JAL extended HND international Arrival Lounge campaign till March 31 2013

Japan Airlines (JAL) operates its only arrival lounge at international terminal at Tokyo Haneda. When The JAL Arrival Lounge was first announced, only JMB Diamond, JGC Premier and first class passengers arriving on JAL operated international flights with JAL flight number are eligible. But JAL has been running a campaign to include JMB Sapphire, JAL Global Club and executive class passengers. And once again JAL has extended this campaign for another year till March 31 2013.


However the operating hours of The JAL Arrival Lounge is only from 5:30 till 9:00, which means the lounge is closed for most of the day! I don't understand JAL's decision to close the lounge so early at 9:00. This basically means only passengers on Paris, Bangkok and Singapore flights are able to enjoy this arrival lounge. Throughout the day, there are flights from Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA), Seoul Gimpo (GMP), Taipei Songshan (TSA), and evening flights from Beijing (PEK) and Hong Kong (HKG). All these passengers won't be able to enjoy the arrival lounge. 


I guess JAL's idea of the arrival lounge is to provide a place for passengers to refresh before they go straight to work and they don't think passengers arriving later in the day would do so??? Or maybe they do this to conserve energy after the Tohoku earthquake a year ago? Hopefully when HND further expand later, the arrival lounge operating hours will be extended. 


For details on lounge access policy at HND international terminal, you can visit JAL website.