Review of Japan Airlines flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo in Premium Eco

For my final trip report of 2025, I think there are few more delightfully quirky ways to end the year than this. An airline that often flies under the global radar outside premium routes, but rewards you with hospitality, high-tech cabins and a bunch of cute memories — Disney and otherwise. And with a new, Westernised brand campaign, JAL is stepping up to the big boys…

Introduction: How JAL flipped the script with the A350

I’ve had a sort of love-hate relationship with Japan Airlines (JAL), unsure of how great it actually was before the pandemic. Great food, meh livery. Outstanding service, poor entertainment. Many travellers and bloggers said that it was on par with Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific as one of East Asia’s top luxury airlines — certainly with respect to the food and amenities. Others disagreed, citing the outdated seats and lack of good entertainment. Still others pointed out the rapid strides that its top rival, All Nippon Airways (ANA), had made with its incredible ‘THE Suite’ First Class and ‘THE Room’ Business Class products in 2019, leaving JAL and its conservative ways behind.

Then there’s the sobering fact that JAL is far from the most polished airline in the world with respect to its global outlook and brand image. Before 2011, it was fairly competent with its lovely Hinomaru (Arc of the Sun) livery, but then it introduced a very, very plain version of its historic Tsurumaru (crane) livery — and suddenly it was no longer as globalised as before. Just compare Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific’s oh-so-sophisticated advertising to JAL’s rather domestic-focused marketing, with poor English skills and mediocre if not horrible fonts.* (See spoiler below.) Indeed, most Oneworld airlines have a reasonably competent sense of branding and identity, with CX among the best on the planet (as well as others like Finnair, Qantas and Malaysia Airlines)… but JAL was the exception by far. Given the alliance’s lack of Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese airlines with even worse brand identities, JAL stood out like a sore thumb, and still does to a large extent.

And then came the A350s. With the -900s for domestic service entering the fleet in 2019, and the longhaul -1000 with spectacular new First and Business Class cabins in 2024, JAL quietly won global acclaim and shot up the ranks as one of THE finest airlines out there. Global heavyweights like Emirates, Air France and Qatar Airways — not to mention East Asian rivals like CX and SQ — all took notice of JAL’s rapid ascent. Blogs like One Mile at a Time overflowed with compliments for JAL, especially where the -1000 was concerned — narrowly beating out even Cathay’s ‘eCXeptional’ new Aria Suite.

Even the domestic -900s won praise for their comfortable, high-tech cabins. For a historically all-Boeing airline, to operate A350s in such numbers is nothing short of an achievement. With such cut-throat competition in East Asia — the TW3 (EVA Air, Starlux, China Airlines), Cathay, SQ, a rebranded Korean Air and domestic rival ANA all breathing hard down its neck — what JAL has done with such little fanfare (unlike, cough, *Lufthansa Allegris*, cough) is simply outstanding.

It was only natural, then, that during my Japan trip in May 2025 I had to include a leg on this dark horse of East Asian aviation, particularly on the domestic A350-900. Specifically, I wanted to fly in Class J, the airline’s domestic semi-premium product similar to Premium Economy — but with no catering other than drinks. Having already flown ANA’s surprisingly good, refurbished 777-200ER from Tokyo–Haneda to Fukuoka for a single night, it was only proper that I make my return the next morning on JAL’s A350 — hours before leaving Japan altogether on the ANA 787-9.

And when you have a tail camera, free Wi-Fi and JAL’s signature Sky Time juice on offer for the short 90ish-minute sector, what’s not to love?! As much as Asiana’s A350 and A380 (upper deck) formed an especially avgeeky start to the trip, JAL did a lot to steal some thunder of its own — not only in the air but also on the ground at HND. (I didn’t see any of the new Liverpool ads, though, or any other dotted ones.) Between one flight and the next, I had a merry time at the JAL Plaza store at HND’s arrival exit doors, an avgeek paradise with model planes, memorabilia, knick-knacks, food products and so much more.

JAL had one flight to make an impact on me, and believe me — it more than succeeded in knocking it out of the park with its hospitality. (It even gave an on-board Tokyo DisneySea postcard, which I didn’t quite expect… though that’s more a Japanese cultural thing than a JAL thing!)

Pre-departure: A myriad of enrapturing ads!

