Review of Japan Airlines flight from Manila to Tokyo in Business

Intro

This is a weird post and something I have never done before. As I am going back to Asia in four days, I thought it would be cool to take a trip back into the vault to recap my first-ever solo trip to Asia at the age of 16. Also, I haven't seen many reviews of this product for a while, so that's an added bonus for readers. This might have been the trip that set traveling up for me in the future and the one I look back on the most.

Coron-Manila

The week I spent in Southeast Asia consisted of some incredible times, including paragliding, scuba diving shipwrecks, surfing on the beach, and riding motorbikes around the island of Palawan. A story comes to mind, which is the strongest story in my mind in terms of traveling.

As I was driving my motorbike down the highway, I saw kids walking 4km+ home from school, yet they had the largest smiles on their faces. They were laughing, dancing, and having fun. I tell this story because I am blessed to have my own house, and sometimes, I need to remind myself how lucky I am when I complain about having to do something or a small flight delay.

Anyways, moving on. It was finally time to fly from Palawan to Manila, and for some reason, I could not remember the aircraft type I was on. Uh oh. Let me know what it was in the comments!

That was such a cool flight and one I will cherish forever. Hearing the engines roar on that small aircraft, just wow. The airport at San Vincente (I think) was so small that only this aircraft could operate out of it!

Even if I started traveling by myself at 6 as accompanied and 10 as unaccompanied, this was the largest trip I had been on at that age on my own.

We finally landed in Manila and were able to enjoy a night out in the real side of Manila. Indulging in the local food, heading to a nightclub, having people ask me for pictures 24/7😅, smoking hookah, and getting my first tattoo! 

Funnily enough, every time I got a tattoo, it was right before a flight. 

JAL 767 Business Class

This is where the fun really began, and I fell in love with flying at the pointy end of the plane. This was my first ever flight in Business Class by myself outside of British Airways!

Back then, I had accumulated close to a million BA miles on my account (I got dragged away on business trips a lot as a kid). If I recall correctly, the flight ended up costing about 20K miles, for the business class flight up to Manila. 

Woah, a business-class ticket! I love how they wrote a little "ok" on the boarding pass😂. At the time, I was an Avgeek; I played with planes and still sometimes do😅 on odd occasions, so I understood we were on a 767. However, I remember thinking how revolutionary the JAL 767 was in Business with their hard product (my brain was like, a yay, I don't have to flip down a footrest, and I have somewhere to put my legs, which isn't economy).

I was super lucky because no one was sitting next to me on the four-hour hop, and the seats on the 767 were quite exposed. It's perfectly acceptable for the four-hour flight, but I wouldn't want to do a redeye on it (looking at you, Mr Delta😘).

We got menus, slippers, pillows, blankets, and all of the good stuff. 

My recommendation is to go for a window seat in the even row numbers since they are a little bit more private. The IFE felt nice, and I managed to watch some good movies on JAL during my four flights with them. Don't ask me about wifi since I was still getting over-flying JAL, haha. 

This is sort of a flight review, so I'll touch on the details of the seat. The seat controls are basic and are located on the right-hand side of the table.

A cubby is located beneath the seat in front of you, which turns out to be perfect for storing headphones or my laptop. I had class the next day, so work was of the essence.  

The views out of departure with my Starbucks hot chocolate (I never had a coffee until I was 20) were remarkable. Something about flying the 767 is mesmerizing. JAL does a really neat job of making the menus aesthetically pleasing, with chefs' pictures located at the top of the page.

Woww steak! Medium in Business!??? JAL surely knows how to win me over. This was also the first time I had a proper medium steak on a plane (I know I sound like a spoilt brat, but it's a cool memory for me). I was fascinated by this to the point where I took a picture, and back then, I never took pictures of flying😅.

No, I did not indulge in adult beverages on the flight…

It was such a beautiful flight all around, and to top it off, we landed right during the start of the golden hour in Tokyo. 

Tokyo to Boston

Once landing in Narita, I had to navigate my way to the lounge in the airport. I was actually booked into premium economy for the leg over to Boston (at the time, I was at school near Boston), and JAL gives lounge access to those in premium economy! Combining that with the good service on the planes, JAL might be one of my favorite airlines. Writing this makes me want to book a flight with them again; let's see😉 if that F award space opens from BKK in 10 days.

As if I wasn't lucky enough, the premium economy cabin had about 10 people in total. JL8 is a really cool flight since it takes off at 6:25 pm and lands at 6:25 pm the same day!!

The cabin crew were lovely on the flight as always with JAL.

The JAL premium economy is top-notch and probably one of the best I have ever flown. The seats are comfortable, and the service could be rivaled by some airline's business classes.

Just like that, my first solo trip to Southeast Asia had come to an end.