JAL will set up JAL SKY SUITE II demo units at arflex Tokyo. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will once again set up demo units of its new seat for the public to try it out. This time JAL is doing so at arflex Tokyo which is a modern furniture store instead of a cafe. Therefore, there will be no BEDD menu items.

JAL will revamp its domestic fleet with LED cabin lighting that changes based on season and time of day. Picture shown above is the design for spring. Image by Japan Airlines.

[Updated with Domestic First Class layout, breakdown of the retrofitted fleet, and wi-fi rollout schedule]

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced it will expand its JAL NEW SKY PROJECT, which aims to provide a one-class above the current standard on its flights, to its domestic fleet. Currently, JAL plans to retrofit 77 of its planes which includes 777-200, 777-300, 767-300, 767-300ER, and 737-800 with the new interior based on the theme of "Superior Cabin". Domestic First Class service will be added to part of the 767-300ER fleet as well! The first rollout is planned for May 2014. Other than the cabin interior, JAL will also introduce its JAL SKY Wi-Fi service to these retrofitted planes as well.

JAL updates the booking engine with JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) seat map. Image from JAL website.

[Update: Flights in December have been loaded with SS6 configuration and initial SS6 service is only 5-6 weekly on the two routes]

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally loaded presumably the JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) seat map for the Tokyo Narita - Vancouver and Tokyo Narita - Kuala Lumpur route today. Flights JL018 and JL017 from December 9 2013, and flights JL723 and JL724 from February 1 2014 now shows the new seat map on certain days which no longer identifies the seat type in Business Class and no longer shows the type of inflight entertainment system onboard. This usually means JAL is in progress of rolling out a new configuration, which in this case is the new SS6 configuration. If you look at the seat map, it does not even have the new style layout with a nice plane outline!

You can now experience the JAL SKY SUITE 767 seats at SKY MUSEUM. Image by Japan Airlines.

When Japan Airlines (JAL) first released the details of the new long-haul and medium-haul Boeing 767-300ER cabins, JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6), it states that designs of the Business Class seat dubbed JAL SKY SUITE II might be slightly different from the rendering pictures. But looks like JAL has finally completed the design of JAL SKY SUITE II as it has updated the Japanese version of the SS6 website with new images of the real seats and set up demo units at the JAL SKY MUSEUM. JAL is also running a social marketing campaign to promote the new SS6 cabin which will be first rolled out to the Tokyo Narita - Vancouver route in December 2013, followed by the Tokyo Narita - Kuala Lumpur route in January 2014, and will eventually be expanded to other long-haul and medium-haul routes such as Honolulu by the end of fiscal year 2014.

The refreshed Cathay Pacific First Class cabin. Image by Cathay Pacific Airways

[Update: Added picture of the new CX sleep suite by PYE]

Today, Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) finally reveals more details and more importantly pictures of the upcoming First Class cabin. As I reported last month, this is just an incremental update to keep the products fresh to its First Class passengers as CX sees no pressing need to completely overhaul its First Class product as this point.

New ANA long-haul configured 787-8 seat map with Premium Economy and 9-abreats Economy Class seat. Image by All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has just published a new 787 long-haul configuration with includes a Premium Economy cabin and a new 9-abreast 3-3-3 configuration in Economy Class. The new configuration will have a total of 169 seats, up from the previous 158-seat long-haul configuration.

The current Cathay Pacific First Class cabin. Image by Cathay Pacific Airways.

oneworld alliance partner Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) reveals in its monthly magazine for staffs and friends that it will start refreshing its First Class cabin in the coming months to complete the overhaul of its long-haul products. Similar to JAL's latest JAL Suite refresh on SKY SUITE 777, CX's refresh will not be a complete overhaul. It is mainly refreshing the look with other minor enhancements to give a fresh new look to its First Class passengers. That's why it dubs the program as a "midlife refresh" instead of an overhaul.

JAL Suite seat 2A in upright position for takeoff and landing.

Finally we get to the JAL First Class seat. At that time, the JAL Suite used on the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - New York JFK (JFK) route was the latest generation long-haul product. It was first rolled out on August 1 2008 on the JFK route and is based on the Venus seat manufactured by Contour, with JPA Design putting in the finishing touch.

Sadly by the time I post this trip report, the JAL Suite on the JFK route has already been replaced by the latest New JAL Suite, which is part of the SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) cabin that JAL progressively rolls out. There are not that much functional differences between the two JAL Suites given the new one is just an incremental update with a more luxurious look and bigger personal TV. Having tried both the old and new JAL Suites (Yes, I was able to try out all 4 classes of the SS7 seats recently on a short flight and there will be a trip report "soon" :P), I would be happy to fly on either of them.

