While certainly niche, here’s an interesting thing I just learned, thanks to OMAAT reader Hiro. Did you know there’s an airline that offers lounge access to all economy passengers on one specific flight? Neither did I (I’m not talking about Bangkok Airways, which offers lounge access to all passengers, but in reality lounges are just the gate area with some free drinks and snacks)…
Japan Airlines’ economy lounge access for one flight
Japan Airlines has among the more generous lounge access policies out there. While it’s standard for first and business class passengers to get lounge access, Japan Airlines goes beyond that. For example, premium economy and full fare economy passengers get access to the carrier’s lounges.
There’s one flight where the airline takes it to the next level, though. Japan Airlines offers all economy passengers on flight JL41 from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to London Heathrow (LHR) lounge access. Yes, even non-full fare economy passengers.
This is Japan Airlines’ last long haul departure of the night from Tokyo Haneda, and it typically departs at 1AM. There are some restrictions associated with economy lounge access:
- Lounge access is only permitted starting at 10:30PM, 2.5 hours before the scheduled 1AM departure
- Access is limited to the Japan Airlines Sakura Sky View Lounge, and not the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge; the lounge is just as high quality, but doesn’t have showers
- Economy lounge access is only offered on this flight, and not on any other flight, including the flight in the other direction (JL42)
What’s the logic for this generous lounge policy?
What’s Japan Airlines’ logic for offering lounge access to economy passengers on one particular flight? I imagine there are a couple of factors at play here.
For one, this is presumably intended to be a competitive advantage, and to get people to book Japan Airlines over a competing airline. Getting access to a great business class lounge on an economy ticket is quite a nice perk, and I have to imagine that all else being equal, some people would choose Japan Airlines over a competitor because of this (assuming they knew this was offered).
Beyond that, though, I imagine that this costs the airline very little, on a variety of fronts:
- This frequency is operated by the Boeing 787-8, Japan Airlines’ smallest long haul aircraft, which has just 156 economy seats
- This is the carrier’s last long haul flight of the night, so presumably the lounge has extra capacity at that hour anyway
- Because the airline offers lounge access, it doesn’t serve a meal after takeoff, but instead serves the first meal around eight hours after takeoff; economy passengers can avail themselves to some basic snacks until that point
For those curious, below is the economy menu for the flight once onboard, with a single meal served around eight hours after takeoff. Given the flight time of roughly 14 hours, serving a meal a little over halfway into the flight is sort of odd timing. But I guess at that point it’s a mealtime back in Japan, and most people will be hungry. For that matter, it’s not like most people get 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep in economy.
Bottom line
Japan Airlines offers lounge access to economy passengers traveling on the carrier’s very early morning (or late night, if you prefer) flight to London, JL41. This is unique, as I can’t think of any other airline that offers lounge access to all economy passengers.
I’m sure many economy passengers appreciate this perk. The catch is that inflight service is then more limited, and no meal is served after takeoff. I find this to be a fascinating product offering, and I’d be curious to know how many passengers are actually aware of this, and how much this drives economy bookings on this flight (vs. the other Japan Airlines frequency, or booking a flight with a competitor).
What do you make of Japan Airlines’ unique lounge access perk for JL41? Is there any other economy flight I’m missing that offers a similar benefit?
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