I know, I know – Australia? Again? I can’t help it, I just can’t seem to stay away. I know it’s strange, given that I have no ties to Australia. I just really like being in Australia, sharks and other vicious, lethal creatures notwithstanding. In any case, I arrived in Tokyo Narita this morning just after nine on an Iberia flight from Madrid. As my onward connection to Melbourne isn’t until 18h40, I booked a dayroom at the Narita Hilton.

Getting to the Airport

Rested and refreshed from a nice, long shower, I check out of the hotel at 16h15 and catch the 16h20 shuttle back to Narita. The shuttle is complimentary. It first stops at Terminal 2, and then continues to Terminal 1. The journey from the hotel to Terminal 2 is ten minutes. It’s five minutes longer in the opposite direction.

Check-In

Japan Airlines operates out of Terminal 2 in Narita. First and Business Class counters are located on row L. It turns out I’m already checked in for the flight. Apparently, that happened through Iberia when I checked in for the previous leg from Madrid to Narita. However, neither Iberia nor JAL had issued an electronic boarding pass. The young lady at check-in quickly prints my boarding pass and then informs me that I’m welcome to use the Sakura Lounge once I’m airside.

There is a dedicated fast track for security, which is quiet when I get there, so the process is quickly completed.

The JAL Sakura Lounge at Narita Terminal 2

The Sakura Lounge is quite large and sprawls over two floors. The upper level is the dining area, whereas the lower level is the actual lounging area. The consumption of food is not permitted on the lower level, whereas it’s not permitted to make calls or use laptops on the upper level. So in short, if you want to eat something and then do some work, you’re going to have to move.

When I first arrive at the lounge, it’s packed. The receptionist advises me to head straight downstairs as the dining room is already full. But even downstairs it’s not so easy to find a place to sit, and I’m starving. However, just after 17h30 the lounge quickly calms down as most guests exit to catch their flights. The photos below were taken after the big exodus and after I managed to grab some food.

The views from the lounge are excellent, especially from the upper level. There’s a nice lineup of JAL B 777s and B 787s, photobombed by the enormous and unmissable Emirates A 380 at the end of the pier.

Boarding

Boarding for the flight starts at 18h10 for our 18h40 departure. The set up of the whole boarding process is fussy and cumbersome. Even scanning a boarding pass is not straightforward, which is why I have to hand it to a ground agent who scans it for me. That possibly also explains why it takes five gate agents to board just the one flight. At the L2 door I’m greeted enthusiastically by the crew and instructed to make a left turn into the forward cabin.

The Cabin & Seat

The Business Class cabin on JAL’s Boeing B 787-8 is divided in two. The larger cabin is located between the L1 and L2 doors and has three rows for a total of 18 seats in a 2+2+2 configuration. Then there’s a second, smaller cabin with 12 seats starting on the other side of the galley at the L2 door with two rows. So, in total the aircraft has 30 Business Class seats.

I must say, I rather like this seat. Oman Air and Gulf Air have a similar, if not the same, seat installed on their Dreamliner fleets. Essentially, the seats are in pairs. However, the aisle seat on each pair is set back slightly to also allow the passenger seated at the window unobstructed access to the aisle without having to climb over the passenger on the aisle. There’s a privacy screen that can be raised easily between the two seats. The load this evening is rather light, perhaps 60%, and the seat next to me remains empty.

The seat is comfortable and spacious. I think that is mainly because even in the bed position, passengers to not have their legs stuck in the hollow under the seat in front. That makes it much easier to rearrange the blanket over my legs before I go off to sleep later on.

The downside, however, is that the seat has very little useful storage space. You can either hold your things in your hand, or put them on the ottoman under the video screen – at the risk of having everything slide off when the aircraft accelerates on the take-off run. There is a storage compartment at the top of the back of my seat, but that’s not really accessible when seated.

Amenities

The issue with the lack of space is exacerbated by the abundance of goodies at my seat when I arrive. First, there is a pillow and blanket on the seat. On them are the slippers, the earphones, and the amenity kit.

By the side of the seat there’s also a bottle of still water and… a gentle steam eye mask?

The amenity kit looks rather small, but it contains some useful things. There is one cream for something by Payot which I chuck out straight away. But I’m definitely keeping the eyeshades, earplugs, dental kit, and tissues.

In addition to all the usual amenity kit contents, there’s also a little stand for a mobile device as well as a USB charger, both of which are JAL branded.

The Service & Crew

The crew on this flight are all female, at least the ones serving the Business Class cabin are. And they’re great. One of them speaks excellent English, to the point that I’m sure she must have lived abroad for a while. The other cabin crew on my aisle is less proficient, but we somehow manage to make due. The menu is already at my seat when I step aboard the plane. Before departure the crew pass through the cabin to take orders for the meal service. Other than that, there is no service on the ground. We push back on time and make the long schlepp to the threshold for runway 16R.

