On my flight home from Japan, I managed to get to experience Japan Airlines First Class and Sakura Lounge. It was a premium experience that I think would be hard to top. With that said, I would say that there are still areas where JAL could do better. For more on my experience with the JAL’s First Class and Sakura Lounge in Narita, please continue reading.
JAL Sakura Lounge Narita: First Class Service and Amenities
This is what greeted me as I arrived at the First Class and Sakura Lounge in Narita Airport from Hilton Tokyo Narita Airport Hotel. If you’re unfamiliar with Skytrax, it’s a UK-based organization that does reviews and ratings of airports and airlines all over the world. Only ten airlines have been rated 5 stars by them and JAL is one of those.
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If you’re wondering, the First Class Lounge and Sakura Lounge are not the same. However, their reception areas share the same floor. Here’s a sign featuring the membership cards accepted for both lounges. If you hold a JGC Premier and JMB Diamond then you should have access to both. Once you have your boarding pass, you’ll just need to present that along with any of the accepted membership cards to have access to either of these lounges. It’s also possible to access these lounges even if you don’t have a membership. A first class or business class ticket on an international flight allows you access to either of these. Even those on premium economy also have the option to purchase access to the lounge for JPY8250 .
This is the reception area for the First Class Lounge. It was relatively easy to enter as I only needed to show the boarding pass for my flight. A word of advice though, just be sure to get inside two or three hours before your scheduled flight as there might be times when they get busy.
Here’s the hallway leading to the First Class Lounge on the 3rd Floor (same floor as the reception area). The space here looks so clean and I found it to be well lit.
I’m now at the First Class Lounge and here’s a view of its Bar and Beverages area. Not fully pictured to my right are some chairs with a view of the airport’s tarmac. I tried out the chairs here and they were really comfortable. Before I settled in though, I had to do one thing first…
Whether it’s the First Class or Sakura Lounge, the staff here aren’t going to serve you your beverages and/or drinks. I had to get these by myself. Thankfully, there’s plenty of dispensers for a number of popular beverages/drinks. Pictured above is a dispenser for soft drinks (Minute Maid, Coca Cola) and one for coffee/hot water.
In this section, you’ll find cups and saucers as well as tea and sweeteners. Tea flavors range from English Breakfast, Royal Delights, Vintage Earl Grey, and Mixed Fruit. Off to the side you’ll find alcoholic beverages if, for some reason, you’re inclined to get buzzed before your flight.
Other than the coffee and soft drinks dispensers, there are also wine dispensers here in the First Class Lounge. The options here include red wines such as Montgras Antu and Wind Rogue (on the right dispenser). If white wines are your preference, the dispenser on the left has a George Breuer Sauvage Reisling and a Blank Canvas Escaroth Vineyard Chardonnay.
I must say, the liquor selection here is quite extensive. There’s Japanese shochu, Bombay Sapphire (which is actually an English gin), Royal Brackla whiskey, and Campari, and many more.
Of course, this wouldn’t be much of a First Class Lounge if it doesn’t offer beer. The tap on the right is for Asahi Premium Jukusen while the one on the left is for Kirin Ichiban Shibori Premium. Make sure to follow the sign on the tap and get your beer glass from the refrigerator.
This is the refrigerator where you can get the beer glasses. Of course, it’s also possible to just get a can of beer and not have to deal with using the tap.
Other than the soft and hard drinks, the First Class Lounge also offers juices and tonic water. This specific refrigerator has juices, milk, as well as tonic water brands like Schweppes and Wilkinson.
If you happen to be in a festive mood then there’s also sparkling wines and champagnes available in this section. Pictured above are Joseph Derrier champagne and Gusbourne Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine bottles that are already cooled and just waiting for you to open them. In the background you’ll see the glasses that you can use for these celebratory drinks.
Moving to the pastry section, I saw these lovely pastries. I was tempted to get one but decided not to since it could have affected my appetite. If I had to choose between these two though, I’d probably go with the Coffee & Mascarpone Cream Bread just because I enjoy coffee.
This Meatloaf Pie Wrapped w/ Mustard also looked quite delicious and relative to the previous two, it’s also probably healthier at 51kcal per pound. That said, if you want something less taxing on your metabolic system then you might want to head on over to the next set of pictures.
The Yuzu Flavored Beef Aspic and the Horse Mackerel Flavored Marinade are 42kcal and 29kcal respectively. These make them the healthiest items here relative to the dishes that I’ve taken a picture of. Again, I didn’t get these because I had already planned to order a meal.
This section has some cookies and mixed nuts that you might also want to avoid if you’re on a diet. If I had to choose though, I’d probably go with the Cheese and Black Pepper Cookies as well as the BBQ Flavored Soybean Chips just because they seem like such crazy flavors.
Here are some chocolate bars that you also might want to avoid if you’re mindful of your sugar and calorie intake. If you’re in need of a sudden burst of energy though then you really can’t go wrong with the sugar rush these bars offer.
Concluding my tour of the Bar and Beverages area, I stumbled upon this sign for Thomson and Scott’s Noughty Sparkling Chardonnay. Apparently, this is a non-alcoholic sparkling wine that went through a dealcoholization process. It’s advertised to retain the rich flavor of Chardonnay though I’m not really sure if that’s just marketing speak or if there’s any truth to it.
