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.

Bibliography

https://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/premium/seat/skypremium.html

https://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/jgc/

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

http://www.maison-kayser.com/en/

http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/jgc/
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/premium/seat/skypremium.html

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/

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

http://www.maison-kayser.com/en/
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/service/business/seat/skysuite3.html

20170411: HA855: HoNoluLu » HaNeDa

Date: 2017/04/11

Flight: HA855

STD/ATD (Push Back): 1755HST/1741HST

STA/ATA (Touch Down): 2205JST/2139JST

Aircraft/Registration: A330-200/N730HA

Class: Business (Restricted Fare)

Seat: Hawaiian New Business Class

Prologue

This is the return flight, saying a sad goodbye to Paradise.

Pre-boarding

Check-in
Although this was an international flight, check-in was at Terminal 2, the "inter-island terminal."   When I arrived at 16:20, there was no wait.  Check-in was done in about 5 minutes.

There were only a few people in line for security and the whole process took about 5 minutes.  I thought people didn't have to take off their shoes anymore but I was wrong.

After security, there was a Starbucks, some fast food outlets.  In general, this terminal had a very provincial, by charming look and feel.

Lounge

As a first timer, it took me a while to find the right lounge. I had wandered into the busy "Premier Club" and was told I had to go to the "The Plumeria", one level above.

This lounge looked a lot more peaceful than the "Premier Club." There were only a handful of people.  Food offerings were limited but that was expected, matching my expectation of business class lounges in the U.S.  However, their extensive offerings of premium tea (yes tea!) compensated for the lack of decent food.

On Board

Cushion-cum-pillow

Seats
Hawaiian Airlines was in the midst of introducing their new business class (aka "first class" in domestic US) seats.  At the time of booking, an aircraft with older business class seats was assigned to this flight.  Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when upon boarding, I found the new upgraded business seats, the same ones that had brought me to HNL.

A nice feature that I have yet to mention is how the cushion/pillow can be strapped onto the back of the seat with the built-in elastic band to make a very comfortable headrest. Usually, I wouldn't know what to do with those mini pillows, taking up too mush real-estate of my seat.  This is an elegant and useful solution.

Food
Though I was seated by 17:35, ahead of the 17:55 departure, I was once again the last to board.  And for that, once again, no Mai Tai was offered.

After take-off, drinks and warm nuts were offered.  Since they didn't have any sparkling mineral water, I had water.

There were choices of Japanese or Western dinner.  I had the western, which was a two-course affair.  I guess the first course was an appetizer; Prosciutto and Asparagus Salad with Grilled Shrimp.  There were 3 choices of main dish and I had (1) the Minced Beef and Sauteed Vegetables with Oyster Sauce and Chow Fun Noodles.  The other choices were (2) Salmon Filet Wrapped in Rice Paper and Sage with Edamame Spinach Risotto, and (3) Spicy Eggplant with Lilikoi Sauce and Steamed Thai Jasmine Rice.

Desert was Passion Chocolate Cake.  Again, I like how full-size mugs were used for tea/coffee. Though the minced-beef was a little too salty, everything else was tasty and satisfying.

Appetizers: Prosciutto and Asparagus Salad with Grilled Shrimp

Minced Beef and Sauteed Vegetables with Oyster Sauce and Chow Fun Noodles.

Passion Chocolate Cake

About 80 minutes before touch down, a pre-landing meal was served; Hawaiian Style BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Grilled Pineapple, with a small dish of fresh fruits.  Delicious and surprisingly satisfying.

Hawaiian Style BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Grilled Pineapple

Service

Flight attendants friendly, but sometimes too enthusiastic. When hot towels were handed out, I was busy in filling out the Japanese customs form or whatnot. I'd put the towel to the side, on the armrest. Before I had a chance to use the towel, an overly enthusiastic flight attendant used her tongs to retrieve the used towel. Before I could say something to stop her, the towel had landed in her tray of used towels. When I said I haven't used it yet, she said "oopps," shrugged her shoulders and that was that.  I thought she was going to bring me another towel but I was mistaken. And that set the tone for the rest of the in-flight service. Service was rushed. It was obvious that the crew had a schedule to go by. However, they cared more about sticking to the schedule then if, for example, I had finished using the towel, or some other passenger has had enough time to finish the meal before asking to collect the plates.

I'd noticed the in-seat a/c power outlets weren't activated. I asked the same enthusiastic flight attendant for help. But she needed to get help from her colleagues. Four hours after take-off, the in-seat a/c power outlet started to work.

I sat in the bulkhead and noticed something for the very first time; whenever the cockpit crew needs to use the toilet right outside the cockpit door, they would phone the FA. One of them would then use a food cart to block the passage from the cabin into the galley, as a security precaution. That's all good. On this particular flight, the captain was particularly chatty with the FAs. After he has done his business, he would chat with the FAs, leaving the food cart blocking the exit. And he used the toilet a few times and every time he would chat with the FAs for a few minutes. So, even though there wasn't a queue for the toilet, I found myself having to wait for the captain to finish his chat before I could use the bathroom myself. There is nothing wrong with this. It's merely a note to myself.

