ORD to Anywhere

Due to morning congesting at the 4 existing JAL lounges within its Tokyo Narita hub, the Japanese oneworld carrier will be co-locating within the American Airlines Admirals Club between the hours of 7:30-11:30 AM.  This co-location only applies to customers booked on four of JAL’s scheduled morning flights:

• JL863 to Beijing
• JL717 to Bangkok
• JL805 to Taipei
• JL723 to Kuala Lumpur

JAL’s famous beef curry which will NOT be available.

Due to this co-location, JAL will be offering customers many of the amenities typically found at its First Class and Sakura Lounges inside American’s Narita Admirals Club.  These amenities will include some of JAL’s food and beverage offerings (though none of JAL’s famous and delicious beef curry due to the AM time slot!) as well as a partitioned area reserved for First Class passengers.  Additionally, JAL will assign staff inside the Admirals Club to assist passengers with any flight issues.

Sadly, American Airlines has confirmed that these service improvements will only be available during JAL’s co-location hours and will not be provided to Admirals Club patrons outside of those times.

It’s great to see JAL and American working closer to offer a better premium customer experience.  I’d have enjoyed this more if American were to offer these improved food and beverage items and a seperate First Class section outside of the JAL co-location hours, but it’s still an interesting development.  American’s Tokyo Narita Admirals Club is one of the nicest offerings within its system, yet it is still overshadowed by JAL’s product.

American Airlines Tokyo Narita Admirals Club

Hopefully this experience with JAL will give American some insights into how to improve its existing product and provide a better premium experience for customers.

Thanks to JALPak for translating and reporting this development!