Japan Airlines may well take the cake for having the most pathetic transpacific business class product of any airline on their 767s. They fly their 767s to Vancouver and Honolulu, and the planes are equipped with recliner seats with just 47 inches of pitch. So they’re basically regional business class seats in some cases serving longhaul routes.

The good news is that Japan Airlines has announced that they’ll be reconfiguring some of their 767s with fully flat beds. They’ll be debuting them on the Tokyo to Vancouver route in December 2013, and in 2014 will start operating them to Honolulu and select longhaul destinations in Southeast Asia.

The new product will be staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration, with a total of 24 seats in the cabin. That’s a capacity reduction of 20%, given that the current business class cabins have 30 seats. As you can see below the new product looks very nice, though, and should be a huge improvement over the old product.

While Japan Airlines hasn’t yet updated their seatmaps with the new product, they have generally excellent business class award availability between Tokyo and Vancouver next year, and seem to release two business class award seats per flight.

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Via The LA Times:

KFC is taking airplane food to a whole new level, pairing with Japan Airlines to serve its fast-food chicken on holiday flights between Tokyo and eight U.S. and European destinations.

The chain’s Japanese operation will provide a meal of a drumstick, chicken breast, flat bread, coleslaw and “special mayonnaise” to passengers on select trips out of Narita Airport from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28.

The so-called Air Kentucky trays will be served during the second mealtime in the premium-economy and economy-class sections of planes bound for Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Paris and Frankfurt.

Note to self: Don’t fly Japan Airlines between Narita Airport and Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Paris and Frankfurt betweeen December 1 and February 28.

Japan Airlines has just unveiled the details of their new onboard products, which they’ll be rolling out in January of 2013 as they take delivery of more Boeing 777-300ERs. The new onboard product will apparently debut on the Tokyo Narita to London Heathrow route, and will then be rolled out to other European and North American destinations.

You can find the dedicated website for their new product here (or if you can read Japanese you can find that site here, which is a bit more detailed).

Their new first class product seems to be just a mild improvement over their old product, which was already very good. I wrote a trip report about my experience in Japan Airlines first class from Tokyo Narita to New York JFK back in May, which can be found here.

The huge improvement comes with their new business class product, which features fully flat beds in a private configuration, and allows all passengers direct aisle access. Interestingly both first and business class feature 23″ entertainment monitors, which is impressive. You can see a video of the new business class on the website dedicated to the new product.

They’re also going to be revamping their catering in first and business class, which probably isn’t really needed since they’ve always had great catering. The one thing that leaves me scratching my head is the name of their new catering program, JAL BEDD. As the press release states:

A dream team of four Japanese star chefs were brought together to design JAL’s First and Business Class menus using only the freshest and finest-ingredients. Named JAL BEDD to represent the comforts of the full flat beds and also to stand for ‘Dine’, ‘Delicious’ and ‘Dreams’, this new top-class service in First and Business offers the unique experience of a satisfying repast and repose in-flight.

That doesn’t make sense on so many levels that it’s almost funny.

Anyway, this is a huge improvement. I think a lot of people were disappointed when Japan Airlines took delivery of their 787s and installed an angled flat business class product. It’s not clear to me whether they’ll be retrofitting the 787s at all or what the timeline would be, but I’m anxious to get on an aircraft with the new product.

Kudos, JAL!

(Tip of the hat to AAdvantage Geek)

Introduction
Westin Atlanta Airport
American Airlines First Class New York JFK to Los Angeles
American Airlines First Class Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita
Japan Airlines Business Class Tokyo Narita to Nagoya
Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Hoshinoya Kyoto
Westin Nagoya Castle
Japan Airlines Business Class Nagoya to Tokyo Narita
American Airlines First Class Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles
American Airlines First Class Los Angeles to New York JFK

We had a six hour layover, the first four hours of which we spent in the Japan Airlines first class lounge. I’ve reviewed the lounge before, so I won’t get into too many details on it this time around. As usual it was pretty crowded since both first class and OneWorld Emerald passengers have access, though I do think the lounge itself is nicer than the ANA first class lounge at Narita (though the ANA lounge is consistently more quiet).

One of the nice features of the lounge is the 10 minute massage they offer guests, which I took advantage of immediately. It’s not as nice as the hour-long massage Thai Airways offers in their first class lounge, but it’s something at least!

Japan Airlines first class lounge

A little over an hour before departure we headed over to the satellite where American’s gates are, which can be accessed by shuttle.

Shuttle to American gates

Shuttle to American gates

When we got to the satellite we walked by the Qantas lounge, which I didn’t even previously know existed, so we decided to check it out. It was empty, so a nice alternative to the Japan Airlines lounge in the future. Even though it doesn’t have a first class section I’ll gladly trade a more substantial buffet for a more quiet lounge, and that’s an area in which the Qantas lounge delivers.

Qantas lounge Narita

We got to the gate at around 3:15PM, right as boarding began.

Departure gate

Our plane to LAX

American 170
Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Monday, May 28
Depart: 3:55PM
Arrive: 9:50AM
Duration: 9hr55min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 3D (First Class)

At the door we took the left turn to the first class cabin, which was still empty at the time.

