JAL business class Melbourne - Tokyo. Is it worth it?

[sudoer]

it sounds like you might be getting confused with SS2.

Actually ignore me all JAL seats face forward

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

There's absolutely no reason to take row 1 - all seats are either too close to the galley or WC, with noise and passing foot traffic.

Something mid-cabin is best.

You are right with window seats - more space, more sense of space as well, and you have a view + control over the windows. The centre seats are not conducive to talking... I mean you can, but it's not side-by-side, and certainly not something easy to achieve without disturbing those in front and behind you. The front cabin windows are blocked for elites at this stage, but may open up closer to departure. The second cabin will have slightly more engine noise, but probably preferable to the middle seats in the front cabin.

Thank you very much for your feedback, pretty much confirms my thoughts about the window seats.
I have changed my booking to 9K & 10K at the moment and hopefully window seats in the front cabin open up.
Any idea how far away before they open those up?
Thanks!

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

I flew that exact route in 1D & 1G this past December. The seats in row 1 are set back from the galley/toilets with a storage cupboard for jackets and coats. This photo I took kind of demonstrates what it's like:

I certainly didn't feel bothered by the proximity and JAL FAs are hardly the noisiest around.

The biggest downside to the middle DG pair is footwell space. As your feet cross into your seat neighbours space, the height of the footwell is half that of the window seats. I found it a little uncomfortable - I'd suggest going for a window seat if you're not particularly fussed about talking to your travel partner.



All SS3 seats face forwards at an angle - it sounds like you might be getting confused with SS2.

Thank you very much for your feedback, seems like the window seats do indeed get more footwell space and since we are not fussed with sitting separately, I have changed my booking to 9K & 10K at the moment.

It is the SS3, when I said 1 front 1 back config, I actually meant one row behind. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

The KUL-NRT flight leaves about 11pm so I picked row 1 to get meal service out of the way quickly and get some sleep

Mine is NRT-KUL day flight leaving at 11:15am so probably shouldn't be too fussed about this

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The KUL-NRT flight leaves about 11pm so I picked row 1 to get meal service out of the way quickly and get some sleep

There is that, if you even want to eat. But every time the crew need to go to or from the galley they have to pass the seats closest to the galley. Every passenger has to pass those seats on the way to the WC. I guess it's personal preference though at the end of the day... however, if someone is doing it just because they *think* the first row is better for status or whatever else (like '1A' on the boarding pass) - that's not necessarily a good reason (it was on the 747, but that's about it).

(The one general exception I have to row 1 is SQ for the full width footwell, and similarly for the 2-2-2 business classes that are set on the angle towards the wondows or aisles - they also have wider footwells.)

 

[Pele]

Mine is NRT-KUL day flight leaving at 11:15am so probably shouldn't be too fussed about this

Gday

I flew this exact flight, JL723, four weeks ago in 1D and 1G. I had an infant. If i were flying as a couple and had no issues with not being next to each other i would choose as far forward as possible in a window seat. It is a day flight with hardly any time difference between origin and destination so getting undisturbed sleep wont be a huge issue and as someone said there isnt alot of galley noise.

One thing i will say is the noise around row 8 and 9 (the front of the second business cabin) was brutal. Row 8 is right over the engines and the noise and vibration were in a different league to the other rows. If i were you i would choose further back in the second business cabin (like row 11-13), and then monitor seats closer to departure in the hope of moving to a window seat in the front business cabin.

Pele.

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

Gday

I flew this exact flight, JL723, four weeks ago in 1D and 1G. I had an infant. If i were flying as a couple and had no issues with not being next to each other i would choose as far forward as possible in a window seat. It is a day flight with hardly any time difference between origin and destination so getting undisturbed sleep wont be a huge issue and as someone said there isnt alot of galley noise.

One thing i will say is the noise around row 8 and 9 (the front of the second business cabin) was brutal. Row 8 is right over the engines and the noise and vibration were in a different league to the other rows. If i were you i would choose further back in the second business cabin (like row 11-13), and then monitor seats closer to departure in the hope of moving to a window seat in the front business cabin.

Pele.

This is very informative Pele so thanks a lot for sharing and providing some really good insight about the engine noise.
Agree that being a day flight, the need for sleep is not that important hence I can probably ignore the galley factor.

