Is anyone else saddened by the recent changes by Japan Airlines? They have begun the same nickle and dime tactics of American (all of them, not just AA) airlines.

I'm not sure what you mean. Do mean that even though JAL's in bankruptcy protection, service to customers shouldn't change? Or do you mean that employees and pensioners are getting nickle and dimed in the restructuring?

I saw on NHK TV today they are starting to charge for beverages. When I have flown with JAL previously, it has been a wallet-free, service oriented experience (almost like every passenger was in 1st Class).

Never had any complaints whenever I flew with JAL. Staff was friendly and helpful.

JAL only went bankrupt cause they stopped selling the calendars with pics of the flight attendants. They forgot the reason why they were founded: to hook up shallow Japanese women (flight attendants) with first class passenger husbands, and to produce/market fap material for the otaku.

Anyways, JAL charging for drinks on domestic flights is not new, they've been doing it for years. First one is free though. JAL is more expensive than all the North American airlines, so it's not like you're flying for free drinks anyways.

What made JAL great won't change: fewer western passengers (aka everyone is less rude/meiwaku), better films, better in-flight food, and polite staff. There is very little reason to fly domestically when shinkansen is more convenient for most urban locations, unless you're wanting to go from Okinawa to Hokkaido or something.

My last flight with JAL was in December from Honolulu to Osaka. I was the only Caucasian passenger on that flight. It was actually cheaper than any flight serviced through other airlines by $100. Regardless, I would have paid an extra $100 just for the experience JAL gives you. It is better than being bumped up to 1st class by AA.

I flew business class on JAL and the guy seated beside me chain smoked for 9 hours! I think most other airlines had long since banned smoking. It was brutal. I vowed never to fly JAL again. (Japanese can be so rude. ;-))

But I still feel badly for the staff, pensioners and shareholders who lose in these deals.

That's funny Jarvik, my boss (62) met his wife (30) on the JAL flight she was working on. She's pretty cool though.

edit: JAL has since banned smoking.

Smoking has been banned for at least 4 years (first flew on JAL in 2006). I would think that even when it was allowed they'd have smoking and nonsmoking seats.

Unfortunately, I don't think non-smoking seats would mean much in a section of only 40 seats with 50% of passengers smoking.

Canada had banned smoking a long time before. Other airlines I flew to Japan had been smoke-free for a few years. So it felt like a time warp. A really unexpected, uncomfortable, and expensive one. So I've been holding a grudge. -end retro rant

Jarvik7 Wrote:JAL only went bankrupt cause they stopped selling the calendars with pics of the flight attendants. They forgot the reason why they were founded: to hook up shallow Japanese women (flight attendants) with first class passenger husbands, and to produce/market fap material for the otaku.

They might, in an attempt to save money, get rid of the cuties and start hiring AA fright attendants.

Jarvik7 Wrote:What made JAL great won't change: fewer western passengers (aka everyone is less rude/meiwaku),

I've never flown JAL, however, the few times I have flown I've never once seen or heard meiwaku. So, I don't think that's a JAL specific trait.

Fly more and you'll encounter it :p
I flew like 20 times in 2007.

bodhisamaya Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:JAL only went bankrupt cause they stopped selling the calendars with pics of the flight attendants. They forgot the reason why they were founded: to hook up shallow Japanese women (flight attendants) with first class passenger husbands, and to produce/market fap material for the otaku.

They might, in an attempt to save money, get rid of the cuties and start hiring AA fright attendants.

haha "fright attendants" LoL thats not a typo is it?

yo6shi9 Wrote:

bodhisamaya Wrote:They might, in an attempt to save money, get rid of the cuties and start hiring AA fright attendants.

haha "fright attendants" LoL thats not a typo is it?

Their union seems to very strict when it comes to seniority. Wilbur Wright's sister was working one flight I was on.

Seriously man. I've actually seen some pilots with gray hair! And that's only flying 21 times/year.

Flying is one of the easiest jobs there are. I have a private pilot's license and I can actually say it easier to fly a plane than drive a car. Airline pilots really only have to takeoff and land the aircraft. The rest is done by computer. Actually, they don't even need to do that. Though, people would not fly if they knew their plane was being landed by the autopilot.

You mean...so easy that even old guys can do it?

Whereas a flight attendant's job is more difficult? ;-)

I'm doing my best to help balance the ratio, but there just aren't enough babies being born in Japan lately to maintain a youthful workforce in any industry.

And until your little ones become old enough to join the workforce, something tells me there'd be no complaints if you were to serve them a drink...or fly the plane. Or both.

Though I am an American male, and American men do have a reputation for having D-cups ourselves, the little rug-rats probably prefer お母さん serving the drinks.

haha oops. I meant "no passengers would complain if you were to serve passengers drinks." I can't speak English or Japanese now.

I've read that in China its citizens are expected to retire at the age of 50 to make room for the energetic youth into the workforce. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all retire at 50!
Though I would not want to retire into the standard of living most Chinese people have.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I would think that even when it was allowed they'd have smoking and nonsmoking seats.

Having a smoking section in an airplane is like having a peeing section in a pool.

The general impression I get from Japanese people is that given both for the same fare, they'd choose ANA over JAL in a heartbeat (even before all these financial issues started popping up). JAL seems to have had a plague of equipment problems (which is probably not just bad luck), and the cabins tend to be poorly maintained to boot (supposedly). I've only flown JAL once and never on ANA, so I can't speak from personal experience.

An airplane is no smaller than the average Japanese restaurant with smoking and nonsmoking sections. Sure the air is recycled, but it's also filtered.

I didn't say it would be like sucking in fresh mountain air

J7 Wrote:An airplane is no smaller than the average Japanese restaurant with smoking and nonsmoking sections. Sure the air is recycled, but it's also filtered.

Last word:

a study Wrote:Between the time that non-smoking sections were established on US carriers in 1973, and the two hour US smoking ban in 1988, commercial aircraft ventilation rates had declined three times as fast as smoking prevalence.The aircraft cabin provided the least volume and lowest ventilation rate per smoker of any social venue, including stand up bars and smoking lounges, and afforded an abnormal respiratory environment. Personal monitors showed little difference in SHS [second hand smoke] exposures between flight attendants assigned to smoking sections and those assigned to non-smoking sections of aircraft cabins.

CONCLUSIONS: In-flight air quality measurements in approximately 250 aircraft, generalised by models, indicate that when smoking was permitted aloft, 95% of the harmful respirable suspended particle (RSP) air pollution in the smoking sections and 85% of that in the non-smoking sections of aircraft cabins was caused by SHS. Typical levels of SHS-RSP on aircraft violated current federal air quality standards approximately threefold for flight attendants, and exceeded SHS irritation thresholds by 10 to 100 times. From cotinine dosimetry, SHS exposure of typical flight attendants in aircraft cabins is estimated to have been >6-fold that of the average US worker and approximately 14-fold that of the average person. Thus, ventilation systems massively failed to control SHS air pollution in aircraft cabins. Study

And JAL knew of these results - and knew that other airlines were complying with the main international air organization's guidelines to voluntarily ban smoking - yet delayed its decision for a few more years. Bad JAL. Bad JAL. Those pretty cancer-ridden flight attendants deserved to marry first class.

edit: btw, your last word compulsion is actually a treat. It almost always includes self-deprecating humour.