JAL Sakura Lounge — Local services in Narita

First time flying JAL simply because we didn’t have anymore Premier 1K at United after covid and 2 paternity leaves. Expected to have a long flight from Saigon to Austin transiting in Tokyo then San Francisco with 2 kids (3) and (1.5) years old for total 30+ hours transferring between Haneda and Narita. No nanny and all of us were recovering from a horrible flu just a day before and very little sleep didn’t help this review on the JAL Sakura lounge attendants Hongo and Honribe.

The trip was somewhat tolerable with nice flight attendants although the seats were reclining bed for the first 5.5 hours (sleeping time for the kids so it was a nightmare for me)

At the JAL Sakura lounge, we chose the most discreet area with a flat sofa that has a screen right in front of the bathroom and set up a station there for the kids since they were sleeping the whole transfer. Exhausted but the first attendant was nice when I asked for a blanket and pillow. (Note: always carry a blanket traveling. This time I forgot as living too long in a hot country. The kids’ best traveling blankets are those quilted from Restoration Hardware.)

Finally figured out how to make warm milk and went for a quick shower… I came back and my little one is waking up crying so I knew he needs some food. I went upstairs and saw around 40-50 people were eating in the dining area but downstairs were only us. So I ordered the food and asked the lady by the elevator if I can bring it down and clean up and bring them up after. Since bringing a screaming kid up would not be beneficial to anyone. She agreed.

I went downstairs with the food and 3 people ran to our sitting area to say things in Japanese that would be translated by a white male staff that it was rude to bring food downstairs. I explained as I already did upstairs and the Hongo female staff (who probably is too young and too inexperienced to understand how stressful to travel with 2 babies) and as a female CEO managing 220 people I begged to see if I could feed my kids to shut them up first then will clean up after. But no is no for them. So my husband and I said take the food away if you would like my kids to starve. They literally didn’t eat for the past 18 hours.

I managed to keep a sweet roll as they were already half way eating it. The kids finished the roll in 3-4 mins and still look hungry so I went upstairs asking for another sweet roll and refused the nice tray or the knife, so the nice lady at the kitchen gave me a roll with butter on a small plate. I went over and informed this Honribe female staff that I will take this sweet roll downstairs. She said no and want to take the small sweet roll back with my baby hanging on it. How petty! So I gave her the plate and butter and say “here you can have it but my kid will have the roll! Call your manager now! What’s your name?”

I was so upset to see how petty these pretty women with very nice blue eyelashes who does not understand a damn thing about flexibility in hospitality business. Not even mentioned seeing a woman begging for a small piece of bread for her kids to keep them calm at a discreet empty area. Rules are there but how intelligent a person can be when people paid ten of thousands of dollars just to be shamed for taking a small piece of dry bread for her kids out of the dining area just to keep them content.

Shame on you JAL for this experience and shame on you these two women who made Japanese experience ever a petty and horrible experience on services!

PS: my husband said this was bad food selection compared to ANA (not that I care when dealing with 2 small...

I have given this review after a lot of thought as Japan as a country, Narita airport and Japan Airlines are my favourites for their service from the very core and care for people /visitors.

That said, due to Covid restrictions Japan has perhaps taken a far more stringent stand relative to other countries and that is reflecting in very difficult conditions for travelers to and thru Japanese airports (incl Narita).

The low rating /poor feedback is only restricted to the First Class Sakura Lounge and airport facilities for layover passengers and NOT to the overall experience at the airport (which continues to be high quality). Three things that are HUGE issues for long layover passengers thru Narita (and I'll know Haneda in May when i return from the US) are:

1. Zero facilities for sleeping/sleeper chairs at the Sakura Lounge! We were flying our favourite airline JAL, in Business Class, and had an almost 12 hrs layover at Narita and had to spend the entire time in uncomfortable sofa chairs and dining table chairs in the lounge. Not a great experience for anyone!! I would have thought JAL would make arrangements for sleeparette chairs but they haven't. Therefore, IF you have a very long layover in Narita pls avoid traveling or else accept the uncomfortable time ahead of you (it was terrible for my wife and i and we are still feeling the pain even after 4 days!).

2. Extremely limited food menu, even in the First Class Sakura Lounge! I couldn't believe it that they did not even have sandwiches on offer or other snacks. The menu was limited to a few Japanese items and those too had to be ordered thru an app to be delivered at the (uncomfortable) sofa seats. I even tried going out of the lounge to buy addl food but found out that at the airside at Narita, only ONE small cafe is open (everything else is shut down - not sure why? when the entire world has opened up). That cafe too did not offer sandwiches or other snacks. So basically, we had to wait for 12 hrs to board our flight to SFO to get some decent food!!!

3. JAL /the govt has shut the Narita hotel and other lounges. Therefore the entire load has come upon Sakura First Class lounge leading to shortage of private /secluded places. Imagine, you're tired having taken a red eye from Delhi to Narita and then having to sit on a crowded lounge (which btw opened half an hour after we arrived!) for 12 hrs.

Overall, onr would even go to the extent of suggesting NOT traveling thru Narita, with long layover, as senior citizens and small children won't be able to handle the terribly inadequate facilities.

Finally, I do want to reiterate that JALs inflight service and facilities continues to be top class. Nothing...

The Sakura lounge is separated into two floors. The first floor has lots of chairs for relaxing and chilling out. They had lounge chair, bar stool, and few different type of chairs, to meet preference of all types of passengers. The interesting part was that they (staff) don't really want you to walk around there with your luggage. They are all super professional and extremely helpful, they came to us and helped us to put our luggage in the locker close to the entrance. The lockers are pretty large, enough to put your carry-on luggage in there with no issue. You will be given a key to your locker, and you can take it out any time you need. It really was much better to relax in the lounge without carrying the luggage and bags!

The second floor of the lounge is a dining area. We went up the grand staircase, which was really beautiful, towards where all the yummy scent was coming from.

The food is served buffet style, you can take as much food as you like, of your preference. The most popular item is their JAL Original Beef Curry. The lounge offers more than just good food, but also, drinks! For beer drinkers out there, they have The Premium Malts Santory Beer dispenser. pretty cool. They have chilled beer glasses inside the refrigerator nearby, and they have excellent collection of wine and liqueur as well.

The staff were all very polite, friendly, and helpful. The lounge was clean from top to bottom. The unlimited food and drinks were delicious and comforting. Can't wait to go back to the lounge, and maybe we will get some good massage time also! Read my full review the lounge and food on my food blog,...