20181005

20171006: AA176: NaRiTa » DallasFortWorth


Date: 2017/10/06
Flight: AA176
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1040JST/1028JST
STA/ATA (Touch Down): 0815CDT/0739CDT
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200ER/N772AN
Class: Flagship Business


Prologue


Years ago, I had flown between NRT «» SEA nonstop on AA27 and AA26.  These are now nonstop HND «» LAX flights .  There were a few years of a lack of nonstop NRT «» SEA flights till Delta stepped in.  As of 2017, ANA too, operates daily NRT «» SEA flights.

Due to some horrendous experience on multiple Delta flights years ago, I have and will continue to stay away from Delta.  (As soon as I get over the PTSD from those Delta flights, I'll give them a try.)  As for ANA, it was too expensive.

Going onto the AA.com, I was automatically redirected to its Japan-site.  I soon noticed something weird; I could get a restrictive business class flight on the outbound (from NRT) leg, but the inbound/return leg is always "no fare" or "not available".  For flexible fares of around USD9,000, there were plenty of seats.

By default, the "cheapest fare" option used in the search.  One had to go back to the front page, select "advance search," click on "flexible fares" to see it's results. I wonder why AA doesn't list all available fares on one screen.

Going to back to my "not available" return leg problem.  I thought that was weird because at the time of the booking, it was a few months before my intended trip.  Also, I tried going one week forward, then two weeks forward in search of available return leg with the restrictive fare. No go.  I'd even tried going a month forward, still no go.  I started to suspect it was my browser was acting up.

I tried another browser but got the same results.  I even tried changing the date of the outbound leg months later.  Same results, I could get the outbound leg for about USD2,000.  But the return leg was always "no fare" or "not available."

I then thought the Japan-site of AA.com was malfunctioning.  So, I selected its US-site and tried again.  This time, on the U.S. site, I found both outbound and inbound flights for about USD4.500.  Great!  Sadly, I couldn't book on the U.S. site because one needed a US billing address to book there.

Returning to the Japan-site, same situation.  Outbound is fine, but no inbound leg.

In the end, I book my flights via the AA.com Hong Kong site because I had a credit card with a Hong Kong billing address.

I can only speculate that AA doesn't sell the cheaper, restrictive fares to Japan-base customers.  I can further speculate that AA is doing this because of an agreement with JAL, that by not offering its restrictive business, people like me would go to JAL.  Let me be clear, I don't have any evidence of this so this is pure speculation.   I did look at JAL but at the time of booking, they didn't have good seats on the flights I was interested in.  Moreover, JAL was more expensive than AA's restrictive fares.

Once booking was completed, working with AA's website, and its mobile app was a pleasure.  It may not be a big deal, or the AA website is just the industry norm.  However, for an user coming from JAL's platform, the difference is heaven and earth.  Something as simple as selecting your meal, may it be vegan, kosher, halal-certified, etc, could be done on the web 24-hours prior to departure.  This simple task couldn't be done on JAL's website, or mobile app till November 2017. 

At the Airport

Check-in
AA check-in counters at Narita terminal 2 were deserted at this time, a little after 0900.  As a newbie to AA (in recent times anyway,) I had trouble locating the right counter as signage indicated "main cabin" or "Priority Assistance."  So, I picked one randomly.  The lady who helped me was efficient.  I didn't have luggage to check so I got my boarding pass very quickly.  I inquired about lounge access and she told me where to find the Admiral's lounge.  Unlike Asian airlines (e.g. JAL, ANA, Cathay Pacific,) she didn't offer me a printed map of sorts.  She verbally described where I could find it.  I then asked her if my gate (#74) was far away, i.e. on the far satellite terminal.  She said no, it was close by.  



Lounge
The lady at check-in said that the Admiral's Club was close to my gate (#74,) and that I should go down the escalators next to the "Channel" store.  After clearing immigration, I headed towards gate 74. The lounge was nowhere to be found.  I headed back to the post-immigration area.  The lady who had processed my check-in was on the way to the gate and she stopped to ask if I had found the lounge.  I said no and she gave me the direction.

I found a deserted Admirals' Lounge (around 0930HRS).  My NRT » DFW flight was the only AA flight leaving in the morning.  The lounge looked massive, and spacious.  Loud (possibly alcohol-fueled) laughter originating from the bar area echoed throughout the lounge.

