Disappointed by Japan Airlines? My Honest JAL 737 Economy Review

Disappointed by Japan Airlines? My Honest JAL 737 Economy Review

Japan, known for living in the future. Highspeed trains, automatic toilets, vending machines that do everything. Literally, anything that sounds futuristic. And today’s topic, Japan Airlines, ranked number nine in the world. Sounds like it should be just as futuristic as the rest of Japan, right? I mean, it’s the national airline after all. [Music] But this flight kind of caught me off guard. Stick around, you’ll see exactly what I mean. Hey guys, going to the airport right now. Today we’re not flying EVA air. In fact, we’re flying something a little different. Japan Airlines. Let’s see how it compares. [Music] Okay, so flying JL to Nolia today. Um, CBO, I think I code. So yes, today I’m flying to Nagoya in Japan Airlines economy class, departing from TPE. That’s Taipei Tyran International Airport for those who don’t know. Oh, hey, look. Check this out. TPE is proudly showing off its Skyras awards. Apparently, it’s the 43rd best airport in the world and also number one for baggage delivery. Honestly, I’ve always had a pretty smooth luggage experience here. So, yeah, I’ll give you that one. TPE, you earned it. Uh so JL before on the triple 2 uh bought model of that recently. You can go check that out soon. Um past experience, they’re generally okay. I’m excited to try them again. Unfortunately with like a tour guide, so hopefully I have a window seat. looking at Aerolopa right now, but it looks like um I have a window, so that’s great. Um our luggage trans. Okay, all checked in. Uh flying 737, I think the flight says it’s already on its way. Our flight today is on a Boeing 737-800, one of the 42 in JAL’s fleet. I’ll go into more detail about this aircraft a bit later. Our flight to Nagoya will be operating as JL8670 with boarding scheduled for 2:05 p.m., which means I’ve still got around 2 hours to explore. [Music] Thank you. Wow, everything is computer automated. That is pretty scary. But um for a change once our gate is D today over here. Yeah, D gates. Yeah, it says 52K is 52K. [Music] Wow. D Gates is looking very nice. Very new. Segates is has a bit of a lower ceiling. But yeah, this is D is the newest one. Yeah, this looks very modern. Ceilings are very high for sure. D gates right here. Let’s go. Check it out. Oh yo, there’s a China suicide. [Music] Our plane is evidently not here yet. Um, from flight radar, I can tell it’s not even close to landing in like 20 minutes. Turns out the plane was only like 7 minutes away. So, I decided to wait. [Music] After our aircraft arrived, I had quite a bit of time left, nearly an hour and a half before reboarding. Due to this, I decided to head to the Plaza Premium Lounge. However, that wasn’t included with the ticket, so that can be a topic for another video. Boarding’s already started and it’s only 1:40. We’re 5 minutes early. I’m zone for today, but I think we can get on board now. So, let’s go. [Music] biting down the fire. [Music] First impressions inflight entertainment system, if tray table, pretty big literature pocket, lots of storage, a footrest. [Music] Turning around, the seats, a standard dark blue fabric with a headrest cover that has the JL logo on it. Pretty simple, but does the job. Padding’s all right. Not too hard, but not too soft either. So, it’s all right. The screen looks a bit dated with physical buttons for power and basic controls. More on that later. It does tilt, though, so that’s a plus. Below that, you’ve got the tray table. It’s a decent size and adjustable, which is always nice. Taking a look at the literature pocket. It’s actually a pretty decent size. And the two mesh pockets on the outside, yeah, they’re quite useful. While we wait for taxi, let’s check out what’s inside. First, we’ve got a waterproof trash bag, a magazine, and the safety instructions. Looks pretty standard. [Music] A first for me, though, is the Wi-Fi card. It’s surprisingly detailed. [Music] There’s also a magazine for the JL duty-free shop where you can purchase items during the flight. And in one of the magazines, there’s a small section that shows off their fleet. Pretty cool. My name is your senior and telling attendance of this flight. according to the latest information. First up, the safety video. Please make sure to share not flap set and we’re off. Now, let’s talk about the aircraft. Today we’re flying on a JL737-800, one of the 42 in their fleet. This specific one is registered as Julia Alpha 304 Juliet JA304J. It’s 18.2 years old and was delivered new to JAL back in May of 2007. JAL has two configurations for their 737, one for the domestic routes and one for the international. Since today’s flight is from Taiwan to Japan, we’re on the international version, which JL typically uses for the short hall international flights like this along with 2 to three hour domestic routes. