Could this be the Worst JAL Lounge?

I’ve seen some good airport lounges and some not-so-good ones, but I never expected a Japan Airlines Lounge to be anything other than fabulous .  .  .  until I went to the lounge at Terminal 1 at Tokyo Haneda Airport.

This year I’ve been particularly lucky because I have gone to Asia twice, both times on Japan Airlines:

(1) The Bali Trip in January/February – I flew on JAL from New York to Jakarta (JFK-NRT-CGK-NRT-JFK) and additionally on Garuda Indonesia from Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali; and

(2) The Seoul and Japan Trip in March – I flew on JAL from New York to Seoul via NRT/HND (JFK-NRT HND-GMP) with the return flight home from Tokyo (HND-JFK).

All of the above JAL flights were in business class. In addition, I  purchased a one-way ticket in premium economy from Seoul to Osaka with a stop at Haneda (GMP-HND-ITM).

For all of the above flights, since I am a One World Emerald member, I had access to wonderful JAL First Class Lounges on each of my stops through HND or NRT  (see, e.g., the review of the JAL First Class Lounge at Narita International Airport).

So, when I was flying from Seoul to Osaka, stopping at Haneda Airport, I was happy to visit the JAL Lounge there. My flight from Korea arrived in the international terminal (Terminal 3) at Haneda Airport. I cleared immigration and customs and proceeded to the domestic terminal (Terminal 1). I checked in at the front desk of the JAL Lounge.

The Sakura Lounge (business class) was to the left, and the Diamond Premier Lounge (first class) was to the right. I went to the right, into the first class lounge.

I walked into the lounge and I did a double take. Holy smokes, what the heck was this? This didn’t look like any lounge I’d been to, let alone a JAL lounge! In fact, it looked more like a bus station in a depressed town somewhere in the boondocks, than a swanky JAL airport lounge.

I walked over to the food and beverage area.

The food offerings were slim pickings. There were crackers (the curry ones weren’t bad), tasteless warm rice triangle cakes (Onigiri) wrapped in plastic and a soup dispenser. That was basically it for food. I recognize that this is a domestic terminal rather than an international terminal, but I was seriously surprised that there wasn’t more of a selection.

I believe that coffee and tea and some cold beverages were available. But what about alcohol? I was in the mood for a glass of wine or sake, but strangely only beer (from those cool Japanese beer dispensers) and whiskey was available.

I really wanted a glass of wine. I walked out past the front desk to the Sakura (business) lounge. No wine there either. So I drank some whiskey, and then we were on our way to the next flight.