Unlike the flight from Haneda, I was free to use my GoPro suction-cupped onto the window.

A good blanket.

One last thing to mention; the blanket provided is not the usual flimsy, prone to static electricity ones found on other airlines, it's a comfortable duvet-like blanket.

Epilogue

Similar to the flight from Haneda, an amenity kit (but in a different color,) and a small box of Honolulu cookies were offered.  These were not only nice touches but it worked well with the overall branding of the airline, as well as Hawaii itself.   There is no better way to fly to and from Hawaii.

Bibliography

https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/our-services/products-and-programs/premium-cabin
https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/our-services/at-the-airport/the-plumeria-lounge

20170406: HA458: HaNeDa » HoNoluLu

Date: 2017/04/06

Flight: HA458

STD/ATD (Push Back): 2130JST/2126JST

STA/ATA (Touch Down): 0945HST/0936HST

Aircraft/Registration: A330-200/N382HA

Class: Business (Restricted Fare)

Seat: Hawaiian New Business Class

Prologue

After the unpleasantness with JAL's discontinuing its HND «» HNL route, Hawaiian Airlines got my business.   With JAL gone, only ANA and Hawaiian fly between Haneda and Honolulu.  I chose Hawaiian because (1) they were cheaper than ANA, and (2) I wasn't impressed with ANA when I flew with them to HKG back in 2015.

Reservations
The Hawaiian Airlines websites have limitation.  I said websites, plural, because its Japan-site doesn't offer English.  Its English site, offers prices in USD only.  I ended using the Japanese site because I wanted to see prices in JPY.

Pre-boarding

TIAT Lounge

Check-in & Security

Hawaiian Airlines has two flights leaving from Haneda to Honolulu daily.  Mine is the earlier one, at 21:30.  The later one, HA856 departs at 23:55.  I was late in getting to the airport, and didn't arrive till an hour before departure time.  The business class counter seemed crowded.  On closer look, ground staff has told passengers on the later flight to wait till all passengers on my earlier flight are done.  I was grateful for that as I was running very late.

There was one counter for business class.  It was manned by an efficient, no-nonsense lady.  Once the boarding pass had been printed, I asked her to enter the Hawaiian Mileage membership number into my record as I had just joined.  Their Japan-based website had refused to let me enter it.   She had to reprint the boarding pass.  By the time check-in was completed, I only had 50 minutes before departure.

Body scanners were newly installed in Haneda from 2017/04/01.  So, everyone involved was getting used to them.  That meant very slow-moving security queue.  By the time, I'd cleared immigration, I had may be 15 minutes tops, to visit the lounge.

Lounge
Though short on time, I was determined to go to the lounge. That's because JAL had taught me a tough lesson when I flew them from Haneda to Honolulu a year earlier.  I had skipped dinner due to a lack of time.  And I didn't have time to go to the lounge.  I wasn't worried as I was sure dinner would be served.  I recalled Korean Air served a pretty good dinner when I flew them from Narita to Honolulu 2 years ago.

It was a mistake.  JAL only offered a light snack, very light snack.  I had to wait till breakfast just before landing in Honolulu.  It was horrible.

So, this time around, I was determined to go to the lounge.  If there wasn't enough time for a meal, I hoped to pocket a few おにぎり (rice balls) for consumption on the plane. Hawaiian Airlines passengers were directed to the TIAT Lounge Annex. It is one of the lounges operated by by the Tokyo International Airport Terminal entity. Other than Hawaiian Airlines, it seemed to be used by mainly SkyTeam airlines, e.g. China Airlines, Delta Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, China Southern Airlines, and other PRC airlines.

There was no one else in the lounge.  The decor was modern and understated.  It looked better than the JAL Sakura lounge, and the ANA business class lounge.  The hot food offered were not extensive but I managed to wolf down some rice with 肉団子 (Japanized-Chinese meat balls,) as well some 焼き鳥 (Japanese charcoal-grilled chicken on skewers.)   Washed it down with some Coke Zero (which isn't available in some other Airline Lounges.)

I wish I had more time to enjoy the lounge.

At the Gate
Departure time was at 2130.  As I walked towards gate# 143, a gate agent walked towards me to confirm if I were on the Hawaiian Airlines flight.  I said I was.  I overheard her conversation on the walkie-talkie saying she has found the last passenger.  The time was 21:13. I asked her if departure time wasn't 21:30.  She said indeed it was 21:30.  I didn't ask, but why the hurry?   I was seated and buckled-in by 21:16.

