decent meal and well presented especially the rice which came wrapped up in a little paper parcel. Some of the English translations were a little idiosyncratic – the comment “It will lead you to the entertainment over the table in the air” describing the rather average Piper Heidseck champagne raised my eyebrows. Airborne bondage? Either way, perhaps JAL could get a native speaker to proof read.

After eating, I reclined my seat and tried to get comfortable for a short doze. I obviously did better than expected as I was awoken about 3 hours later by some really quite violent and unexpected turbulence – the sort where people walking in the cabin suddenly find themselves on the floor or spread-eagled over an adjacent seat and clinging on hard. While this eased off, there were still lots of lumps and bumps thanks to the tail of Typhoon Otagu, which was making its way towards Kagoshima. Thanks to this, we had lost even more time and were now running 90mins late. While I suspected I might still make my connection, there was an increasing risk of my bags going walkabout for the second time in 3 days.

As we got out of the typhoon affected air, the clouds parted to give some great views of the Pacific. More drinks and ice cream were on offer, just another glass of water for me. Soon after we began out descent into Tokyo. The senior crew member popped over to tell me that I would be met at the gate and escorted through to make my connection. Even more impressively, after landing she came and got me, walked me to door 1 and ensured I was first off and into the hands of one of the ground staff. There was a short queue at security – which I was walked to the front of – and escorted up to Gate 95 where boarding started a split second after we got there, meaning I was then first onto the ICN flight after the cute bowing routine.

Swanhunter

JL959 NRT-ICN
777-300
02/08/07
J Class Seat 1A

A bit of a surprise here. I’d been puzzling over seatmap on Expertflyer for a little while, and couldn’t work out why there were only three rows of J which didn’t match any plan I could fine. The answer was clear when I walked through Door1 – Business was actually the First class cabin of a long haul 777-300. Result – an unexpected chance to try out JAL’s solo sleeper seat. The colour scheme is rather odd – cream leather, mint green plastic and a striking orange table. However I loved the privacy and the plentiful storage spaces – a proper drawer, two tables and a little recessed cubbyhole. Despite being leather, it was pretty comfortable to sit and lay on, if a little bit lacking in padding on the backrest. All in all, an impressive seat. I still marginally prefer the suites offered by NH or CX, but would rather the JL seat higher than the old suites offered by BA and QF. Good compensation for missing out on the new JL First class lounge, though hopefully I would get chance to try it out when flying down to NRT next week.

This was also my first flight actually operated by JAL. For some reason JAL have a range of subsidiary airlines that operate flights for them, for example the BKK flight was actually operated by Jalways as flight JO707, also carrying a JL flight number. I assume this is some form of cost reduction dodge, or franchising agreement but it is a little odd. However, the only noticeable difference between the two was a slightly different uniform.

We pushed back 5 mins late – hopefully caused by the loading of my bag and taxied through bustling Narita in bright evening sunshine. No pre-take off drinks again, and the same safety demo. After take off we were treated to some super views of the coast again while climbing before turning inland over Honshu and heading pretty directly for Seoul.

Once the seatbelt signed pinged off, I got into a very comfy position with the seat and cranked up the lap top; after freshening up with a nice soft towel. JAL also provide a nice slipper seat and a new plane amenity for me – a shoe horn. The slippers were great, the horn redundant in the face of a pair of trainers.

In the way these things work, no sooner had I done that than the food service started and we hit some very bumpy air. Very bumpy indeed, but not enough to dissuade the staff from suspending service which is to their credit, if demonstrating a slightly reckless approach to their safety. Trying to eat and drink while also stopping the tray from going into orbit was fun. The drink and food options were somewhat slimmed down from the Bangkok flight, in particular the wine selection and elimination of any western food. Here is the menu (once again presented in a very nice booklet:

Tokyo-Seoul

Cold “Somen” Noodles (tasty again, in a light soy dressing)

Nimono
Simmered Vegetables (nice to get some fibre)

Yakimono
Grilled Greenland Halibut with Teriyaki Sauce (fantastically fleshy and moist)
Marintated Lotus Root (chewy)

Kobachi
Grilled Eggplant (nice enough)

Rice
Seasoned mixed rice

Pickles and Green Tea

This was offered with a choice of two iffy Burgundies, whisky or Sake (which I chose as it always makes me happy)

The turbulence caused a couple of small spillages – including some booze – but then gradually died away. A series of short films were playing on the main LCD screens. I rarely bother with IFE so I don’t know if it is working on this sector. Certainly the content looked pretty uninspired. After some more work and iPod listening we got a 10 minute warning of landing in Seoul. I packed my stuff away and looked out the window at the lights of Incheon.

