Introduction | Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines has been one of my favorite airlines to fly with.

Their 5 star service is impeccable and their ability to always feels like you’re in first class instead of business class is something so worthwhile for any travelers. To me, Japanese hospitality will always be number one in the best ways across the tourism and travel sector. Japan Airlines is no exception.

I’ve been wanting to fly back to Japan for the longest time since 2019, and over the course of the years accumulated a wealth of Alaska miles. I finally got a chance last year to redeem them for a March 2023 trip to Japan, speculating that by fall of 2023 they will reopen. Of course, they finally opened in November 2023 and from then on tickets to Japan went bonkers. Luckily for us, we had locked those tickets early on.

Booking | Japan Airlines

Alaska Airlines currently only charges 60,000 miles for a business class flight to Japan from San Francisco. When i was booking last summer of 2023, March was widely open and at the time was considered non-cherry blossom friendly. However, having witnessed a couple of times of how Japan’s cherry blossoms would blossom earlier than usual, I stuck with booking for March. In total, it costed me 120,000 miles and just around $110.00 in taxes and fees.

Sakura Lounge | Japan Airlines

Before flying back to San Francisco, we made a stop at the Sakura Lounge at Haneda International Airport, which was across from Gate 114. The recent renovations have made this business class lounge incredibly competitive and welcoming. The dining room was crowded and immediately upon entering, you can sense the busyness of the lounge. Near the entrance of the dining room hosted a series of wines and hard liquor, along with your tea, coffee and stocked beers from Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo.

This lounge felt great - compared to what I experienced back in 2019, the lounge felt large and had plenty of seating. The dining hall essentially acted as the anchor piece and had all the seating wrapped around it, allowing for easy access for food and drinks. There were an abundance of seats and tables for one to relax at, along with showers for those that want to freshen up first.

Ordering was a breeze and there was a menu that one can easy state. There was definitely way more items on the menu than before and even had items that I didn’t considered to be on the list, like Fish and Chips!

Internet here was blazing fast - this was one of the fastest that I’ve seen globally and was shocked at the up/down speeds here. You can see it as I’ve attached the speedtest results as well. Overall, this was a great lounge for any Oneworld Business Class passengers to utilize.

Business Class | Japan Airlines (JL002)

The Apex Sky Suites from Japan Airlines is somewhat sentimental for me, because it was the first international business class seat configuration that I ever took back in 2014. To make it more nostalgic, I chose 12A and 12C for me and my wife, with it being the same number that I chose when I first began my my Little Boy from Taiwan blog.

As mentioned, Japan Airlines utilizes the Apex Business class seats that are staggered 2-3-2, with all the seats having aisle access. Each seat offers a privacy wall that can be used to separate passengers, but also to connect each other together. Our business class seat was equipped with the large 23-inch entertainment system that I also used back in 2014, albeit slightly showing its age a bit. Nowadays touch screens are the norm, whereas in this current configuration, you had to use the handheld remote to move around the interface. Nevertheless, it was still a good system to use.

All aboard Seat 12A and 12C! Do note, that I’ve included from my flight to HND, which was seat 12H and 12K as well, which was on the other side. Seats were provided with a water bottle, our menu, pillow, blanket and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Interestingly, we got amenity kits going to Haneda but nothing coming back, which was rather unusual in my opinion. Nevertheless, we actually got even better amenities and gifts from the flight attendants later on. Our Amenity kit going to Haneda International Airport was rather basic - inside was a moisture face mask, earplugs, eyeshades, dental kit and a lip balm.

Having tried both window and aisle seat, there are a few things to note immediately:

Aisle seat storage will beat out the window seats due to its personal cabinet near the outlet, whereas the window seats do not have anything.
There are no pockets or bins to secure your items and most of the time I had them stuffed in front of my seat, whereas the Aisle seat allowed me to store them in the cabinet
Aisle Seat storage is big enough to hold a ton of stuff - I was able to shove my Macbook Pro 16” along with my iPad when I wasn’t using them.

There is a AC power outlet along with a USB port, though the charging on the USB-A is getting incredibly slow as technology moves towards bigger batteries and USB-C. Seat controls are located next to the divider and was very easy to use. It is slightly showing its age here as well, but I believe it has aged gracefully throughout the years.

Wifi was provided along the flight and I found myself paying for it both ways - speed was quite decent and I was pleasantly pleased with it.

Food | Japan Airlines (JL002)

You choose Japan Airlines really for two things:

The 5 Star service
the 5 Star dining service

Called the BEDD Sky Auberge By JAL menu, there’s really no point of going for the Western menu if you’re main goal is to visit Japan. You’ll really want to the Japanese menu. Food was always going to be the highlight and the reason you book this business class.

The first course was a massive display of Japan’s wealth of appetizers that consists of some of the best tasting airplane food you could think of. There was everything from chilled spinach to octopus to Wagyu A4 beef, and was a fantastic way to sample Japanese dishes that people wouldn’t normally try.

I of course ordered as much as I could throughout the flight back and forth. The Anytime You Wish menu allowed me to order a salmon dish that was so good, and the flight back consisted of another beef dish that was just as delicious.

The service for us was impeccable. Efficient and appropriately paced, we found ourselves enjoying every bit of our set courses and didn’t feel rushed at all. Everything was simply presented well and tasted like fine dining.

Turndown Service | Japan Airlines (JL002)

JAL advertises a turndown service that allows their business passengers to get an additional sleep pad, to which my wife took on graciously. We had her bed set up and they even offered her tea or hot water before she proceed to sleep. The seat itself was already comfortable but the mattress topper just makes it a lot more comfortable and memorable across our flights to and back home. We were also offered cardigans, which was great to sleep with. We even got one to take home!

Conclusion | Japan Airlines (JL002)

Having flown this the first time in 2014, it’s almost a decade and the service and dining has been literally the star of the show. It continues to be one of the best business class experiences one can ever encounter, thanks largely in part to the flight cabin crew’s awesome service and high quality attention to detail.

While the business class seat may begin to age a bit, they are still comfortable and with the mattress topper, it’s essentially a bed in the sky. In addition, the fact that ALL business class seats have direct aisle seats means that seat selections won’t be affected at all for those that look to walk around during their flight.