M
Max Samuels
Guest
Hi guys,
Thought I would share my experience/opinions with regard to the Oneworld Lounges at Tokyo Narita Terminal 2.
Yesterday, due to me arriving at the airport fairly early, combined with the delayed departure of my flight, I was able to leisurely make my way around all 8 of the lounges available to QF WP members! The JAL lounges are obviously open all the time as this is their hub; the others open at various hours depending on the schedule of that airline’s flights.
Cathay, for example, closes quite early at 3pm. Whereas Emirates doesn’t open until 6pm. American closes around 6pm (I think) after its flight to DFW leaves (although there might be later flights than that – I didn’t check), and QF has its normal operating hours it has had for the past 20 years lol….
Anyway, as you can see there is quite a lot to choose from – and choose wisely as they differ vastly from each other!
The lounges are spread between the main building and satellite, which used to be connected by a cool driverless train thing, but they ripped that out a few years back and replaced with a walkway & shops (turns out they are not that far apart after all!)
BTW Narita is undergoing a MASSIVE refurb for the Olympics next year so is a bit of a mess, but I think it will be awesome when it’s finished.
Anyway, back to the lounges:
Main Building: JAL First, JAL Sakura, Emirates, Cathay, American
Satellite Building: JAL First, JAL Sakura, Qantas
I will rank them in order of excellence, with comments.
1. JAL First – Main building: brand new lounge, only opened in April. Modelled of the Haneda lounge includes sushi bar, ramen bar, restaurant, champagne bar, shoe shining service (right?) is really big…. Lots of private nooks and crannies. Very tastefully done. And of course, the excellent Japanese service one would expect. I would put this in world’s top 10 First Class lounges – maybe even top 5.
2. Emirates – Main building: also appears to be very new – done in the same style as the rest of EK lounges – is REALLY big. Sparking clean – same good range of booze and food as typical of EK lounges. The good thing about this lounge is that it opens at 6pm BEFORE any EK PAX have had time to check in and clear security…. So it was basically empty for the first hour I was there. My advice: if JAL is crowded, come to EK! I had a shower in the lounge and it was pristine.
3. JAL Sakura – Main Building: A bit dated, but still in really good nick – and huge. Massive. Includes really good dining area, good food. Booze selection is not super good if you’re after a decent wine or champagne. But this lounge has a smoking section too (if you smoke), and it’s quite big and comfortable with couches etc and easily accessible from the bar (so you can drink and smoke)
4. JAL First – Satellite Building: About to be re-furbished, so will end up looking like a smaller version of the new First lounge in the Main building. A bit dated, but still an excellent selection of drinks and decent selection of food (not the same as the Main Building though – but apparently will be on par when refurb completed)
5. Qantas – Satellite Building: Largish, seems to have had a refresh somewhere in the past few years. Tends to get crowded though. Food and bev not terrible – on par with a Qantas dom J lounge. Is closest to the gates that QF typically flies from. Also, the only place with actual QF staff if you need to get a seat change or ask for seat to be blocked next to you!
6. JAL Sakura – Satellite Building: Similar to QF, gets a bit crowded and is close to QF gates – nowhere near as good as the JAL lounges in the main building
7. Cathay – Main Building: Has really strange operating hours so chances are unless you’re flying CX you wouldn’t visit it. It is stuck in some random corner on the 4th floor opposite EK lounge, so unless you are looking for it you won’t find it. I had only 30 mins to explore before it closed but my impression was just an average business class lounge – similar to the SIA lounge in Melbourne was my impression
8. American – Main Building: Sad. Why bother? Seriously, if you are travelling in F or have OW status why would you bother? It’s not that old as AA only moved to T2 in the past few years, but it’s nothing special. If that were my only choice I think I’d rather sit at one of the paid whisky bars throughout the airport!
Anyway, as mentioned above, Narita is having a rebirth before the Olympics and so far, it's looking pretty good!
Thought I would share my experience/opinions with regard to the Oneworld Lounges at Tokyo Narita Terminal 2.
Yesterday, due to me arriving at the airport fairly early, combined with the delayed departure of my flight, I was able to leisurely make my way around all 8 of the lounges available to QF WP members! The JAL lounges are obviously open all the time as this is their hub; the others open at various hours depending on the schedule of that airline’s flights.
Cathay, for example, closes quite early at 3pm. Whereas Emirates doesn’t open until 6pm. American closes around 6pm (I think) after its flight to DFW leaves (although there might be later flights than that – I didn’t check), and QF has its normal operating hours it has had for the past 20 years lol….
Anyway, as you can see there is quite a lot to choose from – and choose wisely as they differ vastly from each other!
The lounges are spread between the main building and satellite, which used to be connected by a cool driverless train thing, but they ripped that out a few years back and replaced with a walkway & shops (turns out they are not that far apart after all!)
BTW Narita is undergoing a MASSIVE refurb for the Olympics next year so is a bit of a mess, but I think it will be awesome when it’s finished.
Anyway, back to the lounges:
Main Building: JAL First, JAL Sakura, Emirates, Cathay, American
Satellite Building: JAL First, JAL Sakura, Qantas
I will rank them in order of excellence, with comments.
1. JAL First – Main building: brand new lounge, only opened in April. Modelled of the Haneda lounge includes sushi bar, ramen bar, restaurant, champagne bar, shoe shining service (right?) is really big…. Lots of private nooks and crannies. Very tastefully done. And of course, the excellent Japanese service one would expect. I would put this in world’s top 10 First Class lounges – maybe even top 5.
2. Emirates – Main building: also appears to be very new – done in the same style as the rest of EK lounges – is REALLY big. Sparking clean – same good range of booze and food as typical of EK lounges. The good thing about this lounge is that it opens at 6pm BEFORE any EK PAX have had time to check in and clear security…. So it was basically empty for the first hour I was there. My advice: if JAL is crowded, come to EK! I had a shower in the lounge and it was pristine.
3. JAL Sakura – Main Building: A bit dated, but still in really good nick – and huge. Massive. Includes really good dining area, good food. Booze selection is not super good if you’re after a decent wine or champagne. But this lounge has a smoking section too (if you smoke), and it’s quite big and comfortable with couches etc and easily accessible from the bar (so you can drink and smoke)
4. JAL First – Satellite Building: About to be re-furbished, so will end up looking like a smaller version of the new First lounge in the Main building. A bit dated, but still an excellent selection of drinks and decent selection of food (not the same as the Main Building though – but apparently will be on par when refurb completed)
5. Qantas – Satellite Building: Largish, seems to have had a refresh somewhere in the past few years. Tends to get crowded though. Food and bev not terrible – on par with a Qantas dom J lounge. Is closest to the gates that QF typically flies from. Also, the only place with actual QF staff if you need to get a seat change or ask for seat to be blocked next to you!
6. JAL Sakura – Satellite Building: Similar to QF, gets a bit crowded and is close to QF gates – nowhere near as good as the JAL lounges in the main building
7. Cathay – Main Building: Has really strange operating hours so chances are unless you’re flying CX you wouldn’t visit it. It is stuck in some random corner on the 4th floor opposite EK lounge, so unless you are looking for it you won’t find it. I had only 30 mins to explore before it closed but my impression was just an average business class lounge – similar to the SIA lounge in Melbourne was my impression
8. American – Main Building: Sad. Why bother? Seriously, if you are travelling in F or have OW status why would you bother? It’s not that old as AA only moved to T2 in the past few years, but it’s nothing special. If that were my only choice I think I’d rather sit at one of the paid whisky bars throughout the airport!
Anyway, as mentioned above, Narita is having a rebirth before the Olympics and so far, it's looking pretty good!