Tuesday, 13 May, morning. A bright and sunny spring morning awaited me, as I prepared to check out of my inn in Fukuoka after a one-night stay. Not far away, JA06XJ was preparing to land as JL307 — and this would be the A350 taking me back to Tokyo as JL310, a little over an hour later.

The JL307/310 pair wasn’t always operated by the A350 — see the odd 767-300ER or international 777-300ER below — but I’d taken a good gamble on the A350, and come up trumps for it.

But what I certainly didn’t expect was that my landing A350 would be visible directly from the hotel!!! Mine was a funny hotel, with its reception on the topmost floor, along with a small library of sorts. A group of young girls was seated there, and before long the sleek silhouette of the A350 was visible from afar, with the kids crying excitedly. Too bad the plane moved by so quickly for me to take a picture!

It goes to show just how close to the city FUK airport is — even closer than Haneda is to Tokyo, in fact — which puts almost everywhere in Fukuoka within a stone’s throw of the airport.

This is in great contrast to the Japanese propensity for building big airports absolutely nowhere near the city. Think of Tokyo’s Narita Airport and Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, which are some 50–60 km away from the city centre. Or for that matter Osaka’s Kansai Airport and Nagoya’s Chubu Centrair Airport, which are built on artificial islands some 35–40 km away from the city.

All of this meant that I could safely and cheaply hire an Uber wherever I went in Fukuoka. That’s more than can be said for most other big Japanese cities with their exorbitant taxi rates. It felt reassuringly good to hop into a good ol’ taxi on the way to the airport…

…especially when it was a white-and-orange Toyota JPN Taxi, with a squarish exterior but a modern, cutting-edge interior. Before that, I had a look at some other unique Japanese domestic-market cars, kei and otherwise, including a rare Toyota Passo and two Mitsubishis — the i and the Delica D:2.

But the most intriguing thing of all was all the ads being played in the in-seat payment-cum-entertainment monitor. They showed me a side of Japan that I might not have noticed otherwise. For instance, look at this ad (first two galleries below) for Chance School, which (after Googling) I found out is a variety show on the ABEMA streaming service in which young, aspiring girls explore opportunities, earn money and take on challenges…

And all this while I thought it was a training school for getting girls into K-pop bands — and there are lots of Japanese girls in K-pop groups, too!

Or how about this ad for Seven x Seven, a stylish, young hotel chain located in Itoshima, west of Fukuoka, and Ishigaki, an island close to Taiwan. Who would’ve thought that Japan also had fun beach-resort hotels, eh? Hotels across Tokyo, Kyoto and Sapporo have conditioned the global public that they are always prim, proper, polite and professional — they can’t be Ibiza or Bali…

Anyway, I was at the airport before too long, with a Jaguar/Land Rover showroom not very far from the entrance — and a bunch of Peach (by ANA) and Jetstar Japan (by JAL) A320s visible from afar. Before I knew it, I’d taken my last taxi ride in Japan, though there was still a bus ride left (once I got back to HND) to reach NRT.

Fukuoka Airport: Form, function and friendliness

I don’t see that many airports where the departures and arrivals are located on the same level, but FUK was one such. As a young woman sporting pink dyed hair, a jacket and jeans dragged her two little boys and luggage along, I made my way to the JAL check-in kiosk and smoothly completed the process. In minutes, the kiosk spit out a boarding pass — Japanese domestic ones don’t follow the familiar international shape of a two-part rounded rectangle — and my luggage breezed through.

I could have hung around the ground floor’s eateries for a bit longer, but I had to go one level up to the gates. Not before I checked out the domestic lounges (from the outside), though — one each for ANA and JAL.

On going up a level, a plethora of restaurants and retail stores sprawled across the place, and I had to do my best to restrain myself from splurging on them left and right!

One floor above, I decided to have a quick trip to a staple of most Japanese domestic airports: the outdoor observation deck with its princely views of the traffic. Too bad there wouldn’t be any time to visit the observation decks at either airport in Tokyo!

Then there were the eateries, including a local frozen-dessert chain called Campbell Early (named after the grape variety) and Tully’s Coffee, which survives in Japan long after it disappeared from the US.