After landing we endured the usual incredibly long taxi around the airport – probably a good 15mins of mooching around before pulling to a stand. One little think JL could do to improve the disembarkation process is prevent Y pax from encroaching up front. I had barely got out of my seat before I was being jostled out the way by over eager economy passengers. This is one of those points when being 6ft with a large lap top bag can help gently nudge people out of the way, enabling me to be first off. A long walk to a deserted immigration area and then time for the nervous wait by the carousel. There was certainly no sign of bags coming out in priority order, but to my delight after 10mins of so a very battered grey Samsonite, covered in stickers hove into view. My Samsonite! Well done to JAL for getting that transferred in less than 25 minutes – very impressive indeed.

Out into the Seoul night, a rather hot and sticky one too.

Swanhunter

JL951 ICN - NRT
777-200
04/08/07
J Class Seat 3A
An excellent 1.5 days in Seoul, before 24 hours Swanhunter time in Tokyo, one of my favourite cites. Despite some heavy rain, the Inter-Con was able to get me a cab easily for the long journey back to Incheon airport. At one point we were crawling along in an enormous rainstorm but despite this slow down it took just 60mins to get to the airport. I was worried that flight operations would be affected by the storm, but things certainly seemed to be running normally when a KAL 747 roared overhead on final approach. While flying is a workaday process for me – and one I grow increasingly bored of – it is still mesmerising to see 400 tonnes of metal swooping down out of the air and landing.

JL have a whole side of check in desks at Zone 8 so there was no queue for the Executive Class check in desks. Pleasingly, these were labelled up not only with JAL’s Elite card names but also the Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby OW logos. Despite causing mild confusion with yet another shuffle of FFP numbers, check in was done quickly. Bizarrely I was asked to wait 5 mins while my bag was x-rayed – judging from the number of people milling around this is pretty normal practice but it was a new one for me.

Security and immigration were painless and pretty fast, giving more lounge time than I had bargained for. The Sakura lounge is one level up from the main course, like the bulk of the lounges at ICN. It’s a little further along from the CX lounge I am familiar with, and slightly smaller. The décor – like BKK – is somewhat fusty and old fashioned. A modest array of snacks and drinks on display along with a very welcome selection of pot noodles. A nice view out over the apron, with our 777 and a JL 767 for NGO were sitting in the rain. One thoughtful feature was 2 small whiteboard, where the boarding time and gate information for flights was written up and amended to ensure that lounge passengers had the smoothest trip to the plane. This was useful as our boarding time was pushed back on 3 occasions, meaning we were likely to be 30mins late leaving.

Finally boarding was called, and I managed to hit the gate area in time to skip straight through and on the plane. I’ve been impressed by the way JL handle premium boarding, with an agent waving a large sign to ensure that only those that qualify get to board. This flight is on a more conventionally configured 777, with 6 rows of 2-3-2 between door 1 and 2, with a further 3 rows behind door 2 before the gloom of economy starts. The seats are in the same fabric as the 747 used from BKK, but the seats themselves represent an evolution and more closely represent the Business class seat currently being phased out by AA, with a large, extending footrest and controls in the seat arm. Seat pitch was still pretty tight in the mid 40”s.

An unremarkable flight ensued. The same short films – on how a plane is prepared for a journey and the Honolulu marathon – were playing while a similar meal was served. After a big breakfast I declined this, but was happy to snack on the dried natto and nut/rice cracker packs along with plenty of water. The cabin was totally full – like both other flights – despite the seat map having shown a half empty the cabin the day before. As there were very few people in the lounge, I suspect rather a lot of op-ups took place at the gate.

We landed on time, at the Satellite of Terminal. There was only a short wait for the little shuttle train, and the immigration queue was less than 10minutes, an improvement over past experiences. Then, onto the Keisei Skyliner and a night on the town in Tokyo!

