JAL will set up JAL SKY SUITE II demo units at arflex Tokyo. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will once again set up demo units of its new seat for the public to try it out. This time JAL is doing so at arflex Tokyo which is a modern furniture store instead of a cafe. Therefore, there will be no BEDD menu items.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced the plan to increase frequency on the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - New York JFK (JFK) route to 2 daily from March 30 2014. The newly added flight will be operated with a Boeing 787-8 (788) with Business Class and Economy Class service only.

New FLY ON status members will soon be able to enjoy its benefits much sooner. Image by Japan Airlines.

Finally Japan Airlines (JAL) will shorten the wait time between FLY ON status qualification and service commencement. Right now, newly qualified members have to wait approximately 2 months before their benefits kick in. But from January 2014, eligible members can enjoy some of the benefits as soon as 1 week after the status qualification!

JAL will bring back AIR YOSHINOYA for the 5th time! Image by Japan Airlines.

If I have to guess which of the AIR SERIES dishes is the most popular one, AIR YOSHINOYA will definitely but my first guess. No other dishes in the popular AIR SERIES has been served as much as AIR YOSHINOYA did and it has just made another record by returning to the inflight menu for the 5th time! This time passengers on Japan Airlines (JAL) flights from Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco will be able to enjoy the treat.

JAL will start serving a healthy "Tonkotsu style" ramen in First Class and Business Class.  Image by Japan Airlines.

Can you image a tonkotsu (pork bone broth) style ramen without pork or meat? That's exactly what Japan Airlines (JAL) will be serving from December 1 2013 on select long-haul flights to Japan. JAL has collaborated with a famous ramen place "Kyushu Jangara" in Japan to develop this healthy version of the classic tonkotsu ramen. This is probably JAL's response to ANA's collaboration with IPPUDO

AIR KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN is back this winter as the 11th installation of JAL's popular AIR SERIES inflight meal. Image by Japan Airlines.

Colonel Sanders is back again this winter! Last year, Japan Airlines (JAL) introduced the controversial AIR KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN (KFC) as the 7th installation of its popular AIR SERIES which JAL cooperates with popular restaurants and food chains in Japan to bring familiar tastes onboard for its customers. Despite some people were skeptical about serving fast food onboard, it was well-received by the passengers. That's why JAL will once again bring back AIR KFC this year to celebrate the holiday since that's what the Japanese have for the holiday. So KFC is now the third company after MOS Burger and Yoshinoya which JAL has collaborated with more than once in the AIR SERIES.

JAL Mileage Bank members will earn double miles on qualifying Bangkok Airways flights. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced a double mileage campaign on Bangkok Airways (PG) flights. JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) members will have registered for this campaign before their flights in order to qualify of this. This campaign will run from December 1 2013 till February 28 2014.

JAL will be serving 2013 Beaujolais Villages Nouveau on Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Image by Japan Airlines.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a French red wine made from Gamay grapes from the Beaujolais region and has a very short fermentation time. This is still produced in the good old ways so quantity is limited. Every year, the wine is released to the public on the third Thursday of November.

Similar to last year, Japan Airlines (JAL) will once again organize a special Beaujolais Nouveau Day to celebrate the release of Beaujolais Nouveau 2013. JAL will be serving the 2013 Beaujolais Nouveau from Pierre Ferraud & Fils and a JAL Original bread, PAIN AU BEAUJOLAIS, from Maison Kayser created just for this occasion on select international flights and at the select lounges in Japan on the release day, i.e. November 21 2013, so JAL customers can enjoy the wine as soon as possible when it is fresh and fruity.

Qatar Airways will officially join oneworld on October 20 2013. Image by Qatar Airways

As reported earlier, Qatar Airways (QR) will be joining oneworld on October 30 2013. oneworld will once again run an alliance wide double mileage campaign to celebrate the addition of Qatar to the alliance.

JAL will revamp its domestic fleet with LED cabin lighting that changes based on season and time of day. Picture shown above is the design for spring. Image by Japan Airlines.

[Updated with Domestic First Class layout, breakdown of the retrofitted fleet, and wi-fi rollout schedule]

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced it will expand its JAL NEW SKY PROJECT, which aims to provide a one-class above the current standard on its flights, to its domestic fleet. Currently, JAL plans to retrofit 77 of its planes which includes 777-200, 777-300, 767-300, 767-300ER, and 737-800 with the new interior based on the theme of "Superior Cabin". Domestic First Class service will be added to part of the 767-300ER fleet as well! The first rollout is planned for May 2014. Other than the cabin interior, JAL will also introduce its JAL SKY Wi-Fi service to these retrofitted planes as well.

