My last international flight of 2025 was on Japan Airlines, my second most flown airline of the year behind American Airlines (by quite a big margin). I managed to grab First Class for this flight on the airline’s older Boeing 777-300ER.
Though it wasn’t the brand new Airbus A350-1000, I still had a fantastic time onboard. Quite frankly, the soft product is what’s often the most impressive on an airline like JAL.
Additionally, this was a nice flight down memory lane for me on the 777 as these aircraft head into retirement soon. Given that my last 4 trips between the U.S. and Japan have been on JAL’s A350, it was nice to revisit an aircraft I had flown many times previously, and possibly for the last time.
Booking
I wanted to use my relatively large stash of American Airlines AAdvantage miles for this third trip to Japan in 2025. Redeeming AAdvantage miles on partner airlines is one of my favorite sweet spots of the AAdvantage program, so that’s exactly the direction I went.
I had lots of flexibility and was willing to take a fun trip, so I booked an itinerary from Chicago to Osaka, Japan, for 80,000 AAdvantage miles. This would have cost over $16,000 if I had paid cash, so I got tremendous value booking this trip.
I could’ve ended my trip in Tokyo, but adding an additional segment from Tokyo to Osaka wouldn’t cost me any extra miles, since the amount of miles needed on partner airlines is based on regions (in this case, Asia region 1). I decided to take that extra segment to Osaka, also in First, and enjoy some time there before returning to Tokyo.
That said, it did require checking the American website often; availability is limited, especially if you’re only booking a month or two in advance. In addition to checking the airline website, I also utilize tools like Seats.aero and Thrifty Traveler Premium.
Checking In
I arrived at Terminal 3 on a hotel shuttle from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago. I’m normally not a fan of hotel shuttles, but this Hyatt Regency did a great job with it. It ran relatively frequently, and the hotel had a helpful online shuttle tracker.
My flight was Japan Airlines flight JL9, with a departure time of 5:35 p.m. and a scheduled arrival time of 10:00 p.m. I’ll get to it later, but the flight ended up delayed an hour, and we arrived in Tokyo at around 11:00 p.m.
I headed straight to the check-in desk, where I had to drop off a bag. I was unusually flying with a checked bag on this trip, and was reminded how much of a pain it was to do so.
The Japan Airlines counter is located all the way at the end of the building. Economy class had a fairly long line, but First (Oneworld Emerald) had no line.
TSA PreCheck was also very quick; I was through in literally 2 minutes.
I then headed towards the lounge, and took the obligatory O’Hare Terminal 3 shot along the way:
American Airlines Flagship Lounge, ORD
First and Business Class passengers, along with Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald status holders had access to American’s Flagship Lounge for my flight.
Although Premium Economy also gets lounge access on Japan Airlines, I believe they get assigned to an Admirals Club.
I had a pleasant time at this lounge before my flight. I wrote a separate, more detailed review of this lounge in this post.
The food selection was pretty good on this day; I enjoyed the chicken this time around.
This was also my first time at a Flagship Lounge since American recently began serving Bollinger Champagne in Business and in lounges. I enjoyed myself a glass.
READ: Review, American Airlines Flagship Lounge in Chicago (ORD)
Boarding
I got to my gate K16 at around 5 p.m., with boarding expected to begin at around 5:05. However, I saw that the flight attendants were still not on the plane, which told me that we were probably going to see a delay.
Sure enough, we were told that the flight was going to be delayed by an hour. I headed back to the lounge for the time being, and came back later.
Our aircraft was JA742J, a 16 year old Boeing 777-300ER delivered back in September 2009.
My boarding group was called soon after I arrived at the gate for the second time.
Onboard
I selected seat 2K for this flight. Though these seats are past their prime, they were still plenty spacious and seemed well-kept despite their looming retirement.
Waiting for me at my seat was a large pillow and a blanket.
I also found Panasonic noise-cancelling headphones, an amenity kit, and a Shiseido Men skincare kit.
A beautiful folder had the inflight menu, a free Wi-Fi promo code, immigration documents, and more inside.
The service from the flight attendants was stellar. I was greeted when I boarded and was guided to my seat. They offered to take my topcoat as I sat down.
These flight attendants had a perfect mix of professionalism and friendliness. Though they addressed me by surname, spoke to me in formal Japanese, and served me in a manner appropriate for the First Class cabin, they still were very approachable and eager to hold conversations.
