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FLIGHT#27: Five OW Lounges & JL 719 NRT-SIN Biz Class with photos

FLIGHT#27: Five OW Lounges & JL 719 NRT-SIN Biz Class with photos

Old Mar 8, 2011, 8:40 pm
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FLIGHT#27: Five OW Lounges & JL 719 NRT-SIN Biz Class with photos

FLIGHT#27
Japan Airlines #719
Tokyo, Japan (NRT) – Singapore (SIN)

Date: Feb. 5, 2011
Departure: 10:55
Arrival: 017:35
Length: 07:40
Miles flown since start of trip: 50,552 mi.
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Seats: BUSINESS 3ACD

The whole point of visiting an airline lounge is to relax in a quiet place while you wait for your flight. So why would I chose to run around the whole terminal visiting every possible lounge before my flight? The answer is because I’m a Flyertalker. And it’s about sampling the best of all the lounges. Narita is a great place to crawl because there are FIVE Oneworld lounges to visit. LOVE THAT! My family just rolled their eyes and said that they would see me at the gate. So this report will comment briefly on the five lounges, name a winner and then report on our great flight in business class down to Singapore on Japan Airlines.

We spent 72 hours in Tokyo visiting with friends and spending two days at the Disney parks: Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. We have been to all the other nine Disney parks worldwide. These two parks made the complete set. Yes, we’re Disney geeks too, not just travel geeks.

Tokyo Disney Sea was incredible. Disney is a 49% stakeholder in the Japanese parks with a private Japanese company owning 51%. Because of this it is the local company that has final say on many of the decisions. The best part is that the budgets are much bigger than the US parks. You can really notice that they spend a lot more money on the rides and restaurants. When Disney’s California Adventure opened, it looked cheap, lots of flat painted walls filling up space. Tokyo Disney Sea (TDS) had amazing rides and incredible restaurants/bars. My favorite was the Teddy Roosevelt bar and restaurant on the US Constitution ship. It has dark wood walls with carved scenes of Teddy’s life. We sat in some cushy, leather couches. I had trouble remembering that I was in a Disney theme park.

Tokyo Disneyland was also wonderful. They have a great Winnie the Pooh Hunny Pot ride that is unlike any other worldwide. We had a great time a both parks.
In Tokyo we stayed with our friends who live about 20 minutes from the parks. They also happen to live near the Tokyo City Air Terminal where you can catch a bus to either airport for about $25.

We arrived at Terminal 2 and quickly found the JAL Business Class check in desks. We were greeted at the entrance and directed to one of the many waiting agents. I had tried to check us all in online but only managed to check me in. One this trip, I haven’t great luck with online check in with our around the around the world ticket on Oneworld.

The check in agent was friendly and efficient. My guard was up after being hit up for additional taxes on the last leg from Delhi. Luckily not a word was mentioned and soon our bags were tagged and he gave me our boarding passes.

We went through the south security and passport control. There was a priority line but only for First Class passengers. I sure wish that all airlines offered Fast Track security for all premium passengers.

Being a travel geek, I knew that Narita Terminal 2 offered FIVE Oneworld lounges. I was looking forward to visiting all of lounges and sampling the best they had to offer.

JAL SAKURA BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE (Main Terminal)

We found the JAL Sakura Lounge almost immediately. It was very crowed as we entered but finally found some seating near an electrical plug. 80% of the seating did not have access to plug. Some lounges have figured this out. BA and QF do well.


A view of a seating area


More seating

My favorite part about this lounge was the great food. I love savory food for breakfast. This lounge had many delicious offerings. I started with the Miso Soup which was fantastic. I also tried two pickled salads, fish roe and some grilled fish. My husband had a nice plate of eggs, sausage and croissant.

In the middle of the lounge, a tall tower Travel Station offered information about Oneworld airlines and their destinations. I’m really not sure what premium class traveler would ever stop by and use this. But what do I know?


The Oneworld Tower

The main disadvantage of this lounge is once you enter, you descend the staircase to get to the Business Class area. Then if you want to eat, you must ascend a different set of stairs to the eating area. It’s very crowded because they don’t let you take the food back to the downstairs area. I’m sure the issue is that they don’t want you walking down stairs with trays of food. Considering this is their home base, this is not acceptable.


Blurry eggs and bacon


Blurry Miso Soup (have I mentioned that my good camera broke?)


