Lounge Review: JAL First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) Satellite Terminal

I’ve reviewed the JAL First Class Lounge in the Main Terminal of Tokyo Narita (NRT) airport before, but this trip (in November 2014) was my first time in the First Class Lounge in the Satellite terminal. I love Japan Airlines much more than many travel bloggers, mostly because I think they have great food (except for their special meals), both in the air and on the ground.

The lounge agents were super welcoming when I was checking in. JAL offers short massages to first class passengers, so you should see if they have open slots right when you enter the lounge because they can fill up quickly.

The lounge was pretty empty when I was there, so I was able to arrange a massage during my layover. The lounge features lots of different seating options with varying degrees of privacy and ample power outlets.

Beyond the massages given by people, they also have fancy massage chairs. I love these chairs! Too bad they’re thousands of dollars…

Since I had just gotten off a long-haul flight, I asked for a shower. The shower rooms are quite small and a bit too warm for my liking, but the room was clean and I enjoyed the shower amenities that they have.

After my shower, I was able to get a 10-minute massage. It wasn’t anything special (the massages that I’ve gotten in Cathay Pacific’s the Pier lounge and the Thai Airways Spa have been better), but it was still nice and appreciated after a long flight.

The lounge has drinks and snacks available, including Hokkaido milk, which is supposed to be some of the best milk anywhere, and the Sky Time drink that’s made specially for JAL.

In this lounge, there’s a separate dining area where they serve food (and you’re expected to keep the food in the dining room). The buffet featured salads, udon noodles, desserts, breads, soups, two hot entrees, curry, and rice. The food was all generally good, although I felt that it wasn’t quite up to the standard of the food at the lounge in the main terminal.

One thing that I’ll point out that the satellite lounge lacks is a sushi bar. They have a sushi bar with actual sushi chefs in the first class lounge in the main terminal. Like where they don’t serve the sushi with wasabi on the side because they already put wasabi on the sushi. And the rice is ridiculously delicious. A number of lounges around the world serve sushi (e.g. the United Club at HKG, the ANA Lounge at NRT, the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai), but this is by far the best sushi that I’ve had in a lounge, and it’s better than most of the sushi I’ve eaten at restaurants in the US. Granted, the sushi bar is not open the entire time the lounge is open–it’s only open for lunch and dinner (although I would happily eat sushi for breakfast).

Anyway, I know people disagree, but I really like JAL’s first class lounges. The lounge in the main terminal is strictly superior to the lounge in the satellite terminal because of the sushi bar, but it was nice that I was able to get a massage in the satellite terminal lounge (which I’ve never been able to do in the main terminal lounge).