Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Economy Class Review

Japan Airlines (JAL) has long been regarded as operating one of the best Economy Class products in the world. Recently, I had the chance to put this reputation to the test on my overnight flight from Tokyo-Narita to Melbourne. This Boeing 787 Dreamliner service goes head-to-head against Qantas’ Airbus A330 service on the same route.

Flight Details

Flight number	JL773
Origin	Tokyo-Narita (NRT)
Destination	Melbourne (MEL)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-8
Class of travel	Economy Class
Seat number	22A
On-time performance	Departed and arrived on time
Star rating

The Route

Flight Cost

I booked this flight as a one-way ticket under the Semi-Flex Economy fare (O class) for JPY 109,530 ($971).

As JAL is part of the Oneworld Alliance, Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn Qantas points and status credits for this flight. Qantas penalises its frequent flyers for flying with Oneworld partner airlines rather than its own metal. Despite this being a semi-flex ticket, JAL’s O class fare is categorised as Discount Economy on the Qantas earn category tables, earning a mere 1,200 Qantas points and 15 Status Credits.

On the flip side, you can also redeem Qantas points on JAL flights. This route would set you back 43,500 Qantas Points + taxes in Economy Class.

Airport Experience

Tokyo has two international airports, with Narita International Airport being the farther of the two from the city centre. It takes about 1 hour by train to reach Narita from Tokyo’s major downtown areas. JAL and other Oneworld airlines, including Qantas, operate from Terminal 2.

Despite the busy time of day, the check-in process was efficient with self-service options available. One small but thoughtful detail worth noting – the baggage scales at check-in are flat and flush with the ground. This makes transferring your bags onto them considerably easier than the raised platforms you find at most other airports.

The baggage allowance in JAL Economy Class is a generous 46kg (2 x 23kg), which is well above what most airlines offer in Economy Class. JAL’s online check-in allows for seat selection, which highlights the location of where young children may be seated.

JAL also goes above and beyond when it comes to lounge access. Economy Flex fare passengers, along with Premium Economy passengers, get access to the JAL Sakura Lounge at Tokyo-Narita Airport. This is the same lounge that is available to Qantas Gold and Oneworld Sapphire status holders.

Note that my Semi-Flex Economy fare didn’t include lounge access as a standard, and as such does not contribute to the rating of the flight.

The Hard Product

JAL uses a Boeing 787-8 on its Melbourne route for most of the year, switching to higher capacity Boeing 787-9s and Boeing 777s during peak times. The international variant is a two-class configuration with 30 Business Class seats and 156 Economy Class seats.

The Economy Class cabin is laid out in a 2-4-2 seating configuration, which is a trend-defying eight-abreast layout. Every other airline fits nine seats across on the Boeing 787. The difference is immediately noticeable, with the cabin feeling more spacious.

Seats

Despite the age of this product, I found the seats to be comfortable and well-designed for a long-haul overnight flight. The lower-density cabin provides 18.8 inches of seat width.

This compares favourably to the 17.2 inches found on typical Boeing 787 Economy Class products. The legroom is also above average, with a seat pitch of 33 inches. The headrest was adjustable, and other seat features included coat hooks and split seat pockets for storage.

Toilets

On this version of the JAL 787-8, there are just three lavatories in the Economy Class cabin and they are all located just behind the wing. On both visits, the lavatories were spotlessly clean. Like other Japanese carriers, JAL’s lavatories have Japanese-style bidets across all cabins.

In-Flight Entertainment and WiFi

The seats feature a 10.6-inch HD touch screen, and it was responsive to use. However, the movie selection was limited compared to other airlines. The menus were cumbersome to navigate, and finding movies was difficult.

JAL offers WiFi onboard. There is a free one-hour option as well as several paid options. This includes a handy 24-hour option, which can be useful if you have to connect between two JAL flights within 24 hours. The WiFi speed was decent for handling browsing and some light video streaming.

The Soft Product

Standard amenities like a headphone, pillow and blanket were provided upon boarding.

Shortly after takeoff, the crew came around for the first drink service. They offered alcoholic options, but I went for the “Sky Time” drink. This is a JAL-exclusive peach and grape flavoured beverage that I would highly recommend. A packaged snack and a warm, wet towel were served alongside this.

A little while later, menus were handed out ahead of the dinner service.  The menus included detailed pictorial representations of the food tray with explanations in both English and Japanese.

This made the selection process easier, and I chose the seafood option — a creamy shrimp and scallop pasta. The meal itself came in generous portions with several accompaniments. The pasta arrived hot and was both tasty and filling.

The plating was quite identical to the graphic on the menu, with a small card explaining each item on the tray. The accompanying items were the same for both the meal options.

The meal service came with another round of drinks. Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream was offered for dessert. Overall, it felt like a genuinely complete meal service.

As the flight drew to a close, a pre-arrival meal was served approximately 90 minutes before touchdown. It was 4 am, so I skipped this in favour of more sleep. Impressively, the crew did not wake me up, which I really appreciated, as many other AFF members would. Instead, they left a small note attached to my seat in case I needed anything, which was pretty thoughtful.