Originally Posted by HawaiiTrvlr

That brings back a few memories of flying domestically in Japan (after arrival from the US). It always amazed me to watch them board 747s with so many people and so quickly. This was back when Hanada was a bit tired and well worn (I am sure that has all changed with their international flights). One moment a gate would be swarmed with people...a few minutes later it was completely empty.

Originally Posted by Unimatrix One

Thanks for the great comparison! I agree that JAL and ANA are two of the world's best airlines and are generally under-appreciated. When it comes to domestic F, I agree that overall, JAL feels more premium than ANA Premium Class. (For simplicity I will refer to ANA Premium Class as ANA F.) That said, I have a couple of major gripes about JAL F: (1) availability and (2) aggressive seat blocking. [Begin rant] First, availability: JAL's domestic F cabins are ridiculously small. 5 seats on a 767? 6 seats on a 787? This is why JAL F often sells out weeks or months in advance. I have found it extraordinarily difficult to get seats on the flights I want. Also, pricing: JAL F is generally priced lower than ANA F (due to JAL's flat 8,000 yen surcharge over Y), despite JAL having smaller F cabins. This is another reason why they sell out so early. Clearly JAL could charge more. As a business decision this makes no sense to me. JAL is leaving money on the table. And now my second frustration: obnoxious seat blocking. For example, on the A350, JAL blocks 3/4 of the window seats to everyone but top tier (Diamond/Premier) members. As a mid tier elite willing to pay full fare, I am only allowed to select one window seat, which is in the back row farthest from the door. I know of no other airline that blocks its own mid tier elites from so many of the desirable seats. It's especially maddening when I'm traveling with my family of four and many of the seat pairs are unavailable to us because of all the blocking. I mean really, here I am as a Sapphire member willing to buy four full fare F tickets, and JAL won't let me select any pair on the left side of the plane (and only one on the right side, provided that someone hasn't taken one of those seats already). It's insulting. So guess which airline now gets all our business on paid domestic F fares (three trips over the past year, with one more planned next month). Hint: It's not JAL. On our ANA flights next month we have 1A, 1C, 2A, and 2C in both directions. Perfect seats that I could never get on JAL. Anyway, first world problems. [End rant] Thank you again for the great trip reports!