JAL Business Class vs. Delta Premium Select (Review of Our Flights to/from Japan)

1. Back from Japan: a life-changing experience
2. JAL business class vs. Delta premium select (review of our flights to/from Japan)

First, let me state the obvious. Comparing JAL business class to Delta premium select is akin to comparing apples and oranges. Besides, I’d venture to guess that in 99% of cases even the worst business class in the world will be superior to premium economy seat on the best airline. So, spoiler alert! JAL seat wins in this competition.

The question is how much are you willing to pay and whether the juice is worth the squeeze. If you have been following this blog for awhile, you have noticed that most of my flights are in economy. In fact, my husband and I  have only flown up front twice. And one of those times it was AA domestic first class, so it doesn’t really count.

In the past, some readers have assumed I’m some sort of crusader for the common folk, and that I’m making a statement with my cheap choices. Nothing of the sort, sorry to disappoint you. I truly believe that people have the right to use their miles in whatever manner they please. If I could find business class award seats for the dates I need/on a nonstop flight/at a reasonable upcharge compared to economy, I’d choose it every time. But that rarely happens.

Anyway, the main point of the post is to attempt to assign tolerability factor, if you will. How much improvement do you get compared to your standard run-of-the-mill economy seat in the back? And is it worth it? In my biased opinion, of course. Without further ado:

JAL Sky Suite III on Los Angeles-Osaka flight (Boeing 787-9)

There are several configurations, and you can see the specs for this particular seat on  JAL page.

We booked it for 60k AAdvantage miles per person and were fortunate to find four award seats on the same flight (due to Covid pandemic). I didn’t have any specific plans for my AA miles, so decided to splurge. This was a 12.5 hour flight, and those can be brutal.

I later booked an economy seat for my MIL for 35k miles, and her ticket also included Orlando-LAX leg. We had to separately redeem Avios miles for the same flight. As I’ve written in my previous post, the plan was to put my teenager in economy seat, and let grandma enjoy business class. Unfortunately, turns out, it’s against JAL policy. So, my MIL had to sit in her assigned seat.

Booking JAL business seats made us eligible for entry to Oneworld lounge at Tom Bradley terminal. I asked if I could pay extra for my MIL to join us, but was told it’s not possible. So, she decided to hang out at a nearby restaurant and had a nice time. The lounge is nothing to write home about. The food was ok and the atmosphere was pleasant.

Lots of plants

Would I go again? I would if it’s complimentary, 100%. My policy is to never turn down free food unless it looks questionable. And even then I’m likely to take my chances. Our trip was expensive enough, so we tried to save money whenever we could. But was it amazing like Strata lounge in Auckland airport in New Zealand? Not really. Moving on…

We picked the seats in the middle, so my husband and I could sit together. I figured there would be enough of a barrier between the kids, so they wouldn’t kill each other. I was right.

My boy was so excited when he got to his seat, he started jumping up and down and screaming for joy. Be cool, son! Act like we belong.

My minor beef with the amenity kit was a very poor quality (as in scratchy and non-adjustable) eye mask. A little thing, but still. I should have brought my own. Noise canceling headphones are complimentary to use, but I didn’t find them super comfortable. I also wasn’t crazy about lack of storage for my backpack. And the cabin was kept a bit warm for my liking. Sense a theme yet?

They do at least provide mattress pads, which is a very nice touch. That actually made a difference and allowed me to get an hour of sleep. I was grateful for that, as my husband got no sleep whatsoever. He tried, but said the lie-flat bed felt like a coffin. He found it uncomfortable and cramped. Update: thanks to reader Aleks for pointing out in the comments that the length of the JAL seat accommodates very tall passengers, an important detail.

I should provide some context here. My husband weighs about 240 pounds, and is 6 feet 3 inches tall. So that, no doubt, affected his perception of it. On the other hand our son absolutely loved it, and got 6 hours of sleep on the flight. His teddy bear did too.

So, the good news is, if you are a size of a 12-year old boy, you will likely appreciate this configuration. I’m kidding, of course. Many folks love JAL business-class seats, so it’s simply a matter of preference.

Service on the flight was absolutely amazing, but after visiting Japan, I’m not surprised. The flight attendants were incredibly polite and eager to please. No complaints there. Now let’s talk about the food. While it was good, after reading the reviews, I expected something extraordinary. I kept thinking that maybe they have a separate stash reserved for miles and points bloggers reviewing their product?

I’m definitely not complaining, especially since my last two long-haul meals were in United economy. It was something  resembling dog food. So, needless to say, I’m easy to impress.

The presentation was certainly nice

The fish tasted like it was microwaved… because it was microwaved

So, here is the bottom line on the food (my opinion). If that’s your primary reason for redeeming extra miles, don’t. You will get much better meals when you are in Japan. It’s all about being able to stretch out on a long flight. While it wasn’t a game changer, my husband definitely appreciated the extra room. I mean, economy would have been ten times worse for a big guy like him. So, no regrets. On the scale from 1 to 10, I give it a solid 7 in terms of value via mileage upcharge compared to economy class.