From Campbell Early,  I decided to order a strawberry ice-cream sundae, tempted by their takeaway promo campaign. Not the best idea! As boarding would soon commence, it left me with precious little time to wolf down whatever I could of the frozen dessert — and prevent the rest from melting and spilling all over…

But I still had to buy something special as a proof of my time in Fukuoka, so went to the city-based confectioner Tirolian and bought a bunch of fruit-flavoured wafers. This only added to my expanding waistline sweets collection, which I’d distribute among my office colleagues in Singapore the next day — the sweet-loving (mostly Indian) people that they are.

With boarding almost ending, I had to give the JAL Plaza store a wide berth…

…and then dashed all the way to Gate 10, where, much to my relief, there was still a healthy crowd lining up for JL310. This gave me time to take a few more shots of my bird, JA06XJ, in the light of day. Here JAL’s plain (plane)-Jane livery takes a backseat, as the eye’s focus helpfully shifts to the sleek curves of the A350 itself.

This contrasts to my first-ever flight on the A350 — Thai Airways in June 2022 — where I was torn between admiring the gorgeous violet livery (my favourite!) and swooning over the sexy nose and winglets of the plane. Still, I would be torn some more on board today: should I look at the scenery outside, or take in the awe-inspiring tail camera? Decisions, decisions!

I was still busy scraping off the sundae as best I could, and worrying about making it past the gate with moments to go before it closed. However, the Japanese are an incredibly generous and polite people, and the gate agents graciously held it open so I could make it on board. More hospitality was to come once I stepped on the bird!

I’ve been in that situation many times before: dashing to the gate with barely minutes to go, and ‘Final Call’ emblazoned in large letters. (The most extreme example — by a long shot — was in November 2025 on Batik Air Malaysia. Had I not desperately cut through the INSANE immigration line, pleading for help, I would never have made it back home to Bengaluru that night.)

But Japan is one country where you don’t need to worry about it — not if you explain your situation well. Once more, I found myself on a GMO Click Securities-branded jetbridge with pictures of attractive young women in various angles. Once again, I stepped onto a new airline’s A350 for the second time that week alone. No sooner did I get past the Oneworld logo at the entrance, completely obscured by the jetbridge…

…than a masked, smiling flight attendant immediately sensed my avgeek enthusiasm and offered to take a picture of me and herself by the JAL crane logo! Never would I have imagined that an entirely new, unknown-to-me airline would treat me like a regular guest — if not perhaps a Oneworld Emerald — and snap a picture of me right from the moment I stepped on board.

This kind of warm feeling I’ve witnessed before on alliance partner SriLankan, on several occasions — including the A321neo in Business Class from Jakarta, some weeks after this flight. But there’s still a difference between the doing-a-lot-with-a-little humility of the fleet-strapped South Asian airline, and the finesse and élan of the flag carrier of one of the world’s most advanced countries, with one of the world’s finest First Class products.

And more of this heartfelt Japanese hospitality was yet to come… How could I not feel excited?!

The flight: Boarding and departure

Flight: Japan Airlines JL310/JAL310
Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Route: Fukuoka (RJFF/FUK) to Tokyo–Haneda (RJTT/HND)
Aircraft: JA06XJ, Airbus A350-900 (domestic)
Age: 5 years 2 months at the time (built: 11 March 2020, delivered: 20 April 2020)
Seat: 11K (starboard side, window); Class J (domestic Premium Economy)
Boarding: 10:50am Japan Standard Time (JST), UTC +9
Departure: 11:10am JST
Arrival: 12:40pm JST
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Notes:
• First flight on JAL, making it my fifth Oneworld airline flown, after Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, SriLankan Airlines — which I’ve flown several times — and a unique fifth-freedom flight on Qatar Airways towards the end of 2024.
This was also the first time where my first flight on an airline was in a cabin class higher than Economy!

• Second flight on an A350 in Premium Economy or an equivalent class, having already flown Air India’s A350 in Premium Economy in February 2024. Also, my first-ever Business Class flight also came on an A350: in February 2025 on Singapore Airlines’ A350 (SIN–BLR), which I haven’t yet posted about here.
• Sixth airline on which I’ve flown the A350-900, after the Star Alliance trifecta of SQ, TG and AI, in addition to Cathay Pacific and (earlier that week) Asiana Airlines. Also, I flew the A350-1000 for the first time on Etihad Airways in September 2025, extending the A350’s lead as my most frequent widebody flown by a fair margin.