Japanese Breakfast Items by JAL
The very limited selection of hot food was unappetizing. There was a small selection of Japanese breakfast items provided by JAL. For breakfast, I had some Japanese egg rolls (玉子焼き,) sausages, cherry tomato and white rice.

The food area needed attention. For example, I had to specifically searched for an attendant for a new bottle of ketchup. However, they (the JAL staff,) were too keen in clearing away the food. Because when I returned 15 minutes after getting my food, for a おしぼり (wet towel/tissue) the JAL staff had already cleared away the Japanese breakfast foods including the おしぼり that I was after. This was 0945, when boarding was expected to start at 0950.

There was an automated espresso machine but it didn't offer latte or cappuccino. The 'coffee' it offered was pretty bad but on par with the average massively brewed coffee found in most American offices.
Welcome Drink (Water in plastic cup,) and Amenity Bag by Cole Haan
Boarding
Main cabin boarding was done in groups. There wasn't a line for business and I breezed through it. The lady who helped me at check-in, and later pointed me to the direction in finding the lounge was at the gate. She apologized for giving me the wrong direction to the lounge. I responded that I was a fault as I was the one who misunderstood her instructions.

On Board

Once I found my seat, champagne was offered.  I declined and asked for water.  It came in a plastic cup.  Saw that the champagne for my neighbor also came in a plastic cup.

Bose Headphones
Touch-screen Seat Control
Seats, IFE, etc.
The seats were fantastic.  On first look, they looked similar to JAL's claustrophobic "Sky Suite III"; same reverse herringbone layout, same fixed huge video screen.  But as soon as I sat down, I knew it was a much better product.  No wonder other airlines (e.g. China Airlines) have also adopted this seat.  For details, check out the links in the "bibliography"section.

There is one improvement they could make though; the edge of the fold-out table isn't tilted up, i.e. there is not a barrier to prevent things from slipping off the surface.  I had a glass of orange juice slide right off during a slight turbulence.

The wide selection of movies, videos, etc. on the IFE was overwhelming for yours truly.  Overwhelming in good way.  I was most impressed by the availability of live-TV (e.g CNN, CNBC, etc.) over the Pacific.  I thought technology like that was for Air Force One only.  And the quality of the live cable news was pretty good.  No start-and-stop, stuttering of the video etc.  In fact, it was better than a lot of in-house TV systems in some hotels.

I was most impressed by how AA handled the seat-belt-signs-are.  When it comes in in the middle of the flight, the IFE is interrupted briefly visually a message on the bottom 1/4 of the screen telling us to wear seat-belts. But the video program would continue.  No freeze-framing of your video.  The audio announcement played over the P.A. and IFE, was pre-recorded, automated.  That's infinitely better than JAL's, or Cathay Pacific and others, way of having a human do unnecessarily long-winded announcements in different languages.  Pausing and restarting the video every time. 

Warm Nuts and Sparkling Water

Food
I'd pre-ordered an Asian Vegetarian Meal.  Having seen the same vegetarian meal from JAL for the last few flights, I was half-expecting the same meal.  Alas, it was different and delicious. The main course had an Indian influence.  Beans, rice, lentils, with a hint of curry.  Yummy!

Main Meal (Lunch,) Appetizers

Main Meal, Asian Vegetarian Main Course.
In between meals, there was the snack buffet.  I got addicted to those fruit cups.
In-between Meals Snacks Buffet

In-between Meals Snacks Buffet

In-between Meals Snacks Buffet

In-between Meals Snacks Buffet
Hot Breakfast

Instead of the cold oatmeal and yogurt, I opted for the hot, non-vegetarian breakfast.  Nothing to write home about but it was satisfying.  I particularity like the danish.  I liked it so much that I asked for seconds. 

Flastware
Service

Flight attendants were attentive and yet not intrusive.  In short, great.Other than the above mentioned seat-belt-sign announcement, I also liked who the flatware was one-sized; two forks and two knives were provided provided for a meal. But all the forks and knives were of the same size. There was no butter knife. Similarly, there was only one type of spoon provided. It's the same size for stirring your tea, or for their signature ice-cream Sundae. Just for comparison purposes; on a long-haul business class flight on JAL, I recall using at least 3 types of spoons; a teaspoon, soup spoon, and one for appetizers.  I think AA's way is ingenious.  Keep things simple, to keep costs down.







