Review: Japan Airlines First Class Lounge HND

Review: Japan Airlines First Class Lounge HND

I’ve heard lots of good things about the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge at Haneda International Airport and I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. From a wide open space to good food and drinks to just overall decor, this lounge offers something for everyone and is a treat to relax in. Let’s get into what made this lounge so great.

Lounge Info


  • Location: Terminal 3, 4th and 5th floors
  • Hours: 6:00 a.m. until the last departure of the day. JAL Salon hours: 6:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. till close.
  • Eligibility: First class Passengers and their guest, OneWorld Emerald passengers on a OneWorld flight, or Japan Airlines Mileage Bank members with eligible status. Full eligibility rules here.

Layout and Atmosphere


My favorite thing about this lounge is honestly just the aesthetics of it. Japan is known for its unique architecture and designs and this lounge holds true to that. The decorations are simple, yet elegant while still giving off that classic Japanese feel. You can tell that the designers put a lot of thought into the lighting, colors, and finishes to really highlight Japanese culture.

Starting right at the entrance, the cream colored floors are lined with wooden walls composed of thin columns that give the entrance a very traditional Japanese look. This kind of decor is consistent throughout the lounge as well. I appreciated the various plants found around the lounge that helped add some greenery and color to the surroundings.

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Entrance at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan
Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Entrance

After proceeding past the reception, you’ll come to a fork with a map of the lounge. I would say that this lounge can be divided into 3 main sections: JAL table which is the main dining and lounge area, the shower area, and the upstairs area featuring JAL Salon.

From here, you can either proceed left towards the showers and the upstairs section or proceed right towards the JAL Table.

Map of the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge at Haneda International Airport
Map of the Lounge

This lounge is cool since it features two floors with the upstairs level accessed by turning left at the fork and either taking the stairs or elevator up. This area features the JAL Salon, which is another sitting section that serves artisanal Japanese drinks. I was pretty disappointed I couldn’t check this out since it is only open during specific hours, either early in the morning or later at night. So depending on when your flight departs, you may not be able to access it. Massage chairs and additional seating options can also be found at this level.

Since the JAL Salon was closed, I spent all of my time on the 4th floor in the area known as the JAL Table. Getting to this area is cool because you have to walk down a hallway that is lined with Japanese folding doors. It just looked very artsy and isn’t something you’d likely see in any other country.

Hallways with Japanese Folding Doors
Hallways with Japanese Folding Doors

The JAL Table is basically just a large rectangular room full of dining tables, lounge chairs, privacy seats, and a long floor to window section that overlooks the runway. There is a center pathway that cuts across the whole lounge and leads you directly to the Red Suite, which is a private quiet area that features more seating.

Main Dining Area of JAL Table

The entire lounge is very big but I was still surprised by the amount of people in there. I wouldn’t say it was crowded but it definitely was not empty. This isn’t a big issue though because all of the things are pretty spaced out. This helps keep the noise levels in the lounge down but it is for sure not as quiet as the Qantas First Class Lounge in LAX. Maybe it’s because I was there during a busy time (6 PM on a Saturday).

Seating


The main seating area in the JAL Table can be divided into 3 sections. You have the seats along the windows facing the runway, the lounge chairs away from the dining area, and the main dining area.

I had no problem at all finding seating in any of these 3 sections and appreciated how spaced out they were from each other. It didn’t feel cramped at all and everyone had ample space to themselves.

The first section you’ll encounter when entering the JAL Table is a seating area featuring lounge chairs and mini drink tables. You can actually cut off from the entrance hallway into this area via a small room with seats and privacy barriers.

Additional Seating in the beginning of JAL Table
Additional Seating

This area is great if you want some added privacy and it even features a coat rack as well.

Seats with Privacy Partitions in Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Seats with Privacy Partitions

In the actual seating area itself, you’ll find the lounge chairs with their mini tables. I personally preferred the long counter along the windows because they gave great views and also had lots of charging ports.

Lounge Seating and Charging Ports in Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Lounge Seating and Charging Ports

After you walk past this section and proceed further into the lounge, you’ll come across the dining area. This area featured my favorite part of the lounge which is a row of small dining tables with chairs that face towards the windows. You get fantastic views of the runway and can see lots of planes. I was even able to see the 777-300 ER my brother was about to depart in. It’s just a cool area to be an AV geek and plane watch. Unfortunately, Haneda International Airport isn’t big enough to support A380s so I didn’t see any of those aircraft.

Seats that Look Out Towards Runway in Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Seats that Look Out Towards Runway

Dining Area


The dining area itself is huge and offers various seating options. There are rows of long dining tables, proper circular dining tables, as well as couches with tables.

Additonal Dining Seating in Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Additional Dining Seating
There are long dining tables in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Long Dining Tables

The coolest part about this area was the chef’s counter. Here, you can see the chefs and staff preparing sushi and the other delicious dishes you can order.

Chef's counter where you can see them prepare food in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Chef’s Counter

Food


This lounge relies heavily on the mobile app so every seating table has a QR code that you scan to pull up the menu.

