Of the two daily OneWorld flights out of Narita to Chicago, Japan Airlines and American Airlines, I chose the latter this time due its schedule. The American flight, AA 154, departs Narita at 5:50pm. This would give me a nearly 11-hour layover in Narita since my inbound flight into Narita arrived at 7am that morning. The day was certainly put to good use - read about my Japanese eel experience in Best Unagi in Narita. Once I returned to the airport and passed through security, I headed straight to the JAL Sakura Lounge.
Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge
There are two ways to gain access to this lounge - 1) fly in a premium (Business / First) cabin on any OneWorld or JAL partner airline or 2) hold a mid-level or higher elite status on any of the said airlines’ frequent flyer program. On this trip, I fell in the former category. I’ll write a more detailed review of this lounge in a future post, but on this trip, I had just enough time for a nice long shower after exploring the town on a 90-degree day.
JAL Sakura Lounge Shower
You might experience a wait for a shower on occasion when the lounge is busy, but for the most part, I’ve been lucky to get one within a few minutes, if not immediately. It comes stocked with fresh towels and amenities and is quite spacious.
JAL Sakura Lounge Shower
It was going to be a rather long walk to the gate from the JAL lounge, so I left immediately after my shower. American was assigned gate 87 in Terminal 2 at NRT. Unfortunately, the aircraft was not in good view for a nice picture, so we’ll jump straight to the inside.
American Airlines 787 Business Class Cabin
American Airlines 787 Business Class Cabin
American features a 1-2-1 seat configuration on the 787 with a mix of forward- and reverse-facing seats. Due to the angular placement of the seats, you would sit closer to the aisle on the forward seats and slightly away from the aisle in the reverse seats.
American Airlines 787 Business Class seat map. Image courtesy Seatguru.com
I was seated in 1L, a forward-facing window seat.
My seat, 1L
Waiting for me at my seat was a comfortable pillow, blanket, slippers, a bottle of evian water, a Cole Haan amenity kit, and a Bose noise-cancelling headset.
Seat 1L
The orientation of the seat results in a tapering effect - wider near the aisle and slightly narrow inside. So if you’re broad-shouldered, you might be better off with a forward-facing seat, where the seat has a little more room than the ottoman.
Seat 1L ottoman
Contents of the amenity kit were rather basic but contained all the essentials.
Contents of the Cole Haan amenity kit
Once seated, the purser, a very pleasant German lady came by and introduced herself to me and welcomed me aboard. The pre-departure beverage service followed, with a choice of sparkling wine, juice, or water. Apologies for the missing picture. After a second round, we were ready for pushback, taxied, and took off, climbing into the evening skies for the 12-hour trans-pacific journey to Chicago.
AA 154 (NRT-ORD) flight path. Image courtesy Flightaware.com
Once we leveled off, the beverage service began. I strayed from my usual choice of a neat pour of the single malt on offer, to a Kentucky Bourbon on the rocks. I figured when on American…
Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon on the rocks
The flight attendant proactively offered to make it a double. I have an easily twistable arm when it comes to whiskey, and so I graciously accepted. The drink was served with a bowl of warm mixed nuts. This is something American consistently gets right in premium cabins, even on domestic routes - the nuts are served warm, in a small china cup.
I started browsing the entertainment selection, which wasn’t too bad, but not necessarily stocked with blockbusters either. There was one movie I found which had incidentally been on my Netflix queue for quite some time. I had been putting off watching it and thought this was my chance. It was a Lebanese movie called Caramel.
Movie choice - Caramel
Dinner commenced soon after the bar service. For starters, a shrimp cocktail with a dinner salad. I chose the honey mustard dressing.
Starter - shrimp cocktail with salad
A basket of bread was presented and this was definitely one of the best dinner rolls I’ve had at 30,000 feet. It had the temperature and texture of a freshly baked roll.
Dinner roll with butter
I should note that at no point did the service feel rushed. I took my time with my starter, relishing every crisp bite of the shrimp. Next up was the entree. There were both, western and Japanese options. I had narrowed my choices down to either the steak or the Japanese curry with vegetables. Once again, straying from my usual [carnivorous] instincts, I chose the Japanese curry with vegetables. It arrived plated so well - the vegetables almost looked like they were individually placed. I decided to let my camera have a taste before my palate would.
Entree - Japanese curry with vegetables
I quite enjoyed the entree, but can’t say I wiped the plate clean. I was starting to feel full and did not want to have to pass on the forthcoming dessert course. A collection of wines and other beverages were offered with my meal, but I chose to continue with the bourbon.
FA: Would you like some wine with your dinner?
Me: How about another whiskey?
FA: How about two? (pouring one into my glass and leaving a second one on standby)
More bourbon with dinner
This certainly was a very friendly flight and I had an FA who was courteous, professional, and had a great sense of humor.
It was finally time for the aforementioned dessert course. Choices were (1) sundae, (2) cheese plate, (3) a rather intriguing pie that I cannot remember the name. Honestly, I wanted to taste all three. But I also did not want to be wasteful, as I knew I would not be able to finished them. So I decided to go with only 2 of the three - the sundae and the cheese plate.
Dessert - ice cream sundae and cheese plate
Turned out I wasn’t that full after all - I managed to finish the most of the sundae and nibbled on the cheese plate as I sipped the bourbon. The conversation as my sundae cup was cleared -
Me: Mind if I hang on to the cheese for a bit longer?
FA: Absolutely! We still have nine hours to go.
It really helps to have a friendly rapport with the crew. It makes the flight so much more enjoyable, especially when you realize that you’re stuck in a pressurized metal tube at 35,000 feet above the world’s largest ocean for one half of a 24-hour day.
And so I continued nibbling on my cheese and crackers. I did not think I would need that second bottle of bourbon with my dinner, but I ended up proving myself wrong.
Party’s over when the whiskey runs dry
This seemed like a good time to turn my seat into a bed, but there were two things to do before settling in for the night - (1) change into my pajamas, and (2) check out the self-serve snack bar that is laid out after the dinner service. The latter was not because I needed to be fed any more than I just was, but purely for the photo op. Now, I’ve read reports where excessive photography on board has raised alarms with the crew. I did not want to be the cause of any of that, so I continued to build on the friendly rapport I had with the crew and appreciated what a lovely snack bar they had put out, asking them if they would mind if I took a picture. They were more than happy to oblige me. In fact, they even offered to take a picture of me standing next to it. Ultimately, we ended up taking selfies together by the snack bar. The skies were certainly friendly tonight.
Self-serve snack bar on American Airlines 787
When I returned to my seat, I thought I'd finish my movie. A German FA, an American whiskey, Japanese dinner, and a Lebanese movie. All while flying across several time zones. This was indeed an international flight.
Caramel was still going strong
The cabin had dimmed for the night by now and was quite conducive to sleeping. I reclined my seat to bed mode and opened up the comfortable pillow and blanket.
Seat 1L in bed mode
Seat 1L in bed mode
I must have slept really well because as I slowly woke up, I could hear the brunch service going on in my slumber. My friendly FA came up to my seat as I was getting up and asked if I’d like something to eat. I chose the vegetable lasagna, which was waiting for me when I returned from freshening up a bit. It was actually quite tasty.
Brunch - vegetable lasagna
It wasn’t much after the brunch service that we were nearing the end of the flight. The Bose headsets were collected for inventory purposes, but we were given ordinary in-ear headphones to use for the remainder of the flight, which we were free to keep. The FA came to each seat to thank us for flying American and bid us goodbye. All in all, this was certainly a memorable flight.
