7 hours on Japan’s WEIRDEST Airline! | Singapore to Tokyo Narita on Zipair Boeing 787

7 hours on Japan’s WEIRDEST Airline! | Singapore to Tokyo Narita on Zipair Boeing 787

Hello and Welcome Back to Short Transit!
Today we’re going to fly on Zipair, an airline that claims to 
be a… “New Basic Airline”. It’s one of 2 rather unique low cost carriers that 
operates almost exclusively medium to long haul routes from Japan, a lot like Airasia X from 
Malaysia. So let’s see how Basic this airline can really be, and whether or not you should 
fly with them on your next holiday to Japan. Let’s just say, it’s definitely not the 
most basic airline I’ve flown with for sure. Hello and Welcome to Terminal 
1 of Singapore Changi Airport. Today, we’re here to check out Zipair on a 
redeye, overnight flight to Tokyo Narita. For those who don’t know, Zipair is Japan 
Airlines’s very interesting attempt at a low cost airline, an airline that only flies out 
of Tokyo Narita to mainly medium to long haul destinations in Southeast Asia and North America. 
Currently, they fly as far East as Houston in the United States and as far west as Singapore, with 
a fleet consisting of only Boeing 787 Dreamliners. If that sounds familiar to you, fellow 
Japanese airline Air Japan also operates with a similar low cost carrier model, with 
the main difference being it doesn’t fly to North America unlike Zipair. We happen to 
have it reviewed already on the channel, so make sure to check out that video to see 
what that airline is like right after this video. I’ll also do a mini comparison between 
the two airlines at the end, so stay tuned! Okay now back to the Zipair experience. Check-in 
for Zipair is located at Row 14 in Terminal 1. Like most low-cost carriers, Zipair 
gives you the option to check in online, however… This only works if you are flying 
out of Narita. Thus manual check-in we go. With check-in completed, it’s 
time we head into the airside! Check-in was relatively fast and 
seamless, but it seems that they’re quite strict about the 7 kilogram carryon 
that you’re allowed to bring on the plane, so do ensure your bags are under 
the weight limit before checking in. I still had about 2 hours before boarding, so I decided to plane spot for a bit 
while waiting for the gate to open. And here it is, the Dreamliner that 
will be taking us to Tokyo tonight! Now that it has arrived, it’s 
time to head to our gate at C13. Taking me to Tokyo tonight is JA850J, 
a 2 and a half-year-old Boeing 787-8, which just so happens to be one 
of Zipair’s newest aircraft. Love it or hate it, the livery of this 
plane is truly the embodiment of Basic, with only a green cheat line along the windows 
and an Airline logo typed out in Times New Roman. Heck, even the tail used to only have a letter 
Z painted on it… until it was replaced due to a very unfortunate connotation 
with a… particular war in Europe… Not long later, it’s time to board. Quite 
curious to see what the cabin is like. Turning right into the cabin, we can see 
that Zipair has configured their 787s with, 272 Jet Black Recaro Seats, in a 3-3-3 
configuration, which is very typical for Boeing 787s nowadays. Ahead of Economy, 
there’s 18 ZIP full-flat seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, a product that Zipair is 
very careful not to call business class. Here’s my seat at 48A, a window seat on the left 
side of the aircraft. Since this is a low cost airline, there are no amenities like pillows or 
blankets even though it’s an overnight flight, but you can always bring your 
own or purchase it on the plane. Boarding soon completed, and the doors 
closed. We then started our push-back, beginning our 7-hour journey to Tokyo! Now that we are airborne, let’s talk more about 
the route we are flying on today. The Singapore to Tokyo Narita route is a very popular route 
for leisure passengers and some business plus connecting travellers, with a total of 6 airlines 
operating on the route. Prices start from as low as $196 one way on the low-cost carriers or 
around $600 one way on the full service airlines, although you can sometimes get quite a 
big discount if you’re flying round trip. As with past years, fares to Japan do surge 
massively during the December School Holidays due to high demand, so do take that into consideration 
if you intend to travel during that period. Now that we’re in the air, it’s time to take 
a look at our seats here onboard Zipair. The seat has a surprisingly spacious 31 inches 
of pitch and 17 inches of width, making it almost in the league of full service airlines. 
The seat also features a bi-fold tray table, a USB-A power point, and a universal power 
outlet, which can be found underneath the seat. Zipair does not have any 
in-flight entertainment screens, but they have installed a small pull-down 
tray to hold your device near eye level. For a decently sized seat with free power, I’ve definitely sat on more 
basic seats on other airlines. As to why I said that they’re careful not to 
call their lie flat seats “business class”, there’s actually no special services 
offered if you’re sitting in that cabin, so there’s no food, lounge or even baggage 
allowance included in the ticket just like in Economy. It’s definitely a very unique 
product offering in the airline world. Oh and did I tell you that there’s free 
wifi onboard the plane? Wifi speed wise, it’s pretty decent for airplane 
wifi, especially since it is free! On top of the free wifi, there’s a portal for 
streaming entertainment too, which mostly just consist of Japanese shows and films, an inflight 
shopping catalogue, and a portal for buy-on-board meals. There’s also a basic in-flight 
moving map that shows our flight progress. About 90 minutes after take-off, the meal service 
commenced. I know it’s a little late for a meal, but I preordered a beef gyudon because it 
looks quite good in the pictures. The meal comes with a small bottle of water and a 
set of plastic cutlery. First impressions, the dish looks a bit… on the watery side, 
but it still somewhat looks like the one in the photo when I purchased it on their 
website. Can’t wait to give it a taste! Tastewise, the rice was a tad soggy. However, the slices of beef were quite decent, with 
the beef marinade perfectly balanced—sweet, savory, with just a hint of garlic, and the 
onions complimented very well with the beef. Overall, it was delicious and filling, 
especially for budget airline catering. Soon after the meal service, I decided to sleep. 
Or… at least I tried to. The seat, in my opinion, was not exactly the most comfortable, but I 
somehow managed to get some rest eventually. I woke up to a sprinkle of sunlight 
over the horizon. You know, there’s nothing more poetic than approaching 
the land of the rising sun at sunrise, knowing it marks the beginning 
of a great holiday in Japan. As we begin our descent into Tokyo 
Narita, I can say that Zipair is a pretty decent alternative over the full service 
airlines flying the route. The seats are quite spacious for a low cost carrier, and you get 
amenities like free wifi and power ports, features that may be absent even on full service 
airlines serving the route. The service onboard was quite decent too, with polite and 
fast service by the Japanese cabin crew. As to how Zipair compares with fellow 
budget airlines like Air Japan or Scoot, this is how I would rank the 3 airlines from 1st 
to 3rd. Air Japan no doubt wins in catering and seat comfort, as it’s really hard to beat 
the experience of eating Sushi in the air, and having an inch more pitch between 
the Economy seats. Meanwhile, Zipair wins in inflight connectivity as there’s 
free and relatively quick wifi onboard, instead of only having an online portal with a 
limited selection of shows. You might potentially be able to grab the full flat seats for a good 
price too, if you don’t mind paying more for a lie flat seat. As for Scoot… yeah just hope 
your seat is not broken or something (heh) Welcome to Tokyo Narita. It feels great 
to travel to Japan comfortably while burning a smaller hole in my wallet . To conclude, I recommend Zipair if you don’t mind not 
having in-flight entertainment, food, luggage allowance or the usual amenities offered 
by full service airlines, as you might be able to save yourself hundreds of dollars while travelling 
in similar comfort to a full service airline. With that, we have come to the end of this video. Thank you all for watching! And I’ll 
see you on your next Short Transit.

