Japan Airlines Business Class Review: Tokyo to Chicago

Japan Airlines always has a high reputation among frequent travelers. Rated highly every year, they’re always likely to make what could be a tiring, stressful flight into a day to remember. I recently had the opportunity to try out their business class, flying from Tokyo Narita to Chicago O’Hare, and here are some highlights from that trip!

Booking the Flight

I booked this flight using American Airlines miles. It cost 60,000 miles one way, which I think is a good deal for a transpacific flight. An economy class ticket using AA miles will typically cost a little over 30,000 miles one way (during non-peak travel times), so this was around double the price of an economy ticket. Since flight costs fluctuate often, you don’t always see business class tickets being sold for just 2x the price of an economy class ticket.

The Highlights

I flew out of Tokyo Narita for this flight. Tokyo is served by two airports, Narita and Haneda. As a general rule, Haneda is the closer and (most of the time) the more convenient airport. However, depending on your final destination, Narita can also be your better option. I go into more detail about these two airports in this story.

I departed from terminal 2. The check-in line for economy class was absolutely mobbed this day. There were staff at the end of the line announcing that the line would take around an hour! The business class line was better; I waited around 15 minutes. This was during the summer of 2022 when many airlines around the world were still short-staffed from the pandemic, which I think was the main reason for the long lines. With airlines back on track now, most of these long lines have gone away in Tokyo.

The Lounge and Boarding

I didn’t spend a lot of time in the lounge. I grabbed food and went to the gate pretty much immediately. I did try out Japan Airlines’ original beef curry, hearing that it was a popular option in their lounge.

Since I wasn’t hungry as it was early in the morning, I chose the “small” option of the curry. I didn’t think I would be this small! Nonetheless, it was some of the best curry I’ve had, and it definitely lives up to the hype. The softness and juiciness of the chunks of beef inside the curry is not easy to find elsewhere.

I used gate 63. Unless you have lounge access, food options are limited at Narita Airport (as you can see in the picture to the left, much of both terminal 1 and 2 are like this). There are more places before security, so I would advise grabbing some food there.

The Seat

My seat was 5A.

This is the seat map for JAL’s 777-300ER. It has 7 rows total of business class. Rows 7 through 12 are in the main, bigger cabin, while row 5 is in a small, mini cabin right behind first class (there is no row 6). Row 5 is usually blocked off at first and reserved for JAL’s elite customers, but gets opened up to everyone else around 2-3 days before departure day. I highly recommend trying to get a seat in this row, even if you aren’t a JAL elite. As you’ll see, it’s a much more quiet area with a more private feel compared to the rest of the plane.

Japan Airlines has three different kinds of business class seats: Sky Suite I, II, and III. All of their 777-300ERs are fitted with the Sky Suite I, which in my opinion is the best one out of the three.

The Sky Suite I on the 777 has a 2-3-2 configuration. While this may seem cramped, there is plenty of room, much more than I was expecting. This ended up being one of the most spacious flights I’ve had. The seats are staggered, so even if you’re by a window or in the middle, you still have your own mini path to leave your seat without walking in front of your seat mate. In addition, there are electronic privacy dividers that go up between each seat, giving you full privacy with a push of a button.

Food Service

This was the menu for the first meal of my flight. JAL offers two options: A Japanese menu and a western menu. The western menu has two choices for the main dish. All of the options looked good; I went with the “wagyu beef sirloin” from the western menu.

The starter.

The main dish.

I skipped the dessert, but they had grapefruit macaron. All in all a great meal! After the first meal service, we can order anything we want, whenever we want from the “Anytime You Wish” section. If you have an upcoming flight, you can check your menu online here.

Inflight Entertainment System

This is how the IFE works on Japan Airlines’ business class. Almost all controls are done thru this smartphone-like remote control. Selecting movies, ordering food, screen settings, and pretty much everything else is done on this. For example, if you wanted to watch a movie, you’d select the movie on the remote control, then it’ll start playing on the big screen, as you can see above how I selected the movie, Free Guy.

Relaxing On The Flight

The seat turns into a lie flat bed. In addition to the comfy pillow and blanket, JAL offers a mattress for business class passengers. The mattress is located in the overhead bin. I used it for pretty much the whole flight, both when I was sleeping and when I was relaxing on the seat. I personally think the number 1 benefit of business class is the ability to sleep easily, and Japan Airlines definitely delivered here.

Said goodnight to a beautiful sunset before getting some sleep.

A Northern Lights Surprise!

I woke up with around 4 hours left to go, near the Alaska-Canada boarder. I opened my windows to see if it was morning yet, and I was instead greeted by the Northern Lights! While seeing the Northern Lights alone is a very rare experience, I was even more lucky this day since it was still August. A few days later, I learned of a strong solar storm that occurred that day (August 17) that increased my chances of running into the Aurora.

This was without a doubt the most beautiful view I’ve ever had on an airplane.

Sunrise and Breakfast

One of my favorite parts about the eastbound transpacific flights are the sunrises. The sunrise on this day was, just as expected, extremely gorgeous.

This was breakfast, also ordered from the “Anytime You Wish” section of the menu. There was a Japanese option as well.

Concluding Thoughts

Just like that, we were in Chicago. Japan Airlines certainly did not disappoint with this flight. The food, the seat, and the service were all top notch, and the northern lights and the sunrise pushed this up to the best flight I’ve had so far in my life. If you have an upcoming flight with JAL, be sure to check the links in this video. Hoping to see you again in another story!

All photos taken by the author.