Epilogue


Good flight, great service.  I would love to fly AA again.  The only problem is that they somehow hide their best-priced tickets from Japan-based passengers.


Bibliography

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20180205

20170822: JL26: Hong KonG » HaNeDa


Date: 2017/08/22
Flight: JL26
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1515HKT/1551HKT
ATA/ATA (Touch Down): 2015JST/2111JST
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA701J
Class: Business (upgraded from Economy using miles)
Seat: JAL SKY SUITE III

Prologue

This is the return flight from Hong Kong

Pre-boarding

I couldn't be bothered with the on-line check in, and printing out a boarding pass at the hotel.  I know the printed boarding pas is a dying breed.  But the JAL mobile app can't do no electronic boarding passes.  Not for international flights anyway.  Yes, this was 2017 and JAL's IT department had been asleep at the wheel for quite a while.

I couldn't be bothered because  they (JAL) would stop me at the gate and demand to see my Residence Card (在留カード ) to ensure that I'm not trying to enter Japan illegally.   This is despite the fact that the  Japanese immigration officer had stamped in my passport saying I had left Japan only a few days earlier and was going to return soon.  Yes, one could gather all this information from the Japanese immigration landing card which had been stapled to my passport by the Japanese immigration officer when I left Japan.  JAL ignores this of course and assume that I would try to enter Japan illegally thus demanded proof that I had the right to enter Japan.  It seems like their "print-your-own" boarding pass is only for Japanese nationals.

So, I went to the in-town check-in on Hong Kong side. Instead of partnering with your OneWorld partner Cathay Pacific, JAL operates their own, but only one counter for all passengers there.  Fortunately, there was only one person ahead of me so there wasn't much of a wait.

Lounge
JAL customers were directed to the Qantas lounge.  It is spacious, and always empty this time of the day (~14:00HKT)  Ample hot foods and beverages.

On Board

Seats
See my previous flights for more details on the "Sky Suite III"

Stormy Departure
At 15:32, Captain Ohata said we that we would be stuck at the gate for another 10 minutes to due heavy traffic.  At 15:42, the captain said we would be stuck for another 10 minutes, at the gate, due to heavy traffic around HKG caused by the approaching typhoon.  He added that push-back was then expected at 15:50.

Push-back was at at 15:51, just as a thunderstorm had started.  Taxied to RWY25L in at times heavy rain.  We queued for take off but then, at 16:12, we left the queue and headed to take off from RWY07R instead.  Actual take-off was at 16:20.   (See video below.)

Food
Just like the outbound flight from HaNeDa, the food situation was once again Déjà vu!  It was the exact same Oriental Vegetarian Meal as that of JL26 in April.  The only difference was that this time, the faux sweet and sour "pork" didn't come with green peppers, and that the bun this time was actually not bad.  (NOTE: Non-vegetarian meals changes every month.) 
Oriental Vegetarian Meal

Oriental Vegetarian Meal, Main Course: Sweet-and-sour-faux-pork


Service
The business class cabin was nearly full.  For a change, the crew did not interrupt our movies by announcing the start/end of the in-flight shopping service.  Service was OK, but nothing to write home about.  



Epilogue

The delay was weather related and couldn't be avoided.  I flew JAL because it was cheaper than that of Cathay Pacific.
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20180120

20170818: JL29: HaNeDa » HongKonG

Haneda/ RJTT / HND RWY05

Date: 2017/08/18
Flight: JL29
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1000JST/1010JST
STA/ATA (Touch Down): 1335HKT/1329HKT
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA703J
Class: Business
Seat: JAL SKY SUITE III

Prologue

Another regular trip to Hong Kong.  Booking was done on JAL's website which is a pain to use.   Painful because its design is that of typical Japanese-design from the 90s.

