Boeing 777-300er Seat Selection
Xiaoqi Hauge
Inflight entertainment is provided through United Private Screening. United Private Screening may be accessed through the inflight entertainment monitors at each seat or via streaming to your own personal device. A variety of genres of music are available for listening pleasure. You may check unitedprivatescreening.com to view what is available on your flight.
Inflight entertainment is provided through United Private Screening. United Private Screening may be accessed through the inflight entertainment monitors at each seat or via streaming to your own personal device. Several selections of films, television programs, games, and music videos are available for viewing pleasure. You may check unitedprivatescreening.com to view what is available on your flight.
Access to Wi-Fi is available on most flights. Several plans are available for purchase and service is provided on different carriers depending on area of coverage. More details are available in the Inflight Wi-Fi section on united.com.
A selection of complimentary non-alcoholic beverages and snacks are available on every flight. Wine, beer, and drinks containing alcohol are complimentary in Polaris and Premium Plus, however, a fee is charged per beverage in Economy (including Economy Plus). Complimentary full-service meals are served in Polaris, Premium Plus, Economy (including Economy Plus) depending on flight location, time of day, and length of flight. United Choice Menu Bistro on Board plus Snack Shop selections may be purchased in Economy (including Economy Plus) Class on domestic US flights depending on time of day and length of flight.
The United Boeing 777-300ER version presented here represents the passenger experience refurbishment that commence in 2019. The aircraft is primarily used on United's international flights to and from the USA. The version is configured with 60 United Polaris open-suites, 24 recliner-style United Premium Plus seats, and 266 standard Economy Class seats which include 62 Economy Plus seats that feature additional legroom.
No good seats to fit your exact needs, I was thinking of the bulkhead seats, but it seems in this particular airplane for this particular airline the bulkhead seats have "restricted leg room", which is not the case in many other airlines, as they add few extra inches to the leg room in bulkhead seats to compensate for the fixed arm rests and for the in-seat tray tables. In addition to that, in this particular airplane, the only bulkhead seats which are not emergency exits are the one at the beginning of economy class, and they are a mile away from lavatories, so bulkhead seats are a big No.
You don't want to take seats on the side (A window seat and the two next to it), and then take one more seat on the middle to get your four seats, this is because seats on the sides are not aligned with the seats in the middle.
Take any four seats in the middle, at least you will be next to each other, kids in the middle and parents on the aisle seats. Choose a row next to lavatories, not too close to avoid noises, choose ones next to galleys.
It is very likely that you will get caught out by this new crap where the airlines will magically require you to pay a few more dollars, at the time of seat selection, to get four seats together: as soon as you see this, go select your seats!
Despite the negative advice from SeatGuru, this choice turned out to be a good one. The plane was not full so that one of the G seats on were empty and we had thus some extra space. Moreover, being close to the galley was good as the stewardesses were really nice and helpful. And the proximity of a lavatory was also a good point. We would straight away pick these seats again.
I've flown Japan Airlines business class several times over the years, and each time it's blown me away. The dining is incredible and service is always top-notch. To me, it's the epitome of Japanese service in all the best ways.
I last flew the airline in 2019 and had an excellent experience that I was eager to revisit. I finally got the chance last month on a trip back home from Indonesia. The award space wasn't perfect, but I could get from Jakarta to Chicago via Tokyo using miles. I booked it and eagerly awaited my flight.
Due to Japan's COVID-19 restrictions, I couldn't leave the airport in Tokyo. But my flight from Tokyo to Chicago and the lounge experience there gave me a dose of Japanese culture that I've been missing since my last trip to the country.
I booked a second ticket for my partner for 90,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, which I transferred from American Express Membership Rewards. Taxes and fees were higher on this award, at roughly $200 one-way.
I paid the taxes and fees with The Platinum Card from American Express to earn 5 points per dollar on airfare when purchased through Amex Travel or directly with an airline (on up to $500,000 per calendar year). However, you might also consider booking with something like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for increased travel protections like trip delay insurance.
