Japan Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Vancouver to Bangkok via Tokyo 2 weeks ago. First sign of trouble began when we started circling Narita and crew warned us there would be a delay in landing. This made me nervous as my connecting flight to Bangkok was in 1.5 hours. We circled for nearly an hour before the captain came on the intercom and said we were being redirected to Haneda Airport. No reason given, only apology for inconvenience. We landed and refueled, waited another 1.5 hours and took off again, landing at Narita 45 minutes later. No explanation given, just sorry for inconvenience. I ran into the airport, hoping that my connecting flight had waited for me, but it was to no avail. My connecting flight had already left. I had to wait in another line for 2.5 hours to get booked on the first morning flight to BKK, and JAL put me up in a Narita Hotel. I found out that the delay was caused because an earlier aircraft had run off the runway, causing the airport delay. Anyway, bad enough, get on with life. A week later I show up at the airport in Bangkok, and JAL ticket counter informs me my flight has been delayed by 3 hours. Oh hell, not again! Which of course means I cannot catch my connecting flight in Narita again. I ask the reason for the delay, they tell me it's maintenance issue. Wait for over an hour, and to JAL's credit they do book me a flight on EVA air in business class. Thumbs up for that. But to have 2 major flight delays by the same airline on same itinerary is pretty sad.

✅ Trip Verified | Jakarta to Vancouver via Narita. My wife and I flew this routing. The seats on plane (both segments on Boeing 787) from Jakarta to Narita we’re far superior than seat from Narita to Vancouver. Cabin staff on both legs were all very friendly, very professional and deserve high marks. The inflight entertainment options were somewhat limited compared to other carriers. Headsets also not as comfortable as others (small headphones). The food was very good as was beverage selection. We’d both recommend JAL business class.

✅ Trip Verified | Lounge access with JAL premium economy experience is fab. 9am Sydney-Tokyo and Sydney Qantas Business lounge was excellent - barrister coffee and all cold and hot breakfast food was fresh . Boarding no hassles, FA's warm and friendly. Premium economy seats are best in class, loads of leg room and hard shell recliner, so no one leaning into you. FA's all smiles and each leg gave consistent, professional service, best experience I've had on that level. IFE so so, but enough to keep me going. Great drinks selection, including champagne - FA's happily kept it flowing. Food wasn't too bad, and loads of snacks like noodle pots. Transit in Tokyo, Narita to Haneda by Bus took only 80 minutes. Haneda lounge not too bad, could be better. Tokyo-/London flight solid repeat performance. Great airline, will fly again.

✅ Trip Verified | Tokyo Narita to Melbourne. The check in was easy. We were in the economy class and the seat was comfortable enough for 10 hours flight. The lavatory was quite big. The food/dinner was good too but for the second meal wasn’t that nice/fulfilling. It was a 10 hours flight so the airline should consider giving sufficient meal for the passengers. The customer service was friendly.

✅ Trip Verified | Beijing to Tokyo. Very helpful land and cabin service. Food is comparatively good in the economy class. The aircraft isn’t the newest 787-9 but still feel good and comfortable. Overall satisfied like other Japanese flights.

✅ Trip Verified | Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo. I had the worst experience ever after years of flying. First there was a one hour delay (JL070), we was disgrunted but let it go. Then after we settled in the aircraft for an hour without moving anywhere, they finally announced that the engine broke and will take 1 hour to fix. I am currently writing this review at 4:40 am (flight was supposed to depart at 23:35) and there is still no sign that the plane actually move. Greatly disappointed with the professionalism of this airline, do not blame on technical issues given that this could be prevented from their end. No compensation was given, not even a formal apology

✅ Trip Verified | Okinawa to Tokyo. My daughter and I just took a mini vacation to Tokyo we flew on Japan airlines. After we arrived in Tokyo my daughter was informed that her dog was in the hospital and very sick. She tried with many different employees of Japan Airlines to change our flights to fly back earlier but they refused because she bought the tickets from Expedia. Well these two customers will never fly Japan Airlines again.

✅ Trip Verified | Helsinki to Tokyo Narita. It is 10 years since I flew JAL and I was very impressed with the improvement. Charming ground staff in Helsinki and the crew have their mojo back and were faultless despite a full flight. The meal was good and it was nice to get flavoured steamed spinach as the "salad" instead of the standard offering. My only negative would be the IFE choice. The cabin temperature was perfect despite usual all comments about heat.

✅ Trip Verified | Melbourne to Osaka via Tokyo, transferring from Narita to Haneda in Tokyo. Overall this was quite a disappointing experience, considering how much more expensive JAL is on this route than other carriers with a single stop. On all legs the cabin crew were great - very welcoming, responsive to requests and eager to please. All flights operated on time. The seating was fine, though there is very little storage space in the B787 business class seat. In Melbourne JAL uses the Marhaba lounge, which is OK but offers no hot vegetarian food options. At Haneda airport the JAL Sakura lounge has great views of the runway, but food and drink choices were very limited (tea, coffee, soft drinks and rice crackers only). No welcome drink prior to take-off was offered on any sector, but after take-off the cabin crew were very efficient in meeting any requests. Unfortunately the vegetarian meals were never Japanese, and ranged from bland to unpleasant (I'm thinking of a certain vegetarian hamburger). On board the domestic flight from Haneda to Osaka Kansai the seat was very comfortable and the service was excellent - but only tea, coffee and soft drinks (no snack) were served. JAL does not help business class passengers or provide tickets for the transfer between Narita and Haneda airports in Tokyo. You have to make your own way. I enquired on check-in in Melbourne about that, and was just told vaguely that "there is a bus". It feels like there is a great airline in there struggling to get out, but held back by obvious penny-pinching.

✅ Trip Verified | Sydney to Tokyo Narita. Sadly disappointed by Japan Airlines. While the crews and seating were superb the meals in premium economy (and economy) were just plain awful. I like Japanese food very much but, except for the Udon-in-the-Sky snack, the meals, especially on the Sydney to Narita leg were disgusting. Economy meals on Japan Airlines used to be some of the industry's best - these were some of the worst. I'd be happy to pay an extra $100 or more to get a decent set of meals instead of the awful food served on this route. On the other hand, its fair to say the cabin crew were superb, intelligent, and efficient in every way, the flights were on-time and the aircraft absolutely spotless, Its great that JAL uses the Qantas Lounge in Sydney and this is better than the JAL First Class Lounge at Narita, where the food has gone downhill. Also a lot of the staff in there are very officious and made me want to get out as soon as I could.