Upon arrival at Tokyo Haneda, I followed the signs for connecting flights. I was flying on two separate tickets, but since I was able to check my bags through to Los Angeles, I didn’t need to leave the secured area. In addition, I already had my onward flight’s boarding pass, so there was no reason I wouldn’t be considered a connecting passenger.
Indeed, they scanned my onward boarding pass, and I cleared transit security promptly. I wasn’t expecting to have transit security, but the only thing they were checking for (as far as I could tell) were weapons.
Upon clearing transit security, I was dropped off into the terminal and made my way to JAL’s First Class Lounge. Unlike ((British Airways’ Concorde Room)) and the ((Chelsea Lounge at JFK)), this lounge is both for First Class passengers and for Oneworld Emerald (AA Platinum Pro or higher and BA Gold or higher) members. Since I was traveling First Class as a BA Gold member, I definitely had access, haha. JAL doesn’t have a large first class footprint, with only 8 seats on the 777 and 6 seats on the A350, but the lounge is huge, likely due to a large number of Oneworld Emerald passengers that use it.
After scanning in, I proceeded to the upstairs area, which consisted of a large lounge area:
And a bar:
There were also a few massage chairs in the corner, which were a nice touch and felt appropriately Japanese.
Shortly after my arrival, the upstairs portion of the lounge closed (likely because the early flights to Chicago, London, and New York had already left at that point), so I proceeded downstairs for some lunch.
Most of the downstairs is set up as a dining area. I went to the table service section first.
In this section, there is a self-serve drinks area and then the food options are available through a QR code menu.
I started with a Bento box and some of the amuse-bouche tiny dishes that were available from the drinks area. I pour myself some rice wine while I waited for the food to arrive (which took <10 minutes).
The bento box was excellent. Each individual piece was well-made and had an interesting flavor and/or texture. Everything was beautifully presented and was exactly what I would want in a Japanese restaurant.
Next, I ordered the French toast, which was also amazing. It wasn’t too sweet and the accompaniments fit it nicely.
I had seen on the menu that there was also a vegan sushi option, so I decided to order that and try it out. It was basically the same as the vegan sushi that I’ve gotten at chain sushi restaurants previously (such as Wasabi in the UK).
After finishing my meal, I decided to check out the next area past the dining area, which was referred to as the red room.
Inside was a champagne bar:
But the main attraction of it, I guess, was that it looked like an upscale smokers lounge/bar. It had a lot of fancy things in it to look at, but it wasn’t really an area that interested me. But the couple people that I saw go in there thought it was awesome, so I’m not sure what to think haha.
It was interesting to check out, but I like to go to airports to be around airplanes and related things.
The final stop for me in the lounge was the buffet area. Individual portions of some small dishes were neatly arranged:
And then there were also coffee and tea options:
As well as another self-serve alcohol area:
And soup!
After exploring the lounge, having lunch, walking around the airport, taking a shower, it was finally time to head to the plane for my 9-hour first class flight to Los Angeles! Stay tuned for the actual flight.
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