Review: Japan Airlines Diamond Premier Lounge Sapporo Airport (CTS)

Woah. I'll be exactly here in about ten days. Any other intel for nearby hotels/restaurants or downtown Sapporo? Doing major planning today so anything helps and is much appreciated.

Excited to check out ANA A380 biz (Flying Honu!) and some JAL products.

Also, couldn't tell from the pic - were any of the beer dispensers service Sapporo Classic (can only get this beer in Sapporo)?

I know it's really a silly complaint, but I think the food selection could've been a bit more substantial. Even considering that this is a domestic lounge, the food selection should be better than that in a first class lounge. That being said I don't think the current offering is bad either, though.

I went to Sapporo with my family in November for the first time. We really enjoyed it! The Susukino area is the lively area. We also had some of the better meals of this trip there. Tabelog was great for finding restaurants and making reservations. Word of caution: it seems like a lot of restaurants require you to choose course meals when booking through Tabelog, but if you find a place you like you can often call and make a reservation without having to pre-select what you're going to eat. Also, don't be scared off by 3 - 4 star ratings. I'm not sure if you're American, but Japanese don't rate things like Americans do on Yelp, etc... 3 stars means very good, 4 starts means amazing, and 5 stars is VERY uncommon.

Crab was high on my list of things to eat, and we ended up going to Hyousetsu No Mon (which also just happened to be about 50 yards from our hotel). It's a collection of private rooms with multi-course meals. The king crab "shabu" was maybe one of the best things I've ever eaten (maybe the best).

We also had Japanese-style Korean BBQ (yakiniku) at a place that I think was called Yakiniku Kiwami which also just happened to be a couple blocks from our hotel.

The Susukino area I guess used to be something of a red light district, so there are remnants of that here and there, but it's nothing crazy. My (70 year old) mom made a comment about a lot of boobs being out in the cold weather. When we figured it out it all made sense and we had a little laugh.

We stayed at the Granbell Hotel Susukino, which was great. Rooms were typical small Japanese rooms, but well-appointed and stylish. Service was predictably very good. Breakfast in the hotel was great as well. Location was great and there's a train station on the block as well as a couple convenience stores.

The train departs from the airport and then it's just one transfer at Sapporo Station to get to Hosuisusukino Station (no elevators, so be prepared to lug your suitcases up the stairs).

It was a nice surprise for all of us to have enjoyed Sapporo as much as we did, and I plan on going back when there's snow on the ground.

The "honor system" entry wouldn't work anywhere else in the world, where lounge receptionists seem to spend most of their workdays arguing with grifters and wannabes who believe they're entitled to something they're not.

Just you know, anywhere else in the world ≠ the US and Europe.

I absolutely see this working in some other Asian countries.

KLM lounge at AMS has something similar. Obviously there is some underlying check going on, perhaps by someone watching the entrance (as it surely is in JAL lounges), but from the passenger's experience it's the same - you scan your BP, get a green light and walk in. No gate or anything.

Thanks for the awesome recs! I’m coincidentally staying at the same hotel. Hopefully will find some of that crab.

JAL used to offer foods even for business lounge before covid now just drinks. i think is very unfair since business class is consider as premium as well. JAL is making money so please dont be so stingy!

I personally agree with this rating a lot.

I've come to realize, if the lounge is clean and peaceful that matters way more than if a lounge has tons of amenities but is crowdy and hectic.

Also helps that the Japanese domestic lounges have proper lounge staffing.

Fwiw, the entire Japanese domestic system of lounges is similar with barebones amenities, but they're very civilized in comparison to the US domestic lounge rat race.

Flying mostly First class (paid only), I noticed Japan Airlines First class lounges are more about quality, aesthetics and peacefulness rather than food quantity... except perhaps the First section of the lounge on Frankfurt.

Paid only... Cool flex Bro

@Sam you must be new here. This is Endre the Troll. He loves trolling around OMAAT. Long time readers know about him so do not be fooled by him.

Stop trolling here @Endre. Long time OMAAT readers already know all about you. Stop embarrassing yourself.

Why paid only?
What are you doing with all the points earned after each paid flight?

I can totally see this working around the Indian Subcontinent (maybe not). The problem with this approach is that some lounge access rules are super complicated and the boarding passes won't always capture them. E.g. I recently had to argue with a lounge dragon working for a SkyTeam airline who wanted to send me away as an elite plus member flying on a domestic flight before a same-day international connection, codeshares allowed/not allowed depending on operating carriers, or Lufthansa allowing pax to visit the first class lounge (or terminal) when in transit from F to Y but not the business class one when it's C to Y. And that's before you think about passenger-driven issues such as guests or wanting to use status benefits from one airline while crediting the miles to another.

On a cold night in Sapporo, I highly recommend getting soup curry at Soup Curry & Hamburg Tatsuki. I haven't been there since 2017 yet still think about how good it was.

I completely agree with your observations that flying (or even just traveling) in Japan is super-civilized, and that loud phones/conversations are terribly common in Miami!

While the lounge is decent, especially watching the planes in the snow, I would limit your time here. CTS has incredible dining options, from world class standing Omakase to its own ramen alley.

Restaurants are pre-security but if you have access to first class security it will never take more than a couple minutes. So unless you’re full, all out of yen, or are very short on time, this lounge isn’t the place to be.