For the next segment of my trip to Japan via Mongolia, I flew ZIPAIR’s Boeing 787-8 full flat business class on the 1hr45min flight from Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Tokyo Narita (NRT). For those not familiar, ZIPAIR is Japan Airlines’ low cost carrier that launched in 2020, and the airline offers a fascinating passenger experience.
Continue reading: Review: ZIPAIR Full Flat Business Class Boeing 787 (ICN-NRT)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Great review as always Ben. Perhaps the most intriguing since TAAG Angola for uniqueness….. however I have so many questions. What even offer the business class ? Is it because they take the planes second hand and don’t want to reconfigure? If so do they actually remove the tv screens ? How amazing they offer free WiFi when you pay in business class on other carriers! I’m guessing the lay down option is great for a trip to Hawaii and finally if only they offered this on Ryan air lol.
You may already noticed, the seat on ZIPAir is the lite version of JAMCO Venture seat (minus screen?), which is available on KLM 787-10 and you reviewed before.
https://onemileatatime.com/reviews/klm-business-class-boeing-787-10/
I'm curious since you have to pay for the pillows and blanket amenity kits...would it be acceptable to take them with you after the flight and keep them?
The concept of this airline makes no sense - just not coherent at all. I also don't get the point of even offering a flat bad on such a short flight, although I can see this being useful long-haul *if" it is keenly priced otherwise there is no point in it.
"I wouldn’t hesitate recommending ZIPAIR’s full flat product to someone who doesn’t have miles & points, but who values comfort."
This is really the key! There are a lot of flyers who can't arrange miles/points flights (because of lack of miles/points or lack of schedule flexibility), don't need a luxurious soft product, but do want a reasonably comfortable hard product. Would love to see more airlines adopt a cabin system similar to this on more routes (assuming the economics of it makes sense as it apparently does for ZIPAIR).
Yes, since you bought them, you can take them and use them after the trip.
Their is a statement on their website:
“A variety of unique ZIPAIR amenities are available for purchase, featuring designs making them ideal for use both onboard the aircraft and on the ground.”
JAMCO now makes plastic business class seats with no screen? Wow have they fallen.
"Japan is so funny when it comes to technology — the country is simultaneously cutting edge, but also loves fax machines."
It is amusingly crazy.
It's a juxtaposition of some of the highest tech with mid-20th century levels of paper pushing and payment at times.
@Ben
Zipair does not exclusive fly former JAL 787-8, they have aircraft delivered new from Boeing as well. The last two aircraft to join in 2023 came from Boeing directly to Zipair.
@Ben, you should've mentioned that their tickets aren't just nonrefundable, but they're also non-changeable. If you want to change anything, you have to cancel and rebook entirely. You might get some taxes back, but that's it.
Well, Ben took literally the shortest flight they offer. BKK, SIN, HNL are all a good 7-hour flight, where there is probably a market for older but frugal tourists happy to buy up to a flat bed (while packing all the creature comforts). These were custom-configured for ZIP, and the actual cost of providing wifi to a plane is nowhere near what airlines charge. I would not be surprised if the weight savings from no tv is reasonably close to the actual cost of providing wifi -- especially when you factor in the cost of the actual screens and wiring.
You know, this sort of concept is frankly what AA should be going after. They are never going to be able to offer a consistent, premium product that would siphon incremental revenue from competitors, so they might as well just go all in. Meals can have a "cheap crap" and more a premium "edible food" option. Buy-what-you-need amenity kits. Make up a bundle to throw at whatever remains of their corporate contracts, and make the base fare the most basic product possible.
Ben, there seems to be 18 lie-flat seats, not 20.
I would fly this airline in a heartbeat if they offered longhaul flights from my airport. A proper lie-flat J seat at a very decent cost. And I can pack my own snacks and sandwiches if I wish.
I’m all for this. Just give me a comfortable place to sleep. You can keep your champagne and meals. I can do better on the ground. Let’s hope they fly from JFK sometime soon.
Here we go again with fax machine slander..... plenty of Asian countries still use fax machines, as well as certain industries in the UK, specifically in smaller companies who might not have the capital to upgrade equipment or no one wants to take time to scan in pages of documents, password protect, and send via email for confidential documents. Just because they're obsolete in public eye doesn't mean they're not still being used regularly.
Flew Peach last year and I believe they had a similar service flow. It was unique to order via phone wifi then pay in cash.
I did fall asleep for the first half of the flight so maybe they did pull the cart around.