Drinks area downstairs


My breakfast of miso soup, pickled salads, cod roe and grilled fish


Hubby’s more traditional breakfast


Japanese Breakfast bar: salad, rolled eggs, fish eggs and grilled fish

CATHAY PACIFIC BUSINESS/FIRST LOUNGE:
None of the lounges in T2 are well signed. I finally found the Cathay lounge which had a dedicated elevator to go up one level to the fourth floor. I walked in and asked if I could use the lounge. She looked at my ticket which showed my Oneworld Sapphire status and then told me I should use the JAL Sakura Lounge. I smiled and asked again if I could still use CX lounge. She said of course. I’m not sure why she tried to direct me away but my polite persistence paid off! She warned me that she wouldn’t be announcing my flight.


At the elevator to go up to the CX lounge



Entrance


Typical seating of a CX lounge


Blurry computers


Long bar with no bar


Tea and fruit


Name brand spirits


Drinks and cereals


Tasty sushi even though it’s fake crab


Yummy blurry sandwiches


My CX breakfast

A CX flight had just left so the lounge was almost empty. The seating areas were pretty standard for the CX lounge throughout their system. I was mainly there to sample the buffet and was very pleased. In addition to fresh fruit and cereal, they had a number of open faced sandwiches which were very nice. I tried a nice chicken sandwich with a great sauce drizzled on top. The sushi was also surprisingly tasty. I tried the wifi and it worked well.

I was surprised that they didn’t serve any dim sum. That is often the reason I swing by a CX lounge! The good sushi was a fine replacement! Dim sum Tokyo style.
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Old Mar 8, 2011, 8:40 pm
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AMERICAN AIRLINES AADMIRALS CLUB
Next up was the American Airlines AAdmirals Club. It was located down a level that was reached via an escalator. The male agent welcomed me in saying that he would not be announcing my JAL flight. I was okay with that! I was just there to snap some pics and take a look at the food.


Signs upstairs from the lounge


Entrance


Seating areas


Quiet lounge


Comfy chairs

This lounge was nice and had great views of the tarmac. I saw a Qantas 747 staring down a smaller Malaysian Airlines plane. It made me laugh.


Dueling birds

The beverage offerings seemed very good. The spirits while not top shelf were above average including Johnnie Walker Black. I like the soda machine. It was the first I had seen like it. Food wise, it was a bit disappointing. The usual AA cheese, crackers and mini sandwiches. Nothing Japanese local or interesting here. I took my pictures and said “See y’all later”.

QANTAS BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE
So far all the lounges had been near the security area. Our flight was leaving from Gate 86 which meant taking the train to the satellite gates. The final two lounges awaited me there.

This was my favorite of all the offerings at NRT. It was quiet and had nice food! The best part was I ran into my family there! I had left them in the Sakura lounge in front terminals. They had decided to move closer to our departing gate. Hubby had remembered that the QF lounge in Bangkok was really nice so he thought that he’d give the NRT lounge a try!

His instincts were great. Since no Qantas flight was leaving the lounge was very quiet. The lounge agent did tell me when I entered that she would be announcing the flight since it was a code-share with JAL.

Over at the buffet, I decided to try the pumpkin soup, sushi, and chicken goulash with noodles. The pumpkin soup was amazing. All of the food offerings were good. I’m sure that the beer enthusiasts would be happy to have seen the two beer machines. I had seen the UA Narita Lounge beer machine that has been talked about lots in Flyertalk Trip Reports. I was amazed how many people at 10:00am were using it! I decided it was a bit early to be hitting the beer. I’m American not Australian or German.

The QF lounge was the first that I decided to check out the restroom. I was pleased to find a Japanese fully automated toilet waiting for me. For those of you who have never been to Japan, imagine what it would be like to sit on a toilet in a public bathroom and your back side is greeted with a warm toilet seat. Only in Japan. Also the toilet has lots of flashing lights on it and a separate control panel that will raise and lower the toilet seats and also start a magic sprayer that will clean the back parts for guys and both the front and back parts for women! AND THIS IS IN THE QANTAS LOUNGE!!! I want to buy this toilet. In our rental flats/houses in Vietnam, Thailand and India we had the separate hose near the toilet that could be used for the same purpose. We had been wondering if we could install the same thing back in our house in California without all our friends making fun of us. Leave it to the Japanese to have a perfectly respectable way to do the same thing! I will be toilet shopping in August! I’m sure that it will cost the same price as a small car but my bum will be deciding which model to buy.

All I have to say is “Thanks, Qantas!”


