I took an A350 flight in PY from HND - JFK in June. Sorry I don't have photos of the seat but I think there are better photos on the JAL website than what I can take anyway. But personal opinions on the seat was very positive, spacious and comfortable, and especially the new screen was very nice (crystal clear) for watching shows. The leg rest is slightly annoying for me because it supports the calf slightly but there is no feet support so I'm not sure if your feet are just supposed to be hanging? Either way I just raised my legs up and curled up on the seat but the leg rest is just a tad too small to do that easily. Still overall a really comfortable flight in terms of the space (I was also lucky enough to be in a window seat with no one next to me).
I did have quite a negative service experience on this flight though. All the times I made requests to the CA I would not get what I wanted until asking again (for example, I asked for some pocket tissues and had to ask three times to three different CA before finally receiving it, to be fair to the first CA I asked, she came back half an hour(!!) later to ask if I received it). They also ran a promotion to sell Mori Izo (a premium shochu) to PY customers until a few days before I boarded my flight (I read about the promotion but did not clearly check the end-date), so I asked about it in flight and the CA was very snide about it. In the end I asked another CA to buy the other shochu they had on board, but she ended up billing me for Mori Izo, at a higher price... (and then another mess to find someone to refund and charge it again...).
I think it's mostly petty details but over the years I have had excellent and beyond service from JAL that raised my expectations. I've flown all classes of service ranging F to Y (many times in Y, actually), and I've always had better service in Y than this time in PY. In Y, I get to select the exit row seats and the Chief for Y cabin will always come to greet me on boarding and thank me for flying (honestly not essential, but no one acknowledged or greeted me at all this flight). The exit row seats in Y are also right where the galley is, so the crew is always hovering around taking away any trash and refilling drinks (never had to ask twice for anything, in fact, didnt have to ask at all most of the time! CA just notice my empty cup and bring another cup
. Just overall a bit disappointed at how PY should be an upgrade from Y (you do get a better seat), but somehow a service downgrade. In all fairness sometimes PY is priced not too much different from Y either!
I have experienced something similar to what you described. There is a significant disparity in the service quality of cabin attendants - a higher cabin class does not necessarily guarantee better service, as economy class sometimes receives superior attention. This disparity is even more pronounced among the senior cabin crew in charge of premium economy and economy class. I have encountered some outstanding crew members, as well as those who are simply rude and unenthusiastic about their job. Interestingly, flights JL5/6 to JFK and those to Singapore/Ho Chi Minh seem to consistently have the worst service from the crews. Similarly, for Hong Kong route, JL735/736 from Narita most of the time have better crews then JL29/26 from Haneda. Not sure why, although this may probably just be a coincidence. I think JAL does not have a policy for greeting elites (even JGC Diamonds) - it all depends on the proactiveness of individual crews (and how strict the senior cabin attendant is).