Today we’re going to fly on Japan Airlines’ Zipair, an airline that claims to be a… “New Basic Airline”. Along with Air Japan, it’s one of 2 rather unique low cost carriers that operates almost exclusively medium to long haul routes from Japan, a lot like Airasia X from Malaysia. So let’s see how Basic this airline can really be, and whether or not you should fly with them on your next holiday to Japan. Let’s just say, it’s definitely not the most basic airline I’ve flown with for sure.

Flight details:
Origin: Singapore Changi Airport
Destination: Tokyo Narita Airport
Flight time: 7 hours
Airline: Zipair
Aircraft type: Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Seat Number: 48A (Standard Economy Class)

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All prices are in SGD.
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#zipair #japantravel #aviation
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Amazing Soundtracks in the video:

Music: “Infographic Fantasy Loop” by Background Sounds.
Stream/download: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-94DXa0nRQ

Song: Andrew Applepie – Almost Winter (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mapOvXdSLy0

About Us:
Welcome to Short Transit, we are a small group of passionate travellers based in Singapore. From our tiny red dot, we aim to bring you along on journeys around the world, mainly focusing on Asian travel. Stay tuned for more independent and informative trip reviews like this one. We just started our quest to fly on every Asian flag carrier, so If you really like our videos and would like to help us grow, do give us a like and subscribe to our channel, and do visit our Patreon in the link below if you would like to contribute financially for some perks! Thank You!