Its funny using the fax trope. From a country which still uses cheques and doesn't have peer to peer bank transfers lol
One of the more obnoxious things Ben does on his blog is to present a persona of complete honesty with his readers and then hide details like this that would make him look bad rather than just coming clean.
What I found interesting is that Zipair won’t allow kids under a certain age (I think 6) sit in these seats.
I find japan exasperating as noted. Seems like half the country is very tech embracing while half are either complete ludites or makes everything ridiculously complicated. For example, you would expect in modern cities you could buy a metro ticket with a credit card. Not japan. Instead you need to buy a suica type card where you load the card with cash using a credit card then you go buy your metro ticket with said suica. This type of round about behavior was very evident in Japan's post pandemic reopening but not really reopening over and over. And if have tech development skills you can analyze websites from ana and jal and you can see how pages have lots of archaic technology and customer usage is very backwards. Even buying passes for Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto is frustratingly silly. You end up constantly asking why? Why require A to B to C to D when you can just go A to D.
I noticed that many airlines in Asia that does that route icn to nrt uses lay flat so zip would need to compete. Zipair also Flys from west coast usa to nrt.
I'm doing incheon to Tokyo as well later this year and I noticed zipair mainly because I was shocked at seeing a $199 ow business class seat pop up in my search. But once you add everything it's a bit more complicated to choose. For one thing, instead of zipair I opted for korean air business for $250. Price difference is gone once I include check bags and some food, lounge access etc. The biggest concern for me is that zipair only has 1 flight/day on that route. That's not ideal for scheduling and operations. What is there was a maintenance issue etc.
Even bank cards are of the obsolete kind. They do not double as debit cards, and can't be used overseas
He should've used another example. Fax machines are still reliable - but that doesn't mean Japan is living both in the future and the past.
You don't know why does it matter - yes western businesses still use fax, but in Japan, it is still used at homes too.
Most of Zipair's routes are medium and long-haul (Seoul is the only short flight they operate).
Their other destinations include Manilla, Singapore and Bangkok, while all the other routes are to North America (at this moment).
He could have just bought a refundable ticket on a Oneworld airline from ICN and then cancelled and refunded his ticket once he got into the lounge.
I'm not going to lie, this is something I have done before to access new lounges.
While Ben used quite unvalid example, that doesn't change the fact that Japan is living in both the future and the past. Those who saying it isn't might have visited Japan before, but definitely have not lived there...
And by the way, don't compare the US to Japan. It's like comparing some third world country to the non-US first world country - an unfair comparison. I mean, don't you Americans know the best about how bad the stuff is in US?
If you're wondering, I like Japan too but unlike others, I just accept their dark(er) sides as well.
Just recently flew Lufthansa from SFO-MUN. With the exception of the wonderful pre-flight lounge at SFO (United Polaris Lounge) this report suggests that ZIP air is probably better than the Lufthansa Flight.
En-route the bad business seat left me with a bruised arm from shoulder to elbow, about 5 interactions with flight crew and some rest. About 2 hours after takeoff the FA's disappeared and only returned about 2 hours before landing.
Condor service is so much better.
Regarding catering, doesn't Bonza do the same - purchases via the portal and no trolleys?
@W If so, just be honest about it rather than ignoring reader questions. it's insulting to his readers that he thinks we won't notice.
people need a reality check from those influencer foreigners posting all those obnoxious "oNLy In jAPan" videos which shows things that are literally found all over developed and developing countries
Its like China. You can use WeChat for EVERYTHING but airport staff are SHOCKED at trying to use a mobile ticket, when everyone still prints paper ones
I just flew Zipair full flat on short notice (schedule change) from Tokyo to San Francisco. I'm nearly 6' tall and 100% agree that this is an excellent product for those that value comfort but don't want to pay the high premium cost of a full service business class flight.
I was very comfortable for the whole flight and able to get some rest to combat the jetlag. Took a little preplanning before the flight to pack some food/snacks but with that preplanning the trip was a breeze. Staff was very helpful and I had an easy check in experience. Also was very impressed with the wifi quality. Was able to use all my apps with no issues. 10/10 experience.
I'm taking Zip from LAX to Tokyo in June. I'm looking forward to it. You can't beat a lie flat seat across the Pacific for a grand.
Lucky, what are your thoughts on "above average" budget airlines like ZIPAIR, AIR PREMIA & T'WAY? I have not tried ZIPAIR (will do so next month) but so far Premia and T'way have impressed me.
Sometimes I don't need all the bells & whistles (like a full meal on flights after 10pm-2am?? c'mon ..). I just want sleep.