Pre-boarding

Check-in
There wasn't a wait at the JGC counters.  The lady who processed my check-in quickly confirmed that I'd pre-ordered an Oriental Vegetarian Meal.  So far so good.  But then, the lady noticed that my passport was to expire in about 3 weeks' time.  She asked if I had a visa to visit Hong Kong.  I said my passport/nationality doesn't require a visa to enter Hong Kong.  Moreover, as she could surely see on her system, I had a paid-for, non-refundable return flight in a few days' time.  But that wasn't good enough.  She called for a supervisor and it took a lot of convincing before they would let me proceed.

To be fair, the Hong Kong government said that my passport must have a 6-month validity for a visa-free entry.  But then, why was I allowed to travel on JAL to Hong Kong in April then again in June 2017 when my passport had less than 6 months of validity?  If for whatever reason I'm refused entry, I have already paid-for the return-ticket to Tokyo.  So, it's not like JAL would be stuck with the bill for repatriating me.  Anyhow, the two ladies (the original staff who helped me, and her supervisor,) gave me a hard time before letting me go.

When they finally gave me my boarding pass, I asked if the satellite Sakura lounge has the same selection of foods and drinks as that of the main one.  (I had learned my lesson when I flew from Narita that the satellite Sakura lounge there only had a subset of breakfast offerings.)  The lady said though the satellite lounge is smaller, it serves the same food and in fact, it's less crowded/busy than the main one.


Lounge
The satellite Sakura Lounge (officially named "Skyview") is located in the newer part of the Haneda international terminal.  Also, since last April, when JAL replaced its HND » HNL route with HND » JFK, flight JL29 (to HKG) had been exiled to the farther gates of 140-something.  So using the satellite lounge made sense as it was closer to my of the day, gate#146.

The dining area was smaller but the food was the same so no complaints there. Also, as the check-in lady said, it felt less busy as the main lounge.  But for First Class passengers, they would have to put up with people like me going to and from the washroom.  That's because First Class passengers don't get their own exclusive lounge. Instead, maybe 1/4 of the area was condoned off and we could see them and them us, on our way to the bathroom.



Boarding
Passengers were funneled to 2 queues for boarding.  One for business class, premier economy, and upper tier One World.  The other one was for economy passengers.  When I got to the gate, priority boarding had already started.  But my queue was long and slow-moving.  That's because there was only one staff re-checking people's passports and boarding passes, and inevitably there were quite a few people who got into the wrong queue.  But they weren't told to move to the other queue until they got their passports/boarding passes checked by the lone staff.  There were still quite a few people ahead of me when they started boarding economy passengers.  You would think JAL would be more experienced in boarding passengers smoothly but on this particular flight, "smooth" was nowhere to be found.


On Board

Seats
See my earlier entry about the claustrophobic "Sky Suite III".

Food
Déjà vu!  It's the exact same Oriental Vegetarian Meal from my last two JL29 flights.  One in April 2017, and one in premium economy in June 2017.  Even the chewy rubber-like bun was the same.  I read recently that around 5% of the Japanese population is vegetarian (as compared to ~13% of that of Taiwan.)  So, I guess that's why JAL doesn't care about vegetarian passengers.  However, considering JAL is the Japanese flag carrier and that it aimed to serve foreign passengers too, this was very disappointing.  Also, I guess that's why China Airline Lounges in Taiwan has a dedicated selection of vegetarian foods.

JL29, 2017/08/18: Oriental Vegetarian
JL29: 2017/08/18: Oriental Vegetarian, Appetizer. 
JL29: 2017/08/18: Oriental Vegetarian, Main. 

Service
The rear door was closed at 0948.  At 1001, i.e. one minute passed the scheduled departure time, an announcement said that we were waiting for delayed transit passengers from Osaka.  (Fun fact: JAL, the flag-carrier of Japan, doesn't operate any flights between Osaka and Hong Kong.  They only have code-shares with Cathay Pacific.)  In the end, the front door was closed at 1006 and I didn't see anyone boarding since the announcement.