First class cabin

My seat, 3D

Within moments of settling into 3D one of the first class flight attendants, Colleen, came by to offer us pre-departure beverages. I ordered water.

Pre-departure beverages

Already at my seat was a day blanket, duvet, and pillow, and moments later I was offered an amenity kit, large pair of pajamas, slippers, Bose headphones, and the menu.

Sleeping gear

Slippers and amenity kit

Pajamas

The door closed right on-time and we quickly began our taxi to the runway. Taxiing from terminal 2 at Narita takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R, and the fact that it was “rush hour” and we were about number 10 for takeoff didn’t help. The captain came on the PA as we queued for takeoff to advise us of our flight time of nine hours, anticipating an on-time arrival in Los Angeles.

At the same time the purser came around to introduce himself and take meal orders.

Flights from Narita to Los Angeles are always funny to me, because they’re much more like an eastbound transatlantic flight than a flight to/from Asia for me. The flight is so quick at just nine hours and lands in the morning, so I have my “sleep” strategy down pretty well on these flights. I have dinner after takeoff with a  movie, and then sleep for as long as I can, sometimes waking up for breakfast.

After takeoff I started watching 21 Jump Street, which was hilarious and kept me entertained throughout dinner.

Movie

There was quite a bit of rough air after takeoff, so it was about 30 minutes before the meal service commenced. The dinner menu read as follows:

Colleen was serving my aisle, and she was awesome — friendly, engaging, efficient, and attentive. What more could you ask for?

Service started with hot nuts and pita chips with hummus.

Diet Coke with lime, hot nuts, and pita chips with hummus

The next course was the standard starter of shrimp and salmon, which was plated at my seat. This was done by both Colleen and the purser, who was also friendly.

Shrimp and salmon

The next course was salad.

Salad

None of the main courses seemed especially interesting, so I went with the shrimp bowl. It was alright. By no means “international first class gourmet cuisine,” but it was edible.

Shrimp noodle bowl

The highlight of any American international first class meal is of course the ice cream sundae. Colleen sure fudged mine up good.

Ice cream sundae

After dessert I changed into pajamas to get a few hours of shut eye. I slept for five hours, and woke up with about 90 minutes to go to LAX.

Cabin after dinner

Blanket

At that point breakfast was served. The menu read as follows:

Airline breakfasts are interesting in that on some airlines they’re my favorite meal, while on other airlines they’re my least favorite meal. With US airlines they’re consistently my least favorite meal because they’re usually way too greasy, way too cheesy, and the orange juice sucks. Compare that to Lufthansa where they freshly prepare the egg dishes onboard and also have freshly squeezed orange juice, or the amazing breakfast I had on this Qantas flight.

So suffice to say the breakfast was a greasy omelet so I didn’t really have all that much of it, though the fruit and cinnamon roll were at least decent.

Breakfast

After breakfast I briefly spoke to Colleen, which led to me having to lie. Like I said earlier she was really engaging and friendly, so I couldn’t help but ask about the blazers American’s flight attendants wear on international flights. I’ve always noticed they put on blazers during the service, and wasn’t sure why. So I asked her about them and she said “oh yeah, we wear them on international flights in first and business class to add a special touch to the service. Aren’t they nice?”

How do I respond to that? I happen to think they look like they’re from the 1970s and make American’s uniforms look even older than they are (which is tough to do), so I responded with the only semi-honest thing I could — “yeah, they’re just like the good old days.”

About 30 minutes before landing the captain came on the PA to advise us of our arrival time. At that point the flight attendants served sparkling water.

Sparkling water

We touched down right on-time and thanks to Global Entry found ourselves in the Flagship Lounge within about 15 minutes of landing.

On the whole it was an extremely pleasant flight. I love American first class since it’s comfortable, but at the same time it’s a familiar enough product that I don’t feel like I need to stay awake to “experience” the service. As a result I find that I get the most sleep in American first class, which I suppose is what international premium cabins are all about.

Introduction
Westin Atlanta Airport
American Airlines First Class New York JFK to Los Angeles
American Airlines First Class Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita
Japan Airlines Business Class Tokyo Narita to Nagoya
Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Hoshinoya Kyoto
Westin Nagoya Castle
Japan Airlines Business Class Nagoya to Tokyo Narita
American Airlines First Class Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles
American Airlines First Class Los Angeles to New York JFK

Upon deplaning we more or less sprinted towards immigration, since queues tend to be really long in the afternoons with all the arrivals from the US. Much to my surprise there was no queue, and we were through in no time.

After clearing customs and immigration we found ourselves in the arrivals hall, where we followed the signs to the domestic terminal.

Arrivals hall

Security was friendly and efficient, as it usually is in Japan, and inside the terminal we found the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge.

Sakura Lounge

We were warmly greeted at the entrance, and after they took down our flight details we were invited in.

The lounge was basic and lacked natural light, so felt a bit like a hospital waiting room. I was most interested in connecting to the internet, and was happy to see the wifi speed was decent.

