Airlines News

Japan Airlines Airlines debuts spectacular new first and business class on the A350-1000

a bed in a room

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


I’ve had the pleasure of flying Japan Airlines first class several times on the 77W, and when rumors broke that JAL would debut a new first and business class on the A350-1000 I was super excited to see what was in order. And wow…have they debuted truly show stopping new first and business class products. The better news? It will debut on the Tokyo Haneda ( HND ) to New York ( JFK ) route, and the hope is by the end of 2023. Let’s take a look!

Japan Airlines First Class A350-1000

The cabin will be in a 1-1-1 layout, similar to what is found on Cathay Pacific First Class, Air France, Emirates or Qantas First Class

First Class Seat Size:

  • Seating configuration : 1-1-1 (3-seats per row layout)
  • Capacity : 6 seats
  • Seat width (distance between armrests) : approximately 123 cm
  • Max. bed width : approximately 123 cm
  • Max. bed length : approximately 203 cm
  • Personal monitor size : 43 inch
  • Height of room : approximately 157 cm

Did you read those?! Holy smokes. 43 inch tv? The suite itself is a little over 5 feet tall.

a room with a tv and a screenThe seat itself is massive and can be turned into a double bed, or you can fold just half of it down to have a chair/bed combo

a bed in a roomStore two carry on bags underneath the IFE

a seat with two luggage inside

The seat upright

a seat in a planeIFE, wireless charging, cooler, etc

WOW WOW WOW

Japan Airlines Business Class A350-1000

There are currently two business class products in the air that legitimately vie for best business class in the world: ANA’s The Room and Qatar Airways QSuites. Well, by the looks of it we have a new contender.

a seat in a train

Business Class Seat Size:

  • Seating configuration : 1-2-1 (4-seats per row layout)
  • Capacity : 54 seats
  • Seat width (distance between armrests) : approximately 56cm
  • Max. bed width : approximately 56 cm
  • Max. bed length: approximately 198 cm
  • Personal monitor size : 24 inch
  • Height of room : approximately 132 cm

The new business class seats will feature built in headrest speakers. I’ve never heard of something like this and am quite curious as to how no one else will be able to hear what you’re hearing. Given the cultural respect that the Japanese have for one another, this should be quite an innovative feature. You can also connect via bluetooth.

a seat with a headrest and a round window

Suite are enclosed with a door.a close up of a machineAnd mini closet

a blue suit jacket in a lockerAnd of course lie flat seats

a red seat with a red cushion

A large 24 inch tv

a screen with a sunset in the backgroundAnd power, storage, IFE controls, etc

I can’t wait to try out this new Japan Airlines business class, it truly looks like a competitor for world’s best.

Japan Airlines Premium Economy

Premium Economy Seat Size

  • Seating configuration : 2-4-2 (8-seats per row layout)
  • Capacity : 24 seats
  • Seat width (distance between armrests) : approximately 48 cm
    * Specifications for some seats are different.
  • Seat pitch (distance between a row of seats) : approximately 107 cm
  • Personal monitor size : 16 inch

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Japan Airlines Economy A350-1000

Economy Class Seat Size

  • Seating configuration : 3-3-3 (9-seats per row layout)
  • Capacity : 155 seats
  • Seat width (distance between armrests) : approximately 46 cm
  • Seat pitch (distance between a row of seats) : approximately 84 – 86cm
  • Personal monitor size : 13 inch

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Overall

We’ve seen several new product released, including Lufthansa and Qantas, but sadly most of these are never on time and overly hyped. It appears that Japan Airlines has taken a similar approach to ANA and released specs on the new product just before it’s due to launch. The next challenge will be finding the award availability to give this bad boy a go!

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with blue lines and white text

Learn More

Affiliate Link

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

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.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.