JL in summary

I’d give then 4.5 out of 5. Most would agree that CX are the OW benchmark airline. I’d say they loose a little to CX on the warmth of service (though I appreciate that is a cultural thing) and the overall quality of the onboard product as things were just a little ore regimented. Lounges (excluding NRT, more of that latter) were also a let down compared to the equivalent product. However, the ground handling is very good and I was enormously impressed with the way my potential misconnect at NRT was handled. The only wrinkle for some might be the lack of status bonus if accruing to Advantage. However I split my flights between BA and AA (no bonus on BA either) and frankly the miles aren’t that important to me though I understand it could be a deal breaker for others.

Swanhunter

Lounges post-script

Having missed out on the new lounge offerings on the way through, I made sure I had enough time before flying to TPE to check out the new JAL First lounge. Overall, very nice. The décor is a little more modern than the Sakura lounges visited – more dark woods and indirect lighting. There is a shower suite and massage room (didn’t investigate the offerings) before it opening out into a decent sized seating area with separate smoking room. Free internet access too, though it would be nice if the welcome page featured an English option. A nice business centre is tucked down one side, next to the relaxation room with 4 of those incredibly uncomfortable curved recliner things. Four equally uncomfortable massage chairs are on offer too.

There is a self service bar area, and waited bar area open only after 3pm. I actually prefer this sort of arrangement to the often poorly run at seat service in other OW F lounges – both CX and BA.

In addition there is small buffet food offering, with soup (Western and Miso), a couple of main courses and a small desert selection. Nice enough, but not the Haven. Wines were OK, but nothing special. Moet isn’t my choice of NV champagne, and the red wine was a mediocre Paulillac – a pity when better value is available from the New World. All in all, a decent option indeed but not one that will be challenging for the title of Best Oneworld Lounge. On a positive note, no problem getting in with a CX F BP and OW Emerald.

After this, I thought I would hop through the Admirals Club and CX Lounge too. The AC was impressive. While not offering all the amenities of the JL Lounge (nor would it as effectively a J lounge rather than F) it is big, with loads of PC’s, free internet and a respectable snack offering (though the wine offering was poor and only dodgy Italian sparkling wine). The décor is a bit testosterone US, but with some nice Japanese accents. Service was excellent on the front desk too, very welcome. The nicest AC in the network (though that could be seen as damning with faint praise, it isn’t).

Thirdly, the CX lounge. While a distinct improvement on the old hovel in T1, this is the poorest of the three. The most cramped and with the least natural light, it was also rather warm when I visited. The sparsest selection of snacks and drinks too, though it is the only one with one of the rather cool beer pouring machines that make boys so excited! There is free wireless, both from CX and the signal leaking from the JL overflow lounge next door. In many ways a carbon copy of the TPE J lounge, though without the lovely noodle bar.

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks for the report Swanhunter - very timely for me. (Now off to check my seat maps.)

AJLondon

Great report Swanhunter. ^ I'm looking forward to my first flight on JAL next week!

Rejuvenated

Terrifc report. ^

PresRDC

Totally agree on your views on the CX lounge vs. the AC. CX may have nice lounges in HKG, but their lounges outside of HKG are, with a few exceptions (YVR, LHR) pretty medicore.

I've not been to the new JL liounges yet, but I am pleased to see that JL is (finally) starting to behave as a good citizen of Oneworld.

Zeffer

Thanks Swanhunter for a great report. I haven't yet decided on CX or JL for my J class BKK-NRT sectors. I take it you'd recommend CX unless I can find a JL 773 where First is sold as business...? (Does anyone know if all of JL's 773s are configured like that? Or if there are ANY long-haul sleeper-seat JL aircraft operating NRT-HKG or NRT-BKK?)

One question: you mentioned no AA elite bonus on JL. That certainly seems to be the case here.

I was hoping maybe this was just temporary because JL is a recent OW member... but AA status bonuses are valid on Royal Jordanian and all the LANs (though oddly not on the other newbie, Malev). Does anyone know whether this is a permanent state of affairs, or why it's the case? I'd rather not forego my 100% bonus if possible...

Keith009

Nice report Swanhunter! ^