The flight plan for this trip was JL1 and JL2. I booked J for the outbound, and F for the return leg. The award redemption cost 130k AS miles, and it also included the SEA-SFO legs! It was a pretty good bargain IMO!

The SEA-SFO legs were on old VX metal, only that they were painted in the current AS livery! WEIRD STUFF!

Business on the outside, party on the inside! I’ll miss the VX interiors…

I had about 4-hours to kill at SFO, and the JAL ticket counter hadn’t opened yet, so I sat around the AA lounge. They had three weeks worth of The Economist, which was nice. Also nice? this light fixture. I’ll need to find something similar for my place…

When I knew the JAL ticketing counter was opened, I made my way over the International Terminal. SFO is a bit clunky, as it took about a 15-minute walk to the Air Train station, and then the short trip to the terminal…

CATS AT THE AIRPORT!!! The International Terminal has a small museum and usually has a small exhibit by the ticketing counters. This time, it was for cat art!

Behold! JA731J!!! This was the first 777-300ER to join JAL’s fleet! It delivered in June 2004, and was the 429th 777 to leave Boeing’s Everett factory! This was actually originally registered as N5016R, and was the second 777-300ER flight test plane! This one traveled around the world for testing at airports!

^so cool!

When I boarded, I noticed the M1 galley had a screen!?! It blew my mind! What was it for? What could it do?! I had so many questions!

So the galley got me all riled up, and I was also pretty stoked for the seat, because this would be my first time flying on the short lived B/E Aerospace (now Rockwell) APEX suite. Only JAL, Korean Air, and Oman Air took these seats IFAIK.

The product and seating arrangement reminded me of British Airway’s Club World product, in that you get a ton of privacy. The main benefit is that the walls provide a pathway in and out of your seat, so you don’t have to climb over the legs of the passenger that you’re seat next to; in order to get to the aisle. Also, due to those walls, you lose some stowage space, but oh well.

The meal was delish. The main was simmered chicken sukiyaki, and grilled salmon with Japanese tartar sauce. JAL has pretty solid catering in general, I flew JAL previously from GMP to HND, and had a pretty solid lunch.

During the meal service, the sun set, and it was like an old Technicolor movie

Then it was time for dessert! Matcha + Yamazaki single malt + mocha cream cake 🙂

Okay, back to the smart galley thing. JAL retrofitted their aircraft a handful of years ago, and their IFE system is linked up to all the galleys. Passengers have the ability to place food and snack orders from their seat, via the remote!

From there, it gets sent to the appropriate galley. I spoke with the flight attendant, and they seem to like it. Before each flight, they’ll input the inventory of everything they’re carrying, so they can keep track of the qty of meals, snacks, drinks. Why this hasn’t made it into the newest airplanes from Boeing and Airbus? and has to be added in the modification market? I don’t know…

Anywho, after that, I watched a really good movie, and slept. When I woke up, it was just about time to land at HND!