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] We’ve just reached cruising altitude. So, let’s try out the seat recline. Here’s the starting point. And let’s recline. So, yeah. Uh, moved back a little bit. Not bad at all, especially considering that this isn’t a long haul flight. Looks like the service is about to begin since they just handed out wet napkins. I don’t know why it says business class on it, though. I’m in economy for sure. Also, it’s gotten pretty turbulent up here. Okay, turns out I was wrong. The meal service hadn’t really started yet, or at least not right away. After the napkin, it actually took around 30 minutes before the meal was served. And here I was thinking Japan was all about efficiency. So while waiting, I decided to go check out the lavatory. [Music] Okay, in the lavatory now. Okay, so we’re in the lavatory. It’s a pretty decent size. Decent size, pretty clean. Got some hand sanitizer, soap. Really just the essentials. [Music] Ooh, getting turbulent. The water is of good pressure and it’s pretty warm, bro. They’re still passing out the drinks. So yeah, the food’s finally here. I legit was starting to get a bit hungry. Metal colory and wooden chopsticks. Anyways, let’s see what we got. So for the meal, there’s no options. You just get handed a plate. Starting with the side dishes. First up, a small salad with a slice of salami on top. Alongside that is a bowl of noodles. Very on brand for a Japanese airline. There’s also a dessert, but we’ll save that for later. And of course, there’s the usual bowl of fresh fruit. Now, let’s talk about the main course. It came with a generous serving of rice topped with ketchup and melted cheese along with some eggplant and zucchini on the side. I’ll be honest, it was pretty salty, but I really liked it. Way better than I expected. The turbulence still isn’t letting up. The side dishes were also pretty good. I like the fresh salad with the salami adding flavor. The noodles were really nice, very soft and flavorful. Overall, the side dishes were very delightful. Now, onto the dessert. This dessert really tasted pretty good. It’s like pudding and jell-o combined with a raspberry taste. I think you can tell what my opinion on this meal is just by looking at my empty plate. After finishing the meal, I noticed something a little unpleasant. There was some residue left on the seat back from previous passengers. The rest of the cabin was all right, so this definitely stood out. After noticing the residue on the seat back, I decided to take a closer look around the seat itself. Since this aircraft is a bit older, we actually get individual air vents. Always nice if the cabin gets warm. Another unique feature is this controller tucked away in the left armrest. I’ll show you what that does a bit later. And then there’s the footrest. You might have noticed it earlier, and it’s a nice idea in theory, but not super practical. There’s a huge equipment box under the seat in front. So, if you store anything down there, the footrest gets jammed, and you can’t extend properly. Still, I appreciate that JL tried to add extra comfort here. Points for the effort. Now, this whole time I’ve been eating and haven’t really touched the inflight entertainment, but what if I wanted to? Let’s take a look at the if. This aircraft does have Wi-Fi on board. And for the first hour, it’s completely free, which is a nice touch. The speed is all right. Not amazing, but usable for light browsing or messaging. And once that free hour runs out, well, you’re kind of still in luck, sort of. So, as you’ve probably already noticed, there is a screen on the back. The only problem, this system is pretty bad. First off, let’s look at the selection, or at least try to. The screen isn’t even touchcreen, so you have to use the remote hidden the armrest. That wouldn’t be a big deal except the screen is really dim. Like, I can barely see what I’m doing. And on top of that, the software is super laggy. So, when you put all this together, no touchcreen, hard to see display, and unresponsive controls, it’s kind of a mess. Surely the movie selection’s better, right? Well, let’s take a look. Yeah, there are a few things to choose from. Pretty decent, but considering that this is a full service international flight, I think JAL could have done better. Their full entertainment library is only on their wide bodies, but honestly, there is no reason they couldn’t improve the options here, too. All right, let’s look at the flight map. Why