By Shawn Gallagher
Hello from Tokyo Haneda Airport’s terminal 1! I have another quick hop on Japan Airlines today to Osaka, the last of my domestic flights in Japan this summer. I’ve previously reviewed their First Class and Class J products, and this will be a full review of their regular economy class experience.
Let’s go over this fantastic economy class on Japan Airlines!
At The Airport
I got to the airport a little over an hour before departure. I didn’t have any bags to check in, so I went straight to security.
The security checks at Japanese airports are very easy. Shoes can stay on, belts can stay on, and drinks can be brought through onto the plane. International terminals are more strict, but these domestic terminals make it feel like TSA PreCheck back home in the U.S.
Related: Premium Economy On Japan Airlines, Is It Worth The Money? A Full Review
I got some nice shots of several Airbus A350s before departure. This is JA10XJ, which I believe I’ve flown on before.
I use my iPhone 15 Pro Max for all of my photos and videos. Read why I love this phone here.
This is my plane taking me to Osaka. JA848J, a 4.5 year old Boeing 787-8 delivered back in December 2019. I happened to have flown this same aircraft 6 months before this.
Onboard
This is a look at the cabin soon after I boarded. These Recaro seats are often seen on internationally configured aircraft, like on Delta’s Airbus A350. JAL uses these on their domestic-only planes, which makes for a very comfortable flight considering most of these domestic legs are less than 2 hours.
The seats are in a 3-3-3 configuration.
Legroom is the standard 31 inches on these domestic aircraft. You’ll find a very generous 33 inches of pitch on international flights though.
The 10 inch IFE screen is very responsive and easy to navigate.
A very empty flight today! One of the emptiest flights I’ve been on in a while.
We pushed back and took off from Tokyo on time.
Does anyone else ever notice that photos taken out of the window of a Boeing 787 turn out a little yellowish? I’ve always suspected that the dimmable windows may have something to do with it.
In The Air
The very tip of Mt. Fuji was visible from the plane. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy in the area during this time.
I chose the JAL original, which is my go-to drink when flying them. It’s a peach/grape mix juice. If you read my other Japan Airlines posts, you’ll most certainly see this drink featured.
The tray table can be folded in half.
As we flew by Nagoya International Airport, we began our decent into Osaka Itami Airport.
Related: Japan Airlines Business Class Review, Tokyo To Chicago
Concluding Thoughts
Here’s one more look at the economy class cabin.
The seats are very comfortable and are more than enough on a 1 hour domestic flight. Service was good as usual with JAL, and I also appreciated the IFE screen even on these short flights.
Domestic flights in Japan are still comfortable, even in regular economy. Sure, I had the benefit of a very empty flight, but considering this is something you’d see in an internationally configured aircraft, I’ll have a good feeling flying this on a short domestic leg.
All photos taken by the author.