Noise cancelling headphones.
A young boy of maybe 5 or 6 six years old sat across the aisle from me.  His mother sat behind him.  Not long after the seat belt signs were turned off, he went to toilet.  I knew this because not long after take off, I heard loud thumping and banging, and the boy's yell for his "mama."  Note, I heard this even when I was using the JAL headphones, though I had yet to turn on the noise-cancelling function.  It took me a few seconds to realize that the boy was trapped in the bathroom.  I looked around and saw that no one was making a move to rescue the boy.  I unbuckled myself and got up to make my way to the bathroom.  I saw his mother was oblivious to the situation.  She was listening to whatever with her own headphones.  I then saw a male flight attendant talking to another passengers a few rows down from the toilet.  He was facing fore and I motioned to him about the noise.  It was only then when he started to go to the toilet to free the boy.  I was saddened that both the mother and the crew did nothing till then, till I had already started to make my way towards the toilet.  And that sums up the service of this flight, it showed much the crew cared for the passengers.  I'm sure the boy's cry for help was heard throughout the business class cabin.




Epilogue

The only reason I flew JAL was that they where cheaper than Cathay Pacific.


Bibliography

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20171205

20170620: JL26: Hong KonG » HaNeDa


Date: 2017/06/20
Flight: JL26
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1515HKT/1545HKT
ATA/ATA (Touch Down): 2025JST/2110JST
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA702J
Class: Premium Economy (award travel)
Seat: JAL SKY PREMIUM

Prologue

This is the return flight from Hong Kong

Pre-boarding

No bag to check and I had printed out the boarding pass at the hotel.  So, I went straight through the formalities.

Lounge
JAL customers were directed to the Qantas lounge.  It is spacious, and always empty this time of the day (~14:00HKT)  Ample hot foods and beverages.  Premium economy passengers have lounge access. 

At the Gate
By the time I got to gate 18, priority boarding had been completed and general boarding was in progress. I showed my self-printed boarding pass with my passport but was stopped. Once again, they said they needed to see my 在留カード (Japanese residence card which all foreign residence are required to carry while in Japan.) They wanted to check if I were an illegal immigrant or if I were trying to be an illegal immigrate. This doesn't make sense because with my passport, I can enter Japan without a visa for a 90-day stay anyway. I was told to stand aside and wait. After a while, the ground staff came back and returned my passport, Residency Card, and a new machine-printed boarding pass.  Perhaps the home-printed boarding pass is for Japanese national only because it's a hassle actually, for them to stop me at the gate and question if I could go to Japan.

On Board

Doors were closed by 15:06. STD of 15:15 came and went. At 15:22, the captain announced that we had a 30-minute delay due to bad weather around the HKG airport. Push back was at 15:45, half an hour behind schedule. There was a backlog of departing flights. Take-off wasn't till 16:24HKT.

Aisle seat floor-storage space limited by support structure.

Seats 

As noted in outbound flight, the seat was surprisingly spacious with plenty of leg room.   However, the aisle seat has less floor-storage space because of the support structure getting in the way.




Food
Pre-ordered the oriental vegetarian meal.  Everything was delicious.  (Note the metal cutlery.)    



Appetizer; marinated mushrooms.  Desert; fresh cut fruits. 

Mushroom in faux oyster sauce, steamed rice with corn, baby pok-choi.

Service
The premium economy cabin was about 90% full.  Service was so-so.  I'd asked for black tea when coffee was offered after the meal.  The flight-attendant brought the tea around but she had obviously forgotten who had asked for it.  When she came for my tray, I asked for the black-tea, again.  She asked again, if I wanted sugar and/or milk with it and I again said that I would like it straight and that I had asked for it a while back.  She then pretended that she had my tea all along and that she had it right there.  I wouldn't mind if she would just come clean with me.  Everyone forgets and it was perfectly OK.  But pretending that she didn't forget wasn't OK.



Epilogue

JAL's premium economy product to/from HKG is actually better than its business class.  The seats are spacious, with plenty of leg room, and much less claustrophobic than the business class seats.  Though glasses, and ceramic dishes are replaced with plastic ones, premium economy passengers get lounge access, as well as priority boarding.  As it's about 40% cheaper than a business class ticket, I would recommend this over their business class.
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20170916

20170616: JL29: HaNeDa » HongKonG


Date: 2017/06/16
Flight: JL29
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1000JST/1044JST
STA/ATA (Touch Down): 1335HKT/1452HKT
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA702J
Class: Premium Economy (award travel)
Seat: JAL SKY PREMIUM

Prologue

This is one of my regular, periodic flight between Haneda and Hong Kong.  Booking was done on JAL's painful website.  Painful because its design is that of typical Japanese-design from the 1990s.  As this was an award travel, booking was even more painful.

