Japan Airlines has just announced some international expansion, including one new route to the US mainland.
Japan Airlines will launch a daily nonstop flight between Tokyo Narita and San Francisco as of March 29, 2020. The flight will operate with the following schedule:
JL58 Narita to San Francisco departing 6:10PM arriving 11:30AM
JL57 San Francisco to Narita departing 1:35PM arriving 4:45PM (+1 day)
The ~5,120 mile flight will be operated by a Boeing 787-8, featuring business class and economy. Japan Airlines has among the least densely configured 787-8s, and this particular plane has 206 seats, including 30 business class seats and 176 economy seats.
Japan Airlines’ 787 business class
In business class they have excellent Apex Suites, which are among my favorite business class seats out there. For a sense of what to expect, check out my review of JAL’s 787 business class.
Meal in JAL business class
The new flight isn’t yet on sale, but is expected to go on sale at 2PM Japan time on November 6, 2019. If you want to travel to Japan for Cherry Blossom or the Olympics, it could pay to look for award space then, as it’s possible they’ll release some seats.
This new service will complement Japan Airlines’ existing daily flight between Tokyo Haneda and San Francisco. The airline operates that flight with a 777-300ER using the following schedule:
JL2 Haneda to San Francisco departing 7:50PM arriving 1:10PM
JL1 San Francisco to Haneda departing 3:50PM arriving 7:00PM (+1 day)
Japan Airlines’ 777-300ERs have first class, while their 787s don’t
Japan Airlines has a joint venture with American Airlines on transpacific flights, so these flights are also American Airlines codeshare flights.
Bottom Line
It’s great to see JAL increase capacity at SFO just ahead of the Olympics. This is part of JAL’s 2020 international expansion, including new flights to Bengaluru, Guam, and Vladivostok.
What do you make of JAL’s new NRT to SFO flight?
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