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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.
The 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
Store two carry on bags underneath the IFE
The seat upright
IFE, 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.
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.
Suite are enclosed with a door.
And mini closet
And of course lie flat seats
A large 24 inch tv
And 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
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
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.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It 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. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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