JAL A350 first class, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, New Haneda Centurion lounge, and more

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Intro

About 12 months ago an award seat popped up for SYD>HND>JFK on JAL first class, including their brand new (at the time) A350 first class offering. I immediately jumped on it, put the booking through and then promptly forgot about it.

In the meantime, a few things happened. First, there was an equipment change on the SYD>HND leg from 777 to 787, meaning that leg was downgraded to Business. Second, I relocated to Tokyo, meaning I would have to reposition to pick up the flight. Last, I had some business and personal commitments arise in Bermuda and the Caribbean, making this trip a bit more complicated than first anticipated.

My intention for this trip report is to simply post my thoughts on some flights, lounges and restaurants that fellow travellers might be interested in. I'm not a big photo taker, so please bear with me.

The final routing will be as follows:

1. Cathay Pacific economy class Narita > Hong Kong
2. Cathay Pacific economy class Hong Kong > Manila
3. Cathay Pacific business class Manila > Hong Kong
4. Cathay Pacific business class Hong Kong > Brisbane
5. Qantas business class Brisbane > Sydney
6. Japan Airlines business class Sydney > Tokyo
7. Japan Airlines first class Tokyo > New York
8. American Airlines economy class New York > Bermuda
9. American Airlines economy class Bermuda > Miami
10. American Airlines economy class Miami > Grand Cayman
11. American Airlines economy class Grand Cayman > Charlotte
12. American Airlines economy class Charlotte > New York
13. Japan Airlines business class New York > Tokyo
14. Japan Airlines business class Tokyo > Hong Kong

Did I mention that this will all be done over the course of 9 days?

 

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Narita Japan Airlines 'Sakura' First Class Lounge

Warmly welcomed at check in, entrance via my Oneworld Emerald status (Qantas) despite flying Cathay Pacific economy class.

This place is huge, split over two levels. Feels a little 'sterile'. Some nice views across the tarmac. There is a sushi station, where the sushi master will do nigiri etc on demand, all ordered through an app via QR ode. Upstairs is the 'Salon', which feels a lot more clubby. There is some seriously decent whisky at the bars scattered around the place. Overall, this was a nice experience. Especially considering the alternative was the Cathay business class lounge, which is the space occupied by the old American Airlines lounge here and still feels tragically like an Admirals Club.

 

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CX521, Cathay Pacific economy class NRT>HKG

Cathay is one of my favourite airlines. I fly them weekly in economy in a 'commuter' capacity. They really take care of their Diamond members and Oneworld Emerald members very well.

Boarding on time on this ~5 hour hop to Hong Kong on an A330. Dedicated boarding line for OWEs, sat at exit row with limitless legroom, purser came around to introduce himself and ask if there was anything I needed; my request for a G&T after takeoff was promptly executed as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off. I skipped the meal on this occasion but service looked polite and efficient. There's not much to report here other than to commend Cathay for a solid economy class product and a pleasant flight into Hong Kong.

 

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Hong Kong lounges - Centurion dining section and Pier first class

I'm a regular transit passenger in Hong Kong and have visited all of the lounges currently in operation.

Today, I had only about 90 minutes. So I popped into the Centurion lounge for a quick bite before decamping to the Pier First Class lounge for a drink prior to boarding.

The AmEx lounge in Hong Kong is...ok. It's a small space and I get the impression it can get crowded out at times. It also suffers from being an 'open air' lounge and so is subject to the HKIA's whims - it is warm and the lounge operators have tried to remedy this by placing pedestal fans all over the place. It just looks a bit messy.

Onto the positives - the lounge staff are delightful. Front desk are Hong Kongers, but the entire rest of the hospitality team is Filipino. The bar is well stocked and they move fast.

The lounge has a separate dining area for Centurion card holders. Today I stopped by for caviar, some beef short rip, and a negroni. Photos attached. It's a nice place, although the dining area can be surprisingly full from time to time.

After a quick lunch at the AmEx lounge I walked down to the Cathay Pacific Pier First Class lounge, which was adjacent to my flight today. This has been reviewed to death, so I'll just repeat what everyone else says (and with which I agree) - this is one of the best first class lounges in the world. It feels warm, welcoming and the food and drink is excellent. I treated myself to a pre-flight martini before my quick hop across to Manila this afternooon.

 

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CX919 HKG>MNL and MNL Cathay Pacific Lounge

Reporting in live from Cathay Pacific lounge in Manila.