Entrance to Qantas Business Lounge


Computer stations with views of the tarmac


Magazines and printer


My boys watching US TV


Qantas Lounge with Light Balls


Food offerings


Some sushi on offer


Beer machines


My selections: Soup, sushi and some chicken noodle thing


Fantastic Toilet


I love a toilet with a control panel
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Last edited by olafman; Mar 9, 2011 at 4:20 pm
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Old Mar 8, 2011, 8:43 pm
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JAL SAKURA BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE (Satellite Terminal)
For some unknown reason I left the Qantas lounge feeling refreshed and in a good mood. My final lounge of the morning would be the JAL lounge out in the satellite terminal. I walked in and was immediately surprised that it was VERY CROWED! I found a little corner to set up shop and took a stroll past the food counter. The miso soup was the freeze-dried type unlike the fresh version available in the JAL lounge in the main terminal. I also tried a fish sushi and a glass of champers. I ate the sushi but the soup wasn’t worth eating.


Seating area towards the tarmac. The sun made it too hot to sit there.


My selection from the buffet


The lounge was busier on this end


Drinks and sushi

THE FINAL SCORE:
Just like in Bangkok, the winner of the lounge crawl was QANTAS AIRLINES. The bottom line is that an off-hours lounge with good food is hard to beat! I didn’t get much work done during my stay at Narita airport but I had fun popping around to the various lounges.

All of the sudden, I remembered that I actually had a flight to catch! This wasn’t all about the lounges! A lovely business class seat waited me!

BOARDING:

When I got to the gate, boarding had already begun. I walked right up on the Business Class side and boarded immediately. At the door I was greeted with a polite bow and a motion towards my seat.


Our Boeing 767 to Singapore

I had seen on the JAL website that our flight would have the new Regional Business Class product called the Recliner. It was very comfortable in the sitting positions but I would have preferred a nice flat bed to take my two hour nap.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5060/...2347aa0bf8.jpg
A view of the seat


More seat views


Corbin and me

Our flight to Singapore was actually longer than the flight from Delhi. Some how in my mind, India was much further away from Japan than Singapore. I actually had to stare at a map before that made sense.

Prior to departure, nothing was offered. But once we were in the air, we were offered sparkling wine or OJ along with a hot towel and the menu. Soon after our flight attendant came by asking for our drink orders. I continued with the sparkling wine. Terry has been imbibing less because his waistline is suffering.


Our post-takeoff drinks


More champers for our pre-lunch meal

Normally I’m not a big fan of in-flight entertainment but I did use this as an opportunity to catch up on some movies that have come out since we started to travel. Normally, my own laptop has a better selection of TV and movies waiting to be watched.

MEAL SERVICE:
Today we had a choice of Casual Dining, French or Japanese meals. Terry and I chose the French and Corbin chose the Japanese. The menu was a bit confusing because we weren’t sure if we had a bunch of choices or if we would be getting everything on the menu. It turns out that we got EVERYTHING listed on the menu.

FRENCH MEAL:
Terry and I loved the French meal. I will type out the entire menu below but the highlights were baby lobster & scallop, fois gras and tenderloin. It was all delicious. I think we both ate everything on our plates.

JAPANESE MEAL:
Corbin loves Japanese food and his meal offered many delicious items including marinated sandfish, roast pork and yam mousse. He sampled all of the items but only finished about half since he’s not a big eater. I always ask at check-in that they have not gotten him a child’s meal because it’s always chicken nuggets and carrot sticks. Chicken nuggets should be removed from all menus worldwide. THEY ARE NOT FOOD. He much prefers real food that is more interesting and has some flavour. I also enjoyed finishing up his leftovers.

For dessert a duet of apple tart and cheesecake with berries was served. I was surprised that they didn’t offer a cheese plate so I ask if one was available. My plate arrived but it was a little on the shy side.


Japanese Meal


French Meal


Closeup of French Starters


Close up of beef


Duet of desserts (not on menu)


Cheese plate


Here was the full menu:

Casual Dining:

Tray of Starters:
Potato Salad with Bacon
Beef Pastrami
Parma Ham
Italian Marinated Artichoke
Citrus Marinated Fresh King Salmon
Grilled Scallop
Marinated Sea-bass & Smoked Scallop Ceviche Style
Vegetable Relish with Baby Lobster & Spelt Salad
Raw Ham & Cream Cheese Ball
Cherry Tomato Pickles
Fresh Vegetable with Bagna Cauda

Main Dish:
Grilled Pork Ginger Flavor with Sauteed Onion

Fresh Salad

Bread or Steamed Rice

Dessert:
Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream

Contemporary French:
Hors d”Oeuvres:
Citrus Marinated Fresh King Salmon with “Yuzu” Jelly
Baby Lobster & Scallop with Rartouille scented by Genova Pesto
Mini Paris-Brest with Foie Gras Fondant & Apple Compote

