- Introduction: A Quick Trip to Taipei
- EVA Air Business Class Review (Royal Laurel Class) LAX-TPE
- Grand Hyatt Taipei Review
- JAL Business Class Lounge TPE Review
- JAL Regional Business Class Review TPE-NRT
- JAL First Class Lounge NRT Review (Sakura Lounge)
- JAL First Class (Sky Suite) Review NRT-LAX
I was pretty excited to get on this plane after the terrible lounge I had just seen. There weren’t many people waiting at the boarding gate, and there were only 4 other passengers in Business Class on this 737-800. My entire route was TPE-NRT-LAX, with the first leg in Business Class and the second in First Class so my cost was 67.5K AA miles.
Boarding was very quick and I got my first glimpse at their regional Business Class cabin, which I thought looked great. The seating configuration isn’t anything special – it’s the same 2-2 configuration on domestic US flights. These seats looked pretty slick though with the black coloring.
Forgive the blur!
There was plenty of legroom and the whole cabin was cleaner than any US airline I can recall. The seats had proper, electronic seat controls and even a full IFE remote.
Menus were distributed shortly after takeoff. There wasn’t much of an option with the food items, but the fact that we still got menus shows how far behind US carriers lag (in the US you’d just get asked “Chicken or pasta?”).
Full size menus:
I went with the Western option, although I wasn’t particularly hungry. I got the Grilled Sea Perch with Lemon Cream Sauce, but before that got to enjoy some rice crackers with apple juice.
I wasn’t particularly hungry so I only picked at the food. I don’t think it would have been delicious even if I were hungry, but at least it was a full meal for those of you that would be interested in it.
After eating I pulled out the TV while I continued snacking on the rice crackers. The TV wasn’t huge, but it was still very nice to have. I think it makes sense to put TVs that are this size in the armrest as opposed to the seat in front of you where it would be harder to see.
The 3 hour and 15 minute flight ended quickly after the meal service. The two flight attendants working the cabin were very nice and were constantly asking me if I needed anything or wanted something more to drink. This was a little taste of the service I was to receive on my JAL First Class flight from NRT-LAX.