Something very unexpected happened this afternoon. An upgrade on Cathay! Haven't had one of those since pre-covid. I was waiting in the boarding line and an attendant approached with a new boarding pass for me. What a pleasant surprise. One or two others in the line were upgraded also - having had a look at the loads once onboard I suspect the flight was oversold.

It was a short and pleasant flight to Manila, with some holds for weather. Food was good by airplane standards. Attentive staff ensured drinks were topped up and everything was generally fine.

Arrival in NAIA was the usual cough show. I ambitiously tried to use the transfer desk to transfer back onto the flight I just came in on but that truly confounded the otherwise very friendly transfer agent - I ended up just lining up for immigration and picking up my ticket landside.

In the Cathay lounge now for my flight back to HKG where I will stop over for 24 hours before heading onwards to Australia. This is a nice lounge, particularly by Philippines standards. Manned bar and noodle bar where you can get some dan dan mien.

 

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CX165 HKG > BNE

Flight MNL > HKG last night was delayed but otherwise uneventful. Standard short hop in the serviceable but unexcited Cathay Pacific regional J class seats.

I'm now back at the Pier First Class in Hong Kong waiting to board the midnight service to Brisbane. It's been a big typhoon here in Hong Kong today but the airport is actually very quiet. Planning to get some shut-eye on the flight down to Australia but I'll post a report in the morning.

 

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CX165 HKG > BNE

Flight MNL > HKG last night was delayed but otherwise uneventful. Standard short hop in the serviceable but unexcited Cathay Pacific regional J class seats.

I'm now back at the Pier First Class in Hong Kong waiting to board the midnight service to Brisbane. It's been a big typhoon here in Hong Kong today but the airport is actually very quiet. Planning to get some shut-eye on the flight down to Australia but I'll post a report in the morning.

I'm am hour or so away from touchdown on Cathay's A350 into Brisbane. Posting live because of the free (for biz / status passengers) and reasonably fast WiFi: Qantas please take note, it's 2025 and internet access for international routes is an expectation not a perk.

I have nothing but good things to say about the flight and Cathay in general. Boarding was on time, with 4 separate lanes for OWE Emerald, OWS / business class, OWR / premium economy, and economy class respectively.

Upon boarding, drinks were offered (cha pagne, water or 'Cathay Delight') along with a hot towel service (again, Qantas take note). Immediately after take off I lay flat and slept for 7 hours straight. Having some brekky now - pic attached. I really don't have anything critical to say. Another great flight on Cathay Pacific.

 

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Brisbane Qantas Domestic Business Lounge

Popped in here for an hour or so before my short hop to Sydney.

Renovations are ongoing at Brisbane domestic airport. The dedicated entry to the Qantas 'lounge precinct' is still open although the layout is now a bit confusing with all the construction going on.

I am travelling with two (heavy - ~30kg) bags. Unusual for my travel patterns and not particularly fun to cart around. Upon arrival at Brisbane airport the self-service machine happily accepted my first bag but them refused to take the second. I dutifully lined up at the service counter, waited twenty minutes and watched as the two staff attended to all the passengers in the 'no status line' before attending to the 5 of us in the 'priority line'. It turns out that the 'priority' girl was on her lunch break. Classic Qantas.

Anyway, as most readers will know, the biz lounge in Brisbane is actually quite alright. There's a lot of natural light and the staff are good. I will say that the place needs a good clean. The seating is a little tired and the men's bathroom is frankly disgusting (there appears to be a collection of 'boogers' above the urinals - lovely). I was very content with a few glasses of chardonnay, some Monte Carlo Arnotts (I don't live in Aus anymore and was delighted to find these), and happily whiled away my time before boarding to Sydney.

 

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JL52 SYD > HND

I'll skip a 'report' on the Qantas domestic leg to Sydney. It was very pleasant, good staff, an edible meal, and enough space. Nice. 100% load factor on this 2pm flight between Brisbane and Sydney. Qantas must be making a ton of money these days even on their aviation operations (as opposed to the money printer that is QFF).

Overnighted at the Four Points Sheraton on the Park in Sydney. Booked the cheapest room. As a lowly Bonvoy Gold member was upgraded to a suite which was actually really nice. The location of this hotel is not ideal (around UTS, a good 40 minutes walk to Martin Place / Circular Quay) but it was otherwise really good. I'd stay here again.

