maltasr

My wife and I had the recent pleasure of using JAL from SAN to Narita to Singapore. We were blown away by their first class service on a 767. They were scheduled to use a 787 but switched equipment on that day. We've never had better service, amenities, and all around wonderful service. They even served Blue Tea dispensed from a wine bottle. There were only six passengers in a cabin equipped with 12 first class seats with two dedicated flight attendants. From what I could see, Business was pretty well filled but I never did get back to coach to have a look. This is San Diego's first and only service to Asia and I really hope it is successful with this kind of outstanding service. Is there any method of knowing what passenger loads are running using public information or is this a closely guarded secret? This is the only way I can think of to determine their future plans. We have a huge Asian population in SD which makes the service extra appealing. Also, Narita Airport was a breeze when changing planes. The return flight on AA from NRT-LAX in first was good but noticeably inferior.

yamanote8

Does JAL offer F on some of their 767s?

Glad to hear about your positive experience though. NRT is indeed a lovely airport to transit through.

JALPak

Not just that, 12 F seats too! The last 12 F seat configuration was Skysleeper on 744 LOL

p2323

I hope it's doing very well for them and that it never goes away (unless they're going to route it in and out of HND instead of NRT!). For SAN-based pax, not having to haul to LAX or SFO makes the trip a real joy, 15 minutes to the airport from most parts of town and you're on your way to Japan. Love it.

maltasr

Yes, moving the destination to Haneda would be a terrible mistake logistically. I seriously doubt it's going to happen. I have to ask one more time: Is there any manner in which an individual can access individual airline flight loads on specific
airline routes, ie, SAN-NRT, TIJ-NRT, JFK-LHR etc.?

armagebedar

US flights will likely stay at NRT since the strategy of JL (and NH) is to feed Asian traffic to the US via NRT. HND is better for Japan O&D traffic, so there may be new service to HND, but I doubt there will be any switches like there were for EU service.

JALPak

Even if there's a switch, SAN wouldn't be the top candidates

TheBOSman

Indeed, if I lived in SAN, I'd rather go SAN-NRT and go into Tokyo from Narita, instead of making the trek up to Los Angeles and flying LAX-HND (ignoring the specifics of which airline flies which route(s)).

yamanote8

You could use a seat availability tool like KVS Tool or ExpertFlyer to get an idea of how full the flight is by looking at the booking buckets.

I'm still curious about the configuration on the aircraft used on your flight though!

JALPak

I think OP wants more precise data than guessing (and judging by the post, don't think OP is particularly good at numbers LOL Sorry I have to poke fun at this )

BuildingMyBento

How is J availability for award bookings? Better SAN-NRT or in the reverse?

Also, does JL use non-regional J to any Chinese destinations?

Thanks,
BmB

JALPak

There are SS6, 788, and long-haul 777-200ER deployed on routes to China.

BuildingMyBento

Which J would you recommend, JALPak? Also, do any of the 788s go from HND to China yet?

SanDiego1K

I thought that this route was scheduled with 2 class service, not 3? Has it had the F cabin all along?

armagebedar

No; I think someone's just having a laugh at the OP's expense...