JL 3, JFK-HND First class. I booked this as part of a longer itinerary but on its own it costs 149,000 Qantas points plus about $300. Because I am only transiting through Haneda, I paid $198 in carrier charges. Go figure.
There’s a story behind this booking. Soon after I started planning this trip, I noticed that Qatar had availability JFK-DOH-MEL for 120,000 Avios plus about US$300. I immediately snaffled it. But a few days later I noticed on the Qantas website that JAL had First class availability JFK-HND. At that point it was still listed as being on a 777, and there was no connection to Australia available. But I’d also just been reading about JAL’s new A350-1000 First class, and it looked stunning. Knowing that JAL planned to introduce the A350-1000 on this route as soon as they had enough planes, I booked it speculatively.
I was very pleased to see, about six months later, that JAL put the A350 on this route! I also sort-of managed to cobble together a more-than-acceptable itinerary to get home from HND. Not perfect, but more than acceptable.
I only finally decided which route to take a few days ago, and I duly cancelled my Qatar booking (because I booked it before Qatar introduced its new charges, I only paid US$25 to cancel). But given the opportunity to fly for 14 hours on one of the world’s very best and most cutting-edge First class products, I didn’t want to let it slip.
Having said that, the itinerary I’m taking
is longer and more convoluted, and it will be harder on my body. If I’d known that I would be flying with painful tendonitis, I would probably have gone the Qatar route. But it’s too late for that now and despite my pain I’ll do my very best to enjoy this while I can!
Some pics of my “seat” … though it’s probably more a couch than a seat … in fact I’m really in a little room! First class on the A350 is in a 1-1-1 configuration; this is most definitely the widest aeroplane seat I've ever encountered!
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They don’t have the Salon champagne, since it’s a flight
to rather than
from Tokyo … but the Royal Blue tea is the next best thing, right?
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We ended up departing just after 1am. I had the Japanese curry as a late-night snack/supper. It was delicious and a little more spicy than most Japanese curries (which I like).
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I opted for the “soft” mattress. There was plenty of room, obviously!
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All things considered, I didn’t sleep badly. Because of my hip I had to sleep on my back, which I don’t normally do, but when I wasn’t moving there was not much pain. Getting up to go to the toilet, however, was another story and at one point a Flight Attendant had to help me back to my suite. She then offered to take my slippers off for me and help me to lift my leg back on to the bed.
So the pain has detracted from the experience somewhat, but it’s great being able to stretch and lie flat. It’s just about time for me to have some more of that famous JAL First class food!