I finally decided to order my meal and the whole process was relatively simple and fast. Here’s a picture of one of my orders: Assorted Fruits that came in this shot glass.
The next of my orders to be delivered was this portion of Japanese beef curry with rice and a lotus root with mushroom soup. I enjoy curry and this was actually quite nice. The beef was tender and overall I think the curry had a fine balance of sweetness and spiciness to it. That said, this is primarily targeted at the Japanese palate so it might be sweeter than the curry/curries you might have grown up eating.
Dessert was the last order to be delivered and I ended up getting the strawberry shortcake with roasted pistachios. The whole meal was great. I would hesitate to call it the best airport food I’d ever had. That said, I did enjoy my meal and it was quite filling.
This image was taken during my flight and features the complimentary drink that I got for my business class seat.
Here’s the in-flight menu that I was presented with. The options here are honestly a little limited but that’s to be expected. I did like that the menu included dishes from the destination country.
I ended up getting the Grilled Salmon and I think I made the right choice. The salmon seemed like it was fresh and the olive tomato sauce added acidity to the meal. As for the potatoes and vegetables, they were kind of okay but not really memorable.
Anyway, going back to the lounge, this barcode was how I managed to order my meals (the appetizer, curry, soup, and dessert). Just get your smart phone out and scan the barcode.
Once you’ve scanned the barcode, you’ll then be prompted to open JAL Lounge+ on your phone (use the Japan Air Lines app if you’re on Android).
Opening the app will then provide you with instructions on how to use the service. Here it says that the meals you order through the app are delivered straight to your table by the lounge’s staff.
It’s not just food that you’ll be able to order here though. You can also use the app to reserve one of the lounge’s shower if you’re looking to freshen up before your flight.
Finally, you’ll need to make sure that you enable location sharing on your phone if you plan to use the order and booking function of the app. Once you’ve granted the app permission to know your location, you can then click on the Start button.
After clicking on Start, now you’re going to need to scan the barcode found on your boarding pass. In case you’re unable to find the barcode, there’s also an option to click on Input Your Information. This will bring you to another page where you’ll need to manually input your boarding information instead.
Once you’re done with that, you’re now ready to order your meals. Again, there’ll be a pop-up explaining the service and the need for you to grant the app access to your location. If you’ve already done enabling location sharing then go ahead and hit confirm.
Now you can really start ordering food. The Meals Order menu has four categories that you can choose from. Currently, I’m on the Specialties section of the menu and this has three curry options. There’s the regular curry, a smaller version of it, and an order that’s minus the rice. If these aren’t to your liking, you could opt for the Manpuku Chinese Soba Noodles.
The Dish section features all the dishes in the other sections other than the Specialties. Here you’ll find a Japanese Meal Box that has seasoned cod roe, tamagoyaki, fish, umeboshi, a side dish, and salted seaweed. You can choose to get an order of this meal box with rice and miso soup or one without. In addition, you can also get single orders of lentil and tomato soup or lotus root and mushroom soup.
Still in the Dish section, there is an option for French Toast, Puglia style Penne with Brocolli Sauce (Gluten Free), and Penne Arrabbiata with Mushrooms.
Much like with its Japanese Meal Box, the Lounge+ app also lets you choose between two versions of Shrimp and Mushroom Gratin. One has Japanese-style dressing and the other has vegetable dressing. Other than this, there’s also a steamed bun with curry as its filling.
For those who want something healthy, there’s a Chopped Salad with vegetable dressing as well as a Vegetable Chips salad. Not too fond of salads? Then get the Mitsuse Chicken and Mushroom Cream Sauce or if you’re feeling adventurous then the Fugu and Mussel Meuniere might just be what you’re looking for.
If you haven’t tasted it yet then I recommend getting Meat Doria. This isn’t really a meat dish but rather a rice casserole topped with meat sauce. In this case though, this sauce is plant-based. Croissants, Baguettes, and Butter Rolls can also be ordered through the app.
Rounding out the menu items in the Dish section is Rice Flour Bread, Low Sodium Miso Soup, and Rice.
For Dessert, the options available for you are Assorted Fruits, an Apple Orange Cake Wrapped in Phyllo, French Toast, and Strawberry Shortcake with Roasted Pistachios. I personally went with the Strawberry Shortcake and Assorted Fruits because I thought the fruits and the sweetness of the cake would balance out the umami from the curry.
The Plant-Based Food, Vegan, and Halal section was quite bare at the time I accessed the app. As you can see, it only had the Vegetable Chips Salad, Meat Doria with Plant-Based Sauce, and the Gluten-Free Penne with Puglia-Style Broccoli Sauce.
And that was but a glimpse of my experience at the Japan Airlines First Class and Sakura Lounges at Narita Airport. Honestly, I quite enjoyed my stay there even if it was only for a short time (to read some of the places I visit here, please check out my Yokohama 2-day itinerary). The amenities were quite comfortable and I particularly liked being able to order my food without having to move from my table. The fact that you can’t order drinks through the Lounge+ app still confuses me but it’s ultimately a small gripe. Overall, I’d say the First Class and Sakura Lounges are a boon for travellers who book First or Business Class on JAL’s international flights.
