Why do I like JAL?
1. The incredibly gracious and professional service from all of JL's customer-facing people in the air and on the ground.
2. Reliability. In 7 years and 350,000+ miles on JL, I've had zero cancellations and only one or two delays.
3. Immaculate airplanes. Even the old planes are so clean you can eat off the floors (or seats, or any other surface)!
4. Great inflight food and service on international routes.
5. The Shell Flat seats in business class. Among angled flat seats, I think JL's are the most comfortable of all airlines.
6. Generous award availability. (Maybe this will change with the bankruptcy/restructuring)
7. Domestic Class J. For only 1000 yen more than Y, I can get a MUCH more comfortable seat.
8. International Premium Economy. JAL has much better Prem Eco fares (and more seats) than ANA.
9. oneworld. I like the oneworld airlines (except Finnair). In particular I much prefer American over the abomination UA at *A. I also like that oneworld has a third elite tier (Emerald), unlike *A and ST which only offer two tiers.
10. Domestic First Class. Wonderful, wonderful product that blows away ANA Premium Class (though it is sadly only available on a few flights).
11. JAL Global Club!
12. JGC Premier, an elite tier that does not exist at ANA. JGC Premier gets you oneworld Emerald status and many of the same benefits that Diamond members get (such as F lounge access).
13. Free provision of child seats when you buy a separate ticket for your infant or toddler. When I travel with my family, we call JAL in advance to request the child seat, and it's all set up for us when we board the plane! ANA and the US airlines do not do this.
14. The children's playroom at the Sakura Lounge in NRT. This allows me to take my son into the lounge without feeling guilty, because I know he won't bother anyone.
I was introduced to JAL in 2003. I had actually flown them a couple of times in the 90s, but those were my student days when I was still biased toward US airlines because of their more generous FFPs for low-budget economy customers... Anyway, my preferred airline in 2003 was NW, and I was Gold Elite in Worldperks. I flew JL in March of 2003 because I was worried about (1) terrorism targeting US airlines at the start of the Iraq war and (2) SARS, which seemed like a more likely possibillity on NW which carries far more connecting pax from China (incl HKG) than JL.
Anyway, as soon as I stepped aboard the JL 744 bound for Chicago in March 2003, I was blown away. The airplane interior was so much more attractive and cleaner than any NW plane I had ever flown on... and the FAs were so unbelievably friendly and accommodating. From that moment on, I was hooked.