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Old Mar 30, 2015 | 10:34 pm
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Guava
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Originally Posted by saltytheseagull
This post made me chuckle.

The seat is super comfy and the champagne is good. I definitely agree about the cabin being hot. Next time I don't think that I'll wear the pajamas.
The cabin temperature was fine to me as long as I was seated. When in sleeping position, the bed + pillow + large blanket = overheat I don't think it was due to the PJ.

I don't agree with the comment that Japanese are like robots. Maybe it was joke, it's hard to tell; however the truth is, the F class FA are very accommodating. But as always, YMMV, there is bound to be some inconsistency between flights and depending on the crew. In my three JL F Class flights this year, the service has been consistent but I could still pick up tiny bit of inconsistency between flights such as when the PJ was given and when the amenity gift and welcome gift are passed out. What's important is there are no extremes, which often happens with North American carriers; you could get an excellent crew on one flight then run into a group of prison matrons on the next. For what it is worth, my mother who is in her 60s flew by herself on JL F only a couple of days ago and she told me some pretty amazing stories what happened to her trip. In NRT, she went to do some shopping after leaving the JL F lounge. By boarding time, she suddenly realized her passport was no where to be found. She couldn't remember where she could have left her passport because she had been to many different shops. So she told one of the JL staff by the gate, the staff immediately reassured her by telling her not to worry and that she will help her. Then they went to trace step by step together where she might have been to, asked many shop keepers. Eventually, it was discovered that she placed her passport too deep in her purse when she was paying for something earlier. The dedication of JL ground staff and the care shown was nothing short of amazing. In most U.S. or Canadian airports, the likely reaction would have been: "This is your problem, not mine, now don't bother me, I am busy." It's doubtful that a robot can be empathic.

Then once she boarded the flight, the real test began. Unlike most pax, she doesn't drink any alcohol and she can't drink anything with caffeine, so no coffee and no tea, this means, that beautiful wine list in First Class is no good. You'd think the purser will only serve her water in this case, not a chance. I don't know how the purser did it, the crew managed to make up drinks from the menu, and recommended several different options creatively. She said at first she was afraid to try fearing she wouldn't be able to sleep, but they managed to prepare very tasty tea and coffee using what, I don't know because I wasn't there and she could still sleep. Then the crew improvised and came up with nicely plated fruits and even colorful cakes which I didn't even know JL carries any cakes on board because I haven't seen any cakes on JL F this month and it's not on the menu so not sure where the crew got their cakes from. The flight was actually quite full, 6 or 7 pax out of 8 seats but she was the only woman, yet they still managed to give her so much attention is nothing short of amazing. Again, if this had been on United or any other North American carrier, the most likely reaction of FA to a passenger who refuses to drink alcohol, tea or coffee is just to serve them water and maybe juice but nothing else, they wouldn't have bother with such a complicate case because it may cut into their chatting time with each other. As for ordering from the menu, she told me it felt like she had a personal chef onboard. All she had to tell the purser was that she wanted the Western option (because I told my mother to pick the Western option for this month) and she didn't want any beef, the rest is up to the purser. Amazingly, the purser ran with the idea and prepared an elaborate 6 course meal like a table d'hote. When she told me what happened to her, I was amaze. In my mind, if the flight were relatively empty, I could see a passenger being given so much attention but no, it was fairly full. So when she told me all other pax were men, I figured perhaps the purser and other FAs, who were all women, felt more at ease with her being a woman as Japanese men in F cabin can be a little stern and not easily approachable, just a guess.

This is to show the FAs in the F cabin is anything but robotic, they are proactive, creative and have great problem solving skills. YMMV but I think JL has come a long way from the legacy day prior to bankruptcy as far as the service is concerned.
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