Blacks, reds and greys: Understated sleekness and elegance

In keeping with JAL’s red-and-black colour scheme, the cabin was all sorts of light and dark greys and reds, permeated only by the light filtering through. The red started with (as above) the wall at the entrance with the golden crane logo, then made its way to the burgundy seat covers, and ended up in the IFE screens. All around it was complemented by grey: the ashen grey of the seat body, the rear bulkhead walls, the overhead bins…

As a reminder, I was flying in Class J, the airline’s domestic equivalent of Premium Economy — but with Economy service (no food!) — as OMAAT also flew to Sapporo in 2025. And there were 94 of these seats, in quite the premium-heavy layout, even for a famously dense Japanese domestic aircraft. (There’s also a version of the JAL A350-900 with 56 Class J seats instead of 94.) Only the twelve First Class seats up front have a meal service — a very fine one at that — and lounge access, all for a reasonable, non-exorbitant premium.

The Panasonic eX3 IFE UI was very similar to Air India, and also the erstwhile Vistara, which merged into it. I did what I always do when on an A350: switch on the tail camera — if it fortunately exists. Too bad the Asiana A350 some days back didn’t have one, and moreover that was in the dead of night (negating its usefulness if it did exist), so it was especially nice that I could now enjoy it on a daytime sector.

I was pleasantly surprised to find JAL’s physical inflight magazine, Skyward, in the seat pocket. Most of it was Japanese, of course — read in print from right to left — but the ‘back’ (what we call the front) had a few articles in English and Chinese, though only 15 pages. While it goes without saying that it wasn’t too Westernised, I still enjoyed leafing through the pages, and especially the fleet page or ‘Airplane Collection’! (Full resolution here.)

Far too many airlines, like Asiana, have retired their inflight magazines after the pandemic — not even keeping a digital PDF version (SQ’s SilverKris website does not count) — so this was welcome indeed. Indeed, as I’d find out later that month, even Thai Airways brought back its physical Sawasdee glossy.

ANA, meanwhile, has a digital-only Tsubasa Global Wings magazine, as I’d seen on the previous day’s flight into Fukuoka. While that was certainly appreciated, you can’t beat the physical feel of JAL’s Skyward, plus this one was (I felt) a bit more professionally designed than that of its Star Alliance competitor. Still, both of these pale in contrast to magazines of other Oneworld airlines, — like the eponymous Cathay and Qantas, plus Going Places (Malaysia Airlines) — which reflects their far more professional, Westernised outlook with excellent branding and typography.

Outside the window, I was treated to some magnificent daytime views of all the traffic, something I couldn’t do in rainy Incheon three days ago, when departing on the upper deck of Asiana’s A380.

Speaking of Incheon, there were the Korean low-cost carriers — both the independent ones (T’way Air, Jeju Air) and those owned by Korean Air (Jin Air) or Asiana Airlines (Air Busan). Then there were the two Korean rivals-turned-partners themselves: an Asiana A330-300 and, more importantly, a Korean Air A350 (HL8598) — one of only two that it had at the time! That pales in contrast to Asiana’s existing fleet of 15 A350-900s, one of which kickstarted this whole Japan trip.

Korean Air took delivery of two A350s, HL8597 and HL8598, in late 2024. Regulars at Fukuoka, these have much smaller Korean Air titles than the regular old livery. A third A350, HL8746 — the first in Korean Air’s new livery — is scheduled for delivery in early 2026.

Besides Asiana, China Airlines from Taipei had also sent an A330-300. Its subsidiary Tigerair Taiwan was present too, with an A320.

But perhaps no A320 was more striking than that of Starflyer: a spaceship-like black bird with a black tail on the left and a white tail on the right side. This is a hybrid regional operator, with ANA as a stakeholder, based out of Kyushu — namely Fukuoka and neighbouring Kitakyushu (KKJ) — and flying to the ‘mainland’ (Honshu) on selected routes: Tokyo–Haneda, Nagoya, Osaka–Kansai and Sendai.

