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Recently I was looking for some flights to head off to Japan to treat my girlfriend and decided to spend some airline miles to get there. The best availability for us was to fly with JAL and using miles allowed us to fly in business class for practically free, otherwise we'd have been sitting ... Read review
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Advantages: Very friendly staff, good seat, very clean Disadvantages: Food might not be for fussy eaters, lack of seat storage
...flights to head off to Japan to treat my girlfriend and decided to spend some airline miles to get there. The best availability for us was to fly with JAL and using miles allowed us to fly in business class for practically free, otherwise we'd have been sitting in the back. So my review is based purely on the experience of JAL in business class.
== Booking ==
Well I booked our flights on the telephone with American Airlines, ... ...the airline themselves.
I did however call JAL as I was unable to view my booking on their site (different booking system to AA) and the very helpful staff were able to provide me with a booking reference and some guidance for the website so that I could pick seats in advance. The hours are limited for calling their office in the UK but the staff are very helpful. Booking can also be done online of course.
Recently I was looking for some flights to head off to Japan to treat my girlfriend and decided to spend some airline miles to get there. The best availability for us was to fly with JAL and using miles allowed us to fly in business class for practically free, otherwise we'd have been sitting in the back. So my review is based purely on the experience of JAL in business class.
Booking
Well I booked our flights on the telephone with American Airlines, so can't say much about the booking process direct with the airline themselves.
I did however call JAL as I was unable to view my booking on their site (different booking system to AA) and the very helpful staff were able to provide me with a booking reference and some guidance for the website so that I could pick seats in advance. The hours are limited for calling their office in the UK but the staff are very helpful. Booking can also be done online of course.
Checking in
Check in for our outbound flights was easy as we did it before a connecting flight and simply changed planes at Heathrow. For the return trip we used the self service machine at the airport and despite missing the 'English' option we were eventually able to get our boarding passes. There is a bag drop for those with stuff to check in. Each time we got our seats that we'd requested so I would say that the check in process was easy.
There is also the online check in option, but you still need to pick up boarding passes at the airport.
Airport Experience
JAL operate their own lounge in Terminal 3 at Heathrow and it's nicer than most lounges you will come across. There's a wide variety of drinks, plenty of newspapers and magazines in English and Japanese and the usual snacks you'll find in a lounge like cakes, biscuits and alike.
Boarding announcements are made for every flight, there aren't so many so it's not a lot of work for them I imagine. The lounge wasn't crowded but our flight was really rather empty so it's possible the lounge would be much busier at peak times.
Coming back from Narita was a lot more pleasant than Heathrow, security was less of a hassle although the shopping opportunities are just as bad for a cheapskate like me.
There are a number of large lounges at Narita providing free internet access and snacks and drinks as before. Things were a lot busier but the lounges had adequate room. I suspect things were busy as the previous day had seen all flights suspended due to an accident so more people would have been at the airport.
The lounges were very very clean indeed, both at Heathrow and Narita.
On board
Service is certainly with a smile on JAL, everybody was extremely pleasant and requests from passengers were dealt with promptly and without making people feel as if they were bothering the staff (many airlines have some shocking staff attitude).
The first meal was served soon after departure with a choice of Western or Japanese options for every meal. Personally I went for the Japanese meals every time and wasn't disappointed with the quality. The second meal was served on request, so I left it as late as possible. Despite a large number of choices I found that there was nothing that suited my tastes on the return flight with only evening meals available after waking up from a 5 hours sleep. I really wanted some kind of breakfast and on this flight it just wasn't there. I realise it was a midday departure arriving in London in the afternoon, but I still wanted breakfast :-)
The Japanese menu has a lot of fish in it as you would expect, but the quality was excellent. The Japanese breakfast on the outbound flight was also very nice indeed.
There were lots of drinks options, I'm happy with coffee and water when flying but I did try a couple of the wines and they were very nice indeed.
Entertainment is provided via an on demand system with a wide number of movies. The choice of language options is wide and some movies are not in English or with English subtitles, so there will be a few you can't watch. I counted more than 20 movies to choose from. What was missing for me was some good TV comedy. The TV shows consisted of a single episode each of Planet Earth, House and CSi. I think there is some room for improvement here, I'd like something to laugh at! I only watched one movie going each way.
The screen is 10 inches in size, more than large enough in my opinion. Panasonic noise cancelling headphones were provided. You won't be able to use these with your iPod however as the connector has two prongs, just to be awkward.
The cabin was spotlessly clean, even the toilets were shiny. There's no amenity kit, these have been declining in size over the years anyway but JAL just come around with a basket offering a few items for you to take. I only bothered with the toothbrush.
The Seat
The seat was impressive, it was the 'Shell Flat Seat'. It's not fully horizontal, but that suits me fine. Most 'fully flat' seats just go horizontal but maintain the contours of a seat so are really quite bumpy, although there are a couple that don't have this annoying feature.
In the upright position it's just about possible to touch the back of the seat in front with your toes. The seat reclines into the space behind but it is all enclosed in a plastic shell, so the seat in front will never bother you, regardless of how it is positioned. When fully reclined it's like trying to sleep on a slight incline, quite comfortable in my opinion.
