After spending several hours exploring Singapore Changi Airport, and their plethora of oneworld lounges, it was time to return to London the long way round. Here’s my review of Japan Airlines (JAL) Business Class on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Singapore Changi to Tokyo Haneda. I would subsequently be connecting onwards to London Heathrow on a separate ticket flying All Nippon Airways (ANA).
In this post:
Deciphering JAL’s Business Class Offering
The flag carrier of Japan has no less than six different Business Class seats that are offered on their international routes. This is quite excessive and does mean that there can be a huge variation in the quality of seat offered. In this review, I cover the SKY SUITE III which is only on the Boeing 787-9 – and often plies routes to Europe.
The other five seat types vary from the excellent A350 Suite design to the regional recliner style on the 737-800. Boeing 787-8, select 787-9 and 777-300ER aircraft feature SKY SUITE which is one of my favourite Business Class seats on the planet – so keep an eye out for that.
Hot, hot, hot
Beyond the usual annoyances with Changi Airport’s at-gate security, boarding was a breeze. The gate itself was very well appointed with plenty of seating and a design that was welcoming, while the agents proactively managed those boarding or sending people back not yet ready to board. Something that more airlines should be doing.
The reserved crew welcomed me onboard before a blast of hot air hit me. Considering we were departing from the subtropical warm temperatures of Singapore, it was way too warm to stay comfortable. Yet, the airline provided a cardigan if you wanted to go from hot to boiling.
First impressions
The seat on this aircraft seems familiar and is remarkably similar to Business Class on some Cathay Pacific, American Airlines and formerly Finnair. However, this is actually a custom seat produced by Japanese manufacturer JAMCO.
At first glance, it seems decent. The cabin is in a 1-2-1 layout with fully lay-flat seats and a pleasant cream colour scheme with splashes of maroon.
On this flight, I sat in Seat 1K at the very front of the plane. At the seat, the airline placed a huge number of amenities all wrapped in an excessive amount of plastic. That being said, I did appreciate the soft slippers (something I feel every mid to long haul Business Class should offer), steam eye mask and more. It’s a pretty generous offering for a flight that is between six and seven hours long. Rather cheap and flimsy Economy Class-style on-ear headphones were provided on this flight – although I have read Sony headphones are provided on other occasions.
Further amenities, including toothbrush, mouthwash and moisturiser, can be found in the extremely clean bathrooms – which also feature the Japanese masterpiece, an electronic bidet.
A not-so smart seat design
For a non-suite design, the seat felt extremely private without being claustrophobic and everything is within arm’s reach. To the left is the literature pocket which is full of many items, the sturdy tray table and seat controller.
The armrest can be adjusted up and down to provide more arm room while sleeping, which is appreciated especially on these overnight hops.
Straight ahead is a 17-inch touch screen display. As this flight operated overnight, I didn’t extensively utilise the system but did have a quick flick through – and it wasn’t pretty. Japan can be a puzzling place where tech can simultaneously be futuristic and archaic. JAL’s SKY SUITE III with MAGIC-VI entertainment system (yes, they could do with some branding experts for better names…) falls squarely within this category. Despite the seat only being introduced in 2017, the system’s design felt more akin to Windows XP than a modern system. Content selection wasn’t great but the inflight map was fully interactive.
While some airlines may opt for a large foot cubby space at the front row of Business Class, JAL did not – and the foot room is tight. My feet are only UK size 9 and I found the space to be pretty small and verging on uncomfortable.
Finally, to the right side of the seat is a table area and storage cupboard which isn’t really large enough to fit anything in. Below this is an international power outlet, super slow USB-A port and headphone jack – which I recommend using your own headset on.
The worst sleep I’ve had on a flight
We departed Singapore Changi on time. This flight has similar flight time to those eastbound departures from New York to London, as such most people recognise that you’re not going to get the best rest. However, this was the worst sleep I’ve had on a flight when I’ve travelled Business Class seat.
A comfortable pillow and large duvet style blanket are provided, although I ended up using the latter as more of a seat cover due to the cabin temperature. As somebody who is 6ft2/188cm, the seat just isn’t long enough and neither is it that wide. If you’re taller than 5ft10, I would probably avoid flying this seat.
Added to that, the seat just wasn’t particularly comfortable with lumpy padding and a three point seatbelt for takeoff and landing. I was expecting to be left impressed by JAL, but this was quite the opposite – and unfortunately ended up only getting about 2 hours of light sleep.
Owing to the exceptional food I had at the lounges on the ground, I skipped both the late-night snack and breakfast service to prioritise the poor sleep. Here’s a quick look at the menu branded as BEDD – Sky Auberge by JAL (seriously, JAL need to hire somebody who can make better names).
Equally, I can’t really comment on the service offered by the crew because I only had a few minimal interactions as I tried to rest soon after departure until close to landing.
