You know I like to talk about new seats here on the blog, and this time I know some of you will be happy to hear that it’s coming from the Pacific Rim. (Yes, I know I should blog about the other side of the Pacific far more than I do.) So who is it now? Japan Air Lines has announced new First and Business class seats, and at least the First class seats look pretty good.
These new seats will be rolled out on the new 777-300ER aircraft, the first of which flies Tokyo to New York on August 1. As no US carrier seems to be able to do (quick, where are UA’s new Business seats?), JAL has given a precise schedule for when and where you can find the seats. They will “start operating every other day on the Tokyo-New York route (JL005/ 006) on August 1, 2008, going daily on August 11. This will be followed by the Tokyo-San Francisco route on September 13, 2008, and the Tokyo – Chicago and Los Angeles routes in FY2009, the year starting April 1, 2009.”
Ok, enough of that. Let’s talk about the seats. 
The JAL Suite is the new First class offering, and it looks to be a big step up for the airline. There will be only 2 rows of four in the front of each plane for a total of eight seats. The seats themselves are, of course, completely flat. Anything else wouldn’t be First class anymore. It is an almost completely enclosed suite with just one open area to enter and exit. If you’re sitting next to someone, there’s a privacy screen that you can bring down (as shown at left) if you’d like.
JAL has decided to go with a separate mattress for sleeping. There will be separate Tempur-pedic mattresses that go on top of each seat when flat. The whole Tempur-pedic thing is interesting. There are plenty of people who don’t like the feel of those strangely spongy-yet-firm mattresses, so I hope the seats are comfortable enough without the mattress for those who don’t like it.
What else? Well, meals will now come on-demand instead of at a set time. That’s good. What’s bad? Uh, the seats are white, sorry, “pale gray.” Those are going to show the dirt, I’m sure.
Now, let’s look at the Business seat. 
It appears to be more of a marketing campaign than anything else because the seats aren’t much different. First of all, no seat is truly “new” without a super cool name. JAL has chosen “JAL Shell Flat Neo Seat.” Sounds, uh, cool? Ok, maybe not.
It is apparently very similar to the old business class seat but these recline a little more (still a near-flat 171 degrees). But at least there is now a “slip-proof cover” so you won’t slide down too far. That’s probably the best thing the airline has done here.
Then, in an admirable attempt to marry style and pure commercialism, they will dedicate the wall of one of the galleys to a photo exhibition. I’m sure you’ll be SHOCKED to hear that it’s being sponsored by Fuji Film. Well, it’s better than pasting an ad on the tray table, I suppose.
This will also be the first plane to debut JAL’s Premium Economy class which appears to be similar to a British Airways-type offering versus a United-style one, unsurprisingly.
So, First is a big step for the airline and so is Premium Economy, but Business appears to be fairly similar to what was there before.
6 comments on “Japan Air Lines Rolls Out New First and Business Class Seats”
Didn’t they unveil a new biz ‘shell’ seat a few years ago? I thought that’s why I was able to get a great price for NRT-SFO at that time (only $700) as they wanted to get exposure.
And yes, you’d slip-slide on down the seat. But it didn’t matter as being able to lay on your side and view the night sky while 5 miles up over the Pacific just blew away any short-comings…and the flow of hot sake didn’t hurt the cause either.
And serious UA, where the hell are your new seats? I fly China Airlines ahead of UA because while it’s the same old style biz seat, the service is far an above what UA has to offer.
Yep, looks like the last seat came in 2002.
So then a 6 year cycling of the product seems pretty good to me. I wonder how that compares to the rest of the industry?
Jeff K – I don’t have the info on me, but I’d imagine that someone like Singapore is shorter than that whereas most US carriers are far longer.
By the pic are you sure JAL didn’t name the seat “Made of Scotch Tape”…..lol
The mattress thing is GENIUS let me tell you! I am in long-haul J or F nearly every two weeks and the seat comfort is something nobody has figured out (or even bothered to pay attention to) yet. It’s like, they make them flat but then expect a seat that folds in like 5 different directions that is a bit hard to actually feel comfortable. It’s still not like sleeping on your bed when, even in F there’s some metal from the seat hinge nailing you in the back every time you switch sleeping positions. Forget what the mattress is made of…the fact that they even have it is a HUGE upgrade in my opinion! It’s what everyone else needs to do. Kudos to them for that.
On the style, their F suite looks similar in shape to the new CX F suite, which is truly magnificent. New CX F is even better than the new SQ F (on the 777), but haven’t tried the suites (R class only on A380) yet for SQ. I suppose that still is the standard to beat.
As for the J class, that really looks lame to me. Nothing too spectacular there….you know it’s bad when your “new” product is similar to the newest AA intl J product, and hardly looks different from their old one. Don’t they understand it has to go TRULY flat? That BS “lie-flat” crap in J is such a marketing gimmick, especially since Virgin, BA, AC, CX, SQ and others (UA has only retrofitted one 747 I think, and a few 767s) are doing truly flat in J now.