Flight: Tokyo (Haneda) to Singapore (Changi) and back

Airline: Japan Airlines

Flight Number: JL35 & JL38

Plane: Boeing 767-300ER

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 1A

This Flight

This is a review of two flights I took a while ago whist positioning, in my ‘day job’ for a major airline.

JAL (Japanese Airlines) operate two daily flights from Tokyo to Singapore – JL35 leaving Haneda at 00:10 and arriving in Singapore at 06:45, and JL37 leaving Haneda at 10:30 and arriving into Singapore at 17:30.

On the return leg you have JL36 leaving Singapore at 22:55 and arriving into Haneda at 05:55, and JL38 leaving Singapore at 02:10 and and arriving in Haneda at 09:50.

I took JL35 and returned on JL38, which worked for my needs. The flight time is around 7 hours, and the equivalent of a London to New York flight.

Checking In

I was able to use First Class check in area in Haneda’s airport. Naturally, being Japan, the check in process was extremely efficient and quick. I was then able to use the Fast Track Security, which is positioned just behind the First Class Check In desks.

In Singapore things are slight different. Changi’s airport offers what is known as an early check in the Jewel, meaning you can check in more than 3 hours before and explore the Jewel without dragging around your luggage. Genius idea! Early check in is available 12 to 3 hours before departure – at which point you’d use the regular desks.

The Lounge

In Japan, the JAL offers two lounges for Business Class (the Sakura Lounge and Sakura Sky View), and also the JAL First Class Lounge. I had checked in for the flight very early, and had access to all 3 lounges, which I’ve reviewed separately. Each of the lounges are very good, with my favorites being the Sky View and JAL First, each for different reasons.

In Singapore, there is an array of OneWorld lounges to visit! On this trip I visited the Qantas First Lounge, then the Qatar Airways Lounge – and when that closed headed to the Marhaba Lounge.

The Plane

This was JAL’s Boeing 767-300ER, which was somewhat of a treat to fly, as very few of the carriers I regularly fly with have these in service any more.

JAL have 26 x 767-300ER’s in their fleet, and I was in the international configured one – JAL have around 5 different layouts of these aircraft.

The aircraft has 24 x Business Class seats and 175 x Economy seats – there is no First Class or Premium Economy.

The Seat

The Sky Suite II is offered only on JAL’s Boeing 767. This is in a 1-2-1 configuration for 6 rows. I personally found this seat to be better than the Sky Suite, which is offered on JAL’s 777. This is mostly down to space, storage and privacy.

The seat has a reasonably sized table, a storage ‘locker’ for storing things like wallets in (which the Sky Suite doesn’t), and the seat controls were easy to use.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the most private of seats, and sitting in 1A, there was a tendency to be knocked by people walking through to the back of the plane. Much of this be due to the size of the plane, rather than anything else though.

Food and Drink

For the Tokyo to Singapore leg of the flight it was possible to pre-order food on the flight. I wasn’t entirely sure what the options meant – so decided to find out on the flight.

Drinks

Surprisingly, there were no pre-takeoff drinks. However once airborne, the drinks got flowing on both flights……and the Cabin Crew had no intention of stopping that flow!

On offer was a series of beers, wines (all exclusively Japanese), along with soft drinks and tea. I started off on the Red Wine, and progressed the Japanese Sake…..then……all I remember was I woke up with 45 minutes to land!

Food – Tokyo -> Singapore

Two meal services were offered on the flight. The first was a light snack, and the second was effectively breakfast.

For the light snack the meal was set, so I took it. I can’t say I enjoyed any of it! The breakfast was a choice between Japanese and International – I went for the International, and managed to blag some noodles from the “anytime” menu. This was far better than dinner – but still not great!

Food – Singapore -> Tokyo

Again for this flight, two meal services were offered. Essentially the offerings were the same – late night snack and breakfast.

This time, I decided to chose the Japanese breakfast, and I actually really enjoyed it! It came with a variety of different sushi options, rice, soup and noodles. Although it’s not my thing at all, I really enjoyed it!

Food – Snacks

In the Galley there is a small amount of snacks which are placed during the flight. I believe you could also ask for anything from the “Anytime” menu.

Amenities Kit

To say that the Amenities Kit is basic would be an understatement. The Amenities Kit came in a cheap looking bad and contained;

• Tooth brush
• Moisture mask
• Eye mask
• Ear plugs

Despite the let down of the Amenities Kit, one thing that I did like was that cardigans were handed out during the flight. As the cabin temperature seemed to fluctuate, I was very glad of these! They were also of high quality too!

Wifi

Wifi was available for the very precise amounts of $10.15 for 1 hour, $14,40 for 3 hours, or $18.80 for the whole flight. As I intended to sleep, I didn’t use the Wifi.

Entertainment

The entertainment screen is large in size, and unlike the entertainment on the Sky Suite (remember, this is a Sky Suite II!), could be controlled via touch screen. This made working the system out SO much easier.

On the entertainment system included music, TV and films. I have to say the way the entertainment was organised is nowhere near as good as BA, Qatar Airways or American Airlines – I still found it hard to navigate – but it was miles better than my experience on JAL’s 777!

In all fairness the entertainment looked like (and probably is) something out the early 2000’s – bit I still found it pretty good!

Cabin Crew

The Cabin Crew on both sectors were absolutely fantastic. As of course can be expected by Japanese culture, they were extremely polite, funny, talkative and conversational.

I really wasn’t that keen on some of the food, and they recognized that and made a few adjustments and alterations to help.

Throughout the flight the Cabin Crew were incredible attentive and always ensured my glass of Sake was never empty…….this undeniably resulted in the best sleep I’ve ever had on an aeroplane!

One thing I also noticed was that the Cabin Crew even cleaned a baby’s dummy at one of the other seats – something very few other airlines would ever do!

Landing

Landing in Singapore as always was a piece of cake, and after sorting out the immigration QR Code things, I was through in minutes to the baggage hall – where my luggage arrived minutes later.

On our way in to Tokyo we had some great views over the Japanese mountains. Once landed in Tokyo, there was some paperwork to get through Immigration and also Customs – but after that, it was less than a 5 minute wait for my luggage.

Conclusion

Anyone who has ever experienced Japanese culture (or Japan) will probably observe that they can be well ahead of the game in one area, and 30 years behind in another.

In many ways this flight was the same. The quality of service from the Cabin Crew was outstanding, and easily matches Qatar Airlines. The quality of the drinks were also good.

However, this is a 7-hour flight. It’s the same flight time as New York to London, where you’ll get a 3-course meal and then breakfast – or even Doha to London where you’ll get two extensive meals….. so I am left wondering why such basic meal choices were offered on this flight? It could of course be due to timing. The same question also applies to the Amenities Kit, which was pretty cheap.

There’s no doubt that this was a very comfortable way to fly from Tokyo to Singapore and back, and the Cabin Crew were great…… But if you want ‘the best’ experience of Food, Seat and Entertainment – I am sadly not quite sue this is the right airline for you!