8 July 2025
I woke up from my last sleep in Sapporo. Today would be another long travel day. After breakfast at Sosei hotel, I ordered an uber to take me to Sapporo station. I know that I could have easily walked, but I was getting tired of walking in the summer heat. I learned my lesson from taking the rapid train to the airport without a reservation, and the lack of last minutes seats when booking in the reserved carriage to Otaru. So I booked a u-seat the day previously, but this meant I had a tight deadline to reach my train. I also proactively asked the hotel to courier my luggage to the next hotel via Ta-q-bin.
I didn’t take any photos of the journey to the airport but it was largely unmemorable. Though the train was busy, so I was glad I reserved a seat.
Like at HND, JL offers a premium check in and private security screening leading directly into the diamond premier lounge for OWEs and domestic F passengers. Unlike last time at HND, I spotted this entry quickly! And asked at checkin to have boarding passes printed. Purely out of vanity, it humoured me to see boarding passes say “Japan Airlines First Class” despite flying domestically and paying a fraction of their long haul F fares!
The lounge set up was very similar to HND, with a small selection of snacks including Onigiri and flavoured popcorn. And nice massage chairs, but partitioned rather than being in a seperate room. I liked spotting the different JAL aircraft from the windows overlooking the tarmac.
Like my earlier JAL A350 flight, the entire F cabin had the window shades closed during boarding. I didn’t want to be impolite by being the first to open mine! But eventually other passengers slowly opened theirs.
JAL F branded wet towel.
I had this dish for lunch, considering it was a while ago I think it was a warm chicken dish? I always love the specially wrapped rice, which I have previously enjoyed on JAL long haul F! I always think the cuisine is one of the highlights of flying in JAL premium cabins.
We had stunning views of Tokyo during the landing into Haneda.
Shifting to views of the dockyards as we got closer to Haneda.
Racing another plane due to the parallel landing setup, unfortunately we lost.