Pre-boarding

Check-in
Went to the JGC check-in counters which seemed busy, with a tad of a wait.  Once again, the lady who printed out my boarding pass took a little time to consult with her computer screen to say/confirm that a special meal had been ordered, and reserved for me.  I had called their JGC toll-free number a few days earlier to reserve the Oriental Vegetarian Meal.

For a weekday, the security lines were surprisingly short.  I went to the priority line anyway but that wasn't much faster, as there were a few people ahead of me.

View from 2nd floor of main Sakura Lounge Haneda

Lounge
Went to the main Sakura Lounge near gate 112.  Note:  JAL premium economy passengers have lounge access, just like business class.

It wasn't that crowded for a weekday.  Perhaps June isn't a peak-season for travels?  Like my last visit, I found the croissants from Maison Kayser delicious. The dinning area tends to be busy and crowded.  To get away from the crowd, the second floor sitting area is highly recommended.  (The photo above was shot a few months prior from the 2nd floor sitting area.)

At the Gate
Since April 2017, gates closest to everything in the main terminal were assigned to long haul flights to CDG, LHR, JFK.  JAL seems to care less about shorter flights like this JL29 to HKG.  Today's gate was 146, in the farther, less convenient, new extension of the terminal.

Boarding was supposed to start at 0930.  At 0937, they announced that boarding had been delayed to 1010.  At 0940, the announcement explained that the delay was due to maintenance issue.  It's not the first time for these "maintenance issue" delays.  After all, these are retrofitted 777-200s.

At 0947, a ground staff walked around the sitting area telling people that boarding won't start for another hour.  Thought about going to the Annex Sakura lounge to wait it out.  Just to make sure, I went to the gate to confirm the new boarding time.  When I got to the gate at 0950, a surface staff said boarding was about t start.  So, I went to the priority boarding queue.  Note: JAL premium class passengers get the same priority boarding as business class.

Once again, there was a First Class queue though there isn't a first class on this flight.  In the end, boarding started at 0954.

On Board

Seats
The "JAL SKY PREMIUM" seats were surprisingly spacious. You can recline, but the seats basically slide you forward. This means the seat-back of the person in front of you will never invade your space. The IFE screen is 12-in as compared to the 17-in in business "Sky Suite III." Overall, it is much less claustrophobic as nothing is in-your-face like that of "Sky Suite III." Moreover, there is storage space underneath the seat in front. In business, one can only store stuff in the overhead locker. Note: window seats are better because for aisle seats, there is a support contraption in the middle of the under-seat storage. See the picture captioned 3-step adjustable footrest. As a 1.75m (~5'10") person, there was plenty of leg room. I could even cross my legs with room to spare.



JAL Premium Economy, Oriental Vegetarian Meal


Food
I'd jumped through the hoops and called the JGC toll-free number a few days prior to order the oriental vegetarian meal. Why call? Because JAL's IT department had been asleep at the wheel for the last decade and special meals can't be ordered via their website. To be precise, one can order a vegetarian meal via an obscure link during the booking process. But once you have missed that obscure, nearly hidden step, one has to telephone their non-toll-free reservation lines to request a special meal. Even when I remembered to use that obscure link to order a special meal, only the 'regular' vegetarian meal could be requested. Anything other than that, like the Oriental Vegetarian I'd wanted, one has to phone them. It's sad but comical.

Premium Economy, Economy Class menu.


The food in Premium Economy is supposed to be the same as that of Economy.  But because I'd pre-ordered the Oriental Vegetarian Meal, I got... the same Oriental Vegetarian Meal I got last time in Business Class, but in plastic containers.  On closer look there was a difference, the appetizers were less elaborate.  And that was it.

Other than the food in plastic containers, the Perrier I'd asked for was also served in a plastic cup. Otherwise, the food, and drinks, down to snacks (おつまみ) they served with the drinks were exactly the same as that of business class.  The after-meal tea was in a paper cup instead of ceramic ones. Lastly, instead of the real hot towel, I got a cold paper one in wrapped in plastic.

Sweat-and-sour-faux-pork

Appetizers: Vegetarian wraps and assorted pickled veggies.
Desert: White fungus (雪耳,) mango, red dates.