JAL will add Qatar Airways as JAL Mileage Bank partner on October 30 2013. Image by Aero Icarus.

As Qatar Airways (QR) is set to officially join oneworld on October 30 2013, JAL will inaugurate a frequent flyer program partnership with Qatar Airways on the same day as well. This means JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) members will soon be able to earn redeemable miles and FLY ON Points on eligible Qatar Airways' flights when they travel with eligible fares. Also, they will be able to redeem award tickets on QR coded flights operated by Qatar Airways as well.

JAL once again is running a CX bonus miles campaign this year. Image by Japan Airlines.

In the past two years, Japan Airlines (JAL) has been running a bonus miles campaign on select flights operated by Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) around this time. And this year is no exception. This year's campaign will run from October 15 till December 15 2013, which is slightly shorter than last year's campaign. AL Mileage Bank (JMB) members in the Japan region who register for this campaign prior to their flights will once again earn up to 3,000 miles per flight on select routes.

Earn up to 15,000 bonus miles when sign up for JAL USA CARD. Image by Japan Airlines.

The 15,000 miles sign up bonus is back! For a limited time, you can earn up to 15,000 JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) miles when you sign up for JAL USA CARD and fly on eligible JAL international flights.

JAL will launch JAL SKY SUITE 767 on December 9 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally announced the launch date of the new long-haul Boeing 767-300ER cabin dubbed JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6). As reported before, JAL will launch SS6 on December 9 2013. Initially it will be deployed on the Tokyo Narita - Vancouver route and will be progressively expanded to the Tokyo Narita - Kuala Lumpur route in January and other long-distance routes in Southeast Asia and Honolulu routes in fiscal year 2014.

JAL announces its first ever Airbus order today. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally announced its first Airbus order today. Up until now, JAL has never ordered a single plane from Airbus and has exclusively ordered from Boeing for its mainline fleet.

The order announced today at the joint press conference with Airbus CEO consists of a total of 31 Airbus 350 XWBs. 18 of these are for the smaller A350-900 model with capacity of around 300 passengers in a typical 3-class configuration. The remaining 13 are for the bigger A350-1000 model which can carry 350 passengers in a typical 3-class configuration for up to 8,400 nm. JAL also has an option for an additional 25 planes.

JAL adds Jetstar Japan as JAL Mileage Bank partner. Image by ken H.

Today, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced the allocation of 31 out of the 40 new day-time slot pairs to be added from fiscal year 2014. The allocation heavily favors All Nippon Airways (ANA) which was awarded 11 out of the 16 slot pairs available to Japanese carriers while Japan Airlines (JAL) was only awarded 5 new slot pairs.

JAL VISIT TOKOKU! special livery. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has been running the Tohoku Support Project - "VISIT TOHOKU!" since June 1 2013 to help supporting the area affected by the Tohoku earthquake. Recent initiatives include discounted domestic tickets for foreign visitors to visit Tohoku region and international charter flights to Tohoku. The latest project is to create a special livery to fly all over Japan to promote the VISIT TOHOKU! project awareness. And you get be part of this special livery by contributing your Facebook profile pictures! Also through that, you will be helping to plant some sakura trees in Onagawa, Miyagi too!

JAL updates the booking engine with JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) seat map. Image from JAL website.

[Update: Flights in December have been loaded with SS6 configuration and initial SS6 service is only 5-6 weekly on the two routes]

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally loaded presumably the JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) seat map for the Tokyo Narita - Vancouver and Tokyo Narita - Kuala Lumpur route today. Flights JL018 and JL017 from December 9 2013, and flights JL723 and JL724 from February 1 2014 now shows the new seat map on certain days which no longer identifies the seat type in Business Class and no longer shows the type of inflight entertainment system onboard. This usually means JAL is in progress of rolling out a new configuration, which in this case is the new SS6 configuration. If you look at the seat map, it does not even have the new style layout with a nice plane outline!

JAL loaded SS7 seat maps on Tokyo Narita - Los Angeles route. Image from JAL website.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally loaded some of the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - Los Angeles (LAX) flights in November with the JAL SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) seat map. Now JAL website shows JL061 and JL062 will be operated with SS7 from November 16 2013 (Thanks manureva744 from Flyertalk for the heads up). Previously, JAL has only loaded the SS7 seat map on the LAX flights from December 2013. [Update: JAL has updated the JAL New Sky Project website stating November 16 to be the rollout date for the LAX route. So it's official!]

