JAL business class Melbourne - Tokyo. Is it worth it?

[chodo]

I'm in the same predicament with my J flight next year on this route. All the window seats appear on the site to be blocked but according to expertflyer there should be some availability (some are blocked but not booked). Are they usually not reserved for award flights or is there a date they get released? I've checked on multiple occasions and still no availability for the windows.

when I took this flight toTokyo from Melbourne in May 2018, I just kept checking the seats daily. Closer to departure the window seats opened up. They must block them out for more important JAL J types until the last minute. Our J flight to Tokyo only had 5 people - the rest was empty. Saying that, my folks took thissame flight JL773 or JL774 last month and it was choc a bloc!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The window seats in the forward cabin are pretty regularly blocked off for elite status members. This includes not only the flights from australia to japan, but also japan onwards to USA etc.

Those seats may or may not open up, worth it to keep checking. If the flight is full, your chances of snagging one might be slim. As a non status pax we checked pretty regularly to see if the front cabin opened, but it didn’t. Our flight was full.

The windows in the second cabin should be free for selection at time of booking. If they are also greyed out it’s likely they’ve been taken already.

 

[Max Samuels]

More concerning is the "old" 787s....

LOL. Are we really already calling 787s old???

 

[Max Samuels]

Flew to Narita in June and as Emerald used the QF First lounge until closing and then went to the Marhaba Lounge ....

I would have though QF would be required to keep it open as it is "JAL" lounge too for this flight?
If they really do close it, God they are disgusting....

I would rather sit outside on the road that be in the Marhaba Lounge....

 

[Himeno]

I would have though QF would be required to keep it open as it is "JAL" lounge too for this flight?
If they really do close it, God they are disgusting....

I would rather sit outside on the road that be in the Marhaba Lounge....

JAL contracts the Marhaba Lounge for their MEL flight. While JAL pax can use the QF lounges based on oneworld rules, the QF lounges aren't the JAL lounges for that flight.

The QF F lounge closes at 2315. The J lounge closes at 0015. JL774 departs at 0005.
These times are already longer then the last QF T2 departure at 2055 with just QF codeshares on EK, FJ and MU departing later. The FJ flight is the last one at 2335.

Prior to the 787 QF9 changes, the lounge closed shortly after QF9 (A380 to DXB/LHR) was called for boarding around 2300.

The CX lounge opens around 3 hours before their first flight (0730 departure), closes at 1400 when their 2nd flight closes (1420 departure) and reopens at 2030 for their last flight (2345 departure), closing shortly after that flight is called.

Provided the JL flight isn't delayed and the QF F lounge closes at the time listed on their website, there would only be about 10 minutes between the lounge closing and the flight boarding.

 

[Max Samuels]

JAL contracts the Marhaba Lounge for their MEL flight. While JAL pax can use the QF lounges based on oneworld rules, the QF lounges aren't the JAL lounges for that flight.

The QF F lounge closes at 2315. The J lounge closes at 0015. JL774 departs at 0005.
These times are already longer then the last QF T2 departure at 2055 with just QF codeshares on EK, FJ and MU departing later. The FJ flight is the last one at 2335.

Prior to the 787 QF9 changes, the lounge closed shortly after QF9 (A380 to DXB/LHR) was called for boarding around 2300.

The CX lounge opens around 3 hours before their first flight (0730 departure), closes at 1400 when their 2nd flight closes (1420 departure) and reopens at 2030 for their last flight (2345 departure), closing shortly after that flight is called.

Provided the JL flight isn't delayed and the QF F lounge closes at the time listed on their website, there would only be about 10 minutes between the lounge closing and the flight boarding.

Still pretty cough in my opinion....
You’d think that they would want to offer their passengers a good lounge and it makes most sense to team up with the other oneworld partner whose home turf it is. Just the name of that lounge sounds cheap and terrible but i guess it’s also appropriate!

 

[hachoo]

The windows in the second cabin should be free for selection at time of booking. If they are also greyed out it’s likely they’ve been taken already.