Final thoughts
This flight with Japan Airlines left me disappointed having expected the seat to be fairly decent. Combined with the poor inflight entertainment, it is far below the seat design offered by regional Asian competitors such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and their traditional national competitor, ANA. JAL use this seat on some of their long haul flights, such as some 9am departure from Heathrow and their Helsinki flights. If you are considering these services in Business Class, I would strongly recommend avoiding these flights.
I will be flying this again later in 2025 on a Tokyo-Manila daytime flight and will be interested to see if it leaves me feeling the same or if the overall service will overcome the seat’s inadequacies.
15 comments
Part of the charm of going somewhere like Japan is discovering and enjoying the things that make it different from home. For me, that includes the apparent random use of English words on products and in marketing.
Sometimes they just seem to be there to make the item sound exotic or cool to Japanese customers, or they’re literal translations of Japanese words into English. It’s fun going around trying to work out which is which.
Vive la difference!
Haha not going to disagree! YouTube channel (and now Sunday Times bestseller) Abroad in Japan has a very humorous video on this and the use of English on products. I purchased a face cleaner that was called “naive” – not sure if it’s trying to tell me something?
Thank you for reading!
A very interesting review as JL routinely receives much praise, which I agree with. I do think it’s a great airline particularly the catering, but it is an insight to read someone else’s opinion.
I have to admit I don’t grasp the differences between J seats in long haul, except some are enclosed and others more comfortable but open, in a variety of arrangements but mostly closed 1:2:1 versus 2:2/3:2 open. The open ones are larger and more comfortable and they have foot room rather than foot holes!
It was a bit of a shock on a recent Ethiopian B787 to discover an angled flat seat! It enabled me to relive nightmares about slipping down into an abyss.
Thanks for reading Greeenpen! Yes – it surprised me too, and perhaps I caught JAL on a bad day? But found it to be poor when compared to my subsequent ANA flight. Agree, the more open plan seats (perhaps even those in 2-2-2 such as old Turkish Airlines product) can be really comfy thanks to no cubby – it’s just not trendy now. Hope the Ethiopian flight wasn’t too long…
Get a life mate, you’re travelling in business class, not like you’re down the back in economy! Some people!
Thanks for the comment, “Dave”. I note you are reading a website that reviews luxury and premium airlines… of course I am going to critique it…
We do not allow this type of comment on our blog. It’s just rude!
If you don’t like something, scroll past! It’s really not difficult, is it?
Assuming you consider these reviews as your job why did you sleep on the job and not review the on-board soft products i.e any of the meals or service? I think both these aspects of premium flights are usually found important by readers of “a website that reviews luxury and premium airlines…”
Thanks for reading, Chris. You make a fair point (even if the tone could be kinder), however three points: 1) to opt for sleep on an overnight flight after being awake for 16h is normal and this experience would be similar to what many people plying this route would do. 2) I caveated my conclusion that this may not be wholly reflective of JAL’s Business Class offering (even if the fundamentals of the seat remain the same) and that I am flying this same seat during a day service later in 2025 which would confirm or question this review’s conclusion. 3) This is not my day job – I am merely a contributing author to this site who has a separate entirely unrelated career and this was a self-funded trip where I was connecting to a 14h flight on ANA.
Will Eugene say I am rude if I point out that the author of the review doesn’t know the difference between “its” and “it’s”? Or, perhaps, will the auto spelling be blamed for that?
Thanks for reading, have updated – there was only one instance of the errant apostrophe which passed through review. Not sure you can describe that as not knowing the difference between its and it’s…
I fly JAL Business Class regularly and in fact they are my airline of choice. I’ve traveled across all the aircraft types in their fleet with the exception of the new A350 international version and have never been disappointed, especially when you factor in the superlative service from their inflight crew.
However, I thank you for calking out Asian carriers which maintain uncomfortably warm cabin temperatures yet do not provide individual air vents, JAL being one of them .
Thanks for reading Mark. I will hopefully see the famed service on JAL when I fly them during a daytime flight next year! JAL was certainly the worst for cabin temperature I’ve had (to the extent I have felt the need to write about it) and I don’t quite understand the preference for overheating from some of these airlines?
I flew business class from LAX to NRT. It was nothing like what you experienced. The crew addressed me by name every time they came by, and they were polite and respectful. In-flight experience was great. The meal was exquisite. The service was prompt, and I have nothing to complain. I don’t think you should recommend to avoid the flight if you had no meal service and a minimal crew interactions.
Thanks for your comment and for reading. The conclusion is primarily based on two aspects – a bad seat design (which is used on long flights to HEL/LAX amongst others) and downright badly designed inflight entertainment – no matter how good the service may be, that seat will be the same poor design. Your experience may be different (for various factors such as height or preferences) and is equally valid – a conclusion I may come to when I fly JAL again during 2025 where I should see more of the service on a daytime flight.