Main Dish:
Grilled Tenderloin of Japanese Beef with Creamy Mushroom Sauce accompanied with Bacon Potato Gratin
Fresh Salad

Bread or Steamed Rice

Dessert:
Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream

AKITA Samurai Zen Japanese Meal
The local specialities featuring Akita prefecture.
Steamed Yam Mousse with Water Shield
Fried Marinated Sandfish in Sweet Vinegar Sauce
Black Rice Tofu Simmered Shrimp & Maitake Mushroom
Japanese Noodles “Udon”
Roast Pork with sweet soy starch sauce
Poached “Nanohana” Vegetable with Dried Bonito Flakes
Miso-marinated Bamboo Shoots & Simmered Boiled Egg
Japanese Pickles

Dainomono:
Braised Chicken & “Kiritanpo” Rice Cake with Light Soy Sauce

Steamed Rice

Miso Soup

Dessert:
Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream

This flight once again was full in all classes. JAL is doing something right if our small sample of two flights were both full.

OVERALL:
JAL offers a good, solid product. The food was great on both flights. I always enjoy Japanese food and it stands up well as airline food.

After a couple of days in Singapore, we will be taking one of the highlight flights of our entire year: Qantas Super Jumbo A380 to Sydney in Business Class. WE CAN’T WAIT!!


Previous reports in this year of travel:
FLIGHT#26: Delhi Green Lounge & JL 740 Business Class with photos
FLIGHT#22: SGN International Sasco Lounge & TG 551 Business Class with photos
FLIGHT#20: SGN Dom Sasco Lounge, VN452 SGN-NHA Biz Class and Sheraton Nha Trang
FLIGHT#19: BKK Royal First Lounge & LH772 BKK-SGN in First Class with photos
FLIGHT#18: TG242 KBV-BKK in Biz Class with photos
FLIGHT#17: TG245 BKK-KVG in Biz Class with Photos
FLIGHT#16: THE CABIN & CX751 HKG-BKK in Biz Class with photos
FLIGHT#15: CX748 JNB-HKG Biz Class with photos
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Last edited by olafman; Mar 8, 2011 at 9:07 pm
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Old Mar 8, 2011, 10:44 pm
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Another great TR ^. Thanks.

On my upcoming trip, I will be flying in just the reversed direction on JL (SIN-NRT). Re lounges, will try QF next time as I have never been in it. So they actually served everything on the menu?
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Old Mar 9, 2011, 7:35 am
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Great Report!

Loved the lounge comparisons. Nice Photos. And I learned something new about japanese toilets!
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Old Mar 10, 2011, 2:51 pm
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Originally Posted by allset2travel
So they actually served everything on the menu?
Yes, it's kind of like a tasting menu. Lots of small things. Most delicious. You simply choose where you want Casual, French or Japanese.
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Old Mar 10, 2011, 4:02 pm
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I also love those Japanese toilets and no matter the cost, when we move into our own place will also be purchasing one.

Looking forward to your report on India.
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Old Mar 10, 2011, 4:50 pm
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Toto sells the toilets in the US, they are not as expensive as you might think, in fact a washlet can be had for under $500.
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Old Mar 11, 2011, 2:58 pm
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another good post. funny how every QF lounge looks the same lately....guess that is what branding is all about.
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Old Mar 17, 2011, 12:22 am
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With OneWorld Sapphire on an international intinerary, it is possible to use any OneWorld lounges on the day of the trip? If that's the case, I'm going to have a very fun 5 hours to kill during my wait at the airport. Thanks for the report!
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Old Mar 17, 2011, 2:44 pm
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Originally Posted by waldob
With OneWorld Sapphire on an international intinerary, it is possible to use any OneWorld lounges on the day of the trip? If that's the case, I'm going to have a very fun 5 hours to kill during my wait at the airport. Thanks for the report!
Yes, Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald allows you to lounge hop while holding a ticket with same-day departure.

Flashing a winning smile also helps getting in!
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Old Apr 1, 2011, 2:32 am
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So I'm glad I read this thread because it gave me the great idea to follow in your footsteps! I'm in the Admiral's Club now as I type this. Unfortunately the Cathay Lounge is closed due to the earthquake but I tried all of the lounges. The winner in my book is the Sakura Lounge main terminal. Great soup, salad, curry offerings. A nice bar and great view of the tarmac. Although for a quiet place to hang out, the Qantas lounge is great.
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