Originally Posted by VegasGambler

This is a tough spot. You have plenty of time to make the connection, even if delayed by an hour or so.

But if you miss it completely, you are a no-show. I'm not sure how JL will handle this. They are entitled to cancel your whole ticket (including your return) and not give you a refund or rebook you. I'm not sure if they will actually do this or not.

So the probability of there being an issue is low, but you are risking a lot. Personally, I like to leave a lot more time when self-connecting, usually overnight, or at least a morning arrival with an evening departure.

The Grand Hyatt at SFO is quite nice and it's literally in the airport (you can take the free airtrain that goes between terminals to get here). So while it's more expensive than other nearby options, it's nicer and after you consider saved transportation costs it's about the same price.

If you do decide to keep this itinerary, here's a bit of advice: If you take a significant delay before you take off for SFO, deal with it before you take off. Change your JL flight before you no-show. Have a backup plan before you even go to the airport, so you aren't searching frantically if things go wrong.

FWIW I'm not sure what days you are flying but on some days, JL has 2 flights from SFO to Tokyo (SFO-HND and SFO-NRT)