Sakura Lounge

The snack selection was virtually non-existent, though they did have a beer and soda machine.

Beer machine

Soda machine

About 15 minutes before we were scheduled to board, my travel companion and I (or at least names slightly resembling ours’) were paged in the lounge. My friend was on a call, so I went to the desk for both of us, and was rather concerned about what might be wrong, since the flight still showed on time when I checked a few minutes earlier.

There were three agents standing there with frowns on their faces — “Mr. Lucky, I’m so very sorry, but is it okay if we give you a better seat?” I looked a bit surprised, though they had a laminated piece of paper with the aircraft’s seatmap. “Mr. Lucky, I’m so sorry, may I put you in 1K, this is a first class seat?” I said “that would be great, and where would my friend sit, in 2K or 1G?”

All three of them covered their mouths and let out a collective gasp. “I’m so sorry, you are traveling together?!” I said “yes,” and they said he would be in 1G, which is immediately across the aisle. I said I’m sure that would be just fine (given that the plane’s configuration is 1-1-1), and all three of them thanked me profusely and apologized once again, concerned this arrangement might not be okay since we would be seated so far apart.

They asked for both of our boarding passes, and used a pen to cross out our current seat assignments and wrote our new seat assignments next to them, telling us we’ll get the new boarding passes at the gate. Hmm, I’ll have to try that on my next American flight.

We headed down to our departure gate, which was actually a joint gate for the Nagoya and Osaka flights.

Gate for Osaka flight

Once in the gate area we went up to one of the roughly 23 gate agents and handed her our boarding passes. She immediately handed us our new boarding passes, and once again apologized profusely for the upgrade.

Gate for Nagoya flight

Our plane to Nagoya

Shortly after 6PM boarding was announced, starting with one of the gate agents coming to personally invite us to board (no clue what we did to deserve that).

Japan Airlines 3087
Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Nagoya (NGO)
Wednesday, May 23
Depart: 6:25PM
Arrive: 7:35PM
Duration: 1hr10min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300
Seat: 1K (First Class)

Initially I figured our flight was operated by one of Japan Airlines’ super-high-density domestic 777s, though it was actually one of their longhaul 777s configured with their old product, which was an awesome surprise. This was the same Jetsons-esque product I flew from Tokyo Narita to New York JFK a couple of years ago, except the last flight was on a 747. On the 777 the product is in a 1-1-1 configuration, with the seats scattered a bit to save space.

My seat, 1A

First class cabin

First class cabin

Seat controls

The flight was very empty, and within 10 minutes boarding was complete. As usual on Japan Airlines there were no pre-departure beverages, though I was offered a pillow and blanket.

Pre-departure the flight attendants did their “safety checks.” On Japanese airlines this includes the flight attendants touching the overhead bin latches to ensure they’re closed. I counted five different flight attendants doing the “check” on my side of the cabin, while not a single flight attendant did it on the other side of the cabin. While the TSA might be the ultimate security theater, Japanese airlines are the ultimate safety theater!

Pillow and blanket

As we began our taxi the safety video played, starting with the flight attendants bowing in the front of the cabin. There were a total of four passengers in first class, and for that we had three flight attendants bowing in the little cabin. Insulting, really, that they didn’t add a fourth to make it a 1:1 bow: passenger ratio.

777 bound for Osaka

Japan Airlines terminal

The taxi was very long given the distance of the terminal to the runway, not to mention that it was rush hour, so there were a dozen planes ahead of us when we actually did make it to the runway. Fortunately there was plenty of exciting traffic to keep me entertained.

Singapore Airlines Airbus 380

Delta 747

While in the queue for takeoff, the captain came on the PA to advise us of our flight time of 40 minutes, anticipating a slightly delayed arrival in Nagoya due to our late departure.

Once airborne we hit turbulence almost immediately, and for the first 30 minutes we were being thrown around nonstop. It was one of the bumpiest flights of my life, actually. Despite that, the seatbelt sign was turned off for almost the entire flight.

About 10 minutes after takeoff service began. Japan Airlines only serves drinks in business class on intra-Japan flights, and they’re served in (tiny) plastic cups with lids. I just had some apple juice, which was served within minutes.

Apple juice

After the drink was served I had a quick look at the business class cabin, which was almost completely empty.

Business class cabin

About halfway through our flight we passed Mt. Fuji, which the captain announced. It was one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever had in-flight. Unfortunately the cabin lights were on so I had a hard time snapping a picture which did it justice.

Mt. Fuji

The ride finally smoothed out about 15 minutes out of Nagoya. After a smooth descent and touchdown we had a quick five minute taxi to the gate, and were happy to have finally made it to our destination.

View on descent

Upon arrival we took a train to Nagoya Station, which took about 30 minutes, and from there took a bullet train to Kyoto Station, which took another 30 minutes. Trains in Japan are outrageously expensive, and our 30 minute bullet train ride alone cost ~$75USD per person.

From there it was just a quick taxi ride to the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, where I was finally looking forward to sleeping in a real bed.