As JL is a new OW member, I thought I would drop a quick report on my experience on JL 959 from NRT to ICN the other day. I booked a Y ticket from JAL online and did not realize that the flight was an AA code share until after I got to the aiport, so my experience should be indicative of other AA elites (I am a Plat) flying on JL flights intra-asia.

Check-in: I arrived at NRT at the JL check in counters and could not imemdiately locate the business-class line. I asked an agent where the business class line was, and she directed me to the I group counters which turned out to be the first class check in area. No worries however as the friendly JL agent assisted me without blinking. When I booked online, I selected a seat in the upper deck of the 744. It appeared the plane was a 3 class configuration flying with 2 class service (business/economy). I was looking forward to sitting on the upper deck of a 744, and the friendly gate agent moved me to a window seat. I proceeded quickly through security and immigration (less then 10 minutes total) and moved to the new Sakura lounge.

Lounge: For those AA members who enjoyed the fine new Admirals Club at NRT, you will be in for a nice suprise. The new JL Sakura lounge, located not too far from the Admirals Club location is FAR SUPERIOR to the Admirals Club IMHO. Here is my break-down of the club:

1. Decor/layout: You enter the lounge at the terminal level (3) and you walk down to the main club area. On the 2nd floor (one floor down) you have a large area with ample seating, multiple areas with drink/light snacks, massage chairs, a massage room, a business center with high speed internet (free), showers, and a children's play area. There is also a upper story (located again on the 3rd floor, but not directly accesible from the entrance) "dining area". The decor is pleasant, clean, and in general there is a sense of airiness and quality. The lounge was a pleasant place despite the large number of passengers. All in all the 2nd floor alone seemed larger then the Admirals Club location. Of course, the Sakura Lounge ups the Admirals Club based on the massage chairs and the massage room alone...

2. Massage: On the 2nd floor there are 5 electronic massage chairs and a massage room where you can recieve a real massage. I will say that there was a 1 hour wait for a real massage, but it appeared that you could call ahead and reserve a time. For those in need of a 15 minute tuneup before a long flight, I suggest calling ahead and booking a time. If you forget to do this, I can say that the massage chairs do a great job of working out the kinks. The controls are in Japanese and can be a bit confusing for those not familiar with the language, but the lounge staff were very helpful, and jumped at the chance to explain the functions of the chair.

3. Food: This was the second surpise. On the upper level dining area, there is real food at the Sakura lounge. At the Admirals club they have cold snacks, sandwiches, etc for food. At the Sakura club, they had beef curry, chicken gumbo, udon noodles, rice, fresh grilled fish (mackeral with miso paste), a selection of japanese pickles, miso soup, and a small but usable salad bar. The food was actualy pretty good, and it was just what I needed before hoping on a short flight. In addition to the food there is a full service bar with several decent french wines, and a wide selection of liquer. Most of the liquer seemed to be middle of the range (beefeater gin, smirfnoff vodka, JW Black, Yamazaki 12) but it was still a nice touch. Another advantage of the dining area is a row of VERY comfortable chairs against the far wall of the area by the bar. The chairs are accented with large, feather filled pillows and were both stylish and comfortable. I saw that many people were not going upstairs to the dining area. If you're in the lounge go upstairs! The seating is comfortable, the views are better for spotting, and there is decent food/drink.

4. Satellite lounge: I made my way to gate 91 in the Sat. terminal and popped into the Sakura sat. lounge for a few minutes. This lounge is much older, but still had some nice touches including massage chairs and a good food selection. For food, they had a decent selection of sushi (salmon, tamago, unagi, etc) in addition to onigiri and udon soup. All in all I was very impessed by the two JL lounges. The lounge staff were super friendly, and they appeared to out number the passengers at times!

Flight: As I knew I would be sitting in business class I was looking forward to trying out JL's old J seats. To my pleasant suprise, the 744 I was configured with the new shell flat seats and solo pods in first! Although I was on a Y fare, I knew that I would be sitting in a J seat. Judging by the comments I heard from the passengers around me, other people were VERY happy and suprised to be in a shell flat seat. The short flight went smoothly, and I was able to watch most of Oceans 13. The shell flat seats are pretty good by any standard, though I prefer NH's seat to JL's seat. I think many would agree that angled flat seats are better then AA's old style J seat, and being in one for even a short flight was a treat. These seats are very comfortable on trans pac flights, and were a nice suprise.

Conclusion: From check in to flight arrival, my JL experience was wonderful. I think JL is really working to make OW elites happy, and they were very accomodating to me. So if you're a AA elite and find yoruself on a JL flight in the near future, enjoy! I hope your experience is as good as mine.