The seat area lacks a bit of storage. You're not allowed to store anything on the floor for take-off and landing, so you would hope to have somewhere to put your book, mp3 player or whatever else you may consider essential. There's a tiny little storage area in the back of the seat in front, but when it has the provided noise cancelling headphones and slippers there isn't much room. There is also a magazine area, but there's no room in there for the magazine you brought with you.
It's not all bad about the storage, you'll have almost 2 overhead lockers to each pair of seats, you won't be fighting for space. There might be a fight if the aisle seat is reclined and you're trying to squeeze out though, there will still be a bit of climbing involved.
Summary
Despite the couple of problems I have described I'm still giving the JAL business class experience a 5 rating. I really thought the experience was impressive from start to finish and I did feel a lot happier than when using business class on other airlines. If the price was competitive I'd choose them ahead of BA but I think Virgin would still be preferable on flights to Japan.
Advantages: Good choice of food, big TV's in every seat, friendly staff Disadvantages: same films to and from Japan
...We decided to fly Japan Airlines firstly because it was the cheapest we could find and it had a stop off both ways in Tokyo, somewhere my girlfriend and I were interested in visiting. We hadn't flown with them before, but I have travelled with many other Airlines such as Quantas, Monarch, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Leisure.
We didn't know what to expect but I knew people that had flown with them and they said it was their favourite Airline, ... ...that the leg room on Japan Airlines Planes is the biggest, Quantas I found, being the smallest. Not only is the leg room a comfortable size, they supply you with a foot rest aswell.
I cannot put into words the excellence of the check in. As always and unlike my girlfriend I am always on time or very early. On this event we were 6 hours early (i like being in airports-call me sad-but I do)
We looked up at the board a couple of hours later and it ...
Derek300 09.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Japan Airlines - JAL
Advantages: Very efficient, very courteous Disadvantages: None
...sample different airlines. So far, Japan Airline (JAL) has been my favourite. I have flown with JAL to Narita, Sydney, New York and San Francisco numerous times, and they have never disappointed me once.
The ground crew are extremely efficient and courteous. On one of our frequent trips in and out of Australia, we always have to fly to Sydney because its the main hub for JAL. Our baggage would have been checked all the way to Narita in Japan and ... ...5 hours waiting time in Japan but this extra time was slowly eroding as we wait in San Francisco.
Once back at the terminal, JAL allowed us to buy meals at their expense (as long as it did not exceed a certain amount of $15 per person). We were also told to be back at the boarding gate within 2 hours. So, a meal and another wait. This time round, we managed to take off after a 5 hour delay. No doubt we were worried that we were going to miss our ...
petitesquirt 06.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Japan Airlines - JAL
Advantages: Very Polite air crew and ground crew Disadvantages: Smoking stench, poor food, small seats, no personal TV, bad food
Maybe I just got lucky and got the worst aircraft that JAL own or maybe I'm just so used to really GOOD Airlines (such as SIA, Thai and Cathy) that I found JAL to be horrific...and horrific is being nice...so lets get on with the details...
My flight was a 6pm flight from Bangkok to Narita Economy class; it's a 6-hour flight.
First the seats, small, very very small, with leg room that an 8-year-old child would find tight. I am not overly tall but ... ...front of me if I tried to sit straight in my seat, My knees had to be jammed into the seat in front higher than my own seat, if I sat slightly sideways i could squeeze my feet onto the floor, just. Foot rests, no idea couldn't reach the floor to find out.
And so we took off...and then it got really bad...the smoking started. I swear every person in smoking class must have had 4 or 5 cigarettes in their mouths waiting for the "no smoking" light to ...
khunKwai 30.08.2000 (16.02.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Japan Airlines - JAL
...the pleasure of travelling on Japan Airlines for quite a while. However, my memories of their service which, "captivates the essense of the East" is still with me. They are quietly efficient. THe air craft are in excellent condition. The crew were always attentive without being intrusive. Transfers and ground handling was excellent. It is not a cheap airline to travel on but the money spent is well worth it. The food was of a very high standard and ...
Shrimathi 15.08.2000
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Review of Japan Airlines - JAL
...the most likely choice, but Japan Air is an excellent way to get cheaply to Australia and New Zealand, provided you don't mind changing planes in Japan. On the way home, the flights do not connect properly, so they put you up (free) in a 4 star hotel in Tokyo for the night! Where is the best place to buy tickets on JAL? This is my best advice based upon 10 years experience of selling discounted airline tickets - but if you think you already know ... ...to buy it for this airline, then skip to the last paragraph! Lets face it, all airlines can get you from A to B, sometimes you have to change at C, sometimes you have to hang around at C, but if price is your main concern, read on .... First, as an ex-travel agent, let me explain how the system works. Nearly all airlines belong to a cartel known as IATA, which amongst other duties, helps to regulate the official prices between each pair of worldwide ...
travel-expert 13.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Japan Airlines - JAL
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