Japan Airlines Reviews 13

Like others, I had issues with a missing middle name. I booked a flight through the agent Gotogate for my daughter but did not include her middle name in the booking (she doesn't use it, but it is in her passport). 8 days before the flight, I called Gotogate to get this changed. They say they passed the request to JAL, but JAL continually denied receiving any request and kept giving me dire warnings that boarding would be denied if the middle name was missing from the ticket as it would not match the passport. This was nonsense, as my daughter was ultimately able to board with no issues. They made the experience unnecessarily stressful. I called them multiple times to ask them to change the ticket themselves, but they refused to do so, saying that only the agent could request a change. This remained their position even when I explained that I had been calling the agent several times a day for a week and had been reassured that the request was already with JAL. As others have said, a lack of empathy and flexibility.

I made a seat reservation and also got a confirmation for it. But at the date of check-in, my seats were moved to very bad ones. JAL Airline said that booking.com did it. Today at the check-in counter, staff said "yes the airline is responsible for that move. After spending a lot of time, we got finally better seats. Thanks to JAL staff

Review:We purchased tickets through Trip.com for my husband, myself, and our 2-year-old daughter. Since our daughter has dual documentation (Japanese with only one surname, and Peruvian with both paternal and maternal surnames), her ticket was issued using the Japanese documentation. However, because her passport from Peru includes both surnames, it became necessary to align the information for travel purposes.
From the beginning, we have tried to resolve this issue through every possible channel, but Japan Airlines has constantly told us “it is not possible” and simply pushes the responsibility onto Trip.com. They do not provide real assistance, nor do they show any willingness to explore alternatives.
We do understand that this situation involves a third party like Trip.com, but what we have truly experienced with Japan Airlines is a total lack of empathy and accountability. In contrast, Latam Airlines (the operator for the Los Angeles–Lima segment) has been completely different: on two occasions we spent more than 1.5 hours on the phone with their staff, who showed genuine concern, acknowledged how absurd and abusive Trip.com’s position is, and actively tried to find solutions. They even attempted to correct the name through their system (confirming it was technically possible, though blocked for the Tokyo–Los Angeles leg), and went as far as proposing to create a mirror booking so that we could cancel and reissue the tickets without penalty.
Meanwhile, the only “solution” that Trip.com offers us is to purchase three entirely new tickets from Tokyo to Lima without any refund for the original ones. We raised this multiple times with Japan Airlines, yet their response showed no empathy whatsoever, nor any effort to help us avoid such an unreasonable outcome. In stark contrast, when we explained this to Latam, they were shocked by Trip.com’s stance and did everything in their power to search for alternatives.
This comparison highlights the problem: while Latam tried everything possible to help, Japan Airlines refuses to step in or even acknowledge that they could intervene. We have also spoken with another travel agency, which confirmed that the final responsibility lies with the airline.
Therefore, what we expect from Japan Airlines is not to “pass the blame” to Trip.com, but to show at least the same level of empathy and problem-solving attitude that Latam demonstrated. Unfortunately, our experience with JAL has been deeply disappointing, and I cannot recommend relying on them in case of any issue.

This was our first flight on Japan Airlines, couldn't fault the plane, leg room spacious & catering of meals great with quite a variety. The ground staff at Vancouver Int. airport gate were fantastic particularly Miyuki who helped us complete the "visit Japan" app on our mobiles as this helped us to get through customs at Narita quicker as we had a connecting flight 3 1/2 hours later from Henda airport which was 1 1/2 hours shuttle bus ride. Didn't think we would make our flight but did with about 15 minutes to spare. Thank you very much Miyuki you are a gem.

Nice:
The flight and ground staff are extremely professional yet friendly, providing attentive and efficient service.

Terrible:
Their app and website are extremely unfriendly. Simple tasks like purchasing tickets, managing bookings, and contacting support are much more cumbersome and difficult compared to other airline platforms.

This was my first time flying with JAL, and while the onboard experience may be great (we’ll see), the systems and support around their flights are utterly dysfunctional — especially if you’re booked via a codeshare.

Our flight from Heathrow to Japan was operated by JAL but booked by British Airways, and this created a maze of bureaucracy. JAL’s app didn’t recognise our booking, nor could I check in or select seats online. I made multiple phone calls — each at least 45 minutes long — where I was passed back and forth between JAL and BA. Every time I asked to pay for an upgrade or even just reserve better economy seats, I was told “we can’t do that – speak to the other airline.”

At Heathrow, JAL’s desk staff were polite and clearly frustrated on our behalf, but even they couldn’t take payment for business upgrades without causing our entire ticket and internal flights to be invalidated. Despite eight empty seats in business, and despite our offer to pay the full £4,000, JAL’s systems wouldn’t allow it. Even the manager — who genuinely tried to help — could only offer upgraded economy seats due to restrictions on BA bookings.

JAL also has a bidding system for upgrades, but we weren’t eligible to use it because the booking was made through BA. All in all, it’s absurd that a major international airline can’t sell a seat to someone actively trying to pay for it. The rigid systems and poor inter-airline communication left us stuck in a loop of helplessness.

I had the best experience from Japan airlines I 100% believe this is the number 1 airline in the world. They treated me with such respect and kindness. I lost my backpack full of documents and paperwork. My flight was going to leave in 20 min. Kageie a amazing kind worker called found my bag and took me to my lost back to help me get to my flight and have all my things. She was super professional and nice. JAL you should be the industry standard for airlines. Plus the food on the flight was amazing. I would love it if you could reward Kageie she saved potentially my future marriage. That backpack was full of expensive and irreplaceable items and she found it! THANK YOU KAGEIE AND THANK YOU JAL FOR AN AMAZIJG EXPERIENCE!