is it taking so long? Finally loaded. But what is this? This map just shows information and doesn’t show where we are. This is kind of bad, honestly. Very disappointing. This airline is ranked number nine and is using a system like this. I’ll get more into this while we land. Well, the IF might not be the best, but hey, at least they provide headphones. Let’s take a look. So, these are actual overear headsets, not your typical cheap earbuds. Sounds promising, right? Well, I’ve been using them for a bit, and I got to say, they’re not great. The sound quality is pretty weak, and there’s barely any noise cancellation. They also clamp onto your head way too tight and start to get uncomfortable pretty fast. Honestly, I think I would have preferred the regular earbuds. These just kind of felt flimsy and awkward overall. So, yeah, not a win in the headphones department. I guess it’s time to descend as the crew just came on the PA and told us that we will start descending. Talking about the crew, I haven’t really talked about them. Can they save this review? While we descend, let me tell you. So, the crew, they can really make your flight good or bad. On today’s flight, economy class had three flight attendants. All three were very professional and kind. A memorable moment was when they told me I wasn’t allowed to use my GoPro suction mount. What was memorable was that the flight attendant was extremely apologetic. I’m sure the suction mount issue was a company thing and not her choice. Now, the food service. I’m sure you heard me complain about the serving speed. Now, I will give them some slack because it’s a single aisle 737 with 145 passengers serve 109 ahead of me. So, I really think the crew were fantastic. Four stars only because I think they could still have sped up the service speed. The interior of this 737 was all right. It was pretty dated, but not the worst. The seat itself was more dated with that bad screen. I forgot to mention is that there is a charging port under the seat. Everything else though felt old like the armrest and footrest. The tray table was sturdy enough but nothing special. For the interior, I’ll give it three stars. Now, let’s talk about the amenities. No lounge for any other pre-flight amenities, but arriving on board, we get some more. Mainly, the amenities were just the entertainment. The entertainment was old and wasn’t the best. Pretty laggy and dim. The selection was also all right. Headphones weren’t any good either. So, two stars here. Lastly, let’s rate the food. Overall, the meal was actually pretty good, tasty, and satisfying, and it really hit the spot for me. I’m giving it a solid five stars. So, what do you think about this flight? I’ll let you think about it while we land. Oh god. [Music] Then stop on your Pretty cool step for better overhead bin access. [Music] [Music] So, would you fly Japan Airlines on this flight? Before you answer, let me tell you the price because that can change your opinion. From J’s website, I couldn’t find the exact same roundtrip flight on the same dates a year later. So, instead, I looked at the fairs during August. It came out to 17,260 New Taiwan dollars, which converts to around 587 USD. So basically 600 bucks. So yeah, that’s the price. As for me, I probably won’t be flying with them again anytime soon after this flight. I’m really not sure how they’re considered the world’s ninth best airline. I’m sure their wide bodies are better, but these 737s are still part of the airline experience. So, what do you think about JL 737? I’m open to any comments and questions. Just drop them below. Just a short walk later, I’m at my hotel looking at the Boeing Dream Lifter and the Flight of Dreams Museum. After thinking a bit more, my thoughts are still the same. I hope this video was entertaining and that you learned something, too. For more videos like this, don’t forget to subscribe. And hey, give it a like too if you enjoyed. Now, I’m gonna head to that museum before it closes. So, bye. Catch you in my next video.

I flew Japan Airlines Economy Class on their Boeing 737-800 from Taipei to Nagoya — and let’s just say it wasn’t quite what I expected.

In this video, I’ll walk you through the entire experience: from check-in, boarding, seat comfort, IFE (in-flight entertainment), food, headphones, cabin features, and arrival. JAL is known as one of the world’s top airlines, but does this short-haul 737 live up to the hype? Watch to find out.

✈️ Flight Info:
Airline: Japan Airlines (JAL)
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Route: Taipei (TPE) → Nagoya (NGO)
Cabin: Economy Class

What do YOU think about JAL’s 737 experience?
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