PaulST

My second last flight of my splurge (3 weeks of annual leave) was last night where I flew from Moscow (DME) to Tokyo (NRT) with JAL in one of their newer 787-8s with their sky suite interior (still 2-2-2, but with a barrier between each seat).
Interestingly, no one seems to advertise that business class pax can use the diplomat/APEC premium lane (both on arrivals and departures) and I’d only heard about it on FT. I took the plunge and took the diplomats line (as there were no signs mentioning J pax) but as I entered the customs section, there were small signs saying that the lanes were open to us too. I’m not sure if it was any faster (slowest customs I’ve ever experienced).
JAL allow their premium pax to visit the DME Business Lounge which was far better than I expected. Minus the room temperature champagne, the food options were reasonable.
Anyway boarding was a bit confusing as the announcements were in Japanese and Russian so I had to guess what was happening. I was greeting with a friendly welcome and directed left to 3A. The 788’s J cabin is divided into two sections with 18 suites in the forward and 20 in the second section. I guess this keeps the noise down a little.
Interestingly, there was no drink or towel offered before takeoff. Is this normal? It’s the first time I’ve flown J with JAL. No CSM greeting or OWE recognition.
We left a little late but arrived on time and the flight was otherwise standard.

The seat itself is pretty good as I could only identify two problems. Firstly, the gap to actually enter the seat is pretty thin. I’m fine, but a lot of J pax might struggle through the gap… Secondly, the 787 window dimming feature doesn’t work in direct sun light. We only have around 2hrs of darkness and the sun returned with a vengeance and was quite annoying, both while trying to sleep, and then sitting up watching a movie. I had to sit up right to get my face out of the sun’s glare! I can’t imagine how bad it would be in Y where they have less movement! I know that the QR J A350s have electric physical sun shades which I much prefer, although I’m not sure what the rest of the A350s come with.

The food was pretty good and I had the Japanese options when I could (and hence had no idea what I was eating). I had a few extras too since I couldn’t really sleep and couldn’t think of much else to do. The IFE options were average with no movies really catching my eye and little TV show content. The screen itself is massive, though, and the sound and visual quality is pretty good.

The amenity kit was OK although unfortunately there were no PJs so I had to pull out my BA F ones. ☺

The crew were nice although I didn’t really connect with any of them. I felt like they weren’t confident with English and therefore avoided small talk. It’s a bit sad as my last QR, QF and BA flights have been made really pleasant by very personable FAs. And as I said above, there was no CSM intro or OWE recognition. Don’t get me wrong, they were fine, but nothing more than that.

Anyway, I’m off home to SYD tonight in a 777-300ER (JAL in J again) so it’ll be interesting to compare the new and the old. I suspect I’ll sleep a lot better tonight not having really slept at all last night!

Boten

JAL do not offer pre-take off drinks unless travelling in international First Class.

Nice video.

stu1985

Nice report PaulST. That seats looks great and I love business class cabins which give everyone direct access to the aisle. Hope the Japanese meal was as tasty as it looked!

PaulST

I was offered champagne on JL771 last night upon boarding. (Travelling in J)

Davidjonesk

Nice report. Interesting to read.

Boten

Really? That is good to hear. Hope they are changing it then.

Bretteee

In 1977 I flew JAL in F and had the Japanese option.

It was un - edible for me.

And even the croissants were stale.

BRITINJAPAN3

Japanese option.....croissants ????

offerendum

Of course

enviroian

Can you really remember 1. what you had and 2. how it tasted almost 40 years ago?

NA-Flyer

After seeing the new JAL business class hard product, I doubt I am going to choose flying BA business class again on any route that is served by both BA and JAL @:-)

injian

thanks for the video TR!

GK1981

Great report, thanks! I've always wanted to try JAL, this report has certainly made me think about looking for a deal (and revisit Japan!).

VivoPerLei

I took TWA ORD-LHR in 1987 and they served barely edible scones for breakfast in the morning. Also remember a nice salmon filet I had on BA ORD-LHR in 1990. Weird how that kind of memory can stick with you. Back then BA was a UA partner and I got UA miles for that flight

PaulST

Absolutely! You may have seen my BA 789 CW TR from a few weeks ago so those two videos are almost a direct comparison between the two. One of the BA FAs (ironically enough, a Japanese national who I suspect had the main role of looking after Japanese-speaking J pax) was quite pleasant and friendly, but otherwise they were a fairly sour bunch.

I must say, though, that BA had better IFE content (but an inferior screen). Luckily both JAL flights I did were at night as there really wasn't a lot to watch (and I'd had too many bubbles to read anything...)