[JohnBraden]

Airline: JAL
When: March 2005
Flight Class: Economy
Departure Airport: Chicago O'Hare to Narita
Experience: Very favorable experience. Cabin crew was very attentive and courteous. I was just a tad upset this 747-446 was not configured as initially planned. I was to have upper deck economy and was relegated to the main deck. No worries though, the flight back to ORD on JAL was configured the original way and I had my upper deck emergency exit seat. The food was reasonable fare. Flight was unremarkable, and that's a good thing!

Airline: JAL
When: October 2010
Flight Class: Economy
Departure Airport: Chicago O'Hare to Narita
Experience: Very pleasant experience. Cabin crew was outstanding. So much so that I decided to ask one of them, who happened to be from HK what happens when they get a good Voice of the Customer letter. She went on to tell me that they get a small reward, such as being able to pick their next destination or something similar. I went on to ask for the names of half a dozen cabin crew and wrote a lengthy letter on their form and dropped it off in the post box near the hotel where I was staying. I received a postcard back from JAL about a week after getting back to Chicago. The flight was on the much newer B777-346ER and it was smooth and seemed much quicker than the B747-446.

All in all, the only way I'll fly to Japan is on JAL. I'll be doing exactly the same flight (JL009) again in March to rack up some more mileage on my JMB card.... If there were to be a non-stop flight to Haneda, then I'd go that route, but I don't think it's going to happen from ORD....


P.S. I wasn't going to add my first flight, but since few people have ever heard of the airline, I'll add it....

Airline: Flying Tigers
When: October 1987
Flight Class: Economy
Departure Airport: STL-ANC-OKO (That's St. Louis to Anchorage to Yokota)
Experience: Being a military flight, there wasn't much in the way of amenities.

I also took a JAS (now defunct Japan Air System-merged with JAL) flight from Misawa (MSJ) to Haneda (HND). It was a short 1.5 hour flight on an old MD-80 in 1989. Had to use that since Yokota was closed because the runway was being repaved. It was nice to travel in civilian clothes into Tokyo....