Truly, honestly, no hyperbole. This is the best
sleep I’ve ever had in Business Class. Hi there, my name is Kevin and I make honest,
unsponsored and to the point narrated video tours about hotels and flights all
over the world. This is my 91st video and today we’ve got a long haul Business
Class trip report on Japan Airlines from Tokyo Haneda to New York Kennedy. I hope
you’ll stick around and join me on the trip. Welcome to the very cool, calm and collected
Tokyo Haneda airport. I just arrived, literally like 5 minutes ago from Saigon and
will shortly catch this flight to New York. If you’d like to know more details about
the fare I paid for this flight and the next five videos I have in queue, please
feel free to check the description below. By the time I arrived from my connecting flight
we should have been boarding already, but they had posted a delay, I believe due to my flight landing
late. So, up to the First Class lounge I went, which was open to all Business and First class
passengers due to consolidation at the moment. Plus because of the delay I was able to have a few
minutes to catch my breath in between flights and ask you, no matter if you’re here researching
a future flight, reliving a past one or just daydreaming about the next one, to please give
this video a thumbs up and subscribe for three new videos every week. I truly do believe that the
content on Youtube is for the viewer, so more than ever my ears are open for any feedback or comments
you may have. So, if you’re able to subscribe or if you’d prefer to check out my new Patreon,
whichever the case I thank you greatly in advance. As happy as I was to visit the First Class lounge
though I was literally in there for like 12 minutes. Long enough to film a few shots and sit
and watch the apron for a few moments as I not so delicately chugged a bottle of San Pellegrino
so I could get back to the gate- after all, I purposely hadn’t slept on the inbound
overnight flight so my brain was in that foggy place when you’re lucky if you know
the country you’re in, let alone the time. We ended up taking off 76 minutes late
making our way up to 37000 feet for the fairly long almost 13 hour flight which had us
landing 77 minutes late. Not a great showing, but I honestly couldn’t care less.
I was just excited for Apex Suites. Boarding commenced and I quickly found my
way to my bulkhead window seat 7 alpha. Look at all of that room.
Let’s take a closer look. By the way, what do you think of these graphics?
Useful? Unnecessary? Ground breaking? Dumb? Please let me know in the comments below. Today’s 777-300ER is equipped with two rows of
first class with seven rows of business class behind for a total of 49 business class seats.
Note that row five is probably the most desirable as it’s it’s own mini cabin, but those seats
are generally reserved for JAL elite members- and plus, once you’re in your seat, you have no
sense of how big or small the cabin actually is. Row 5 not available for me, I happily settled for
7A, having changed at the last minute from 8K. In terms of seats to avoid. 11A and K are missing
a window, but each seat has 3-4 windows so it’s not the end of the world. Otherwise, I’d just
be a bit bummed if I got stuck in any E seat. Going into detail about the seat dimensions. By
my own measurements the seat itself is 20” wide between the armrests and 19” deep which provides
for plenty of leg support. At the shoulders, the boxy seat expands to 20.5”, but when you convert
it into a bed, the armrests fold lower giving you an unobstructed 27.5” of width essentially from
head to toe, which spans 74” in length. I’m a stomach sleeper and so I generally do not sleep
lie flat in any Business Class seats- and I don’t hold that against them, but this was the best six
hours of sleep I’ve ever had in business class. Waiting at each seat was a bottle of water and
a sanitizing wipe on the teeny tiny side table, if you can call it that. This is my only
real gripe about this seat. In front we have the IFE monitor which honestly it
doesn’t matter if its touch screen or not because it’s so far away with the
footrest and literature pocket below. Note that the bulkhead seats give slightly
more space in the opening to the aisle, but in terms of actual space inside your pod, I
do not believe there are any other advantages. In front of you to the right is a universal outlet
and standard USB-A connection which was perfectly located for a bit of an extra breeze as these 777s
do not have individual air vents. Just behind is the remote control for the IFE and then closer to
your seat on the same side are the seat controls. In terms of openness- it’s probably one of the
most closed cabins there are, with fairly high walls and center storage bins, but I never really
though open cabins we’re that great of a thing. The seat itself has an adjustable
headrest which can be flush with the seat- again as for side or
stomach sleepers, a huge plus. Waiting on the seat was an amenity kit,
full menu, pillow and a thicker duvet, which I was shocked to find myself actually
using- expecting the cabin to be baking hot. Over your shoulder you’ll find
a reading light which only after I read the 4 page guide to the seat
did I realize were headphone holders. Those were my headphones which I was happy to have as the over ear ones
provided left a bit to be desired. Then in the incredibly convenient
location of above and behind your head is a small storage bin with a net
over it. Who would actually use this, I have no idea. Under the storage bin
is your seat mate’s peek-a-boo corridor to the windows which also serves as a much
needed storage space for the aisle seats. Now onto the amenity kit. The pouch was nice,
branded Maison Kitsuné. Found it strange though that there were no branded products inside,
just the generic JAL ones. Writing the script now, just found out it’s a clothing brand not
a cosmetic company, so that explains that. And then there’s the cardigan, the loaned
cardigan, the loaned corduroy cardigan. I mean, I live in Asia, I get it but it’s just
weird to me personally and while I don’t think all cardigans scream “old
man”, this one certainly does. The duvet was thick and warm but
definitely could have been a bit softer. Nice quality slippers also on offer along
with the fancy airweave pillow which I’m still not a fan of- but at least
this pillow filled the whole case. The table popped up from the side panel and
in addition to being plenty sturdy and large could also swivel so you could squeeze out
of the seat if needed. Might I also note just how politely the table pops up on its own. In reality though that space above the
table always had stuff on it so not totally convenient since the other surface was pretty
far away- unless the seat next to you is free in which case you have plenty of space- so
yeah, just buy two seats and you’ll be good. The IFE remote was much more responsive
than on the 787 I was on prior. And now, please let me show just a
couple clips of their safety video that I think is a true gem of Japanese
production- and I’m not being sarcastic, I really do appreciate the
specificity of the video. So yeah, leave your bag behind, got it.