A JAL Boeing 777-300ER (regiration: JA742J) parked at Terminal 1 Gate 6 on June 4 2012

JL005 flight path on June 4 2012 (Source: FlightAware)

Flight: JL005
Date: June 4 2012
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 2A (First Class)
Scheduled Departure Time: 13:25
Actual Departure Time: 13:36
Scheduled Arrival Time: 16:25+1
Actual Arrival Time: 16:03+1

While I was relaxing at the JAL First Class Lounge at New York JFK, the service manager came visited us and apologized that the boarding time will be slightly delayed for around 5 minutes. He told us he will inform us once again when it is ready for boarding. Not a big deal for me though I was eager to try out the JAL Suite for the first time but I could wait for 5 more minutes :) Finally the service manager once again came inform us that the flight is now ready for boarding. So I waited for everyone to leave the lounge, took some pictures and asked the service manager to take some pictures of me too. How often you get to have the entire First Class lounge for yourself :D

JAL re-opens "JAL Welcome! New Sky Cafe" for the 3rd time. Image by Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) will once again re-open the "JAL Welcome! New Sky Cafe" for a limited time. Just like the previous cafes in Roppongi Hills and Aoyama, you will be able to try out the demo units of JAL's state-of-art long-haul products installed on the SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) and dishes from its enhanced catering service dubbed BEED SKY AUBERGE by JAL. This is a perfect opportunity for those who cannot afford or still don't have a chance to fly on the SS7 to try out the JAL New Sky experience!

JAL SS7 W83 configuration. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally uploaded the revised version of the new Sky Suite 777 seat map. As pointed out before, 8 of the seats will not be sold because they have less than the advertised 33-34 inches seat pitch. The only changes in this revised seat map is that it clearly indicates which these 8 seats are.

JAL opens "JAL Welcome! New Sky Cafe" for a limited time. Image from Japan Airlines

[Updated with menu info and its pricing]

If you want to try out Japan Airlines' (JAL) brand new seats on SKY SUITE 777 which JAL will roll out on the Tokyo Narita - London Heathrow route from January 9 2013 and cannot afford to fly in their premium cabin, here's your chance! For a limited time, JAL has cooperated with Royal Garden Cafe and opened the "JAL Welcome! New Sky Cafe" at Aoyama. Inside the cafe, there are demo units of the new seats and sample the new Business Class menu.

JAL SS7 W83 configuration with the new long-haul products which has more economy seats than advertised. Image from Japan Airlines

[Update 3: JAL has published an updated version of the seat map which you can find in this post]
[Update2: Added explanation from JAL regarding why there are more seats than advertised on the W83 seat map]
[Update: JAL has removed the W83 configuration from their website but the picture is still available. And the booking engine still shows a seat map that matches the one announced earlier today. Did they take it down because of a mistake in the Economy cabin?]

Finally, Japan Airlines (JAL) has set the launch date for the new long-haul Boeing 777-300ER cabins, SKY SUITE 777 (SS7). JAL will first roll out the new SS7 on Tokyo Narita (NRT) - London Heathrow (LHR) route from January 9 2013. But initially it will only be available on odd numbered days in January and even number days in February as JAL will only have one retrofitted SS7 in January. By late February, JAL will have retrofitted 2 SS7s and it will be available on the LHR route on a daily basis.

Staff from JAL cabin product design department tried out the new SKY WIDER seat. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) official Facebook page has posted some stories of the design process for the new business class and economy class seats which will first roll out to the Tokyo Narita - London Heathrow route in early January 2013. You can see how much attention to details that the design team paid even when they are designing for the Economy Class seats!

ex-JAS 777 (JA007D) at Tokyo Haneda

When you look at Japan Airlines' (JAL) domestic timetable for October 28 2012 - January 7 2013, one of the things you might notice is the ex-Japan Air System (JAS) 777-200 configuration, 7J2, is missing. This probably means JAL will be pulling the last 7J2 configured 777 off the fleet to retrofit it with the standard JAL domestic 777 configuration.

[Update: Added seat manufacturers information]

Finally, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced the specifications of the next generation long-haul inflight products in all classes. These new seats will first be rolled out on Tokyo Narita (NRT) - London Heathrow (LHR) route starting from January 2013 and will be expanded to New York JFK and the rest of the long-haul Boeing 777-300ER fleets. Also, JAL has plan to update the seats used on the long-haul Boeing 767-300ER fleet too with the latest full-flat seats and other new seats in the second half of 2013!

Finally! Japan Airlines (JAL) has uploaded its official 787-8 seat map to its website. The long-haul configuration of the 787 is called E01.

JAL uploads official 787-8 seat map (Source: JAL website)

[Update: Added business cabin configuration analysis] Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced their plan of new full-bed business class seats the new FLY ON (aka elite) benefits for 2012 that they will implement to make up for the discontinuation of the upgrade points (UGPs). Below are the details

JAL SHELL FLAT NEO seats (Source: JAL website)

Until now, Japan Airlines (JAL) has not indicated which business class seat will be used on its 787 flight to Boston (BOS). When you try to did a dummy booking of JAL website, it did not show the class and inflight entertainment system in the business class cabin (but MAGIC-V was shown in economy class one). But JAL has recently updated the website to show both the seat and IFE.