Japan Airlines' A350-1000 inaugural from New York to Tokyo: Same great service, fabulous new seats

26.01.2024 - 15:41 / thepointsguy.com / John F.Kennedy / Airlines

Editor's note: Japan Airlines provided TPG with a complimentary round-trip ticket between New York and Tokyo so we could be aboard the airline's inaugural A350-1000 flight, but all opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and were not subject to review by the airline or any other external entity.

It's not every day that an airline welcomes a new aircraft to its fleet, let alone one sporting all-new seats and cabins. But that's what makes the debut of Japan Airlines' Airbus A350-1000 maiden route between Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) so exciting.

The first JAL A350-1000 flights between these two airports took Wednesday (Jan. 24, 2024). Although this A350 variant has been flying for several years now and is a fleet mainstay for other airlines including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic, Japan Airlines only took delivery of its first A350-1000 in December. It now has a pair of the jets and will put them into daily use on the route between Tokyo Haneda and JFK starting Feb. 1, 2024.

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This is a new aircraft variant for JAL, although the airline has a growing fleet of A350-900s, which it deploys domestically. One of those A350-900s was involved in a crash earlier this month at Haneda, though all passengers and crew aboard the JAL aircraft escaped.

For its part, the A350-1000 is also the launch aircraft for the airline's newest long-haul first, business and premium economy classes, each of which holds some intriguing surprises and features for passengers.

We were on board to experience all the fanfare with the inaugural leg from New York to Tokyo in business class. Here's a rundown of everything that happened and just how the new business-class suites measure up.

So far, Japan Airlines has just two Airbus A350-1000s, so the aircraft is only deployed on the route between Tokyo Haneda and New York JFK. As of Feb. 1, 2024, these jets will operate one of two daily services Japan Airlines flies in either direction on this route.

If you want to experience JAL's A350-1000 for yourself, book the following flights for the time being.

Thanks to the International Date Line, it's like time travel!

The airline's other two daily flights on this route are JL 3 and JL 4, but they are operated with a Boeing 777-300ER. So be sure to pay attention to the flight numbers before booking tickets.

Once the airline takes delivery of more A350-1000s, it will deploy them between Tokyo Haneda and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

Japan Airlines has 13 A350-1000s on order and received the first two of these aircraft from Airbus in