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Review: Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge Tokyo NRT
The Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge Tokyo is accessed through the same entrance as the JAL First Class lounge; however, you’ll use the main check in desk which is immediately in front of you. The check in area reflects the comparative size of the lounge…YUGE! While the First Class check-in is small and tucked away to the left, the Sakura Lounge receptoin is sized to accommodate large swaths of business class customers looking for rubber stamped entry. I did a sweep through the lounge to check it and was pretty impressed.
Access
Since I was flying on a First Class ticket I had access to both lounges. You can also access the lounge with one guest if you’re One World Sapphire/Emerald, as well as Japan Airlines Mileage Bank Sapphire, Premier, and Diamond. JAL Global Club members also have access.
It’s 2 full floors with floor to ceiling windows, and a gorgeous open staircase.
The line in the background is actually for dining. The lounge was MEGA crowded. If I had to guess I’d say there was a few hundred people in the lounge, and while you had to look for seating, it could still be found. The Sakura Lounge is clearly a workhorse. The respect everyone gives each other in Japan is impressive. Even in a lounge this busy, things were orderly, clean, and respectful.
A wine and coffee bar set aside from the main food presentation.
While there are a few places to grab coffee in the lounge, this separated area for Wine and Coffee ( which has an attendant) helped to alleviate congestion. It was still quite crowded on the top floor, but had this been a part of the main food area it would have been pretty problematic.
The line for food was akin to the bar line during intermission at Hamilton. I’ve never been, but I’m sure it’s really long!
I’d guess that 50 people were lined up to eat. Thank goodness I’d stuffed my face with top shelf sushi in the First Class lounge 😉 We snuck in the midst of the action for a quick shot, but I’m sorry I wasn’t willing to wait for up close pics.
Downstairs was far more relaxed and spacious. It’s divided into two wings. There’s also a small food area to the left with a lot of seating. Got some pics of that offering 😉
And some food.
If you meander on back you’ll find areas where you can sleep. I wish I’d known about these ahead of time. I could have used a small nap after being wide-eyed the whole flight from Bangkok.
Crossing over to the other wing you’ll find a large storage locker room.
The seating on this side had workstations, drinks, and a snack bar.
Both levels have incredible views of the airport. Miles hung out here for a bit
He was posing for this picture when our very first reader recognized him. Very cool experience 🙂
Overall:
Couple things not photographed, but available:
There are Shower Suites that you can reserve as well as work stations. Unfortunately, the lounge was so busy that the work stations were fairly occupied and would have been weird to take a picture of them. Miles knows no shame, but his sock puppet human companion maintains a sliver of it. I’ve heard the Shower suites are pretty nice as well, but they were occupied and I’d already showered in the First Class lounge. Needless to say, the lounge was busy, but the facilities are there if you need them.
I also ducked into the lounge with about 15 mins to spare so I didn’t have time to wait for a shower to open up just for photos.
The only downside of my experience was really it’s popularity, and I can’t blame anyone for enjoying this baby. It’s beautiful, full of light, food, drink, and from what I’ve heard shower suites that compare to the First Class lounge. If you’re in Narita and have access to this lounge, I’d definitely give it a visit.
This review is a part of the Trip Report: Miles Traces his roots in Southeast Asia
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- American Airlines Admirals Club Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge Tokyo NRT
- Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER NRT-ORD
- Tip on how to fly standby the day before your flight
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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