Pushback came and I got to say goodbye to the 787-9 that brought me here
before a wave from the ground crew. As tired as I was taxiing probably
felt longer than it actually was, but I did catch a cool little engine tornado. Lining up to take off to the south,
the best sound on earth is up next. And then the 2nd best sound… So today’s route was very southerly,
relatively speaking. The dashed line above is the great circle route,
but of course we were avoiding Russian airspace which added around an
hour to the flight time- fine with me. So, after take off if you’d like you can
raise the divider to block yourself off from the rest of the world.
Next up is the first meal service. Tables were set with a table cloth
and wet napkins were handed out, followed by a drink service. If you
can tell, I prefer clear stuff. So I went with a sparkling water and a sake
which was served with rice crackers. And here we have the full menu on offer-
a menu that I still think is oddly named. The print is tiny so feel
free to pause and zoom in. I went with the Japanese menu. For this menu,
the meal was titled the Mountain’s Smile. And it included, get ready, Saikyo Miso flavor grilled
black cod, yuba roll, simmered duck meatball, butterbur stems with carrots, bamboo shoots and
japanese pepper buds, simmered abalone and sea urchin in abalone broth sauce. A prawn cake, an
omelette with crab and vegetables and rounding out the starters was simmered sakura shrimp with
potherb mustard, red konjac and deep fried tofu. All were good except the meatball
which had a very unappetizing texture. Next up, the main course. First of all, how is
it even possible that the foil is still so neat. When you get a foil covered main on United
it looks like it’s been through war. Anyway, it was Braised beef with garland chrysanthemum,
udo mountain vegetable and burdock, deep fried salmon with asparagus and ren’s special curry
served with pickles, rice and miso soup. For dessert I learned a new word and went
with the western option, a Berry Savarin. Next up, a peak at the surprisingly empty
bathroom. Literally nothing on offer. And now, time to get some sleep on
that magnificent 27.5” wide bed, topped with a squishy and
comfortable mattress topper. Around six hours later I woke up to a
beautiful sunrise in the making over Montana. Minutes later a flight attendant stopped by
to ask if I wanted anything. I ordered two types of sandwiches, honestly thinking they
would be little bites- but they were pretty substantial and tasty as well. One being pork
katsu and the other a smoked salmon roll up at which point I started what was around
eight cups of fairly decent filter coffee. A note about the service, it was phenomenal. It
was formal and polite but every interaction went a step beyond what is expected. Case in point,
while I was filming the sunrise, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flight attendant approach and
then take a step back. Around 30 seconds later she came back with a handwritten note reading
“Would you like to have some breakfast?” as she didn’t want to disrupt the recording- which would
have been fine anyway, but you see what I mean. By the way, those sandwiches and the rest of the
food on the flight come from the Anytime you wish menu which is available from the conclusion of
the first meal service until 90 minutes before arrival. Other “snacks” on option were a
kelp-marinated olive flounder meal set, fettuccine in bolognese sauce and a vegetarian
ham salad. Quite the random assortment. Also on the anytime menu was a full japanese and western
breakfast set, of which I ordered the Japanese. Included was Simmered Ginger flavored wagyu beef, boiled egg with japanese peppercorn,
pickled fruit tomato- still don’t know what that means- and green vegetables
along with rice, pickles and soup. We started our descent near the New York
Pennsylvania border before crossing over North Jersey before making a big old circle
on final approach which actually revealed some turquoise waters south of Long Island, which
even after seeing I still don’t really believe. So, during our very uneventful taxi, I’ll just sum
up quickly that an Apex Suite on a 777 is my new gold standard for sleeping in business class and I
very much look forward to my next flight with JAL. Now on to the Flip Flop Score. Feel free to
pause to take a closer look. I really hope you enjoyed this video today and hope you’ll
subscribe for much much more content to come. I’d love to see you on Wednesday at
the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore.
