JALPak

The seats look so similar these days it’s hard to tell the differences That’s why apex is still my favorite. And it’s a real suite.

CPH-Flyer

How many Aeroflot birds are there, everyone seems to get Aeroflot planes these days..... lol

lauren817

Hi there! New to the forum and having a bit of a dilemma. I am hoping to book a First or Business class fare from JFK-HND in Dec 2024 using BA Avios. When I look the flight up on JAL website, however, it appears that the JL5 route that should have the A350 is listed as being a 777 sky suite instead. It appears to be switch from the A350 to to 777 as of Oct 27, 2024. Would it be safe to assume that the plane type has just not been updated and that I will most likely be flying the A350 on this route, as it is the flagship route? Or should I work with the assumption that for some reason the A350 is being switched out at that time for some reason. Any insight anyone can give would be great.

bpe

Schedules probably aren't yet loaded or updated properly for dates after October (the website only lists October 2023 - March 2024 as the current schedule). However, booking any flight 11+ months out means that making almost any assumptions about plane type are not safe since so much can change between now and then.

CPH-Flyer

The A350-1000 schedule to New York is only loaded until the end of the IATA summer schedule. So until 26th of October. It will be updated eventually, though I don't see JFK as a high risk of a scheduled aircraft change.

And welcome to Flyertalk and the JAL forum. Do stick around, the community is full of knowledge and answers that can be very helpful.

VoiD

Spotted at HND

commaspace

Just watched the Sam Chui's vid. J suites looks to be very competitive/ best-in-class with the exception of the headrest speakerphone. That really is going to be a big negative if I can hear buddy's movie from next seat. Not sure why they thought this is a good idea.

CPH-Flyer

The theory is that you will not be able to hear the sound from your neighbours. But hearing is believing. I would imagine JAL has tested this, but let's see what the feedback is once people start flying it.

Maserati506

You've already seen how they decided to leave all the cabin finishes unnoticed, in that order of ideas, I don't think anyone at JAL is going to do any work to inspect the seat speakers.

The only objective seemed to be the entry into service of the plane as soon as possible and paradoxically it coincided with the moment in which the whole world has seen, through the media and social networks, a similar plane completely incinerated on the runway of an airport. The greatest possible negative publicity for the Company.

CPH-Flyer

​​​​​​I am sure they tested the concept before signing the option off. Whether the installed version in Leahy's Bargain Basement products lives up to the test version is of course a different matter.....

MattEvan

IMO the publicity from the Haneda fireball situation has been largely positive for JL, or perhaps mixed/neutral.

Deserved or not, JAL seems to be viewed favorably because of the human life outcome and generous response to passengers.

cyborg

I would be more concerned about extreme volume from crew/cockpit announcements which in the past have been a bit too loud compared with the media settings used for watching movies. I have become used to snatching my klipsch earbubs out of my ears in a hurry before suffering pain and hearing loss. I would be curious how one would quickly reduce the volume from the seat speakers should such an imbalance occur inflight.

Cheers,

-Cyborg

P.S., Mazda did something similar over 20 years ago in their sports car, but I lost track of what happened with the technology. Anyway it is apples to oranges when considering what your seat neighbor would experience (e.g., two seat passenger would likely be listening to the same content).

CPH-Flyer

Yeah, I had not really thought about that. With my own headphones I always have the volume setting on the lowest possible, and then the announcements come blaring through at absurd volumes. Not sure why they do that.
That will be interesting how it is going to work with the new system.....

JALPak

JA02WJ will arrive HND tmr at 11:15JST

https://ja.flightaware.com/live/flight/JAL8102

dontsh00t

I had my first Apex experience last week and I hated it (well, hated is a strong word for J). I'm a little smaller and shorter than the average passenger, and yet I had to be conscious of keeping my elbows close to me to avoid knocking against the sides. There's definitely a lot of space in front of you, but i very much prefer that space to be around my torso like in a reverse herringbone seat. I was constantly looking for space to put stuff around me on the Apex suite - I ended up having to stuff a few things in between the armrest and the sidewall of the plane. The best places for storage (the netting behind the seat and the space under the TV) all required me to get completely out of my seat, which doesn't feel like good design. Maybe my experience would have been different if I had an aisle seat with the little cubby beside me, but the lack of privacy kinda negates one of the strongest selling points of Apex...

I definitely prefer ANA's Room to Apex suites - even if the overall space per pax is smaller, it's used much more efficiently. JAL's new J looks like it would be an improvement on ANA's Room (smaller seat but potentially more storage space), so I'm excited to see the reviews from the debut flight.

My current preference would be JAL's new J (probably) > ANA Room > Reverse herringbone with door > Apex and reverse herringbone without door tied (depending on the specific configuration of reverse herringbone).