JAL SKY SUITE 777 service will turn daily on the Tokyo Narita - Paris CDG route from August 15 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Desserts at oneworld Business Class Lounge at Los Angeles TBIT

As promised before, this post will mainly consists of pictures of the food offerings at the oneworld Business Class Lounge at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). I will start from the buffet area closest to the entrance which now is the dessert area. This used to be the place they put the champagne and wines. For desserts, there are 2 kinds of cookies, marshmallow, and some kind of brownie. There used to be one more item when I visited the lounge back in December 2012. I guess that got cut. You can also find plates, silverwares, and napkins here.

Dining area inside oneworld Business Class lounge at LAX TBIT

The oneworld lounge at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) has not changed much since it opened in 2007. The most noticeable change over the years was the re-arrangement of the dining area. Since my last trip report on this lounge (note not since my last visit), they have replaced the individual dining tables with a long table. Wines and champagnes are also now placed on the table instead of the buffet counter.

Japan Airlines check-in counters at Los Angeles Tom Bradley International Terminal

My flight was on the day after the Boston Marathon bombings, so I went to the airport a little earlier than usual as I expected security was going to be crazy as everyone was supposed to be under high alert. But surprisingly, I didn't notice much differences at all. No long lines or extra cops to check your cars and everything seemed normal.

Japan Airlines (JAL) uses check-in counters located in aisle A, which is the one furtherest away from the oneworld lounge. Since my last visit in last December, JAL has slightly re-arranged its check-in area at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). Before, it used to put the luggage tags next to the entrance of the Economy Class line. I thought that was good as passengers can grab a couple of those and fill out the tags while waiting in line. However, now the tags are only available at the counters. So you either go take some from the counter and wait in line or fill them out really quick while you are answering all those questions during check-in. Not a big deal for me as I usually grab a whole bunch of them and save them for my next trip :)

SKY MAP, part of the new JAL SKY SHARE service. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) is going to roll out a brand new inflight service called JAL SKY SHARE this spring for a limited time. Via the innovative JAL SKY SHARE, you can send personalized postcards and video messages to friends and families using photos taken during your flight. A youtube video summary will also be sent to you upon arrival. But in order to enjoy this service, you will need to be one of the paying customers of the JAL SKY Wi-Fi service as you will need to upload and send pictures via Wi-Fi during the flight.

JAL AIR Yoshinoya (Source: JAL Press Release)

Earlier in spring, Japan Airlines (JAL) introduced the AIR Yoshinoya on select long-haul routes departing from Japan. It was so popular that JAL expanded this to the long-haul flights departing from Tokyo Haneda which usually are not part of the promotion. A lot of customers have expressed that they miss the Air Yoshinoya since the offer ended in May and said they want to enjoy AIR Yoshinoya when they fly back to Japan as well. That's why JAL has decided to bring back the popular dish once again this fall.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has once again update its business class meal service starting this month. Both long haul and short haul business class menus received an update. On top of that, the full a la carte menu finally arrives on LAX route! So now all on the US flights will have the full anything and any time meal service :) Below are more details on the changes rolled out this month

JAL Sky Gallery on 777-300ER

Other than the new JAL Shell Flat Neo seats, the Sky Gallery is one of the new features that I have been looking forward to most before my trip. You probably have heard it by now, the Sky Gallery is last year's Good Design Award winner. Basically it's a self-service bar with a photo exhibition panel in Japan Airlines' latest business class cabin.

JA738J is used to operate today's flight

The 777-300ER used on my flight is JA738J, which is the first of the 777-300ER with JAL Suites delivered to Japan Airlines on June 23 2008. So the plane is still relatively new. And JAL switched to 777-300ER on LAX-NRT route 10 days before my flight. So finally they have a fixed configuration used on this route! And at check in, the agent actually showed me a print out of the seat map and told me where my seat is (and I actually pointed at my seat before she did LOL). Back to the meal. This time I still stick with the Japanese menu and only found out later on my next trip that the Western option tastes much much much better!

LAX oneworld lounge

Switching from the non-alliance lounge to the oneworld lounge at LAX is definitely an upgrade for Japan Airlines business class (non-oneworld elite) passengers. The part I like most of the oneworld lounge is the hot food!!!

Can't believe I wait this long to write up the trip reports for my November flights on Japan Airlines. I took JL061 on November 4 and JL062 on November 15. So it took me almost a month to finally start on this report (sorry I have been kind of busy). And in a few hours, I will have to add one more to-do trip report to my list since I am heading out to LAX for my next JAL flight :P. This time I try to divide the report into different topics (easier for me to write :P). The first two parts are about the snacks and amenities. Enjoy!

I recently took a Japan Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo (JL061). And I finally remembered to take pictures before I eat my food on my LAX-NRT flight. Here's my photo report of my flight.

Wouldn't it be nice if you can pay for an economy class ticket and get a business class seat? How about getting that on a transpacific long-haul flight? Nope, this is not an op-up nor an upgrade. Japan Airlines is using part of the business cabin as Economy one on some flights.

I came across this video on youtube last night. A passenger on JL061 recorded the cabin attendants working at the galley which looks kind of creepy. Not sure if he really got the approval from all of the CA like he said he did in the video description. Watching the video makes me miss flying on JAL even more.

Ha! This is the flight I usually take when I do my LAX-NRT-HKG roundtrips. Even though the investigation is still ongoing, I believe JAL has nothing to do with this. The luggage got sucked into the engine (you can see that in the video) while the plane is being towed onto the taxiway. Basically the pilot had NO CONTROL over where the plane goes at that point. I believe It was the ground staff who made the mistake in this incident (either the one towing the plane or the one transporting the empty cart). Either way I am still giving them my business and have booked my coming flights with them. Hopefully my luggage won't get eaten LOL.