To my surprise, transiting at Tokyo's Narita International Airport from my flight from Jakarta to my long-haul let to Chicago was very easy, despite Japan's current border restrictions. All I had to do was clear security and make my way toward the airline's lounge.
On the way, I couldn't help but notice how empty Narita was. Shops were closed with the exception of a duty-free store, and there were barely any passengers in the terminal. This is likely due to continued entry restrictions and the fact that only a handful of international flights were departing the airport when I transited. Regardless, it felt like a time warp back to March 2020.
I walked through the terminal to what I thought would be JAL's business-class lounge. Upon arriving at the entrance, I was met with a pleasant surprise: the business-class lounge was closed, but the first-class lounge was open. So, I made my way to the desk, checked in and headed to the elevator that would take me up to the lounge.
In contrast to the rest of the airport, everything here seemed like business as usual. The dining room was surprisingly crowded, with full food and drink service. Near the entrance to the dining room was a self-serve bar with Champagnes, wine and liquor as well as tea, coffee and soda machines. There was also a refrigerator stocked with various Japanese beers like Asahi, Kirin and others toward the back of the lounge.
The lounge itself was large and offered a variety of seating options. The decor was uninspired and felt like a generic office space, though it still felt like a nice enough place to eat and drink while awaiting your next flight. I liked how the dining area wrapped around the center of the lounge, and despite it being a relatively small space, it kept up with current demand and I found a seat without issue.
You can order food using a QR code on any of the dining room tables. The first class lounge has a wide variety of food, but I chose a few nigiri that looked interesting. All of the food my partner and I ordered was delicious, and for a second it felt like I was out at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo. This is something I've longed to do since the pandemic began, and made me even more excited for Japan to eventually reopen its borders.
One interesting thing happened during the boarding process, however. When I scanned my boarding pass at the gate, it said I was ineligible for boarding. After a momentary panic, a gate agent approached me and said the alert was because I had left my hat on my flight from Jakarta to Tokyo. She returned my hat and I was quickly on the flight.
To me, this was nothing short of amazing. Sure, people leave things on planes daily. But having it returned is a rarity, and I highly doubt I would get a lost hat back if I left it on a connecting flight with any U.S. carriers. This speaks to JAL's top-notch service, which continued throughout the rest of my journey.
JAL's Boeing 777-300ER business-class cabin is configured in a 2-3-2 configuration, with the middle seats in that three-seat center section slightly staggered to the front of the two aisle seats on either side for added privacy. It also leaves room for a little path between the front of the adjoining seats and the back of the preceding row, so even middle-seat flyers have direct aisle access. I booked tickets close to the departure date, so my partner and I were in the middle section. Thankfully, one of the seats was empty for our journey so we had a block of three seats to ourselves.
All seats have a privacy divider, but as TPG Senior Reporter Zach Griff noted in his 2019 review, the middle seats still felt pretty exposed to the rest of the cabin. Thankfully, this didn't affect us as my partner had an empty aisle seat next to her. The aisle seats also felt quite exposed, but it didn't bother me, as I slept through most of the flight.
The first time I flew the airline's 777-300ER, I was worried about how narrow the seats were. Frankly, they look like coffins in photos on JAL's website. However, they are actually 25.5 inches wide, so they're perfectly comfortable even for a larger 6'1" person like myself. There's plenty of room to rest, whether sitting or lying down. The bed is 75 inches long when in the bed position, so some of the taller flyers out there might have to scrunch a bit, though that wasn't necessary for me.
My aisle seat had a storage cubby I used to hold my phone, wallet and passports throughout the flight. It was also large enough to house my iPad and closed 13-inch MacBook Air when I wasn't using them, saving me a trip to the overhead bin when it was time to sleep.
Beneath this cubby was an AC power outlet and USB port. Both worked fine, although the USB-A port is getting progressively more outdated as the world moves to USB-C. It also charged my iPhone 13 Pro Max quite slowly, so I plugged in my fast charger as we approached Chicago.
The seat controls were located next to the privacy divider. While the buttons are worn from years of use, they worked just fine, and I appreciated how adjustable every component of the seat was. Passengers shouldn't have a hard time finding the configuration that's most comfortable for them.
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