Dreamliner 787 Japan

Made trip to Japan to and from Boston via JAL Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner

Great to be able to get on at Boston and go directly to Japan. Increased cabin pressure, humidity and temperature made the trip much more comfortable than on earlier aircraft. Dreamliner was not as big as was expecting, but should have realized the size from the roughly 250 seats. Wing dynamics are interesting to watch as they bend up when in flight. Those sitting in the center will not be able to see the wing tips out the windows during flight.

JAL service was great as always. Personnel were extremely polite, helpful and accommodating. It is a refreshing change from what one finds on North American airlines.

The dimmable windows were interesting, but actually somewhat irritating because it seemed that one in a hundred were malfunctioning. That may not seem bad at first glance, but in full sunlight when passengers are trying to sleep it meant glaring beams of light from varoius locations in the aircraft. Was not really possible to tell if the windows were broken, or that passengers beside the windows were dense or obstinate, or what was going on. Manual shades mean manual actions (either social or technical) can be taken to address such issues.

LED colored "mood" lighting was interesting, but did not seem to add much to the flight experience. And seemed like the crew was eager to play with the feature - like bringing the lights up midway through the "nap" section of the flight to offfer snacks. Seemed past long-haul flights siuch snacks were served in dimness/dakrness to avoid disturbing the general somnolence.

Dreamliner looked and felt new. From the seat base up it presented as modern as any aircraft. But the struts and structures (and wiring and such) below seat level seemed oddly like a throwback to pre 1990's aircraft.

The JEN/Magic entertainment system has more fetaures and function and options than ever.
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inflight/inter/jen/magic5/

Lots of movies and games, and even ebooks. Touch screen worked well, but unclear how robust that will be in longterm. BUT handheld controllers have gotten even smaller, and are hard for the age-vision challenged to use. Also, the three main buttons - light, attendant cancel, and attendant call - seemed to be in prime spots for being constantly bumped into, or available to small fingers to play with.