QR Code to order food in Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
QR Code to Order Food

The food options offered at the lounge were great. You place your orders via the app and the whole process is straightforward. JAL rotates what food offerings there are based on the date, so you can check what will be offered here.

Menu items in the app of Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Menu Items in the app

I’m always down to eat sushi so of course I had to start with that as my first order. The sushi comes out in a cute little plate with 3 pieces of assorted sushi, There is tuna, seabass (nodokuro), and egg. The sushi was pretty fresh and tasty. It wasn’t as good as some of the sushi you can find in Japan but for lounge standards, it was terrific. There’s also a vegan sushi option which I didn’t end up trying but someone said it tastes surprisingly good.

You can order assorted sushi in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Assorted Sushi

Next was the special beef curry that I’ve heard a lot about. It was pretty good too but I wasn’t super blown away.

You can order beef curry in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Beef Curry

Following the curry was the yuzu ramen. This was my least favorite thing I ordered since I felt the yuzu flavor was a little bit too overpowering. The noodles had a great texture though.

You can order yuzu ramen in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Yuzu Ramen

I also wanted to try something from the Western menu and ended up ordering the wild sea bream with saffron rice. I was actually pretty impressed with how great the flavor was although the portion was a bit small.

You can order western dishes like sea bream in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Sea bream

Next, was the bento. Look at how beautiful the presentation is. It featured grilled fish, mentaiko (pollock roe), egg, pickles, seaweed, rice, and miso soup. This bento was very tasty and offered a lot of different flavors.

You can order a bento box in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Bento Box

Lastly, for dessert, I ordered the tiramisu which was very rich and creamy and very delicious. Would recommend ending your meal with this!

You can order tiramisu in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Tiramisu

Drinks


There’s an ample selection of self serve drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. The interesting thing was that there was no bartender, which I didn’t expect.

However, I appreciated that the beer glasses were kept cold in a fridge lol.

There is a fridge with frosted drinking glasses in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Fridge with frosted drinking glasses

But the absolute coolest thing was the set of automatic beer pourers. I really enjoy Japanese beers since they pour it in a way where there’s foam on top and it was awesome to see that this machine could do that too automatically.

There are automatic beer pouring machines in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Automatic Beer Pouring Machines

Next to the beer machines is an assorted selection of liquor. You have your normal spirits along with some sake and other Japanese alcohol. There’s also a bucket full of ice and champagne.

There are lots of alcohol options in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Assorted Alcohol Selection

At the very end of the drink section is the automatic coffee machine. I ended up getting a cappuccino which was a great pick me up.

There is an automatic coffee machine in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Automatic Coffee Machine

There’s also another section of assorted alcohol further down the lounge next to the TV that displays departures and arrivals.

There are lots of alcohol options in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Additional Alcohol

Amenities


The First Class lounge features a few amenities like a locker room, phone booths, and a smoking room.

There is a room with lockers in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Lockers
There are phone booths in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Phone Booth

Red Suite


The most unique feature of this lounge is definitely the Red Suite. It’s a separate set of rooms at the end of the lounge that offers more privacy and quiet compared to the rest of the lounge. The aesthetics in this area were great. I appreciated the vintage look of this area and how it features sleek furniture and accessories like this globe.

There is a desk in the Red Suite at Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Red Suite Desk

I didn’t expect there to be a game room but there is an area with a foosball table and some chess tables. I felt that the foosball table was a little out of place because I couldn’t imagine playing a game and making so much noise when the rest of the Red Suite was so quiet.

There is a game room in the Red Suite at Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Game Room

This area also features a room for just drinks. There are champagne and sake glasses on one side of the room and right in the center is an ice bucket featuring some nice Sake and champagne.

There is a room of alcohol in the Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Alcohol Room

The Red Suite is a super cool area and worth checking out. If you prefer quieter areas, I would definitely recommend relaxing here. The only downside is that it is kind of out of the way from the rest of the lounge and is a decent walk away from the bathrooms.

There is lots of seating in the Red Suite
Red Suite Seating
There is plenty of seating in the Red Suite
Additional Red Suite Seating

Bathroom and Showers


This lounge also features a set of showers near the entrance. You must first reserve a time slot via the app and then go to reception to get the key to your shower.

Hallway leading to the showers at Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Shower Hallway

The inside of the shower room is beautiful. It’s decently large and features full floor to ceiling glass doors complete with a fixed shower head and a detachable one. In my opinion, the only downside of the showers was the lack of lotions and creams.

The shower room is great at Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Shower Room
Soaps and Shampoo at Japan Airlines First Class Lounge
Soaps and Shampoo

Conclusion


Overall, the Japan Airlines First Class lounge at Haneda airport is terrific. It offers a huge space with an interior design and ambiance that is uniquely Japanese. Experiencing that along with being able to enjoy unobstructed views of the runway directly from the lounge is truly a treat. The only real downside I saw was the awkward opening hours of the JAL Salon. But other than that, the fantastic dining options and the unique amenities like the Red Suite more than makeup for it.

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