Oh, about my MIL. My husband went to  economy class to check on her and told me she was sitting with her head down. He said she was either sleeping or dead, we would find out upon arrival. Ok then. Gotta appreciate his dark sense of humor, probably German genes coming through. BTW, my MIL never complained about her economy seat. And she had two shoulder surgeries, arthritis and needs hip replacement (though refuses to get it). Just saying.

So, the million dollar question. Should you splurge  on this seat? You absolutely should if you have a ton of AA or Alaska miles. Might as well, especially if you have no plans for them in the next few years.  But good luck finding award availability. More likely you will have to turn to programs like Asia Miles or BA Avios that get access to JAL award seats before AA or Alaska programs. This is where it gets tricky because those awards will come will hefty fuel surcharges on top of high mileage rates. Here is the price for one JAL business class seat on the same flight:

This deal would be a hard pass for me, especially if I needed to top off my Avios account with flexible points. The experience is just not nice enough to justify this sort of premium, especially when you multiply it X 4. This goes along with my post on why I’ve decided to skip ANA first class via Virgin Atlantic program. I also certainly would not put off a trip to Japan, holding out for business-class award seats on ANA or JAL. But the decision is yours.

Delta Premium Select seats on Tokyo-Seattle flight 

You can see this page for all the specs on this product. I’m not sure why they don’t call it premium economy to keep it simple, because that’s what it is.

I’ve actually booked our economy seats on Delta via Virgin Atlantic for 27.5k miles per person, no fuel surcharges. That seemed like a decent deal for 8.5 hour flight. We also booked a separate flight from Seattle to Orlando the following day, and paid 15k Delta miles per person. Not cheap, but this was the best combination to help us survive the grueling journey back. A bonus: my husband got to visit the Museum of Flight in Seattle during our layover.

During online check-in for HND-SEA flight, I saw an offer to upgrade to premium select for an extra 12.5k miles per person. I Googled the seat, and liked what I saw. So, I’ve decided to treat my MIL, as an apology for JAL snafu. Even though the reservation was in her name, it let me use my miles to upgrade the seat.

I then decided to also treat my husband but unfortunately, I had to upgrade all four of us, since we were on the same reservation. I didn’t have enough miles for that, so I went ahead and canceled a speculative Delta reservation I had for next year. I’ll figure out some other way to cover the flights  if we decide to go.

I had the chance to make this flight more comfortable for my family right now, so pulled the trigger. I’m happy to say it was way better than regular economy.

The seat has a decent recline, and is fairly comfortable. I did find the footrest borderline useless, though. We got amenity kits, headphones and complimentary slippers. Not bad.

The food was decent enough but again, not spectacular. My MIL got tasty wagyu beef, but they ran out by the time they got to our row. You get free alcohol, so I treated myself to some sparkling wine. I was surprised that they gave us real silverware and nice tablecloth.

Vegetarian pasta and ice cream

The premium select section felt spacious and made the flight seem quite tolerable.  To me it looked like domestic first class, but with slightly more narrow seats.

I got to watch three mediocre movies and one decent one, and then it was time for landing. Since the flight took off at 4 pm Tokyo time,  I only got sleepy towards the very end. So, having a lie-flat seat would probably have been a waste anyway. Service on this flight was excellent, with Delta flight attendants constantly checking up on us. Not JAL excellent, though.

I would rate this seat as 9 out of 10 on value in relation to extra miles I’ve spent on it. I took off a point for useless footrest. I felt like I got a very good deal for 12.5k extra Delta skypesos, especially since the regular economy section was completely full. Would I still feel that way if I paid an extra 30k miles? Nope. Keep in mind, all of my miles were earned via credit card sign-up offers. Unfortunately, there is no way I can guarantee that you will be able to replicate this price. All I can say, don’t dismiss seat upgrade offers, especially a few days before your flight.

Oh, and don’t dismiss Delta currency, because you never know when it may come in handy. Speaking of, right now all welcome offers on Delta credit cards are increased. If you are looking to apply, we would appreciate it if you used our affiliate  links.

Final thoughts 

As I’ve tried to allude to in my post, using miles on business class is a very personal decision. There are many factors involved: the length of the flight, the size of your mileage stash and, well,  your body size. What will seem amazing to one person may be mediocre to someone else. One thing is for sure, flying upfront will be better than flying in the back. Every time. And as a compromise, sometimes there is a premium economy option. But how much is it worth? Only you can answer that.

For what it’s worth, in the next couple of months I’m planning to redeem miles on regular economy for my trip to Europe next year, and my husband is fine with that. But it doesn’t mean you should.