wolf539

That is simply not accurate. While the purser or lead FA may speak good English, the majority of the crew on most of my flights spoke limited English, and they were hesitant to say much more than "you're welcome..."

That's your opinion; others have had a much different experience. Based on my personal experience, which is quite a bit more than one flight, I disagree.

You registered here one day ago, posted your rant and got it off your chest. Those who chose to reply for the most part expressed their sympathy and shared their experiences. Like it or not, not everyone is going to agree with you.

Now, do you have anything else to offer?

rochel

I haven't ever had a bad experience flying JAL in any class, and have found their 1st class service to be supreme. On my most recent trip LAX-->NRT, I was the only Caucasian in F and the only female as well. I was treated as well as the other male Japanese passengers, even better if I consider that the FA brought me a number of additional beauty items for my amenity bag that the male pax weren't offered. I could never get to the bottom of my drink either as the FA was there to top it off. I received the jammies to change into as soon as I set foot in the cabin.

I do speak and read Japanese and so can communicate well with the FAs, so perhaps it is more of a language barrier? I don't generally have the impression that JAL FAs have a great deal of English capability. On my most recent return flight, there was an Australian gentleman in the F cabin as well who was having a lot of difficulty communicating what he wanted. The FAs were really trying hard to get it but it took a bit of time to get his idea across.

I haven't ever encountered any behavior on a JAL flight that I would consider to be racist. If anything, I felt that i was doted upon a bit, even more so once I spoke to them in Japanese.

motytrah

English is an issue with JAL FAs. Frankly, it's a problem in general with the Japanese education system which is taught for testing, not for real world proficiency.

Second thing, there is nothing wrong with hitting the call button. Western folk often expect service staff to come and ask if there is anything else to be done. In reality people just hit the call button or aggressively get the servers attention with a SUMIMASEN!

That is not to say that you should have to do that in F, JAL's service standard should be higher than that of a neighborhood pub.

Be that as it may, have you contacted JAL about this? I'd be interested in hearing the response. (Although they ask for people not to post responses. )

Be polite, but firm. Maybe edit your message down to something a bit more concise. Bullet point list your service issue list.

https://rgst.jal.co.jp/cgi-bin/jal/g...gi?phase=1&e=1

atakam

I don't know if JAL is racist or not, but my experience with them is very variable service. Sometimes good, but sometimes horrible, even sitting on long haul F. Although I can speak fluently Japanese, I always speak in English with them, so the language issue is not the case. If it were, it has nothing to do with the Japanese educational system, it is a JAL problem. BTW according to my experience, they generally have a good English speaker on every flight.
My recommendation is to do a formal claim IN THE FLIGHT, you have just to ask for their "comment card" (they have this pre-printed forms where you can send a customer feedback) to JAL. The good thing about the card is that if you submit it to the Purser (identifying the poor service FA or crew), they have to work longer after the flight. There is a debrief process where the crew has to address why the claim was received and do all the Japanese procedure of understanding the failure and how to improve it (kaizen).
Finally they have to write a full report to their HQ and you will get an answer.

So if they treat you bad or under the advertised level of promised service...make them work extra (this also applies to ANA)

joejones

This is a broader cultural thing which extends to restaurants, stores and other service settings in Japan. You have to get someone's attention before they will help you. One Japanese acquaintance of mine believes this is because of the lack of tipping: people will help you if you actively put the burden on them, but they will not actively seek to serve you.

Anyway, this is a sad story.

I have noticed spottier service on both JAL and ANA recently, and I think it may have a lot to do with the demoralizing effects of their respective labor restructurings, which have cut people's pay and made them generally miserable, even if they don't always display it in the cabin.

PhlyingRPh

OP states every passenger around him was treated well while he was ignored. A flight attendant with half a brain knows there's a problem when one person has to keep getting up to ask for service. Unless proved otherwise, it's clear he was being discriminated against, and I would classify his experience as being at the receiving end of racism. 'm a little surprised that this isn't obvious to more people here.

virmaior

As some of the other posters have also said, not so great. I flew three JAL flights in May. The FAs were beyond timid to use English. One of them struggled horribly to thank us for flying JAL in English.