As I informed my family of the lead cabin crew’s generosity in taking my picture, I had a quick view of the action on the tarmac. Both A350s — mine and the Korean one — were about to leave simultaneously. Most of the others were narrowbodies, barring some A330s and also an ANA domestic 787-9. (China Airlines and Korean Air had both a 737 and a widebody (A330 or A350) on the ground at the same time.)

As for Singapore Airlines’ SQ655 on the 787-10 — now the longest route from FUK, there being no more Honolulu — it had long since left, at a quarter to ten.

The video that saved countless lives: JAL’s no-nonsense, no-Disney safety approach

No discussion of JAL is complete without mentioning the miracle of Flight 516, and the video that saved hundreds of lives. On 2 January 2024, JA13XJ, a similar A350 as this (but with 56 Class J seats instead of 94), collided with a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8-300 at Tokyo–Haneda and burst into flames. Astonishingly, not one human on the A350 lost their life — though sadly a dog and a cat perished, and so did five people on the Coast Guard plane.

At a time when we are surrounded by mega-disasters like the Jeju Air crash at the end of 2024 (two survivors, 179 dead), or Air India 171 in June 2025 (one survivor, 260 fatalities including some on the ground), it was absolutely miraculous that every single person on JL516 managed to rescue themselves from the smouldering wreck of the A350. And JAL’s no-nonsense, no-entertainment safety video definitely played a huge part, particularly with its repeated emphasis on LEAVING EVERYTHING ON BOARD when an evacuation must occur.

Much as I loved ANA’s lovely Pokémon safety video the previous day, there’s something to be said for JAL’s clear-cut approach that clearly highlights the consequences of not following the rules. It could well have Disneyfied everything, given its longstanding Disney partnership, but didn’t. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean that it has to be dry and boring like Asiana’s music-less, green-screened video that I’d seen days before. It’s something that Emirates has perfectly understood with its latest safety video, where delivering crisp, clear, to-the-point instructions without any theatrics or celebrities doesn’t have to lose the interest of passengers.

With this done, I revelled in all the widebody views: here a JAL 767-300ER that had just landed from HND, there a Thai Airways A330-300 that joined the ones from Asiana and China Airlines. And then a bunch of 737s from both ICN and Busan (PUS): Korean Air (an ancient 737-900ER), its subsidiary Jin Air and the independent Jeju Air (old livery) and T’Way Air.

Jeju Air, which was badly battered by the aforementioned crash at the end of 2024, has persisted with an all-737 fleet — much like another Korean LCC, Eastar Jet.

But their rival T’Way Air has expanded with leased A330s from Korean Air and 777-300ERs from Cathay Pacific, launching a number of European routes to provide competition to KE. To this end, it will rebrand to Trinity Airways in 2026, following a change in ownership.

As an ANA 777-200ER (like mine yesterday) landed, the sky-blue Korean Air A350 prepared to thunder off into the equally blue sky. Within seconds, it was gone.

And then it was my A350’s turn, with the Tigerair Taiwan A320 hot on our tail like the said big cat in search of its prey. Another A320 — a purply-pink one from ANA’s low-cost unit Peach — touched down in the distance.

Now was the time to finally turn on the majestic tail and nose cameras, and watch the show unfold. As the Trent XWB engines spooled up to top speed, I constantly switched between the window with a clear, lovely day outside, and the tail camera with its panorama of the elegant bird that was now to take me up and away.

Away into the skies, away from Fukuoka, away from Kyushu, away from worldly care and worry, and into the picturesque beyond, as the wings soared — as JAL’s magazine name might suggest — skyward.

Drinks, news, links, views

Shortly after departure, much like on ANA, another video was screened warning passengers about turbulence. Unlike ANA, though, the Japanese instructions were provided separately from the other languages: English, two kinds of Chinese, Korean and — surprisingly — Thai! (ANA had Spanish instead.)

I will say, though, that the people’s illustrations here were much cuter than on the ANA flights before and after this — especially the mother and children — though you really had to squint to see the faces! (Full resolution here — you’ll need it to see the faces in detail.) However, ANA walked away with the cuteness prize in other departments.

Presently I started the familiar Panasonic Voyager3D map interface. I generally see this mostly on Boeing aircraft, but even then this was not the first time I saw this on an A350. Three years before, I’d seen it on Singapore Airlines’ 9V-SMF, the 10,000th Airbus ever built, and most recently Asiana’s A350 had it as well.