JAL will be serving "Del Monte Sky Tomato" in Class J during October 2013. Image by Tokyo Sky Tree.

During October 2013, Japan Airlines (JAL) will be serving "Del Monte Sky Tomato", a premium tomato juice, in Class J. So what's so special about this tomato juice? Del Monte Japan has spent the past 20 years to create this perfect original tomato called "Inca Red" just for this tomato juice!

JAL introduces the heavily discounted oneworld YOKOSO/ Visit TOHOKU Fare to boost tourism to the region. Image by Japan Airlines.

Since June 1 2013, Japan Airlines (JAL) has started the "VISIT TOHOKU!" project to stimulate tourism demands and support local industries in the Tokoku region which was severely affected by the earthquake a couple of years ago. From October 1 2013, JAL will introduce a new heavily discounted oneworld YOKOSO/ Visit TOHOKU Fare for eligible oneworld passengers to visit the region.

JAL will introduce JAL Original Aroma to its lounges across Japan progressively from September 20 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has developed two JAL original fragrances called JAL Original Aroma and will progressively roll them out to its lounges across Japan from September 20 2013. The JAL Original Aroma oils are blended by fragrance and spatial rendition expert Ms. Midori Magishima and professional aroma oil blender Ms. Chihiro Murai from Promotool.

You can now experience the JAL SKY SUITE 767 seats at SKY MUSEUM. Image by Japan Airlines.

When Japan Airlines (JAL) first released the details of the new long-haul and medium-haul Boeing 767-300ER cabins, JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6), it states that designs of the Business Class seat dubbed JAL SKY SUITE II might be slightly different from the rendering pictures. But looks like JAL has finally completed the design of JAL SKY SUITE II as it has updated the Japanese version of the SS6 website with new images of the real seats and set up demo units at the JAL SKY MUSEUM. JAL is also running a social marketing campaign to promote the new SS6 cabin which will be first rolled out to the Tokyo Narita - Vancouver route in December 2013, followed by the Tokyo Narita - Kuala Lumpur route in January 2014, and will eventually be expanded to other long-haul and medium-haul routes such as Honolulu by the end of fiscal year 2014.

JAL First Class cheese offerings for Fall 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has been serving domestically produced cheese in its First Class and Business Class on select flights departing from Japan since March 2012. JAL has just announced the fall and winter cheese line-ups. For First Class, these cheeses will be available on flights form Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Jakarta. For Business Class, these cheeses will be available on flights from Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles, San Diego, Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, New York, Honolulu, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Moscow, Helsinki, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Delhi, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok, as well as flights from Tokyo Haneda to San Francisco and Paris. And only 2 types of cheese will be served on flights from Tokyo Narita to Honolulu, from Osaka Kansai to Bangkok and Honolulu, and from Nagoya Chubu to Honolulu.

JAL collaborates with Soup Stock Tokyo to create a new breakfast menu for select international flights. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will collaborate with Soup Stock Tokyo, a popular soup restaurant chain in Japan, to create a new breakfast menu for select international flights departing from Japan. This menu will replace the existing NORIBEN (seaweed bento) menu, which is also a collaboration between JAL and Soup Stock Tokyo to promote Japanese food culture, on these flights.

JAL First Class dessert - Menu BEDD Désir. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and JEAN-PAUL HÉVIN has teamed up once again to create some special desserts just for the First and Business Class passengers. This time, the world-renowned Japanese master chef, Mr. Seiji Yamamoto and Star Chef, Mr. Chikara Yamada will also participate in this collaboration as these desserts will be part of the JAL BEDD-SKY AUBERGE menus which they are in charge of.

JAL will be serving the special AIR YOSHINOYA on select long-haul flights for a limited time. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will bring back the popular AIR YOSHINOYA once again as the 10th installment in the AIR SERIES, a special Economy Class and Premium Economy inflight meal which JAL collaborate with well-know restaurants and food chains. AIR YOSHINOYA will be served between September 1 and November 30 2013 on select long-haul flights from Tokyo Narita to Europe and the US.

JAL will enhance services on Honolulu routes from Fall 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) announces that it enhance the services provided on Honolulu routes this fall as part of the JAL NEW SKY PROJECT, which aims to bring passengers a unique and completely refreshing onboard experience and provide service one class above the current standard. This is in addition to the already announced JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) cabin refresh which will be rolled out to the Honolulu routes in 2014. According to Aviation Wire, JAL President Yoshiharu Ueki said these service enhancements are long overdue as competitions has intensified on the Honolulu routes.

JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) Business Class cabin. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced the revised flight frequency and fleet plans for the rest of the current fiscal year ending in March 2014, which also include the announcement of the second JAL SKY SUITE 767 (SS6) route! Below are the changes.

According to an interview by Nikkei.com, American Airlines (AA) CEO Tom Horton wants to once again strengthen its partnership with Japan Airlines (JAL). Currently JAL and AA has a joint business agreement with AA to cover the transpacific routes but it is limited to passenger business only. AA wants to further that relationship and make Japan one of the pillars of its growth strategy.

JAL SKY SUITE 777 service will turn daily on the Tokyo Narita - Paris CDG route from August 15 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

ANA new First Class Japanese menu by Yoshikazu Tsuji, owner of Kaiseki "Tsujitome". Image by All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced its latest inflight service enhancement in the premium cabins which will be rolled out in September. The new menus will be designed by a group of renowned chefs and beverage specialists. New bedding including one for Business Class will be added too. Sounds familiar? Seems like ANA is trying to match the offerings from its rival as these are exactly what Japan Airlines (JAL) did with its New Sky Project.

JAL to provide English version of SKY MANGA

JAL announces that it will finally roll out the English contents to its popular SKY MANGA, the world's first electronic manga service onboard. A total of 6 sets and 30 volumes of English manga will be available through MAGIC-V inflight entertainment system installed on the 787s. This is on top of the 38 sets and 100 volume of Japanese contents already available right now. JAL plans to update the content every 3 months.

The refreshed Cathay Pacific First Class cabin. Image by Cathay Pacific Airways

[Update: Added picture of the new CX sleep suite by PYE]

Today, Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) finally reveals more details and more importantly pictures of the upcoming First Class cabin. As I reported last month, this is just an incremental update to keep the products fresh to its First Class passengers as CX sees no pressing need to completely overhaul its First Class product as this point.

JAL SKY MUSEUM. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has been conducting free hangar tour since the mid-50s to promote and educate the public about aviation. Based on customer feedbacks, it has renewed the tour to modernize the tour facility and add more exhibits to the tour. As a result, JAL has decided to open its SKY MUSEUM to the public for the first time.

Flight status of JL007 shown on JAL website

[Update: Added flight load]
[Update 2: Added flight cancelation notice]
[Update 3: Added description from JAL daily 787 operation update]

A Japan Airlines (JAL) 787-8 performing flight JL007 from Boston (BOS) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) has returned to Boston after takeoff due to aircraft maintenance on July 18 2013. The plane landed safely at 18:16 EDT.

Time for my 2nd meal

So after taking enough pictures of the familiar Business Class self-service bar and Sky Gallery, I went back to the First Class cabin to watch more movies.

Now it's around 19:50 EDT, around 4 hours after the first meal service. I was finally not as full and had some room to spare for more food. So I started flipping through the menu. Within minutes one of the cabin attendants visited my seat and asked if want something to eat. Yes, even though the lights were off and curtains were closed, the attentive cabin attendants would still keep an eye on the passengers. You could see them periodically peeking through the curtain to see if any passengers needed anything to provide an attentive yet non-intruding service in First Class.

Japan Airlines (JAL) is running a campaigns for Premium Economy trial and lounge service trail on select routes to Europe and America. If you purchase a eligible ticket for travel between August 1 2013 and March 31 2014, you will be able to take advantage of these campaigns.

JAL inflight entertainment video contents for June 2012. Image by Japan Airlines.

Given this was a day time flight, at this point I was not tired at all. So I just kept watching some movies from Japan Airlines' (JAL) MAGIC-III inflight entertainment system (IFE). Although MAGIC-III is JAL's previous generation inflight entertainment system on long-haul flights, it still has the same amount of video contents as the latest MAGIC-V (MAGIC-IV is on regional 737-800 only). It just lack touch-screen capability, some cool 3-D video games and maybe some extra features like SKY MANGA and meal ordering from your controller, but it still comes with full audio video on demand (AVOD) capability in all 4 classes. With that said, the movie and TV selections were rather limited, especially if you don't watch Japanese programs or in some cases don't understand Japanese at all as some of the Japanese channels don't have English subtitles.

JL002 on July 9 2013 was delayed for 8 hours due to hydraulic leak. Image by Japan Airlines.

A Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 777-200ER performing flight JL002 from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to San Francisco (SFO) had a hydraulic leakage in the system that controls the flaps and had to turn away to return to Haneda on July 9 2013.

