JAL vs. QF SYD-NRT J
 

other than 1 being a day flight and the other at night, any reason to want 1 over the other?

yes, I searched over and over. Used The Google;) as well.

nothing recent. I guess asking in the JAL forum, JAL would be the preferred. Can't ask in both. Should have a new forum for comparing routes with different airlines.

Bueller???

You posted in the middle of the night here in Japan and Australia (and only waited four hours to boot) so I wouldn't have expected a reply.

I'll ask that this be moved to the Oneworld forum as it involves a comparison of two oneworld carriers.

My opinion is that you'll have older products on both, but a 747 with QF (and the ability to sit in the upper deck). When I flew NRT-SYD with JL last fall I wasn't terribly impressed with the food, though it was of generally good quality. I can't speak to QF but I have heard good things about their catering. Service-wise JL will probably be better, but QF has an Australian charm which might appeal to a Westerner.

good point. I have no patience.;)

JL vs. QF
 

I flew JL SYD-NRT 2 weeks ago. I thought the meal was so-so. The presentation is "pretty" but the food not particularly to my liking.
I'm not a big fan of mushrooms, which they seem to put in EVERYTHING, so that may color my opinion a bit. And I'm indifferent to sushi although I'll eat it.

QF food more to my "western" (i.e., US) palate I guess.

For SYD-NRT, JL is a daytime flight while QF is overnight. So I'd choose whichever works better for your schedule. For NRT-SYD, both are overnight, so not much difference there.

I've flown both and overall liked QF better. Better service and more substantial food offerings, better IFE, and slightly better seats. Both flights serve 2 meals, but the JL flight being during the day, you might get hungry in the middle. I was surprised that JL had very little in the way of mid-flight snacks on offer (much less than other JL flights of similar length, e.g. HND-SFO).

Better wine selection on QF, but I expect no less from them.

JL's IFE is heavily slanted towards Japanese options, and mostly movies, while QF's is mostly western options (not surprising) with a good variety of movies, TV, and documentaries.

JL doesn't invest much on the SYD route because it is a resort route. It used to use the low cost JO crews on this before JO is merged into JL

For me, I'll readily use either flight. Seats and service are effectively the same. I pick which northbound flight I use based on the time (although, connecting from CBR, I can only get the JL flight during Australian daylight saving without having to overnight in SYD).

While not a valid comparison, if the JL soft product is the same as my recent NRT-TPE, I'd take QF in a heart beat. I know a 4 hr 737 is different to a 10 hr 747, but if the crew and meals are an indicator, QF wins. Anybody fancy a big lump of hamburger mince covered with tomato sauce and a fancy box of snacks as a J mid day meal - and this was served after asking the JL FAs on departure that I specifically wanted the Japanese meal - and all they could do was say " sorry - we run out, you can have the western meal".

Sorry to hear that you didn't get your preferred meal choice but there are orders in place when allocating those meals. Requesting them at departure doesn't make you ahead of passengers with higher priority, e.g. JMB elites but I am sure they would have given you the Japanese meal if possible.

Oh we'll, live and learn. The entire cabin must have been composed of JMB elites which all must have trumped OW Emerald (QF Plat.). :)

Interesting how every airline has an apologist on FT :D

Possible given there are only 12 C seats on this short regional 73H flight. Only took 6 JMB elites to trump you assuming it's a full cabin and they prepared 6 western and 6 japanese meals.

I personally think JL should just stick with 80/20 Jap/Western meals as so many people love the Jap food. But of course it cost more, so maybe this is an issue.

I travelled on this route before on QF. The advantage is:

1) PJs
2) Slightly better seat than JL

Meals were average, but I don't care much about it (also seem to recall no Hot breakfast served).

Nice assumption but wrong. In reality, in the 12 seat cabin there were two "non Japanese" Passengers (us ) and 10 passengers looking very Japanese. Guess what ratio of meals were loaded - not 6 / 6, but 10 / 2. I assume only 12 meals were loaded ( unless they had many spare western meals ). Racial stereotyping driving catering at its best. It may be only a short regional 73H flight", but 4 hrs nevertheless

I don't believe there was any trumping by the other pax - it was just the crew ignoring my specific request.