But then I was more entranced by a novel feature: news headlines! I was pretty surprised to see this feature on an airline other than Emirates. I clearly recollect SriLankan’s A330-300 showing outdated headlines (by over a year!) when I flew it in November 2023, so to have up-to-date news was a pleasant surprise.

Now the cabin crew started to serve the drinks — there being no other meal service. Having long heard about JAL’s signature Sky Time juice — a peach-and-grape concoction — from OMAAT reviews, of COURSE I had to have that!!! In fact, I even ended up buying a carton of it from the JAL Sky Plaza shop at the exit of HND, which has a bunch of other cool avgeeky stuff.

I wish there had been some more interactions with the cabin crew, but given that they spoke little English — and all announcements were in Japanese anyway — this would have to suffice. Even so, the drinks were handed out very quickly after departure, though there were no toffees or chocolates like on ANA the previous day.

Next I connected to the free, unlimited Wi-Fi, which ANA and JAL provide on all of their domestic flights. JAL, it turns out, is one of those airlines which shows a mini-portal of sorts that shows the weather, flight elapsed time and other nifty things.

And what did I do once I was online? Well, no prizes for guessing — tracking my flight on Flightradar24! Among the more interesting planes in the vicinity was HS-THQ, a Thai Airways A350 in Star Alliance livery, with HS-THU being a similar one. Moreover, some United 737s were flying between Guam and Japan — those are some very versatile aircraft!

The next half-hour passed by in listening to songs that I’d picked up with Shazam on my phone. (As Shazam is owned by Apple, iPhones have an in-built Music Recognition app — even if Shazam isn’t installed.) I had little else to do, aside from enjoying the spectacular views on the tail camera and outside the plane window.

Some were familiar favourites like Roar, Say So, Stay (Alessia Cara) and We Don’t Talk Anymore. Others were new finds, like Die With A Smile — one of 2024’s biggest hits, along with APT. (also by Bruno Mars) — and Sabrina Carpenter’s Feather and Taste.

Though none of these were a patch on the peak of June 2023, when I visited Denpasar for the first time, on KLM’s SkyTeam-liveried 777-300ER… I cannot help but repeat those lyrics below; they capture such a mood of wanderlust:

Over the hills and far away / A million miles from LA / Just anywhere away with you
— Rita Ora, Anywhere (2017)

Soon enough we were nearing Haneda, with a few minutes to go for landing — just as an Air India 787-8 took off from there, embarking on a 10-hour haul all the way to Delhi. (It was only in April 2025 that the airline moved its Tokyo flights from NRT to HND, and strengthened its codeshares with ANA, its Star Alliance partner.)

If breathtaking had a place, it would look like Haneda’s runway

JAL A350s are lucky to have such a picturesque homebase to return to: the seaside, close-to-the-city Haneda Airport runway hugging the coastline. Not unlike the ships surrounding the sea near Singapore Changi Airport — my home base for nearly a decade until 2025 — amazing views are guaranteed.

Doubly so when you have the luxury of an onboard tail camera — the ultimate planespotter’s luxury!

As the megalopolis of Tokyo approached, accompanied by the endless expanses of green and blue water…

…I happened to snap an Air France 777-300ER climbing on its way out. In seconds, we were all about to land at HND’s seaside runway built on reclaimed land — as with several other Japanese airport like KIX — as a bunch of other domestic aircraft, including a black Starflyer A320 and a lime-green Solaseed Air 737, prepared to depart.

Eventually, JA06XJ made a landing as smooth as the blend of red into white on its curved winglet, a landing worthy of the high-definition camera views that this most elegant of modern jets offered. Flying an A350 with a tail camera never, ever gets old for me — certainly not in daylight, or when landing at an airport as blessed with its location as HND!

Moving past the hangars of ANA, JAL and some others, I also spotted a Singapore Airlines 777-300ER (9V-SWJ) in its distinctive white-tailed Star Alliance livery. For years, only SQ had such a livery, until Croatia Airlines also introduced a white Star livery on an A320 registered 9A-CTO.

The above pictures are all from JAL-land, namely HND Terminal 1, where we would park as well. But there were also a few European planes on the ground as well, as a sign of just how far HND has come as the city and country’s premium international airport. An ITA Airways A350 (EI-IFB) with its glossy metallic blue livery stood out the most, with a British Airways 787-9 beside it.

