rugbymad

Anybody flown with them recently?? What are they like??Any info would be good
Cheers

debbiemc

we flew with them last june to cairns via tokyo. cant fault them, they were excellent!!! the planes were brand new there and back, food fantastic, cabin crew excellent, extremely gracious and helpful. tv's, games telephones in the seats........

i would say though, that if you get the free stopover, the airport immigration is a nightmare!! it took us 3 hours queing 9 how do you spell that?????)
to get through and there was no air con!!!!!! need i say more.

apart from that, hotel was great. we even had a game of tennis before we left for the airport, it was 42 degrees!!!!!

Vash the Stampede

I flew to the UK with JAL. My ticket included a one-night stopover at Kansai Airport, with 4-star accommodation. Broke the trip up very nicely for me, that did.

Throughout the flight I was pampered with faultless service, attentive staff, and matchless courtesy.

I look forward to flying JAL again some time.

rugbymad

thanks all,very happy now!

Cheetah7

I have flown with them a couple of times and have found them to be excellent.

Bottles of water offered regularly (had to ask for Thai airways), food was nice, your own TV screen, good staff.

I wouldnt hesitate to fly with them again.

Lewis Lapthorn

I've considered flying JAL or Cathay. But aren't you making the journey longer by going as far east as Tokyo or Hong Kong?

Cheetah7

I see your point, but I would feel that an airline providing a shoddy service or uncomfortable seating would seem as long anyway.

But yes, it is a long way round.

Juliecabs

We flew to Brisbane via Osaka with JAL 18 months ago and they were brilliant.
Flight from LHR to Osaka took about 12 hours (I think). Each seat had TV's/computer games and we watched ourselves taking off! Food was good - a choice of either Western or Japanese food.
Spent 9 hours at Osaka in transit (should've been 7 hours but there was a 2 hour delay ). Airport had great showers (really cheap, shampoo, shower gel, haridryers available free of charge), we had a nice meal there and mooched around the shops. The departure lounge was empty and we even managed to sleep for a couple of hours stretched out on the bench seats.
Onward flight to Brisbane seemed to take longer although it was only 9 hours, but maybe it was because it was a completely night flight, everyone trying to sleep and our seats didn't have TV's in them (older plane I think!).

Return flight to Tokyo was the best flight. We were given seats on the Upper Deck even though we didn't ask for them. (These seats are still Economy). I recommend asking for these if you can. There was a bit more legroom and storage compartments at the sides of the seats which meant I could lean against hubby and stretch out On this flight, the movies were "on demand" so you could stop and start them as you pleased.
As the connecting flight to London wasn't until the next morning, JAL put you up free of charge in an airport hotel. As someone mentioned earlier, immigration takes ages though. But a hotel shuttle bus was waiting to take us to the hotel about 10 minutes away. The rooms were very clean and comfortable (we had 2 rooms as we had our 3 teenage kids with us and they were in a room next door (they felt very grown up ). The food was good there and pretty cheap.
JAL have a check-in desk in the hotel lobby which opens around 6am so we checked in for our flight in our PJ's (yes, honestly!) and went back to bed for another hour. Breakfast is laid on free and there is plenty of choice.
Another shuttle bus took us back to the airport for our onward flight.
I would recommend them and they can be cheaper than other carriers too.

Julie. x

Cheetah7

JAL have upgraded us before as well, we thought they had given us the wrong seats

I sleep like a log on flights and slept 8 out of the 12 hour flight.

The stewardess woke me up to see if I was OK and to give me water.

I couldnt fault the staff at all.

When I flew to Canada with Zoom airlines, the stewards were chomping on chewing gum, the plane wasnt cleaned in bewteen flights, we had to clean the rubbish from our seats and wipe the milk shake off the tables. To cap it all, they ran out of food, and when asked for water, 6 hours later they hadnt provided.

I think JAL have their customer care sorted in terms of politeness, respect and a good overall service.

I havent flown with Malaysian or Singapore yet so dont have them to compare, but would defo go with JAL again.

Jaycee1

We flew with them last July. The outbound journey to Osaka was great, the 6 hour wait at Kansai Airport was slightly too long for our 2 children. ADVISE A SHOWER!! FANTASTIC!!
The next leg from Osaka to Brisbane was an older plane with large screens, kids were very tired by this stage (luckily!).
Got off in Brisbane for an hour and then next leg to Sydney was a newer plane, with the t.v's kids pleased.
The service was great, they even rummaged and found me some chocolate which was very impressing. Also a foot massager for my amazingly swollen feet
The food for adults was fine, my fussy hubby even ate it. We had chicken in honey and mustard sauce with potatoes - with this was Japanese stuff in little 'boxes' which some looked plastic and it was a guess as to whether to eat or not!!!!
However, the kids were dissapointed with the children's meals which were unsuprisingly Japanese .
The hotel was great on return journey Hotel Nikkai or something similar joined onto airport. They put us in adjoining rooms we all had a double bed each! Best night's sleep I think I had ever had .The breakfast provided was great, no charge.

S J Jackson

Just want to agree with all the other posters above me. We have used Japan airlines and were impressed with the service and stopovers. We have also used Singapore before so had that to compare with. Singapore would probably just tip the JAL flights but probably JAL cheaper so not much to split them. Have travelled with Royal Brunei - cheap but not cheerful, Korean - awful so JAL or Singapore for me!!

SJJ

Vash the Stampede

You are, but it doesn't feel like that because the overnight stop in Kansai breaks the journey into two manageable parts: 9 hours Sydney - Kansai; 13 hours Kansai - Heathrow. If I had spent 22 straight hours on a plane, I would have gone quite mad.

Instead, I received a healthy dose of pampering overnight at the Nikko Kansai (with a double room all to myself!) and a hearty breakfast in the morning. I would definitely do it this way again; it's tremendously refreshing.

Kansai airport is beautiful; clean, modern and high-tech. (A stunning contrast to Heathrow! )

I arrived in Kansai in the evening and there weren't many people around, so immigration procedures were very straightforward and didn't take long at all.

Wol

If you look at a globe instead of a Mercator projection you will see that London - Tokyo - Sydney isn't actually that much further than via Singapore or Bangkok. Probably about 30 minute's flying time!

(Keep it a secret though - we don't want everyone going that way...)

Rooksie

just when i thought id got it sorted!!! sounds fantastic mate!!

debbiemc

we only paid £457 aswll and that included the free return stoppover!!