NYC1

Awesome review, as always.

My favorite parts:

• fanboy comment
• "lost in translation" -- clever

What you said about feeling a bump in the seat/bed is pretty disturbing. The main reason I pay for F is to sleep and have peace & quiet (they're related) so that's quite a bummer for the latest F out there.

All the useless/quasi useless tech is annoying and a diversion of attention/resources from things that matter more.

The mostly mediocre food is pretty disappointing.

dkc192

How would you compare JL vs NH new F in terms of overall experience? Currently have NH booked ex-JFK and keeping an eye out for JL availability on the return to do a nice head-to-head.

sl00001

Great and detailed report SFO777 but JAL seems to be lacking behind ANA......and with only one bottle of Salon loaded ..meh. Is this becoming a thing ...like SQ only loading one bottle of KRUG??

SFO777

Thanks very much NYC1. Glad that I tried the A350-1000 but I wouldn't be going out of my way for a repeat. To/from Tokyo, I'd still prefer SQ First, or the long way on Emirates or Air France if I have plenty of time.

I'd rate them pretty similar but a slight nod to NH. I liked NH New First which is a major step up from the dopey old cube and much better than JAL 777 First. One major plus for NH is private immigration on arrival at Narita (but not Haneda), which JAL does not have. But JAL has a better mattress for sleeping. I like your idea of NH out and JAL back if they release seats, which is a big if.

Some pics from my ORD-NRT NH New First flight where there were just two of us in the First cabin, with both if us on award tickets... one 110K AC award and my 85K VS award.







Thank you so much sl00001. I didn't realize that SQ only loads one bottle of Krug although is has never been an issue with two lovely taste test alternatives, Taittinger Comtes and Heidsieck Blanc des Mill�naires... and only 4 seats in First.

SFO777

Here are links to Instagram videos of my flights to and from Tokyo.

UAflyerwhoflystomuch

How did you manage to score 2 first class tickets? I can only get one (even when its 1/8 a day before the flight!)

SFO777

Luck more than anything. The JAL one was relatively easy. I booked a few speculative HND-DFW dates roughly 6 months ago when JL12 was still 777 service and before JAL stopped releasing more F award seats when they officially scheduled the A351. My May 1st HND-DFW booking was one of the (odd) A351 days that automatically carried over to the A351. The NH First one was a little more difficult but NH released a 2nd F award seat about 10 days before my April 29th target date. Interesting that they also released an F seat on the later 4/29 ORD-HND flight and it sat unclaimed for nearly a week.

jbandy10

If my spouse books F and I book J, do you think the FA will allow us to swap seats halfway through the flight?

I assume they won't allow me to come up and sit with them in F.

SFO777

Swapping seats would be unlikely on most airlines but especially Japanese airlines which are more "by the book" IMO.
You might be able to visit briefly, but I wouldn't count on it for an extended period of time.
Suggest you pose the question in this JAL forum where JAL experts can opine.

onenation1994a

Wow you must be very lucky� I monitor JL F availability every day in Sabre and have not seen a single sit open since late February�

SFO777

Unfortunately, that is the current state of trying to find A350 F award seats.

I booked my seat back what the flight was still 777 and JL hadn't pulled back on releasing seats. Early this year (January), I booked three speculative F award seats on three random 2024 dates hoping that the 777 would be swapped for the A350. All three dates (May DFW, August DFW and November JFK) became A350. Now that I've flown the A350 once, I just cancelled that August DFW one and will likely cancel November JFK.

UAflyerwhoflystomuch

They didn't allow that for me (I was in F and person I was traveling with was in J) As a matter of fact, they didn't let the person I was traveling with come up to F until after we landed. I visited them, but wasn't allowed to stay for super long. So... I was the only one in first class on that flight (roughly 10 hours). Maybe it defers from flight attendants, but just letting you my experience!

Seat 2A

Thank you for another look into the wonderful world of international First Class air travel. I would love to try that A350 First Suite some day. It looks wonderful.

As to your meal, I wonder if you had the same chef designing your menu as I did? My menu also included the awful goats milk blecch and aside from a too small portion of okay wagyu beef, the Western Meal was more Japanese than western and overall quite a disappointment.

Here's wishing you many more great trips up front, and thanks again for the great reports!

Onedaytravel442

Great Photo's. Thank you for sharing your trip on Japan Airlines.

SFO777

Thank you very much Seat 2A. The goat's mile blecch has been on the menu for months. I can't imagine it is still there because people love it.

Thanks Onedaytravel442. And welcome to FT!