SFO Sakura Lounge
 

I last flew SFO-HND in Nov and used the JAL Sakura lounge in SFO. In a word, it is a dump. Slim selection of bad food; crowded; basically depressing. I thought UA set the standard for underperforming airline lounges, but this lounge managed to be even worse than UA. What is strange is that the JAL lounges in Haneda were the opposite. Lovely, great food, nice showers, great wifi. In a word excellent.

Has there been any improvement in what was a dismal SFO lounge. I would go to the other One World Cathay lounge at SFO but it is not open late enough to really work for the JAL flight.

Unfortunately it's still as you say it is. I'm wondering when they will refurbish it too.

As the SFO flight is expected to move to the daytime Haneda slots, I wonder if they are planning to switch to the CX lounge completely. But there seems to be no plan to update Manila either, and the above description could be of that lounge as well.

Probably will switch to BA instead of CX when the lease expires :p

Hope thread-mining is OK... We are flying on JAL 1 out of SFO next week and it would be useful to know if anyone has recently been able to access the Cathay Pacific lounge prior to the new(ish) 2:55pm departure time of JL1.

Cathay lounge is open (they said open 24 hours!), but only sandwiches, coldd drinks, coffee, tea and chips (can't remember if there was wine I was only there a few minutes) - said they were open for Alaska - anyway no hot food, no noodles, etc. Still IMHO much better than the claustrophobic JAL lounge

Thank you estnet, that helps. We were hoping to avoid the JAL lounge which as you mentioned is not great.

Any recent reports for this lounge?

It looks like the BA lounge opens after the NRT flight departs, and the CX lounge remains closed, so there are no OW alternatives available in Terminal A, although one could access the Admirals Club, given the connector to Terminal 1.

Wondering if the JL lounge is worth a visit as compared to say the Admirals Club, or even the AF lounge (priority pass) or VS lounge (Amex lounge).

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Short answer is NO. the JL lounge is horrible. Very nice staff with whom to check-in if you originate elsewhere and need to re-check in and don't want to go outside security.

I ended up using the AAdmirals Club. BA wasn't open. AF is average. VS only opens at 2pm contrary to what the online hours say.

Lounge is still lackluster. Flew SFO to HND the end of May. Ended up using the Admirals club. Would have loved to try the Alaska lounge, but alas, it was in a different terminal....

Hi, OP! Thanks for starting this thread. SIX YEARS and 12 days later, your description still is accurate. What I find cute are the replies to your post from also six year ago (!) that hopefully propose that JAL will remodel, or just close this place and funnel pax to CX/BA lounges; but no. Purposefully didn't arrive early and planned to skip the lounge but flight was delayed! :D
Possibly it's worse since nothing is self service, and the "food" is a sad cold bento box with cello-wrapped white bread sandwiches as the feature. Some karraage (fried chicken pieces) and a couple eda mame. Staff super friendly and welcoming but they are given nothing to work with. Entire lounge features two tiny windows; otherwise just boring beige walls.
Usually it's not lucky to be delayed but this JAL flight was delayed 90 min today so I'm typing this at the excellent BA Galleries Lounge, which opens at 13:30, too late for the normal JAL departure time of 13:40. Ordered a bacon cheeseburger (other options were impossible burger and a vegetarian cheesy pasta) along with a nice strawberry-rhubarb shortcake with vanilla ice cream. Made to order. Lovely drinks options. Nothing fancy but a very pleasant atmosphere with huge windows and super friendly staff.

Since this old thread is now awaken, I have couple of questions:
1. How far is the Admirals Club to the JL (normal) boarding gate(s), in terms of time?
2. Flying JL and am AA EXP, do I have access to AF/KLM lounge (I had gone there when I flew QR).?
TIA.

Admirals club is in domestic terminal,Jl is in international- not close

The Admiral's Club is in T2, JAL departs from the A gates in the international terminal. Kind of opposite ends of the airport. SFO claims that only T1 is connected airside to the A gates of the international terminal. I recall walking airside from 2 to 1 for an AA flight departing from Delta land, but I don't know if that is still possible. Probably a good 20 minute walk depending on specific gate if terminals 1 and 2 are still connected.

No access to the Air France lounge. QR may use it as their contract lounge, but that does not mean anything for a JAL passenger. But you can seemingly buy a walk up pass for 59 USD, if the lounge is open at the JAL flight hours.

AA and its club moved from T2 to T1 a couple of years ago, around 2019-2020. It is all airside to walk from the Intl A gates to the AA club, maybe 5-10min depending on walking speed.