Owing to a rare upgrade, I recently experienced Japan Airlines business class from Tokyo Narita to Jakarta.
Check-in
Japan Airlines (JAL) currently uses Terminal 2 at Tokyo Narita International Airport. Some airport hotels offer shuttles both to the larger (of 2) AEON mall complex, and the airport, so I was able to get some food souvenir shopping done the night before. In other words, the upgrade made it easy to check a second bag, since my carry-on luggage was full of snacks and gifts for friends.
Unfortunately, business class check-in was painfully slow. In retrospect, economy class check-in would have been faster, since there were plenty of agents available on the flip side. What’s worse is that agents use tablets to process check-in, which seemed more inefficient.
In any event, for those of you traveling to Indonesia, don’t forget to fill out the All Indonesia immigration and customs app. Once you do that, you’ll also have the option (if it’s necessary for you) to purchase a tourist visa. Nevertheless, visas on arrival are still available for those that can obtain them that way.
Following that unexpected delay, I took the very short walk over to the priority security lane for specific JAL passengers (e.g. business/first class, certain membership status/credit cards).
Immediately following security was emigration, which nowadays barely takes up any time; for U.S. and many other biometric passports, it’s an e-gate.
Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge
Facing the emigration area is the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge (business class)/First Class Lounge.
As my last visit (December 2022) coincided with some harebrained COVID-19 regulations, I was able to more fully enjoy savor understand the Sakura Lounge. To reach the lounge, it’s an elevator/escalator ride down one floor.
It’s a big place, with a separate dining area up some spiral staircase (don’t even think about taking food to another part of the lounge).
Key for me at any lounge is the presence of luggage storage, and some corner seat/quiet room detached from the rest of the place. Although the lounge wasn’t so busy that day, I’d say this was still a 1 for 2.
Showers were close to luggage storage.
After showering, I grabbed a bite at the dining area. There are two sizable dining rooms, with buffet-style snacks, a few meals, and a bunch of international/Japanese alcohol brands.
I weaved through the random baked goods and noodle soups for a mixed bag of meat and vegetables.
Considering the seven hour flight ahead of me, I left the Sakura Lounge early for a constitutional.
During the Flight
Business class to Jakarta filled up quite quickly, so I didn’t manage to record a video of the cabin.
However, I did take a short video of my seat, as well as a view of the lounge from the Boeing 767-300 (coincidentally, the gate was right next to the lounge).
The amenity was rather pathetic, but the lie-flight worked out alright. On the subject of in-flight entertainment (IFE), Japanese airlines might as well be in Air Koryo’s league, save for the glimpse of hope with the small city pop (from the ’80s) musical selection. That is to say, the interface is slow, and the entertainment options are few. Of course I had my own movies to watch, and the in-flight map is always a kick.
Business class passengers also received a code for free wi-fi. One code worked only for one device.
I’d say staff were on par with the usual Japanese airlines staff, meaning that they gave preference to Japanese guests.
Shortly after take-off, the main meal was served. Although I tend to choose Japanese options for in-flight meals departing from Japan, this time I preselected (two or three days earlier) the “Western” choice.
Following the meal, I tossed and turned for about an hour before sleeping around 2.5 hours.
Before long, I spotted the blue roofs around Jakarta’s primary airport, Soekarno-Hatta, as well as the fishing boats in Jakarta Bay. In Jakarta, Japan Airlines uses Terminal 3.
For the first time ever, immigration took under 30 minutes (in fact, this time it took <1 minute), although baggage claim was slightly longer. That immigration was fast may have been due to some concurrent holidays that weekend.
As it wasn’t so late (and because it was a Friday), I opted for the airport express train to downtown. Kinda like the inconvenient AirTrains of JFK and EWR (Newark), for this method one first has to get from Terminal 3 (or 2) to the airport rail station, then transfer to the express train (fyi, the final stop of this express train is called Sudirman, basically the shopping and commercial heart of Jakarta).
Tally ’em up
Japan Airlines business class from Tokyo Narita to Jakarta was ho-hum. The flight was on-time, I slept a bit, the in-flight meal was good if not sufficient, and NRT airport security was fast. But beyond those factors, average. Everything else was average.
