Our 5D5N Travel Experience To Osaka (With Side Trip To Nara & Kyoto)
We just came back from our trip to Osaka in the first week of June (1 – 7 June 2018) and before the rainy season starts over there. If you are planning a similar trip there, you may want to read on to check out our travel experience.
Our Flight Choice – Premium Economy On Japan Airlines
We booked our Premium Economy Class flight ticket through CheapTickets.sg after doing a search on Wego.
In case you want to do some comparisons with your own bookings, these are the flight details:
- Price was at SGD1284.23 per person.
- Flight Time out was 21:50 from Changi Airport to Haneda Airport and a Transit Time of 1 hr 20 mins before another 1 hr 20 mins of flying to Kansai International Airport.
- Flight Time back was 14:40 from Itami Domestic Airport and a Transit Time of 1 hr 55 mins at Narita International Airport before touching down in Changi Airport.
We used Wego to do our flight comparison and our flight options included flying Business Class with Vietnam Airlines and flying Economy Direct with Singapore Airlines. We eventually chose Premium Economy from Japan Airlines after comparing with Pricing and Comfort.
Our Flight Experience
— dnata Lounge
One perk of going with Premium Economy is you get to access the Lounge and we got to access the dnata Lounge at Terminal 1 which is shared by quite a few airlines. Overall impression is that it’s a big place with lots of sitting area but not that wide range of food and drink choices. There is only a small screen near the entrance that shows the various departure times and no verbal announcements – so take note.
— Seats And Amenities
As their Premium Economy Passengers, you get to have these amenities – Moisture Mask, Toothbrush, Eye Mask, Ear Plugs and a pair of Room Slippers. Use the Moisture Mask (which is basically inserting a wet tissue inside a mask) if you feeling that the air is a bit dry. The Eye Mask can help you to sleep better. They also provide quite a good noise-canceling headphone (not in pictures) which masked out quite a fair bit of the cabin sounds.
For the Premium Economy Seats, you are looking at the JAL Sky Premium Seats on a 2-4-2 layout.
Differences between Economy Seat include:
- Slightly wider seating area which you may find a bit more tilting space to the left or right
- Distance between each row of seat is around 107cm
- The Seat doesn’t tilt backward so basically you are sliding down as the seat extends
- The Seat Tilt Angle is slightly bigger
- Larger Legrest and Table Area
- 12.1″ Touch-Panel Monitor Screen
- USB Port, Phone / Bottle Holder
- The Armrest in between seats cannot be lifted up
— In-Flight Snack and Meals
Outbound Flight: We were given a packet of Rice Crackers and a choice of drink. Supper was served after that, no details were mentioned and you don’t get any choices. Taste was nothing impressive. We were quite full from our meals at the dnata lounge so we tried hard to finish our supper – we failed.
Inbound Flight: We were also given a packet of Rice Crackers and a choice of drink. Dinner was a bit more impressive as these meals were prepared by chefs who were past finalist at “RED U-35” chef’s competition. We got to choose between Gyudon (Beef Bowl), Sichuan Style (bottom right picture) with Pumpkin and Chicken Kuwayaki with Yuzu Citrus-flavored Chili Paste (bottom left picture). Side dishes include Chilled Winter Melon with Dried Shrimp, Okara Soy Pulp with Anchovy, Salad, Lychee Pudding and Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream.
— Transit
Outbound Flight:We landed at Haneda Airport for the transit and with only 1 hr 20 minutes to spare, we had to proceed to the the Arrival Custom, retrieve our luggage, head over to the JAL Domestic Check In Counter to deposit our luggage again, go through the Security Checks (just around the corner) and head down to take the Shuttle Bus to the Domestic Terminal. This may be applicable to your flight so it’s best to take note in case it’s crowded and too rushed. The above image was presented to us when we did our check-in at Changi Airport.
Inbound Flight: Our Departure is at Itami Airport and we expected it to be rushed like our Outbound Flight. We were surprised the process was smooth here. We basically checked in our bags and we were told there was no need to retrieve them during transit and we could just proceed on to our next flight.