This second leg of my trip from Los Angeles to Bangkok started after our eight hour layover in the city of Tokyo. My wife and I went to our first Japanese barbecue restaurant we were taken to called Yakiniku Jumbo. It’s still one of our favorite restaurants in Tokyo.
As you can see below if we tried to pay cash for our itinerary the cost would have been north of 10k. We were able to secure it as part of Alaska Mileage Plan’s generous stopover policy on award tickets. Total Mileage plan cost was 75K miles.
Boarding
After Dinner we still had about 3 hours to kill so we headed over to the Sakura lounge in Haneda and hung out there until our flight was called to board at 12:10am in the morning.
The boarding process was fairly efficient. Business class passengers boarded in the front of the plane and everyone else boarded in the middle of the plane.
The Seat
The aircraft is a 777-200 which has its business class format in a 1-2-1 fashion. Jal calls their seats JAL Skysuites III. Since this was a red-eye flight and they lay flat I was hoping to get some shut eye.
Seat controls had a lumbar back massager which was pretty weak sauce.
The usb plug in the center console had a mirror. It didn’t work very well for my iPhone as it said charging but I could not get it to charge.
Amenities
JAL’s Business class amenity was nothing to write home about. You got your standard ear plugs,eye mask, moisture mask and toothbrush. All were stuffed into a drawstring airline colored cloth bag.
In Flight Entertainment
Entertainment controller sat above the seat so you wont bump into while you are sleeping and turn your bright screen on.
Good sized screen that wasn’t used much during this flight
These headphones are not my favorite but the get the job done.
Food and Beverage
I decided to get as mush sleep as possible so I decided to skip the breakfast service. Here is the menu below in case you wan to take a peak.
BED
The seat in business had 1-2-1 layout which all laid flat but the center 2 seats connected at the foot well which makes the design really odd. The foot wells were fairly small and when laid flat one of the seats will be higher than the other to accommodate for the foot well. I happened to have the lowered bed which made it really odd as I seemed to be real close to the floor.
Conclusion
Overall the flight was great if you would like to get some shuteye on an overnight flight. The service of the flight attendants were consistent. They continued to come over and check if I needed anything every time I was awake. I would definitely fly them again.
Two weeks before our original flight to Bangkok that connected through Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific protest started to stir up in the city of Hong Kong. Mainland China decided to end the no extradition law from Hong Kong thus breaking the agreement letting Hong Kong operate as an independent state. The news of protesters demonstrating outside Hong Kong airport was concerning as it shut down the airport for 2 days a week leading up to our trip.
Yours truly started to look for alternatives to Bangkok that routed through another Asian city. Luckily I found two seats in First Class seats on Japan Airlines (JAL) going through Tokyo. I quickly jumped on the opportunity to score the seats on Alaska’s Mileage plan. Since I originally booked the Cathay Pacific seat through the same frequent flyer program. I was able to use the miles from those tickets and apply them to the ones on JAL.
The one good thing about Alaska Mileage Plan is that there isn’t a change fee for award bookings if you hold status with the airline. Since I was an MVP Gold through a status match from my American Airlines Platinum status. Otherwise it would have cost me $125 per ticket to change the award.
The Seat
There are only 8 seats in the cabin so award seating may be difficult during peak season. I saw 3 available seats at the time of booking.
In Flight Entertainment
In my opinion Bose makes the best airline noise cancelling headphones out there.
In flight Entertainment (IFE) comes with and easy to use controller that is touch sensor. I really like that it is hidden in its on cubby so you can’t accidentally bump into the controller during the movie.
First comes with complimentary in-flight WiFi that is slow as molasses. Can’t complain if its free right 🤷🏻♂️?
Amenity Kits
Pre Flight Drink
JAL First is known for the Champagne served in its cabin. They use to serve Salon ($450 a bottle if you can find it) but now they only do that in the Tokyo outbound flight. For this flight I have to channel my inner 90’s rap star and deal with Cristal #firstworldproblems ($220 retail in stores).
Beverage Menu
Food Menu
Pajamas
Bed
They also came around to ask if we would like our beds to be made. They offered a hard and soft mats. The hard mat was recommended for sleeping and the soft mat was recommended for lounging around. The Bed came with two pillow which gets brownie points. I got a good couple hours which was not too bad.
Conclusion
Overall I would have to agree with the multiple reviews out there about JAL first class. The hard product is above average but the service was top notch. Every flight attendant came by to thank us and wished us good luck on our journey. Great way to start a vacation!