Double miles on select US routes operated by American Airlines. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) is running a campaign to give double miles on select flights between the US and Japan operated by American Airlines (JAL). The campaign will run from July 15 2013 till August 31 2013. In order to qualify for the double miles, you will need to a JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) member in either Japan Region or American Region. Also, pre-registration before flights is required.

Free Class J Upgrade on Select Okinawa Remote Island Routes. Image by Japan Airlines

Cabin attendants handed out bottled water and First Class amenity kits after first meal service

Towards the end of the first meal service, the cabin attendant handed out bottled water and amenity kits to each First Class passenger. Japan Airlines (JAL) used bottled water from Naya on JL005 from New York JFK to Tokyo Narita. These bottles are made from 100% recyclable post-consumer recycled plastic called rPET. Although I am not sure if that was one of the reasons JAL selected these bottle water, at least this helps save the environment!

AB-ROAD, a travel website in Japan, released the results of its "Airlines Satisfaction Survey 2013". This is a survey targeting the overseas travelers in Japan. 5,958 people over 18 who had traveled overseas in 2012 were invited to participate in this survey and it has received 4,187 valid responses. The overall ranking of the 40 airlines was based on individual results from the following categories:

1. Aircraft equipments
2. Hospitality of the cabin crew
3. Hospitality of the airport ground staff 
4. Inflight catering
5. Inflight entertainment

In each category, participants were asked to rank the airlines from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most satisfy. Below is the full survey results.

Desserts at oneworld Business Class Lounge at Los Angeles TBIT

As promised before, this post will mainly consists of pictures of the food offerings at the oneworld Business Class Lounge at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). I will start from the buffet area closest to the entrance which now is the dessert area. This used to be the place they put the champagne and wines. For desserts, there are 2 kinds of cookies, marshmallow, and some kind of brownie. There used to be one more item when I visited the lounge back in December 2012. I guess that got cut. You can also find plates, silverwares, and napkins here.

New ANA long-haul configured 787-8 seat map with Premium Economy and 9-abreats Economy Class seat. Image by All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has just published a new 787 long-haul configuration with includes a Premium Economy cabin and a new 9-abreast 3-3-3 configuration in Economy Class. The new configuration will have a total of 169 seats, up from the previous 158-seat long-haul configuration.

JAL SKY SUITE 777 will be rolled out to the Tokyo Narita - Paris CDG route on July 8 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just updated the rollout schedule of its latest generation of long-haul products dubbed JAL SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) and its inflight wi-fi service, JAL SKY Wi-Fi, to its European network.

Currently Japan Airlines (JAL) and British Airways (BA) have a joint business agreement on flights between Europe and Japan. After rounds of negotiation, Finnair (AY), JAL and BA have reached an agreement to deepen their ties and to include Finnair in the joint business agreement.

Grand Dessert - "Yuzu" Mousse Cake, Mille-feuille with Raspberry Sauce, Vanilla Ice Cream

Before the dessert, I was offered cheese from the a la carte menu too but I declined. No way I could fit all these in! So I just went for the the Grand Dessert which is another trio.

"Yuzu" Mousse Cake
Mille-feuille with Raspberry Sauce
Vanilla Ice Cream

JAL will celebrate Tanabata Festival between July 3 and July 7 2013. Image by Japan Airlines.

Tanabata is a Japanese star festival. Japanese celebrate Tanabata by writing their wishes on a small piece of paper and hang it on a bamboo tree. Japan Airlines (JAL) will celebrate Tanabata with this tradition by setting up bamboo trees at airports all over Japan.

JAL Original Drink "SKY TIME SHIKWÂSÂ CITRUS"

At this point, I had a couple of glasses of Champagne SALON already and my face had turned a bit red. So I switched to a JAL signature drink, "SKY TIME SHIWÂWÂ CITRUS". Shikwâwâ means Okinawa Lemon and this is the third SKY TIME flavors since it was first introduced on January 15 1992. Compared to the previous Yuzu flavor, Shikwâwâ is less sweet and more acidic. But it could still be quite sweet for some people. Not a problem for me and majority of JAL passengers as this is the third most popular beverage in Economy Class after beer and wine.

Dining area inside oneworld Business Class lounge at LAX TBIT

The oneworld lounge at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) has not changed much since it opened in 2007. The most noticeable change over the years was the re-arrangement of the dining area. Since my last trip report on this lounge (note not since my last visit), they have replaced the individual dining tables with a long table. Wines and champagnes are also now placed on the table instead of the buffet counter.