Service
Once everyone had settled into their seats, the chief purser announced that since we had missed the departure slot, we won't be able to depart till 1050. But then, people were still boarding as of 1038 and doors were closed till 1041. Orange juice was offered during the delay and before the doors were closed. 

Before doors were closed, a flight attendant approached me to confirm (again) if I had ordered a special meal. After I said yes, she asked for my name. I replied with my name but she asked for my full name. I found that annoying, as if I was being interrogated and had to let my neighbor know what my full name was. This wasn't the first time time though as I have been asked like that when I'd previously ordered a special meal. 

At 1108 while stopped at the apron off RWY05, the captain said that we were on hold for another 5 minutes. I could barely understand his poor English but I think he said the delay was due to heavy traffic around HKG. In the end, full throttle wasn't till 1113.

IFE froze in the middle of my watching "Moonlight." Had to restart the movie.

After lunch, I had to ask for English (black) tea specifically as they only offered Japanese tea or coffee by default.  The tea arrived in a paper cup as compared to the ceramic ones used in Business Class.

Service in general was OK. Nothing to write home about. The only thing annoying was how I was interrogated about my full name in exchange for the special meal.

Epilogue

15,000 miles were used on this award-travel flight, i.e. 30,000 return.  A return award travel on Business Class would have needed 48,000 miles.  Premium Economy has a better value.

If I were paying, the cheapest (restricted) Business Class return-ticket is about ¥60,000 more expensive than the cheapest Premium Economy Class ticket.  Again, Premium Economy has a better value.

I especially like the surprisingly spacious, non-claustrophobic seats.  I got the same vegetarian food as business class anyway and getting drinks and food in plastic containers wasn't a bother at all. Add on the lounge and priority boarding privilege, JAL's Premium Economy product is superior than its Business Class product on this HND «» HKG route.


Bibliography


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20170718

20170426: JL26: Hong KonG » HaNeDa

HKG, RWY07R
Date: 2017/04/26
Flight: JL26
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1515HKT/1515HKT
ATA/ATA (Touch Down): 2025JST/2019JST
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA702J
Class: Business (upgraded from Economy using miles)
Seat: JAL SKY SUITE III

Prologue

This is the return flight from Hong Kong

Pre-boarding

No bag to check and I had printed out the boarding pass at the hotel.  So, I went straight through the formalities.

Lounge
JAL customers were directed to the Qantas lounge.  It is spacious, and always empty this time of the day (~14:00HKT)  Ample hot foods and beverages.

At the Gate
Today's gate was 17.  At 1439, announcement said due to delayed arrival of aircraft, boarding had been delayed to 1455.  I was paged at 1445.  They confiscated my "home-print" boarding pass, and asked me to show my 在留カード (Japanese residence card which all foreign residence are required to carry while in Japan.)  They wanted to check if I were an illegal immigrant or if I were trying to be an illegal immigrate.  Their right to ask for such an ID is questionable.  However, not wanting to make any trouble, I just complied and they issued me with a new 'real' boarding pass.  This is not the first time they had confiscated my home-print boarding pass.  Sometimes they don't, sometimes they do.  It's a hassle to be paged like that though.  Moreover, it's not fair for them to single foreign residents like that.

On Board

Seats
Today's seat was 7K.  Note to myself; this seat has one less window than others.  Also, the overhead bin directly above can't be used as it was reserved for infant life jackets.  Don't use this seat again.   The aircraft was a retrofitted 777-200 with the latest "Sky Suite III"  See my previous flight for more details.




Food
I had pre-ordered an oriental vegetarian meal.  Other than the bun sealed in a plastic bag, which was stale and chewy, the rest was fresh and tasty.  The main dish was a sweet and sour "pork." The pork was deep fried tofu cubes.  Very nicely done. The token boiled green vegetable (菜芯) was a bit blend though.

Oriental Vegetarian

Starters: tomato, cucumber, dates, spinach, cold plate.

Main: faux sweet and sour "pork"

Service
The business class cabin was nearly full.  For a change, the crew did not interrupt our movies by announcing the start/end of the in-flight shopping service.  Service was attentive, and efficient.  



Epilogue

JAL's business class product to/from HKG is mediocre. Their latest and greatest offering of hardware, Sky Suite III is a mistake. Their only advantage over competitors like CX is that it's cheaper to fly JAL.