Sitting now in 1A on the JAL 787 service from Sydney to Haneda. Wow - after my initial disappointment at being downgraded from my original first class ticket on the 787, I have to say that this is just a really nice way to fly. Divider up as soon as we reached cruising altitude and in terms of layout and space it doesn't feel that much different to first class on the Emirates 777 (seat a bit narrow, but otherwise very private and comfortable). Superb staff on this morning's flight, free WiFi (slow, ok for emails but no video streaming etc), excellent food. My usual carrier of choice to Asia for connections is Cathay, but JAL's business class is a level above the otherwise solid Cathay service.

(excuse the messy pic, this was quickly cleared away).

 

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Qantas First Class lounge, Sydney

I forgot to mention this one. Warmly welcomed at reception, lounge was heaving. I was only here for 20 minutes and just had a glass of champagne at the bar area. If you were planning on having a meal (food is usually ok) then allow a little extra time. I am guessing the capacity issues can be attributed to the sheer number of QF Plats before boarding the Qantas flights to the US.

This place is holding up really well given it hasn't had a refresh since opening up over a decade ago. The architecture is still impressive. the staff are superb, and it manages to feel quite 'Australian'. A nice place, and while nothing is particularly 'fancy' or 'premium' about it, it's still in my top 10 lounges around the world.

 

[offshore171]

Love Bermuda. We don't get enough trip reports from there.

Along for the ride

 

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Conrad Tokyo & Sushi-Ya
I received a message while on approach to Haneda that my onward flight to New York had been delayed by ten hours due to 'maintenance issues' (foreboding).

Although this meant I would miss my planned day in New York, it was actually a blessing in disguise. My insurance coverage is AU$2,000 for delays in excess of 4 hours, and I intend to eat every single dollar in Japan!

Checked into the Conrad, which I've stayed at earlier this month and just is all-round a really nice hotel, although I don't care much for its location. I'd booked the lowest category room (100,000 H.H points) and was pleased to see that I'd been upgraded to a larger room on the executive floor (Hilton Diamond).

I popped into the exec lounge for a drink before dinner. This is a superb lounge, probably the nicest one of any Conrads I've stayed at around the world. Great Japanese whiskeys, sake, fresh food and a stunning view over Tokyo Bay. It's too small though, and on this occasion I was relegated to a sad lonely single seat table in the corner.

Dinner tonight was at Sushi-Y: Tabelog Link; TripAdvisor Reviews. It's an 8 seat omakase restaurant and having tried a fair few of these around Japan over the years this is by far my favourite. I commiserated my flight delay by sharing a bottle of sake with the sushi master and enjoying my meal. Some photos are below. I think the damage was around ¥100,000. Well worth it.

Coming up next: JAL First Class Lounge Haneda; Amex Centurion Lounge Haneda & JAL A350 First Class to New York.

 

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JAL Haneda check-in experience

Behind this unmarked and unassuming door near the JAL check-in desks at Haneda Terminal 3 is a dedicated check-in and security facility for JAL first class passengers only. Oneworld Emerald passengers and passengers in first class on other airlines are not admitted entry.

The major advantage is that there is a dedicated security clearing station. This afternoon I was through check-in and then straight into immigration in less than 2 minutes.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. It certainly is a nice perk but it seems like a considerable investment that would get very little use. Because it's completely unmarked, first class passengers will be lining up at the ordinary desk anyway unless they had previously flown JAL F out of Haneda.

 

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Centurion Lounge Haneda

This opened about a week ago. No photos, sorry, but I'm uncomfortable taking pictures when other people are in frame.

The lounge is located right next to the JAL Sakura lounge. The design is very cool - dark colours, high ceilings and expansive views across the tarmac. It's a nice place to be.

The space is small. It was at about 80% capacity at 2:00pm, and I fully expect there to be large queues of people going forward. I suppose Amex just had to deal with the space that was available, but I can see this place becoming a bit of a zoo during peak travel periods.

There's a tended bar and a few food stations and overall it looks really nice. If I had to choose between the JAL business lounge and Amex, I would choose the Amex option provided I could get in. The JAL First Class lounge at Haneda is a better choice if you have access to it.

There is a small 'private' area for black card holders but this is nothing like the facility at the HK Amex lounge. It was literally a small room with 3 tables, very dark, no windows. There was one family in there when I took a peak in, but I immediately decided to instead sit out in the main area. I was also informed that there was a 'special' list of drinks for black card holders; I just had a glass of Tattinger. Nothing special, but a nice perk.

