It’s super rare that a flight can be its own destination. Like a fairytale wedding, the sense of anticipation as I walked down the jetway was so palpable that I could feel the fuzzy butterflies tingle throughout my body as I turned left onto the plane. After a decade of dating with this amazing airline, it’s finally happening. It’s time to fly Japan Airlines A350-1000 First Class.
Booking
At the time of writing, this experience is virtually impossible to book with award partners. This flight only happened because I got lucky when I rolled the dice with a speculative booking on a rumored route before their public press release.
As you can see below, even the aircraft said JL5 773-Boeing 777 (not the Airbus A350) since it wasn’t officially confirmed yet.
Then on Oct 2nd 2023, JAL did an announcement on the rendering details of the Airbus A350-1000. More importantly, they dropped the launch route which matched the exact same flight of our booking.
Like a perfect marriage, the stars have aligned. Japan Airlines and Chai Bear World are meant to be together 😘 I have never seen a sexier seat map.
Boarding
The experience starts in the morning at John F. Kennedy Airport Terminal 8. Check-in was unsurprisingly a breeze with only one other passenger ahead of the queue.
My minor quibble is wishing Japan Airlines invested more in its ground experience at JFK. For JAL First Class passengers, it only contracts with American Airlines SoHo Lounge which is quite mediocre for Japan standards especially if you’re actually paying $15,000+ USD hard cash for this one-way flight.
Knowing that I will have a much better meal on the plane, I decided to skip the lounge entirely and head directly to the gate to check out the plane with my very own eyes. Oh my goodness, it is real.
SUITE 1A
Japan Airlines A350-1000
The 4K entertainment screen is a movie theater at 43″ inches, which surpasses even the size of ANA New First Class “The Suite”. Not to mention, the leg rest (more like a throne tbh) has its own seatbelt so it can double as its own seat.
The space is creatively used where you can put your carry-on and personal bags under your leg throne seat.
The side compartments can even fit yours truly Chai Bear
Any lucky ladies for Chai Bear on this plane? Bruh, I think we can invite them up here to lounge around. We can host a party here.
Dining
Since we’re flying inbound to Japan, we don’t get treated with the famous $1500 Salon Champagne 😒 That being said, these two bottles below tasted divine. Notably, the Billecart-Salmon Brut Blanc de Blanc 2009 tastes surprisingly similar to the Salon 2013.
Its tasting notes is almost as powerful and dense like the Salon, which makes the acidity from the chardonnay bubbles very enjoyable. Personally I prefer champagnes to be in a flute, but the benefit of using wine glasses is that the flight attendants always end up doing generous pours.
Both bottles pairs well with the smoked salmon caviar herb waffle. Noms.
For the next three hours, we feasted like kings.
Since the middle suite was empty, we chilled there after dessert for fun. The seat has a function where half the seat can be converted to a bed while the other still remain in chair mode.
After you change into JAL pajamas, there’s a closet in each suite where you can hang your clothes.
While Chai Bear hibernates, I decided to continue my fine dining experience with a sake flight tasting. There’s only 5 hours of flight left. Why waste it on sleep.
Why not a tea tasting too
Chai Bear later had fomo and flight attendant proactively gave him a juice tasting to wake up to. It’s quite amusing how Japanese airlines give such a VIP treatment to him.
Bonus Destination
Just when I had to prepare to mentally say goodbye to this fairytale flight, an unexpected plot twist happened. The captain notified the plane that we have to taxi at cruising altitude in Tokyo airspace for over an hour due to inclement weather at HND airport. With that news, I decided to eat a bowl of ramen above the storm clouds.
After hours of going nowhere, another plot twist happens…
We got informed that our plane is now getting diverted southwest to Nagoya (NGO) instead of Tokyo Haneda (HND). In any normal circumstance, I would be extremely annoyed that we’re suddenly flying in a different direction to another airport. Since I was in no rush to land in Tokyo, this felt like a huge bonus.
What an unexpected way to get extra hours to experience this amazing First Class. It’s meant to be… let’s just eat more while we detour to Nagoya 😜
At Nagoya, we were chilling at the gate for quite some time before everyone had to deplane for JAL to change its international crew. Of all my years of flying, this was a first for me.
After boarding the plane for the 2nd time, I felt like I finally experienced enough waking hours in JAL A350-1000 First Class. On the nth hour, we had the most epic power nap to Tokyo.
Tokyo
After almost 24 hours of traveling (including delays & transfer time in Nagoya), we have arrived in Tokyo.
To my pleasant surprise, one of the JAL attendants waited for me to deplane and insisted that she’ll escort me outside of Haneda airport to make sure I get to my hotel ok. Upon walking towards immigration at 11:57pm, I noticed the other First Class passenger has its own personal JAL attendant for this arrival service too.
After we cleared customs, she says she knows a shortcut to the taxi line via a specific elevator to 1F at the arrival terminal.
For the first time in my life, an airline attendant waited in line with me just to get a taxi to my hotel. This moment qualifies for a #selfie.
And as the last surprise of the night, she gives me a special yellow ticket and says that Japan Airlines will cover the full fare of the transportation cost to my hotel in Yokohama. As the taxi leaves, she did a full 90 degree bow.
Overall, this was absolutely epic. What a glorious way to spend 24 hours to Tokyo. This might just be one of the best first class flights in the world.
I love how Japan Airlines handled its unusual situation for this diverted flight. Its warmth and professionalism is without exception the best amongst the airline industry. Name a flight attendant that will wait with you in a taxi line outside the airport just to make sure you get to your hotel at midnight! I can see why Miki has always preferred Japan Airlines whenever she travels to Asia.
I feel so lucky to have the privilege in being amongst the first to fly the JAL A350-1000 First Class. I hope in the near future, the airline will release more routes and opportunities for more people to experience this wonderful airline. Travel doesn’t get any better than this.
Chai Bear World 