Appears all window seats are blocked and expertflyer says they aren't taken as such, just blocked where as the seats I've booked say unavailable (defined differently). I'll have to keep checking over the year and closer to the time to see what happens.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Appears all window seats are blocked and expertflyer says they aren't taken as such, just blocked where as the seats I've booked say unavailable (defined differently). I'll have to keep checking over the year and closer to the time to see what happens.

Perhaps they change the reserved seats by route? MEL-NRT-ORD were all the same, front cabin greyed out and rear cabin available for all sectors bar the initial one, which was full anyway.

 

[hachoo]

Appears like that in the bookings and on expertflyer. Will just have to keep checking and checking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

brutal!

 

[knightfall88]

On the same topic. I manage to book JAL and Qatar reward flights using qantas points. Obviously we can't select our seats on the Qantas App so my question is are we able to select our seats?

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

On the same topic. I manage to book JAL and Qatar reward flights using qantas points. Obviously we can't select our seats on the Qantas App so my question is are we able to select our seats?

Not sure about Qatar but yes you are able to select seats from the JAL website using your booking reference number and flight details.

 

[cjd600]

On the same topic. I manage to book JAL and Qatar reward flights using qantas points. Obviously we can't select our seats on the Qantas App so my question is are we able to select our seats?

I chose Qatar seats (Qsuite 4 family suite) on rj.com

 

[mrsterryn]

Thanks for that Monya I just selected my seats for later on this year

 

[MEL_Traveller]

On the same topic. I manage to book JAL and Qatar reward flights using qantas points. Obviously we can't select our seats on the Qantas App so my question is are we able to select our seats?

My advice is to always use the manage booking function provided by the airline you are flying with. If you are flying JAL or Qatar, book your seats wither via their respective websites (if you can), or through their call centre.

Using a third party - for example the Qantas website to reserve seats on a JAL flight - can lead to a whole host of problems if the two booking engines don't 'speak' to each other properly. And if the airline you are fliying on changes the aircraft or something else you can lose your seats. I've seen cases where QF has displays a Cathay seat map that had no correlation with the plane or available seats that Cathay was offering. if you had chosen seats through Qantas you'd be out of luck.

There are some exceptions to this rule - you can sometimes get around 'blocked' seats by using a third party site, but I don't recommend this unless you know the risks.

 

[aspro2]

Interesting... I know that Engirsh is the international language so I guess we kind of expect it anywhere, but in so far as "multilingual" being expected of a premium airline.... I am constantly surprised how few languages other than English are spoken on Qantas.

There's monolingual English speakers, and then the rest of the world... (give or take a bit). I would jump for joy if I saw any Australian FA of English-first-language-only background speaking another language competently. It shouldn't be like this, but there's no sign it'll ever change.

Nonetheless, staff in a premium cabin who probably do the same or similar routes frequently (at least on some airlines it's certainly the case that certain teams focus on particular routes, not least because of cultural/language skills) should not have trouble asking basic questions or providing basic information that form part of the normal service routine. (And FAs working most long-haul routes on most airlines are going to need English as the lingua franca, as unjust as that may be.)

 

[tizey]

No chance of a window seat on JL774 the other night. Full cabin.

Japanese breakfast was exceptional. Actually made me a bit upset so many people ordering the western set. I fully stand by JL having the best inflight J menu.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Maybe other people like me aren't so keen on fish and seafood?

They were offering a souffle as the western breakfast into Tokyo a few months ago from Asia. It was worth ordering just to see how it translated on board.

 

[tizey]

Upset as in I wonder if they tried it, they may enjoy it. My mentality is I can have croissant and omelettes at home, and if I don't enjoy any of it - Tokyo is full of delicious options worth being hungry for.

 

[SteveLL]

Contrary to most people here, i find the JAL business class seats quite average ( have flown with them 7 times in business in the last 3 years). The seats are quite narrow due to the 2 2 2 layout also the storage space is pathetic - literally nowhere to put your wallets/phones. The only plus side is the foot rest - it’s as wide as the seat width. I much prefer ANA business class seats on this route.