This is a good addition to the Amex lounge network, which they seem to continue to be investing in. Expect queues, but check it out if you can get in.

Coming up: JAL First Class lounge and JL6 from Haneda to JFK.

Update: lounge is now completely full, people are sprawled out everywhere, there's about 20 people hanging around the bar and it looks like there's a big line outside. Pretty gross. The crowd is almost entirely American (and I'm afraid the behaviour of many is predictably out of line with the ordinary Japanese courtesy and politeness here), no locals here.

 

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JAL First Class Lounge, Haneda

Wow, after the chaos, noise and crowding of the Centurion Lounge, walking into the JAL First Class lounge near gate 114 at Haneda feels just sublime.

This lounge has been reviewed over and over again, so I'll just give my brief thoughts.

First of all, as most regulars through here would know, the trick is to turn left when you exit the reception area. Most people head to the right (which the confusing layout encourages you to do), which is an open dining area. Nothing too fancy, although I will compliment JAL for having decent whiskeys and some nice 'light bites'.

If you turn left, you will find yourself in the 'Salon', which has a tended bar upstairs and is just an oasis of calm. There's also the sushi restaurant, but you should check opening hours as it's not always operating.

There are nice shower suites available (booking via QR code). Not quite Pier F level but still very good.

JAL's first class lounge in Haneda is just quintessentially Japanese. A surfeit of courtesy, understated elegance and just a nice place to while away a couple of hours before your flight.

 

[drron]

JAL Haneda check-in experience

Behind this unmarked and unassuming door near the JAL check-in desks at Haneda Terminal 3 is a dedicated check-in and security facility for JAL first class passengers only. Oneworld Emerald passengers and passengers in first class on other airlines are not admitted entry.

The major advantage is that there is a dedicated security clearing station. This afternoon I was through check-in and then straight into immigration in less than 2 minutes.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. It certainly is a nice perk but it seems like a considerable investment that would get very little use. Because it's completely unmarked, first class passengers will be lining up at the ordinary desk anyway unless they had previously flown JAL F out of Haneda.

It does occasionally used by OWEs. We were flying JAL J to BKK I was BA Gold and mrsdrron was WP; there had been a typhoon and HND was a mess. We were in a pretty long F line. A JAL employee came down the line looking at BPS I was behind Mrsdrron. She didn't say anything to her but seeing my BP she said come with me for both Mrsdrron and I. We were taken to that F checkin and processed there and as a little bonus upgraded to F. One of the reasons why JAL was my favourite airline.

 

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It does occasionally used by OWEs. We were flying JAL J to BKK I was BA Gold and mrsdrron was WP; there had been a typhoon and HND was a mess. We were in a pretty long F line. A JAL employee came down the line looking at BPS I was behind Mrsdrron. She didn't say anything to her but seeing my BP she said come with me for both Mrsdrron and I. We were taken to that F checkin and processed there and as a little bonus upgraded to F. One of the reasons why JAL was my favourite airline.

Interesting, thanks for the data point.

Yes, this trip so far has really pushed JAL up the rankings for me. Their hard product isn't always the most competitive, but the food and general service is simply exceptional.

 

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JAL A350 First Class

This flight was simply flawless.

In terms of the hard product, the suites on the A350 are enormous. The tech is great - the screen is 4k, there is wireless charging, bluetooth, and two power connections. USB A and USB C is available. I don't use onboard IFE but it looks pretty good, although the selection is not as expansive as say ICE on Emirates.

The food was superb. Some photos are attached. I did the Japanese menu. Later, before landing, I had some selections from the a la carte menu, which can be ordered on demand at any time during the flight. I had a few glasses of the Salon (which bloggers seem to get super excited over - it was good), switching to shoju later in the flight.

But the real high point of the flight was the service. Attentive without being intrusive. The staff onboard made the flight a delight and one to remember. Turndown service was offered, with a choice of hard or soft mattresses, and I got about 6 hours of sleep during the 14 hour flight.

This is my new favourite first class product, a level above the likes of Emirates, Qatar and certainly Qantas. It was all the more sweeter because this was a QFF award. Availability on JAL actually seems quite good on QFF, especially if you book last minute, so keep an eye open for these and snatch them up if you can.