I think service is the number one thing that sets First and Business apart on Japan Airlines, and it really did show during the first few minutes onboard.
I enjoyed a pre-departure beverage as I waited for the rest of the plane to board:
We departed and took off about 1 hour and 15 minutes behind schedule. Not ideal, since it meant less time at my Haneda Airport hotel arriving late at night, but not the worst of delays.
I connected to Wi-Fi soon after takeoff, which First Class passengers get free access to. Connection was typical for a Japan Airlines long-haul flight, which I’ve talked about many times before. Manageable for messaging and slow web browsing, but not enough for social media and streaming videos.
Meal Service
Meal service began with a hot towel:
The lead flight attendant, the chief purser, was in charge of conducting my meal service. She first came to me asking for my choice of drink.
I went with the Salon, a no-brainer choice:
This was a fantastic champagne. I enjoyed myself about two glasses during the meal, and the flight attendants kept my glass filled for most of the service.
I was then served the first part of the meal, an apple/coconut soup with chilled butternut squash.
The lead flight attendant also came with a basket full of bread, and I selected my choice.
Then came the hors d’oeuvre. There were two of them; the first was the sea scallop carpaccio below, which I really liked.
The second of the hors d’oeuvres was lamb. The meat and the couscous salad, along with the ginger aioli, all tasted well together. I was also given some sansho pepper/salt, a type of Japanese seasoning, to go along with the lamb (on the right side of the photo below).
I was then served two main dishes. The Chilean sea bass was first, which tasted fantastic:
The second of the main dishes was the prime beef tenderloin, served with mushrooms and cheese polenta. The beef was cooked medium rare, and one of the flight attendants asked me if it was just right or if I wanted it cooked a little more. I liked it cooked medium rare, and I told her it was perfect.
Finally, I was served an apple tart for dessert, which was way bigger than I had imagined:
Understandably, I was very full after this meal after not one, but two main dishes!
This was quite easily the best airplane meal I had in 2025. Home run with the meal service in First Class, Japan Airlines!
Going to Bed With the Northern Lights
After meal service, the flight attendants gave me pajamas to change into, and I changed in the restroom. They also made my bed during this time.
Since seat 1K in front of me was open, the flight attendants made my bed there. There were a total of 3 passengers in First on this flight, seat 1A, 2A, and 2K (me).
As we flew over Northern Canada, I could see the Northern Lights glowing brightly out of the window.
I spent the next hour just lying down in bed, watching the Northern Lights out the window dance across the cold Canadian night sky. It was quite the feeling, and it was my favorite part of this flight.
This was my second time seeing them from an airplane in 2025, and the fourth time seeing them from an airplane in total. It’s quite the view, and a reminder for me to never take these experiences for granted.
Read more about this Northern Lights sighting in this post.
More Food, More Relaxing…
After lounging around and getting a couple of hours of sleep, I decided to get something to eat with about 5 hours to go in the flight.
I chose JAL’s original peach/grape mixed juice as they prepared my light meal.
I ordered ramen off the a la carte menu. It was a Tonkotsu flavored miso ramen, and it was a nice meal to have after being asleep for some time.
I also ordered ice cream after my meal, because why not?
I then fell asleep again for another couple of hours. I was tired, as it was almost 5 a.m. back in Chicago at this point.
Pre-Arrival
I thought of ordering one of the bigger meals to have as a second meal before landing, but I wasn’t that hungry, and was asleep for longer than I had thought.
I got up with a little less than 2 hours to go, and just went with a fruit plate as a light snack.
Although this was a 13-hour flight, it did not feel like it at all. Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to seat 2K.
Concluding Thoughts
We landed about an hour late. We unfortunately didn’t make up time, but it wasn’t the worst of delays. I walked to my Haneda Airport hotel after arriving and called it a night there.
This was a fantastic flight to mark the end of my international flying in 2025. I had two more flights in the year after this, but they were both Japanese domestic.
The meal service and watching the Northern Lights from bed were the biggest highlights. As I said earlier, moments like watching the aurora from an airplane are a reminder to me to never take these experiences for granted.
This also could have been my last flight on a Japan Airlines Boeing 777-300ER, given its looming retirement and all of my trips on the airline’s new A350-1000 out of New York. If it was, I couldn’t have said goodbye in a better way to an aircraft I flew hundreds of thousands of miles on growing up.
All photos taken by the author.