Have now changed my seats (yet again) to 11K/12K and hope that they open some of those front window seats. Any idea when they tend to do so?

Thanks!

 

[aspro2]

I flew up and back last week on JL774/773. Contrary to the original booking seatmap (showing angled-flat seat config) which was part of a discussion back in September, I was very pleased to find that the config was in fact E11 - SkySuite (even though it meant my seat allocations were changed... no big drama in the outcome). That is a very nice seat indeed!

I have to say I was underwhelmed by JAL cabin crew performance though. Pax weren't shown to their seat and nor were they greeted until well after doors closed. Toilets weren't kept replenished (or clean) properly. English language skill was poor across most staff (I'm multilingual and have no expectation of superb English, but this was way below appropriate for a premium airline and a premium cabin).

The amenities kit was pretty, but on the way up it lacked a face mask for sleeping (but had two for beauty treatments, seriously!). The version on the way down was different and had one real facemask and just one beauty-treatment mask.

Entertainment selection was weak. A handful of mainstream movies, a handful of Japanese movies, almost no English-language TV series. Beautiful big TV screen. Meal service was a bit slow, and breakfast into NRT was very early. The dine-anytime concept on the way back to MEL (after the breakfast service, daytime flight) was odd, in that there was no explanation that there would be no fixed second meal service, nor were food requests actively solicited. It wouldn't surprise me if PAX miss out on food occasionally if they aren't paying attention.

For the first half of the flight up, the cabin was very warm, and then in the second half it was bitterly cold. The temp on the flight down was fairly pleasant and stable. The number of toilets for the business cabin seemed inadequate, given how often there was a wait on these flights (2 for 36pax, plus wanderers from PY).

The Sakura Lounge at NRT is large and has nice tarmac views, but dining is separate from the main space (it's upstairs) and was packed. In the non-dining space there are snack/beverage stations, but the snacks are absolutely inadequate (nothing even slightly healthy or large enough to take the edge off an appetite - just a few crackers, tiny cookies, tiny nuggets of processed cheese - not even nuts).

 

[tizey]

Coming up to our inaugural JL MEL-NRT flight in a couple of weeks time. Couple of questions:

1. What would be the pick of the bunch of MEL Lounges? From what i can tell, QF, CX & Merhaba are all options when flying JL out of MEL... just not sure which is best option for a quiet drink/nibble pre-flight. Wont need shower/etc as coming from home.

2. When do JL open up their reserved window seats for seat selection? From what I can tell, we've already got a full J cabin with no revenue seats available for booking on our day of flying - but I'd like to try and score a window seat when they open them for selection as not all seats have been pre-selected as there are still open seats in seat selection.

 

[Max Samuels]

Coming up to our inaugural JL MEL-NRT flight in a couple of weeks time. Couple of questions:

1. What would be the pick of the bunch of MEL Lounges? From what i can tell, QF, CX & Merhaba are all options when flying JL out of MEL... just not sure which is best option for a quiet drink/nibble pre-flight. Wont need shower/etc as coming from home.

QF F if you have access. It's been so long I can't remember the other ones....

 

[Max Samuels]

.... English language skill was poor across most staff (I'm multilingual and have no expectation of superb English, but this was way below appropriate for a premium airline and a premium cabin).

Interesting... I know that Engirsh is the international language so I guess we kind of expect it anywhere, but in so far as "multilingual" being expected of a premium airline.... I am constantly surprised how few languages other than English are spoken on Qantas. Really surprised actually. I was a recent QF flight to Tokyo, and the level of Japanese was shocking. They usually try to have at least 1 Japanese national on board but this time they didn't, and the Aussie doing the announcements in Japanese was TERRIBLE. I was cringing.

Also, when I fly BA Intra-Europe there is almost ZERO foreign languages spoken; not even the language of the destination! Last year flying London to Pisa, not a word of Italian was muttered even once by any of the crew.

And then we have the other extreme with the likes of EK, when it really seems to be a UN convention of languages...

 

[tizey]

QF F if you have access. It's been so long I can't remember the other ones....

Pleb NB status here... if I could weasel my way in, I'd love to as neither Mrs or I have been in QF F as yet.

 

[Max Samuels]

Pleb NB status here... if I could weasel my way in, I'd love to as neither Mrs or I have been in QF F as yet.

