Review – Japan Airlines First Class Lounge, Tokyo Narita

by Zac George
a room with chairs and tables

On my recent trip from Los Angeles, I had a transit in Tokyo Narita for about 3 hours before heading to Sydney. For my transit, I had access to either the First Class lounge as a Oneworld Emerald member or the Sakura lounge as a Business Class passenger going to Sydney. I of course chose the First lounge and funnily enough had no problems accessing it.

a glass door in a building

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

This lounge is located in the Satelite building and is one of 2 First Class lounges at Tokyo Narita.

a sign on a wall

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Both the First lounge and Sakura lounge are next to eachother but have seperate help desks. Before you enter you’ll obviously need to show your boarding pass. The ladies at the desk were very friendly and offered to give a tour of the lounge. They can help with any queries regarding your flight, the lounge etc.

a reception desk in a hotel

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The entry to the lounge is quite beautiful to look at.

a glass door with a plant in front of it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The lounge is absolutely beautiful. It actually reminded me of a few luxury hotels with the dark wood walls and natural light. The Japanese architecture is always modern and simplistic, it was evident in the lounge.

a room with chairs and tables

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

At the entrance of the lounge, you’ll find some desktop computers, there’s also a printer if you need to print anything. The lounge of course has free wifi for and it was quite fast.

a desk with a computer and chairs

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

It’s also important to note, next to the printers, are phone booths. The rule in the lounge is that you can’t answer and talk on the phone unless you’re in one of the booths. The staff were very serious about this rule and for good reason. The lounge was dead quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

a photocopier in a room

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Also at the entrance of the lounge is a massage chair which is free to use.

a black massage chair in a room

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The lounge has a heap of seating, both facing the tarmac and away from it.

a room with chairs and a table

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

As you can see, during the day the lights aren’t turned on as there’s a heap of natural light. The only lights that are on is the mood lighting which gives the lounge a warm feeling.

a room with a window and chairs and a table

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The lounge has a small drink and snack section with soft drinks, coffee & tea, champagne, liquor and beer.

a buffet table with many glasses on it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a counter with drinks and glasses on it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Here’s the coffee and tea facilities:

a man taking a picture of a coffee machine

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The range of liquor is quite reasonable:

a group of bottles of alcohol on a table

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

This is the softdrink machine and beer dispenser which is pretty awesome as it automatically tilts the glass and fills it.

a machine with lights on it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Champagne and Sake on ice:

a group of bottles in a bowl of ice

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Laurent – Perrier Champagne:

a bottle of champagne in ice bucket

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

Small cheese dishes:

a group of plates with cheese and olives

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The lounge isn’t actually that large but it does feel very spacious and when I visited there were probably 15 people maximum.

a room with chairs and a man walking by

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a man standing in a room with chairs and a window

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a room with couches and tables

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The windows looking out at the tarmac have a fantastic view and are usually the most popular. They also have charging & ethernet ports in the window ledge.

a room with chairs and a table

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a room with couches and tables

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The lounge has a few shower facilities which I took advantage of as I couldn’t in Los Angeles.

a bathroom with a glass shower door

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

The shower rooms feature all the basic facilities except a bidet or toilet.

a sink with faucets and a mirror

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a hair dryer on a counter

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

In the middle of the lounge is where the dining area is found. As you can see, it was completely empty.

a room with a vase of flowers

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

There’s a heap of comfortable seating in here and it’s a closed off area to the rest of the lounge meaning it maintains complete quietness.

a room with a large window

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

There’s a few wines and champagne’s in there.

a group of wine bottles and glasses on a table

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

As well as more beer machines, there’s quite a lot of fresh food to choose from. There were staff always in there checking to see if the food was fresh and replenishing it if it was empty. The attention to detail from the staff was impressive.

a buffet table with food on it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a table with a tray of food and utensils

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a group of plates of food in a display case

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a buffet with different food items on it

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

It quickly went dark outside and the lounge looks even more beautiful at night. It reminded me of some Park Hyatt properties.

a room with chairs and tables

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

At about 6:00 at night I was the only person in the lounge, this was the case for about an hour.

a room with chairs and tables

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

a room with a tv and a shelf

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

And yes of course, the lounge does feature bidets (Japanese toilets).

a toilet in a bathroom

Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Narita

 

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7 comments

Joey April 12, 2017 - 8:32 pm

Lounge looks great mate, question… flying QF J to Natria and back can I use the JAL business lounge at all or will I need status?

Zac George April 12, 2017 - 8:37 pm

Joey – You absolutely can access the lounge. You can do some lounge hopping and go between the Sakura lounge and Qantas lounge if you wanted to. Enjoy your flight! 🙂

Joey April 12, 2017 - 8:55 pm

Cheers for the reply Zac! Awesome, heard the Nartia QF lounge was a bit sub par so wanted to check out JAL. Love the blog mate, keep it up!

Zac George April 12, 2017 - 10:08 pm

Thank you very much Joey, much appreciated 🙂

Scott April 12, 2017 - 9:43 pm

Nice report Zac. I am confused reading this report as does not look like the JL first lounge I have used in the past at NRT but then realised you said Satellite lounge. It certainly looks quieter and better furnished than the lounges in main terminal but no sushi bar? Along as it has the beer machine and beef curry I could make do with no sushi! Loved reading about this latest trip!

Zac George April 12, 2017 - 10:09 pm

Scott – yep, sadly no sushi bar but the curry was divine. Thank you very much for reading 🙂

DavidB April 12, 2017 - 10:44 pm

I’ve always found this lounge pretty quiet with few visitors unlike the one in the main terminal. Of course, that one has real massages on offer, as well as a made-to-order sushi bar during certain hours. One of the major reasons to keep Emerald OW status!

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