Eastern Airways moves its Paris flights from the UK to Charles de Gaulle

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• BJ says:

  24 Feb24 February 07:09

  Fantastic news on JAL! I would love to try this after a super flight last summer despite 777. If I cannot get J from LHR then there should be not too much difficulty getting F to/from BKK 🙂 For those just visiting Japan you might also eventually see these aircraft on some sapporo and Fukuoka rotations if you want to try them on the cheap.

  • Qrfan says:

    24 Feb24 February 07:24

    JAL has domestic configuration wide body aircraft. Why do you think you’ll get these seats to Sapporo? The seat count will be far lower than the domestic configuration so unless the flight was half empty you’re going to be leaving a lot of people behind if they use this as an operational swap.

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 07:36

      A350s are already operating on the domestic routes, but with different configurations.

      • Qrfan says:

        24 Feb24 February 07:47

        Exactly. I’ve been on them. It’s hugely dense and absolutely nothing like the international configuration, so unless bj has some information to the contrary I think he’s making stuff up.

    • BJ says:

      24 Feb24 February 08:42

      It’s because the midday BKK rotation is primarily tied with the aircraft operating the LHR rotation, but also with the CDG, ORD and DFW. I think it is reasonable to assume both of these European and both American routes will eventually be routinely operated by the four class A350s. The aircraft currently operating ORD and DFW in particular are currently also used on some domestic rotations, presumably to maximise use between the long haul sectors. This happens despite there being different configurations for domestic A350s and 787s. My presumption here is that the longhaul A350s will eventually be rotated in the same way as the 4-class 777s are at the moment.

• Susan says:

  24 Feb24 February 07:22

  Super news re CDG – Air France’s integrated onwards trips within France by train on a connected, protected booking together with the ease of transfer at CDG is how travel should be.

  • Mikeact says:

    24 Feb24 February 08:32

    Good news…just like the old days….except it was KLM then to CDG. Now much easier to connect from SOU to either AMS or CDG.

• meta says:

  24 Feb24 February 07:34

  Slight correction – JAL’s fiscal year is not the same as calendar year as it follows the usual Japanese model which is 1 April – 31 March. (see on their Investor Relations pages).

  So the introduction of new seats could also happen in the first quarter of 2025.

  • NicktheGreek says:

    24 Feb24 February 08:01

    If that’s the case doesn’t it mean they’ll be flying it to London before March 31 2024, as that’s the end of this fiscal year?

  • Rhys says:

    24 Feb24 February 09:41

    It’s due to happen later this year, they told us 🙂

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Feb24 February 13:04

    Correction or adding confusion lol

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 18:42

      Lol. My last sentence implied next fiscal year.

• Willmo says:

  24 Feb24 February 07:55

  Since we’re in February, doesn’t ‘within this fiscal year’ then imply that the seats could be introduced before the end of this March?
  Not trying to correct you – just genuinely curious (and hopeful) that we could see JAL swap in the new seats at short notice.

  • Rhys says:

    24 Feb24 February 09:41

    Yes – but we clarified with them.

• Can2 says:

  24 Feb24 February 07:56

  Can someone explain me the catch about the head rest speaker system? All I imagine is the cabin turning into a 80s discotheque

  • NicktheGreek says:

    24 Feb24 February 08:03

    Ben from OMAAT recently flew the product and did a piece on the speakers if you’re interested.

    https://onemileatatime.com/insights/japan-airlines-headrest-speakers/

    • Can2 says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:26

      👍🏼

    • Rich_A says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:48

      From the OMAAT description, it sounds horrific.

      A low, burbling noise coming from somebody else’s headrest, but you can’t work out whose. And poor sound quality for whatever you want to listen to.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Feb24 February 13:28

    Wonder if they’ve got mood modes so calming sounds etc can be played.

    That seems like the most useful feature for them rather than actually watching a film or show.

• Richard says:

  24 Feb24 February 08:04

  I think you mean Dallas, not Houston

• astra19 says:

  24 Feb24 February 08:08

  I’d love to get excited about JAL’s new seat but they have to sort out their food first. The veg meal I had in First last week is among the worst food I’ve been served. Four salads and a main of plain pasta with boiled unseasoned carrots and broccoli. The flight attendants were embarrassed to do the theatrics that everybody else got. The on demand meal and lounge food is delicious and innovative for all dietary requirements so there is no excuse.

  Given the price of the flight and the quality of the standard meals I’d rather fly with someone else than be insulted and pay several thousands for the privilege.

  • meta says:

    24 Feb24 February 08:33

    Yes, but you also have to understand that the concept of ‘dietary requirements’ is very novel in Japan and has been re-introduced from the West. It’s interesting culturally because pre-20th century meat was almost banned, it was only after they started modernising in Western ways they introduced meat.

    JAL principally caters for Japanese customers. Same as when people complain that Saudia is a dry airline.

    • astra19 says:

      24 Feb24 February 08:37

      No, as I said. They have fantastic food in their lounges in Japan, vegan fish sushi, curries. And fantastic food as onboard snacks like gluten free vegan ramen, interesting sandwiches.

      To say that it’s “not Japanese” is reductive and completely insulting.

      • meta says:

        24 Feb24 February 08:52

        I didn’t say that it’s not Japanese. I actually said it’s been re-imported from the West in the early 20th century. Read my post properly and educate yourself in Japanese history before being all aggravated.

        • astra19 says:

          24 Feb24 February 08:58

          But I don’t see how it’s relevant. I was saying that the meal was awful even though the rest of their food is great. If all of their vegetarian food was bad, then your point would make more sense.
          Their plane food was crap, the rest of their food is excellent. That’s not cultural.

      • BJ says:

        24 Feb24 February 11:53

        Don’t they have an Asian vegetarian option? Presumably it would be something spicy with rice or noodles and less salad.

    • Bernard says:

      25 Feb25 February 11:09

      Utterly incorrect.
      There’s a whole type of Japanese Buddhist cuisine that is vegetarian, and available at Michelin stared Tokyo restaurants.
      So it would be very Japanese to offer that.
      The problem is JAL not cultural background so please get some fact checking done first before making such statements.

      • astra19 says:

        25 Feb25 February 11:42

        Agreed. There is a wealth of delicious meat-free food in abundance in Japan.
        Plain pasta with carrots and broccoli is no country’s idea of cuisine and that’s what’s embarrassing.

  • BJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 08:51

    I thought the food on JAL was the best I ever had on a plane. This was Japanese menu, mot Western menu and not vegetarian though.

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 09:00

      Yes, it’s the best food ever. Those who need dietary requirements are always going to end up with not much choice on most airlines. The problem is that it does not work economically for airline to engage a separate five-star vegan/vegetarian restaurant to do catering for what it is going to be one or two a flight at most.

      Last time I pre-order Japanese meal in JAL F which is done by Roketsu, 2/3rds of the meal consisted on non-meat/non-fish stuff. If it bothers you much you can always ask the crew to remove those items for you from those meals.

      • astra19 says:

        24 Feb24 February 10:56

        They have a Michelin chef make their vegan meals from Tokyo, so it does make the difference all the more stark

    • Lady London says:

      24 Feb24 February 19:28

      How does food on ANA compare? I really liked it, obvs had only the Japanese menu

• kevin says:

  24 Feb24 February 14:16

  I’ve always wanted to go to Japan so this is great news. I take it we use the BA “Reward flight prices on partner airlines” table? 371,000 Avios for a return trip myself and my +1.

  I wonder could we use 185,500 points one way and try to create a bit of a tier point run to get home. Any tips guys?

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