American Airlines 777 Tokyo-DFW Business Class Review (2018)

My American Airlines 777 Tokyo-DFW business class review was part of my work trip to Japan. Traveling with coworkers is always interesting, especially if they are not frequent travelers. After three days in Japan for client meetings and some touristy activities, we flew back in business class via DFW. After my coworkers’ first business class flight on our way to Japan, I wondered what they would think on their second one.

Note:

Dear Reader,

Before you begin this review journey with me, I want you to know that this review is a bit dated. It is from before the COVID pandemic. I had planned on publishing this one and others slowly during and after the pandemic. However, my job at the time requested I not write them. As some of the airlines were their clients, they explicitly requested I refrain from writing anything that could imply any conflict of interest. Recently, after starting a new job, I have decided to publish this one and others. I will note wherever I can what has changed, and include a year for when the flight happened, in the interest of clarity. Please enjoy this review!

Arrival @ Tokyo

My team and I had spent the better part of the day touristing around Tokyo. I decided to spend some time near Ginza and visit the statute of Hachiko, while my coworkers had done their own tourist thing. The night before had been our last client meeting for the trip. One of them lost track of time and we had to rush to the airport to make sure we would be on time for our flight. We took the train to Tokyo Narita and got checked in and through security in less than 15 minutes. Once past security, we proceeded to the JAL Sakura Lounge at NRT.

Lounge

The Sakura Lounge was busy but not packed. We all were able to access as we were traveling on business class on a Oneworld airlines. We eventually found a couple of tables to sit at. We grabbed some coffee and tea and the last plate of fresh sushi of the trip. They went off exploring the lounge while I finished admin work from our trip. I let my coworkers know that flights out of Japan board at exactly the time listed, so we proceeded to our gate about 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time.

Gate & Boarding

Once at the gate, agents were already lining people up based on their boarding group. I was boarding group 1 and my coworkers were boarding group 2. The agent wanted me to board with group 1 and allowed my coworkers to join me, even though I had said I was fine on group 2. At exactly 45 minutes before departure, boarding began. We had our passports checked and boarded through door 2L of the 777.

Cabin & Seat

The 777 was equipped with the Zodiac alternating business class seats. They alternate between forward and backwards looking seats. There was only one window seat left when I purchased the ticket at the back of the first business class cabin. 6L is a backwards facing seat. It’s a relatively private seat as there are no neighbors across the aisle. The downside is you are close to the restrooms and people walk by you frequently.

Waiting at each seat was an amenity kit, headphones and bedding packet. These were the same as on our flight to Tokyo a few days later. There were also menus and a full-sized Evian water bottle.

Amenities

The amenities were the same as on our flight our from LAX, so I won’t go into as much detail. Feel free to look at that section from my previous review. I will say, however, that on this flight it really did hit me how cheap the Cole Haan pouches were.

Departure & Take-Off

Boarding was finished in 20 minutes. It’s crazy how much more efficient boarding is out of Japan than out of the US. The boarding door closed and the captain came on the PA to announce our flight information and that we would depart on time. Some bags still needed to be loaded and we would depart soon after that.

Flight attendants walked down the aisle offering drinks. I opted for orange juice. Our taxi to the runway was slow and long, but soon enough we were in the air.

Dining

On flights to/from Japan, American offers a Japanese meal or a Western meal. This is similar to what their joint venture partner Japan Airlines offers. The menu read as follows:

Main Meal

I opted for the Western meal on this flight. An appetizer of pepper crusted ahi tuna was accompanied by a side salad.

For my main course, I selected the lobster risotto. It was very flavorful. The only downside was how tough the lobster meat was.

For dessert I selected another sundae.

The main meal was overall good, but nothing memorable.

Mid-flight Snack

Mid flight, I ordered some green tea and coffee and picked some snacks from the onboard display flight attendants set up by the galley. At this point I decided I would try to stay awake the rest of the flight so that my internal clock would adjust to going to sleep as soon as I landed in Philadelphia.

Pre-Arrival Meal

The pre-arrival meal had an option of Western or Japanese style meals. I opted for the Japanese Udon noodles. They tasted great, however, the noodles were cold. I assume they had been warmed up and were simply left too long waiting to be served. It came with a small cake for dessert and a side salad.

Sleep Comfort

Unlike my previous flight, this seat was nowhere near as comfortable. Although the mattress pad made the seat a little softer, it was incredibly narrow. I consider myself rather fit, but found it very coffin-like while I tried to sleep. Even though it was not very comfortable, I was able to sleep for a solid 7 and a half hours. By the time I woke up, we were about 3 hours from DFW.

Wi-Fi & Entertainment

The flight was equipped with Panasonic wifi. It is one of the slowest wifi options available on any airlines (maybe second to Emirate’s OnAir). As this was a Friday evening flight, I did not need to work on anything and opted not to use the wifi.

The IFE on American is pretty good. They have a wide selection of movies and TV shows. My only complaint is the only 3-4 episodes per series for TV shows. I wish they had whole seasons to watch. I ended up watching a few shows I had pre-recorded on my phone.

Landing & Arrival

About 25 minutes before landing, the captain came on the PA to to provide an update on our arrival time and weather in Dallas. It was a clear night and he expected us to land about 45 minutes earlier than our scheduled arrival time.

The purser came by every seat and thanked passengers for flying on American and the rest of the flight attendants prepared the cabin for landing. We landed early on a clear starry night in Dallas. After passing through customs, my coworkers and I headed to our respective terminals for our flights home.

Conrado’s Thoughts

This American flight from Tokyo was very pleasant. I was able to read, watch some shows and sleep. My coworkers slept most of the flight and were still in awe of lie flat seats. To them, narrow business class seats were by far more comfortable than the economy seats. Truer words have not been spoken. Since then, I have changed companies, but stay in touch with them. They have since joined the miles and points game and have seen them travel the world and enjoying business class. I like to think I was one the people who introduced them to it.

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