JAL’s flight from Melbourne to Tokyo Narita on December 1 was delayed by over three hours due to alcohol being detected in one of the flight’s three pilots. Following the incident, from December 11, 2024, JAL banned its crew members from consuming alcohol on overnight layovers.
The delayed flight, JL774, was operated by a Boeing 787-8 registered JA840J. It had 103 passengers on board including three infants. The flight departed Melbourne over three hours late, after alcohol could not be detected in pilot in question anymore. It landed at Tokyo Narita approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes late.
Investigating the incident, JAL found that the two of the three pilots consumed more alcohol prior to their flight than the airline’s internal policy allows.
The incident follows a similar incident in April 2024 when JAL’s flight from Dallas Forth Worth to Tokyo Haneda was cancelled due to the flight’s captain’s inappropriate behavior at the hotel he was staying at.
With the Dallas incident being just one of several safety incidents JAL was involved in between late last year and April 2024, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism issued a “strict warning” to the airline in late May 2025.
