20170127: JL29: HaNeDa » HongKonG

Date: 2017/01/27

Flight: JL29

DEP/Actual Push: 1005JST/0956JST

ARR/Touch Down: 1415HKT/1401HKT

Aircraft/Registration: 777-200/JA703J

Class: Business (Restricted Fare)

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

Business class check-in counters were busy.  I used the JGC member counter and the whole process was completed in less than 5 minutes.

Lounge
The Sakura Lounge at Haneda can be quite busy in the morning rush.  Today it wasn't.  Even the dinning area had a certain calmness to it.  Tip:  for peace and quiet, go to the upper level of the lounge where only beverages are served.  The usual breakfast fair was on offer; scrambled eggs, sausages, hash brown, fresh salads, rice, Japanese curry.  A good hot breakfast could be have.

At the Gate
Boarding was supposed to start at 0935.  Got to gate 113 at 0936 and heard the announcement that boarding has been delayed because the aircraft wasn't ready.  (They don't tend to tell you the truth but just some excuse.)  I queued anyway and boarding commenced a minute after that.

Noticed that there was a line for first class passengers though this flight didn't have a first class.

On Board

Seats
The aircraft was a retrofitted 777-200 with the latest "Sky Suite III" It's the herringbone business class seats that are prevalent on airlines these days. Cathay Pacific, Air France, Finnair are other airlines which had implemented similar seats at least 2 years before JAL. The seats felt surprisingly cramped. The high partitions around the seat made it feel smaller. It felt as if I was in a cubical farm.  These seats were rolled out in starting summer of 2016. Yet, one of the 2 latches of the storage box was already dislodged; it couldn't be closed properly. The seat pocket for printed materials was too small for all the stuff that JAL had cramped into it. It was a struggle to even get the meal menu out.

Food

Had the western meal, Grilled Fillet with Mustard Sauce as the main course. The beef was done just right. The soup, Basil Flavored Consommé with Pasta, was a bit too salty. Otherwise, the salad was fresh, and everything else was delicious.

Western Meal

Service

The business class cabin crew had little to do as there were only around 10 passengers.   Service was OK, nothing to write home about.  As usual, the crew was a lot more enthusiastic in promoting in-flight shopping than actually serving passengers.

Around an hour before landing, the captain announced that we would land in HKG ahead of schedule, at 1335HKT, instead of the scheduled 1415.  But at 1335HKT, we were in a holding pattern.  The captained didn't bother to explain.  We were flying in very elongated circles.  In the end, descent didn't start till 1345HKT, and touched down on RWY25R at 1401HKT.  The planed stopped at gate 18 at 1412HKT.  The captain was right that we were ahead of schedule, by 4 minutes.  

Epilogue

JAL's business class product to HKG is mediocre.  

Bibliography

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

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