Bibliography

http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/business/seat/skysuite3.html
https://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/jgc/

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20170714

20170422: JL29: HaNeDa » HongKonG


Date: 2017/04/22
Flight: JL29
STD/ATD (Push Back): 1000JST/1008JST
STA/ATA (Touch Down): 1335HKT/1402HKT
Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA703J
Class: Business (upgraded from Economy using miles)
Seat: JAL SKY SUITE III

Prologue

This is one of my regular, periodic flight to Hong Kong.  Booking was done on JAL's website which is a pain to use.   Painful because its design is that of typical Japanese-design from the 90s.

Pre-boarding

Check-in
I went to the usual JAL check-in aisle.  All, I saw was JGC counters.  That was fine as I was a member.  I think business class counters have moved to another aisle.  There wasn't much a wait.

I didn't have a bag to check so getting my boarding pass was quick.  But after the check in lady had printed my boarding pass, she'd hung on to it.  She looked at her screen for may be in reality 15 seconds but what seemed liked forever.  She then said that her records show that they have my requested special meal ready and I was ready to go.

I had learned my lesson (in requesting a special meal,) and had called their toll-free number (for JGC members) a few days earlier, got put on hold for ~5 minutes, and requested "oriental vegetarian meals" for flights to and from HKG.

Maison Kayser Baked Goods

Lounge
Being a Saturday, security and immigration weren't busy.  I soon found myself in the Sakura Lounge, having the usual lounge breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, fresh salads, and some rice.  Tried the croissants for the first time and it was surprisingly good.  There was a toaster to heat things up, if so desired.  The sign said baked goods were supplied by the Japanese outpost of Maison Kayser.  If you aren't too much into the Japanese take of a western breakfast, try the baked goods for they went very well with the cappuccino from the WMF machine.  At least try the croissants.

At the Gate
JL29 to HKG used to depart from gate 112, or 113, or 114, the gates closest to the lounge and everything else.  But since JAL's replacing its HND «» HNL with HND «» JFK from 2017/04/01, all the closest gates are now serving long haul flights.  On this day, gates 112, 113, and 114 had flights going to JFK, CDG, and LHR respectively.  My flight was departing from gate 147, in the new extension of the International terminal.

Boarding was supposed to start at 0930.  AT 0926, they announced that boarding had been delayed to 0935.  Though there is no first-class on this flight, there was a line for First Class passengers. I guess that line is for their top tier mileage club members and they did get to board first.

Why so many buttons?

On Board

Seats
See my earlier entry about the claustrophobic "Sky Suite III". Having experienced the refreshingly minimalist design of the controls on Hawaiian Airlines, everything about this "Sky Suite III" is in-you-face.







Oriental Vegetarian

Food
The oriental vegetarian meal was delicious.  The only exception, was the very chewy bun in the plastic bag.  Usually, their bread supplier (for business class anyway,) is the aforementioned Maison Kayser, but not for special meals.  The main course was sweet-and-sour-"pork" with rice.  The "pork" was actually made from soy. The texture was very close to pork. The sweat-and-sour sauce was a little too acidic otherwise it was delicious

Appetizers: Vegetarian wraps, deep fried mushrooms, minced tofu on vermicelli 

Sweat-and-sour-faux-pork
Desert: White fungus (雪耳,) mango, red dates.

Service
An announcement came on at 1000JST, the scheduled departure time, to say we couldn't leave just yet as the necessary paper work had to be completed. But that was a lie because as soon as the passenger in 1A boarded, the front door door closed and push-back commenced.  The truth was that we were all waiting for this V.I.P in seat 1A.  One has to be a V.I.P to reserve 1A in the first place. JAL has blocked off the bulkheads for their top tier loyalty program (JMB) members.

Flight attendants were way more interested in peddling in-flight shopping.  They got on the P.A. system, therefore interrupting people's movies to announce the start of the shopping service. The first time in Japanese, then English.  The second time in Cantonese.  I wish they would only use the P.A. system for essential broadcasts. Meanwhile, I had to use the "call" button to get more Perrier.  Had to do that three times for three refills.



Epilogue

The only reason I flew JAL was that they where cheaper than CX.  


Bibliography


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