Our eighteen night Luxury Japan Cruise begins with a 14-hour flight on Japan Airlines from DFW to Tokyo. Even before we board Japan Airlines, we decided to indulge in the luxury experience of having a Blacklane limousine pick us up at our home and drive us to DFW airport. Blacklane is an international limousine service and we have arranged for them to provide all of our ground transportation needs on this assignment.

We were picked up right on time in a beautiful, brand new GMC Yukon XL that was fully loaded and very luxurious.

Disclaimer: Blacklane is one of the sponsors of our Ultimate Luxury Japan trip. You can get more information on Blacklane by visiting their website at www.Blacklane.com.

After checking in for our flight with Japan Airlines and making our way through TSA Pre-check security, we had three hours before boarding our flight. Time to check out the new Chase Sapphire Lounge at DFW (near Gate 15 Terminal D).

The Chase Lounge is brand new and very luxurious. It is the nicest airport lounge we have ever visited. We usually visit the Admirals Club Lounge using my Citibank Executive Mastercard for entry. However, I recently acquired the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and it includes access to the Chase airport lounges.

I ordered the scrambled egg and bacon breakfast from the table service menu. It was very good, however, served lukewarm. There is also a massive buffet, but a couple of items I tried from the buffet were also cold or lukewarm.

In spite of the food temp issues, we will definitely return to the Chase Sapphire Lounge in the future. Because we are in Business Class on Japan Airlines (a One World partner), we have access to the AA Flagship Lounge at DFW. We have never visited the Flagship Lounge at DFW, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to compare it to the Chase lounge.

As soon as you enter the Flagship Lounge you get the vibes of the Admirals Club. In fact, it does not feel any more upscale than the Admirals Club. Other than a single wine server at the entrance to the lounge offering a glass of sparkling wine, there is no bar service. All of the spirits and wine are self-serve.

We wanted to compare the Flagship menu dining to Chase, but the dining room is not open until noon. Bummer.

*Flagship dining room does not open until noon*

The sparkling wine/Champagne served at Flagship Lounge is not nearly as good as what we were served in the Chase lounge. There is a large buffet of food items at the Flagship Lounge. While the selection of items is larger than what you find at the Admirals Club, I could not see any difference in the food quality.

The biggest advantage of the Flagship Lounge over Admirals Club, at least on our visit, was that is was practically empty with lots of available seating. Admirals Club at DFW tends to be very crowded. However, the furnishings are really showing their age and the Flagship Lounge is overdue for a refresh.

Our Japan Airlines A350-1000 boarding is delayed by about 45 minutes as they prepare the aircraft. However, once boarding begins, it is very straightforward and organized. First Class and Business Class get to board ahead of everyone else.

At first glance, the Business Class suite is roomy and very nicely appointed. The dark red seat with leather headrest is large, but very uncomfortable. We both found the seat to be very hard and in need of more cushioning. There is a sliding door on each suite for additional privacy.

There are small compartments everywhere for storing electronics, bottled water, headphones, etc. They do provide noise cancelling headphones, but they are not very high quality. The provided amenity kit includes the typical items: sleep mask, toothpaste, toothbrush, lip balm, lotion, etc. Slippers are also provided in the suite.

There is a small closet where you can hang a jacket, or your clothing should you change into the provided nightshirt sleepwear. There is also a nice cubby where you can store your shoes.

Each window suite has two windows with electronic shading controls. The seat headrest is adjustable and includes speakers, but honestly, the sound quality is not very good. Headphones are the best option.

The control panel for the seats and suite lighting is quite comprehensive.

There are plenty of power outlets and even a wireless phone charging station. However, if you have a MacBook power brick plugged into the AC outlet, the phone charger is not accessible. There are two USB ports, one standard and one USB-C. There is a remote control for the IFE, but I opted to use the touchscreen.

Meal service was prompt, but the food was lackluster. I had higher expectations for Japan Airlines food quality. My starter plate included several items of which I could only identify three. The scallop was the best item. The bread served was warm and quite good.

My main course was a beef filet and, while tender, it had a very strange artificial taste that is hard to describe. Imagine Liquid Smoke, but designed to make it taste like it had been char broiled. It was not good. I have had better steaks on Delta and American, and that is pretty sad.

The dessert course was good, but I am not much of a dessert eater. The cheeses offered were good, but the cellophane wrapped crackers look like something you would get in economy or PE.

There was a mattress pad and a duvet for the lie flat seat. There was plenty of room for my feet (I am 6’ 2” tall), but my elbows and shoulders were pressed up against hard parts of plastic that made sleep impossible for me. The mattress pad did make the hard seat a little more comfortable.

The IFE is a 24” flat touchscreen and is very responsive. However, the choice of entertainment I found to be very limited. The best feature is the built-in Bluetooth. No need for a dongle to connect your Bluetooth headphones to the IFE. It was seamless and very intuitive.

The included WiFi was clunky to set up, and once setup, VERY slow. Basically, unusable for trying to get any work done. At the time of this flight, JAL has not upgraded its fleet to Starlink, but apparently they have plans to do so.

The second meal service was about two hours before landing in Tokyo. I opted for the French Toast, which honestly, was pretty sad. The French Toast was on the left (below) and I have no idea what the item on the right swimming in a raspberry sauce was. The ramekin of yogurt was pretty good.

Overall, we were disappointed in the Business Class experience on JAL from DFW to Tokyo. The roundtrip cost for this flight was $18,000 (for two) and it was definitely not worth anywhere close to that in our opinion. On our way home from Japan, we will be on American Airlines in their Flagship Business Class, so we will see how these two products compare to each other.

Japan Airlines Business Class

Four Nights in Tokyo

Ultimate Luxury Japan Cruise - Coming Soon