Eastbound to Beantown today and I finally got the title right on the first try! This flight is a historic one, not only for Japan Airlines, but for Boston as well, as NRT-BOS is not only JAL’s first international 787 Dreamliner route but Boston’s first non-stop connection with Asia, beginningon April 27th, 2012. It’s also a route that I was hyped to use the new JAL 787-8 livery on, since the airline used it between Narita and Boston for over a decade, but my hopes of being completely accurate were dashed when they upgauged to the 787-9 as part of the general trend of taking the smallest member of the Dreamliner family off North American routes, at least during the Summer travel season. Hopefully, the 787-8 returns this winter, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s the trip report:
Server: Solo
Airline: Japan Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Origin: Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan (NRT)
Destination: General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, East Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)
Flight Number: JL8
Route: RJAA-KBOS
Seat: 8A (JAL Sky Suite)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 42 Minutes
Waiting to board our aircraft as the Moon rises over Narita. That structure in the background is the Yokobori Pillars, supporting a barrier around a steel tower constructed by locals protesting the airport’s construction, located on the the grounds of the Yokobori family’s farm, one of five operating within the airport grounds today.
Taxiing to the end of Runway 34L for departure by the huge All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines maintainence hangars, the Delta Air Lines Narita Technical Operation Center (even though Delta has been a Haneda-only airline since 2019, they will send aircraft here for maintainence), and the main Nippon Cargo Airlines facility
Taking off out of NRT in our third consecutive Sky Suite flight with JAL
Looking at Mount Fuji in the distance
Getting to have a delicious dinner of waygu beef curry once we level off at 35,000 feet
Having another waygu beef curry for lunch as we cruise south of Hudson Bay over northern Ontario
Initial descent in the Golden Hour over Upstate New York just east of Albany, the state capital
Evening arrival in Boston with one of the smoothest landings we’ve had as of late, not even noticing that we touched down until the spoilers went up and the reversers opened
Taxiing to the E Gates by the JetBlue and Cape Air terminal
Deplaned at Gate E10 as the Sun slips below the horizon