Ah OK! Well the QF J lounge is pretty horrible - the dungeon as they call it.
I recall that I used to prefer the CX lounge - I think it is next door?

 

[Himeno]

Ah OK! Well the QF J lounge is pretty horrible - the dungeon as they call it.
I recall that I used to prefer the CX lounge - I think it is next door?

The MEL CX lounge is slightly better then the QF MEL International J lounge, but it is also small and may pull the space exception for non CX pax trying to access.

If you had oneworld emerald, I'd say to go to the QF F lounge, then move next door to the Merhaba contracted lounge when the F lounge is getting ready to close.

The JL MEL flight normally uses a newer 787-8, however they have recently been using one of their older 787s which have the old J seats and no W.

 

[tizey]

Thanks for the tips - definitely no Emerald status, so might check CX lounge if that can work.

More concerning is the "old" 787s - the seating plan we have listed definitely shows no W, but jal seat selection still shows fully flat bed, sky suites, slightly offset window seats in a 2-2-2 fashion, indicating that its not angle-flat. Am I right? Is there any major difference between the older 787-8 and 787-9? The whole plan is to get as much sleep on the flight as possible, and I standby my NRT-MEL J flight this time last year on a 787-9 one of the best J flights I've had.

 

[JFi]

I have not been to the CX lounge before but I have been politely told that it's closing time at QF and Plaza Premium/AE lounge in the past prior to boarding time so now I just use the Marhaba lounge. Also, since it's the lounge JAL uses, if there's any delays, it should remain open?

Haven't paid much attention to the food there as I don't really need to eat around that time but they definitely have nibbles and drinks. They also have a sign on the tables in the dining area for made to order udon although I've never tried. Also they have windows if you prefer that but at that time of day, there won't be any natural light coming in haha

I don't believe there are actually any differences in the seats? The new aircarft does not have Premium Economy as noted but the seats in the remaining two classes are the same. At least I can't tell the difference if there are. It's a shame the new layout doesn't have Premium Economy because it was great.

 

[pyffii]

Flew to Narita in June and as Emerald used the QF First lounge until closing and then went to the Marhaba Lounge which was dirty,old and very uninviting....I would describe it as disgraceful....The hard product on JL was great and we slept well on the overnight flight and breakfast was very good as western catered from Melbourne...Very speedy immigration on arrival and we had our bags on were on the bus to Haneda within 30 minutes of arriving....Happy to take that flight again

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the tips - definitely no Emerald status, so might check CX lounge if that can work.

More concerning is the "old" 787s - the seating plan we have listed definitely shows no W, but jal seat selection still shows fully flat bed, sky suites, slightly offset window seats in a 2-2-2 fashion, indicating that its not angle-flat. Am I right? Is there any major difference between the older 787-8 and 787-9? The whole plan is to get as much sleep on the flight as possible, and I standby my NRT-MEL J flight this time last year on a 787-9 one of the best J flights I've had.

I can’t recall completely, but I think the previous discussion on AFF resolved the issue in that despite what the seat map was showing, the seats are in fact full flat beds in J.

 

[Himeno]

Thanks for the tips - definitely no Emerald status, so might check CX lounge if that can work.

More concerning is the "old" 787s - the seating plan we have listed definitely shows no W, but jal seat selection still shows fully flat bed, sky suites, slightly offset window seats in a 2-2-2 fashion, indicating that its not angle-flat. Am I right? Is there any major difference between the older 787-8 and 787-9? The whole plan is to get as much sleep on the flight as possible, and I standby my NRT-MEL J flight this time last year on a 787-9 one of the best J flights I've had.

The first batch of 787s JAL got came with the older Neo/Shell flat J seats. They are 2-2-2 seating, rather then the 1-2-1 of the Sky Suites. SS8 seating was first rolled out with the 2nd batch of 787s.

 

[hachoo]

c
2. When do JL open up their reserved window seats for seat selection? From what I can tell, we've already got a full J cabin with no revenue seats available for booking on our day of flying - but I'd like to try and score a window seat when they open them for selection as not all seats have been pre-selected as there are still open seats in seat selection.

I'm in the same predicament with my J flight next year on this route. All the window seats appear on the site to be blocked but according to expertflyer there should be some availability (some are blocked but not booked). Are they usually not reserved for award flights or is there a date they get released? I've checked on multiple occasions and still no availability for the windows.