After leaving SkyTeam in February 2025, ITA Airways has been without an alliance for nearly a year — though in the meantime it’s been acquired by Lufthansa Group, and will join the Star Alliance some time in 2026. That’s in contrast to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), a Star Alliance founding member that left one day in 2024, and joined SkyTeam the very next day.

Not to be outdone in its blueness by its ex-SkyTeam partner, a Korean Air 787-9 prepared to take off, with an ANA 767-300ER adding further blue to the scene. The sky was blue, many planes were blue — but my mood most definitely was not!

The planes on the ground were overwhelmingly domestic JA-registered ones, with ANA accounting for far more of them than JAL. Besides ITA, British Airways, Korean Air and SQ as above, a few more widebodies came from Mandarin-speaking Star Alliance partners Air China (with an A330-300) and EVA Air, across the strait, with a 787-10.

On my part, I was busy admiring the outstanding flex of the A350’s wing, both from the window and on the personal TV. After taxiing for a bit, JA06XJ came to a halt next to an Embraer 195 of regional subsidiary J-Air.

After the A350 was done with all the swivelling and the turning, a tourism-of-sorts disembarkation video was screened. It was very mystical in nature, with monks, artists, geishas and tourists alike all creating a visual spectacle, and showing to the world the ancient wonders of this modern country.

Personally I found it to be visually appealing, but it didn’t have an emotional connect — not like ANA’s lovely little Pikachu deboarding video!

And if you must do things the touristy way, I think you can’t beat what Oneworld partner SriLankan did with its tourism-cum-branding video, featuring actor Jacqueline Fernandez and veteran cricketer Kumar Sangakkara… Two of the most recognisable people — at least for Indians like me — that the little isle has produced.

And here comes the Disney surprise!

I strode out through the First Class cabin up front, waiting for the final trick that JAL would produce from its sleeve. I knew all too well that Japanese airlines go above and beyond with giving avgeeks little gifts — and indeed ANA had done so the very previous day, handing me picture postcards and an origami (paper-folding) plane.

In fact, OMAAT’s Ben Schlappig found this out for himself on a similar A350 flight to Sapporo (also in Class J) barely two months before. He was presented with an A350-1000 postcard upon boarding, and little keychains shaped like Hokkaido Air Commuter’s ATR 42s at the exit! Anticipating such a possibility, I asked Sasae, the young woman at the front door, if there was anything as a parting present. ‘I’ll check and let you know, sir.’

Lo and behold! In her hand was produced a postcard for… wait for it…

…a 767-300ER in Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs special livery! What’s more, I’d seen this EXACT plane climbing out of HND the previous afternoon. What a coincidence!

If the A350 thus far was devoid of anything Disney, this souvenir ensured that I would have something special to remember it by, long after stepping off the plane. I thanked Sasae for her generous gesture and frolicked away.

Again I stepped into the jetbridge, with the pretty girls of GMO Click Securities staring back at me. This time, there was a sharp-nosed A350 to turn back towards, and not a stubby (but nice, for once!) 777-200ER as there had been the previous evening.

Surprisingly, HND T1 — like Changi and KLIA, and unlike most other airports I’ve seen — has common departure and arrival corridors, which meant that I’d again be turning past hundreds of passengers and dozens of gates…

…not to mention innumerable JAL Plaza stores, like this one with its preponderance of children’s toys and goodies.

Or this one with sweets, snacks and little toy planes — and once again I couldn’t resist whipping out the virtual Suica card on my iPhone, and plonking down a couple of thousand more yen on some more delights.

Wherever you go, Mickey Mouse is bound to follow. Or so this ‘Disney Dream Travel’ box of caramel waffle cookies would have you believe…

All the airside shopping done, it was finally time to walk all the way and head to the exit door, to pick up my luggage from there. But I forgot to pick up my luggage!

Wait, what’s that you hear? Forgot?! Never to worry — JAL’s efficient, friendly lost-and-found staff ensured that I got to it in no time. And if you don’t open the Travelling Bonus below, you’re going to be missing out on a lot of avgeek-bonus goodies in the landside JAL Plaza shop — including the peach-and-grape Sky Time juice — that you won’t find anywhere else!