We line up right behind a Singapore Airlines B 777-300. There’s another SQ bird behind us. And then, it’s our turn and we start our take-off roll. The acceleration on the B 787 is decidedly underwhelming and a far cry from that on the B 777 or the A 350. Still, I’m quite chuffed with the photos I manage to take immediately after take-off, especially the second one with the strobe reflecting off the bottom half of the cowling.

Once we’re settled into a gentle climb and the fasten seatbelt sign is turned off, the crew are released and pass through the cabin with hot towels. They have a lovely, sweet floral scent of geraniums.

The Meal – Dinner

The meal starts with a drink service. I ask for a glass of umeshu, the plum wine, topped up with mineral water. With that, the crew hand out small packets of Japanese savoury snacks.

There are two options for dinner, a Japanese set meal and a Western meal with two options for the main course. The Japanese one sounds more interesting, so that’s what I request from the crew.

The presentation of the meal is gorgeous. First, the crew place down a table cloth and then bring the first course out on a tray. This contains the first course, the cutlery/chopsticks and a chopstick holder that is designed to look like an origami crane. The food is tasty. Business Class catering on JAL is definitely way better than on ANA!

Once I’m done with the starter, the whole tray is removed and replaced by a new one with the main course. What I find unusual is that the crew make sure to place the tray in front of the passenger so that the food is aligned with the edge of the tray away from the passenger, instead of the other way around.

This is another tasty dish. From left to right we have the salmon with tofu, spicy curry in the middle, and slices of pork on the right. To be honest, I don’t touch the pork because it’s very fatty. There’s actually more fat than meat on the slices, and I’m not the world’s greatest carnivore at the best of times. The rice is presented wrapped in a small paper package, which is a bit fiddly to open without scorching the tips of my fingers. There’s also a bowl of miso and some mixed pickles.

For dessert, the Japanese option doesn’t really sound that appealing on the menu, so I ask the cabin crew if I could possibly have the Western dessert with pistachios instead. I have a coffee with the dessert.

The meal service is finished in under two hours after take-off, which is really good. Even more surprising is that the crew manage to pull off such a quick service without it feeling rushed or hurried. I then grab the foamy seat cover from the overhead bin, extend the seat into the bed position and then settle in to read in my Kindle. Eventually, I doze off for a few hours. When I awake again, we’re just under three hours out of Melbourne. So I continue reading and ask the crew for a cup of coffee. And I may just possibly overindulge on the delectable milk chocolates available at the bar.

Second Service – Breakfast

Two hours out of Melbourne, the cabin lights are turned up again and the crew hand out hot towels in preparation for the second service. For breakfast, I’ve decided to go with the Western option.

The hotmeal contains two small hash browns, a grilled cherry tomato and green beans, two sausages and a rice flower pancake that looks a lot like a scone to me. It’s quite fluffy, but also very dry. It’s supposed to be eaten with honey and berries, which are also provided on the tray. However, it’s so dry that the only way to swallow it without ending up having a coughing fit is to dunk it in the small dish of natural yoghurt. There’s also a plate of fresh fruit. What is a tad unusual, is that no bread is offered for breakfast.

Arrival in Melbourne

By the time my tray is removed, we’re just one hour out of Melbourne. And then comes the Aw moment of the flight. One of the cabin crew approaches my seat and hands me two small, round Japan Airlines branded stickers. She tells me the crew noticed all the stickers on my suitcase, but there was none from Japan. She even apologizes that it’s a B 767 sticker and not one of the Dreamliner. I think that’s just so nice and so typical of this crew’s amazing attention to detail. I thank her and then immediately take my suitcase out of the overhead bin to apply one of the stickers, with the cabin crew clapping her hands excitedly.

I pack away my belongings into my rucksack and return it with my carry-on to the overhead bin. I also have my Barbour jacket handy. It’s winter here, so I’m going to need it!

We touch down and make a short taxi to our stand on the international terminal. The airport is already quite busy. Even so, the immigration formalities are quickly completed.

Getting into Town

We land at 05h32. By 06h10, I’m already on the SkyBus into central Melbourne. I’m surprised by how much traffic there already is on the road at this time of day. But we make good progress, and 25 minutes later, I arrive at the bus terminus at Southern Cross Railway Station. Tickets for the bus can be purchased at the kiosk inside the arrivals terminal or directly with the driver as you board the bus. In both cases, only cashless payment is possible. A oneway costs AUD25.

Conclusion

This was an enjoyable flight with Japan Airlines. Of course it helped that the flight was not full, at least not in the Business Class cabin. But apart from that, the crew on this flight were just great and brought a level of enthusiasm that, frankly, you rarely see these days with the European carriers. The seat is limited in terms of storage. There isn’t much space to put anything. However, I think it more than makes up for that with how spacious it is. The foam mattress also makes it comfortable to lie on in the bed position. The food was also very nice – especially for the main service. The pancake at breakfast was just a bit dry, but I think the yoghurt saved it from being a complete write-off. Other than that… Woohoo, I’m back! It feels so nice to return to Melbourne.