I didn't say it was justified nor did I say it was good behavior. There are cultural differences in service behaviors between Japanese culture and ??? (your culture).

I would include some varieties of racism within the milieu of Japanese cultural behaviors. For instance, I am treated well because I am caucasian. Friends who are Korean or Chinese have indicated that the Japanese seemed to look down on them and expect them to know all the niceties of Japanese culture (whereas they act surprised that I can use chopsticks).

Yeah, that's sad. Why not write a letter rather than just complain here?
Some Japanese people might be racist, even some who work for international companies, but JAL itself does not have racist policies and will definitely do something if your letter does not come off as too crazy.

joejones

Yeah--they'll write you an apology letter back. Not worth the time, in my opinion.

acregal

I think if you write it in the letter might get put in the file of the FAs in F, if they could be identified. Although I really wouldn't be surprised to get some form letter response that might have some weak apology.

I'd be inclined to go with racism here, although if you asked the FAs, it was probably something caused by unidentifiable "cultural differences" caused by some crappy tarento and monkey foreigner on TV or some culture training given by some JAL bucho who could barely say アイスピックイングリシュ.

It's stuff like this why I just refuse to speak English to the FAs. Usually I don't speak a word of English to them. That way any cultural misunderstandings just don't happen.

1/4MM@20

I guess Im just a little slower to jump on the racism bandwagon here. There could be a million different factors going on here - perhaps for example the OP gave the FAs the impression that he wanted to sleep and not be disturbed. I dont think that the experiences here alone, given the possible cultural and language issues highlighted, necessarily point to racism. And even if there was some form of discrimination occuring here, clearly that is something to put towards the crew (or the FAs serving F that flight) rather than to JAL as a whole.

Reading through this thread, post after post points to the exemplary service received on JAL. My own experience, as I mentioned, has been superb on 3 different F flights in the past year (and I speak no Japanese at all).

Maybe the OP had bad luck, maybe there was some kind of misunderstanding, maybe there is more to the story, maybe the FAs did not handle the situation correctly and maybe even there was some discrimination on the part of the FA but in no way can this isolated experience brand JAL as racist.

Tak

OP did not like the first class lounge, OP did not like JAL does not serve welcome drink, and then ..............

Also, OP said ORD to BKK.
How was the flight from NRT to BKK?
Is that bad, too.
Is there any difference of services.

How about the return flight if you have already returned?
You did not like the first class lounge at NRT?
How was the service BKK- NRT?
How was the service NRT-ORD?

From your total experiences of all four flights including the lounge staffs, you feel JAL is the racist?

GUWonder

I don't buy that for even a New York minute.

motytrah

I would disagree. While the OP may not see much beyond an apology, on the back side, most Airlines require pursers to have a spotless record for a certain number of months. A bad complaint can mean a de facto temporary demotion.

NYCBunny

Sorry to hear the OP had a bad time, but I agree with Rochel and a few others. I find the service top notch, but I also admit to speaking Japanese. So as soon as I board the plane I just start speaking it instead of English. I also usually carry a small book in Japanese when I board. Usually that gets the FA's attention when they see the Caucasian reading the Japanese book.

I even sit in the bulkhead Economy row and have had no problem asking the Biz FA for a drink or some snacks when she was in my vicinity. Or one time I was met at the exit gate by staff when I disembarked because they wanted to check my allergies to make sure the return special meal was acceptable. They go above board.

But I do think a lot of it comes down to language. If I'm speaking English I get good to excellent service from the Japanese FA's, I get mediocre to very good service from the Chinese ones. Conversely if speak Japanese I get great to excellent service from the Japanese FA's.

ddutil

I've had similar experiences on AA because they treat employees and relatives of employees like they belong in F and the paying (cash or miles) public like they are intruders in the employee lounge. Not saying that explains what happened here, but it's not always what it seems.