On Board

Refreshingly Simple

Seats
According to "Australian Business Traveler" and "Aviation Wire" (in Japanese) the seats were designed by a partnership between the Italian manufacturer Optimares and US design and branding agency PaulWylde.  To say the least, they were very unique.  My amateurish photos wouldn't do the wonderful cabin justice.  For more details,  head over to: Hawaiian's site.  Nice photos of the seats are also here.   The one-switch control for the seat was refreshing.   One turns the wheel forward to recline the seat, backward to bring it upright.  Why are other seats so complicated?

iPads as IFES

iPads (big ones) were handed out in lieu of an in-seat IFE screen.  The iPads can be rested on the a specially built tube which can be extracted from the armrest.  A fair amount of movies and audio tracks are loaded onto the customized iPads. Movies with Japanese sound tracks (but not subtitles) were offered.  I found the selections, both audio and video, limited.  Perhaps that's due to the limited storage on the iPads?  Another thing I missed was the real-time flight maps, which are only displayed on 2 LED screens at the bulkhead.

Food
Hawaiian Airlines surprised me in a good way, with a decent dinner.  There wasn't a lot of food but it was dinner; Fresh Mixed Salad, Kalua Prok with Lilikoi BBQ Sauce, Assorted Seasonal Steamed Vegetables and Steamed Rice.  It was delicious.

Actual Dinner!

Desert was Rum Raisin Bread Pudding.  The full-size mug for tea or coffee was a nice touch.  

Before take-off, the flight attendant asked for my choice of either a full breakfast, or a continental breakfast.  For those who wanted to sleep to the last possible minute, the continental was recommended as they wouldn't serve that till something like 30 minutes before landing. I opted for the full breakfast and it was served with less than an hour before landing.  Again, there wasn't a lot of food but it was a hot breakfast.  As a reference, Korean Air offered a full dinner, but only a continental breakfast on the NRT » HNL route.

The hot portion was a Dashi Omelet with Miso Cream Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and two pork sausages.  The combination of dashi and miso cream cheese gave it a taste that may not please everyone  It wasn't bad but I'll have to try it again before rendering a verdict.  The pork sausages tasted like it had come straight out of a tin can.  The croissant was warm and soft.  Despite the small portions, it was satisfying.  Again, a full-sized mug of tea or coffee were offered.

Full Breakfast

Service

As a punishment for being the last passenger to board (though I wasn't late,) I didn't get the pre-departure Signature Mai Tai.   But they made up for it with their meal service.  The crew was attentive and friendly.

I have only one complaint; the crew told me to remove my GoPro which I had suction-cupped onto the window.  At first, one flight attendant asked what it was and I said it was a camera. She said as long as it didn't receive or emit radio signals, such as a GPS device, it was fine.  This was during taxiing.  A minute later, another flight attendant asked me the same question but this time, she said that because the window pane was not a designated storage area, I had to remove the GoPro from the window pane.  I could hold it in my hand though she said, and further added that she was worried that the camera would fly off and hit someone if the aircraft was to come to a sudden stop. As the chance of the camera flying out of my hand to hit someone is greater than it being dislodged from the suction cup, I stopped recording and stowed all camera gear into my bag.  Note that this is the first time I have been told to not use the camera because "...the window is not a designated storage area."

To be fair, they just didn't know what I had and I concur with their policy of betting be safe than sorry.  The funny thing is, I was successful in using my GoPro-on-suction-cup for the landing. I'm sure the flight attendants saw the camera but they didn't stop me this time.

The bottles of Hawaiian Springs water, the cute amenity kit, and a small box of Honolulu cookies at the very end of the flight were nice touches.  As compared to JAL, no amenity kit to speak of, and no dinner service, this Hawaiian Airlines flight was infinitely better than my JAL flight a year earlier.

Epilogue

Hawaiian Airlines is infinitely better than JAL.  As advertised, once you board their air-craft, you're in Paradise.

Bibliography

https://www.ausbt.com.au/hawaiian-airlines-reveals-new-lie-flat-business-class-seats
http://designawards.core77.com/Transportation/51461/Radical-new-First-Class-and-Economy-cabins-for-Hawaiian-Airlines

http://www.aviationwire.jp/archives/119657
https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/our-services/products-and-programs/premium-cabin

Airlines Don't Care

JAL B777-200 @ HNL

The video of United forcibly removing a seated a passenger reminded me that airlines are similar to how organized crime does business. Rules favor the airlines. They call it how they like it. They can do anything they want. Customers have no recourse.

In some cases, airlines are worse than organized crime.  If you don't break the rules, the good fellas usually leave you alone.

Talking heads on TV have been saying that this incident wouldn't affect United too much.  That's because customers don't have a choice.  In Japan, customers have even fewer choices.  Like the Americans, there is nothing the flying public can do about nasty treatments airlines dish out.

