• Introduction
• Starting Out and American Airlines’ Flagship Lounge – Chicago
• Review: Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER Chicago-Narita
• Review: Japan Airlines First Class Lounge – Haneda
• Review: Japan Airlines Business Class 777-200 Haneda to Bangkok
• Review: Thai Airways Orchard Spa and Royal Orchard Lounge
• Review: Thai Airways 787-8 Business Class – Bangkok to Denpasar-Bali
• Review: Grand Hyatt Bali
• Review: Denpasar-Bali Airport and Premier Lounge
• Review: Singapore A330 Business Class Denpasar-Bali to Singapore
• Review: Grand Hyatt Singapore
• Review: Singapore Airlines Private Room
• Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Singapore to Hong Kong
• Review: Emirates Lounge – Hong Kong
• Review: Emirates A380 First Class Hong Kong to Dubai
• Review: Emirates First Class Terminal – Dubai
• Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai to Washington, DC (Dulles)

We boarded the flight via door 2L, and made the wonderful “Left”, my wife before I, since we were in the two middle seats of row 2. It wasn’t ideal, but by the time we finally had called in for seats, these were the only seats available, and it is always nice to at least sit together.

The seat was comfortable and reasonably spacious. The First Class cabin was only 8 seats, across 2 rows.

We had pre-departure beverages, for each of us, the flight attendant came around with a glass of champagne and orange juice. Given my propensity to be, well, me, I asked for both and mixed my own mimosa, or as some call: Buck’s Fizz.

Kind’ve odd for me, there was no amenity kit waiting for us. In fact, the amenity kit didn’t come until after we had our meal.

The Pajamas didn’t arrive until we were in the air. For each of us one by one, the flight attendant asked if we would like to change, and then escorted us to the lavatory and handed us our pajamas. They were quite comfortable, but a little warm.

So, instead I entertained myself checking out the In Flight Entertainment (IFE). I was happy to see when flipping through the IFE, that the latest James Bond movie was on offer, Spectre. It was an enjoyable movie, one of the few that I saw in the theater last year, so I was happy to see it again.

Japan Airlines provides two real meal choices, Japanese or Western. My wife graciously decided (without my pushing), to try the Japanese menu.

I of course tried the Western, including a steak.

Overall, both meal options were great, although I certainly felt stuffed before I even got to my steak, and my wife felt she was pretty content (but not stuffed) by the time she finished her meal.

Also, in the course of chatting, we happened to learn that the gentleman in 2A, was also a miles and point fan. I won’t share his name here, but it was awesome to trade stories. He mentioned he was going to be staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, so we shared some of the history of the property. His excitement was awesome. We exchanged contact information, and it reminded me about how travel truly connects us all (or at least most of us).

Before long, I asked for my bed to be made. I ended up getting 7-8 hours of sleep on the flight,

and woke up in time to enjoy a Steak Sandwich.

We’re not talking about an Etihad Steak Sandwich, but Japan Airlines was definitely trying in that vane. It was certainly good enough to take the edge off my appetite, as we arrived into Tokyo’s Narita Airport.

Wrapping Up

Overall, I was happy to have flown Japan Airlines’ First Class. Would I do it again? maybe. Would I go out of my way to do it? No. As I’m flying more an more, I’m realizing that going out of my way for a particular product starts to take away from the overall experience of traveling, especially when such excursions mean long, poorly timed layovers, which I’ll get into in the next post.