The general public has a choice to do business with organized crime.  We don't have a choice when only one airline flies to a particular destination.

On 2017/01/01, I booked a JAL flight leaving Haneda for Honolulu on 2017/04/06, returning to Haneda 6 days later.  It was a restricted, advance purchase business ticket; dates can't be changed, and once I'd paid for it, there is a JPY20,000 penalty for cancellation.

On 2017/01/19, a JAL press release said they would discontinue the Haneda/Honolulu route from 2017/04/01. I read this on an aviation related website. (http://www.aviationwire.jp/)

On the same day (2017/01/19) my reservation was still active and JAL's website made no mention of the news item.

A few days later, I could no longer access my reservation via the web. It said my reservation was "調整中" (under maintenance,) and that JAL would contact me.

On 2017/01/24, 1625JST, JAL emailed me a short message telling me what I already know from that aviation news site.  The only new information was the new flight numbers of the replacement flight flying out from Narita.  It included a toll-free number one could call in regards to this change. The toll-free number was operational from 0800 till 1900.

A few hours later, at 1819JST, JAL sent me another email, this time a correction of the previous email. Looks like they were in a rush and had the new flight numbers (leaving from Narita) wrong. It took then 5 days since the news release to reach out to their customers. And the first email was wrong!

The email made no mention of what would happen to my restricted ticket.  Could I cancel it? Could I my restricted ticket could re-routed, cancelled, refunded.  I would just wait for them to contact me I suppose.

Unfortunately, JAL made no efforts on contacting me in subsequent days.  The website still said my reservation was "under maintenance" and that they would contact me.

On 2017/02/07, 1130JST, JAL sent me another email, repeating the same information, giving me the same toll-free number.   This time around, I saw that at the end of the email, I was requested to click on a link to let them know that I have received the email.  I clicked it.

A few more days went by and still nothing from JAL.  I called the toll free number.  Was put on hold for around 10 minutes.   First the good news, they would refund the total amount if I choose to cancel.

Then, the bad news:

1. They need up to 3 months to refund me the money I'd paid.   JAL blamed it on the credit company which they have no control over.  When I countered that I'd used a JAL-branded card, that made no difference; up to 3 months.  They took my money fast enough.  But a refund would take 3 months.
2. They had done absolutely nothing in moving my bookings to their replacement flight from Narita.  By the time I called, only undesirable seats (e.g. middle) were available.
3. The replacement flight on the day I was supposed to fly will be on an old B777-200, one with 15-year-old seats, and not the Sky Suite III that I was originally on.

"Take it of leave it" was the take-away I got from the operator.

They basically don't care.

Why would they allow me book and pay for my tickets on 18 days before they announced to the world that the Haneda/Honolulu flights would be discontinued?  It's impossible that they didn't know they would replace the HND «» HNL route with HND «» JFK 18 days earlier.  Yet, they took my money first.

They didn't reach out to me.  I had to contact them, and though I'd literally begged for a faster refund, it would take them "up to three months" to refund it.

Fortunately, there are other airlines flying between Haneda and Honolulu.  Unfortunately, there are some domestic destinations that JAL is my only choice. And JAL offers the cheapest fare between HND «» HKG.

JAL knows that I don't have a choice.  That's why they can afford to treat me like that.

Bibliography

http://www.aviationwire.jp/archives/110430

http://www.aviationwire.jp/archives/110417

20170319: JL26: Hong KonG » HaNeDa

Date: 2017/03/19

Flight: JL26
DEP/Actual Push Back: 1540HKT/1538HKT
ARR/Touch Down: 2025JST/2004JST

Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA710J

Class: Business (Restricted Fare)

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 25.  Boarding was to start from 1510.  At 1457, when I was already at the gate, they announced that boarding wouldn't start till 1520.  In the end, boarding started at 1515.

On Board

Seats
Today's seat was 11K.  Note to myself; this seat has one less window than others. 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 requested a vegetarian meal at Haneda.  Other than the bun sealed in a plastic bag, which was stale, the rest was fresh and tasty.

Vegetarian Meal

Appetizer; mushrooms on mashed potato

Main Course: beans, carrots, squash, onions, mash potato

A tiny salad.

Service

The business class cabin was 90% full.  The crew was more interested in promoting in-flight shopping.  They were so eager to sell that the chief purser interrupted everyone's movies by announcing the start of the in-flight shopping.  I wish they wouldn't do that.

In the beginning of the flight, a flight attendant offered newspapers. I asked for English-language ones and she said only "New York Times" and "Japan News" were available.  Though I was hoping for Financial Times and/or Wall Street Journal, I took New York Times.  A few minutes later, I saw another flight attendant walked past on her way to the main cabin with both Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.  It was too late to flag her down so I asked the flight attendant, the one who said they only had NYT and Japan News, for a Wall Street Journal.  It took her a few minutes to get one for me.  

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/