Review of ANA flight from Nagoya to Hakodate in Premium Eco

Background:
This series highlights a recent weekend trip I took up to Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido. While a simple domestic routing in Japan might not seem that interesting, we will take a look at a new product for me: NH’s Premium class. I have had a love/hate relationship with NH in the past, so this is my chance to give them a fresh start. My past impressions were that NH crew English abilities were generally poor, resulting in unnatural/forced interactions that make me feel uncomfortable because they visually look uncomfortable trying to speak English to me. Yes, this is a common problem throughout Japan and is not only directed at NH, but it's something that a 5*-carrier should be addressing in order to keep up with it's south Asian rivals. Despite this problem, I've always enjoyed flying on NH and think very highly of their services and products. My Japanese has improved greatly since my last trip on NH so let’s see how they do from a different perspective.
NH has an extensive domestic network, however, most of their flights are shuttle flights to/from NRT/HND on international connections usually operating in high-density economy configurations (B735s and A320s). This will be my first time flying a mainline NH domestic flight that was not to NRT. NGO is a pretty large focus city for NH; there is an extensive network of direct flights to 17 different destinations (route map provided by http://www.ana.co.jp/) although most are only connected by one daily flight (and operated by IBEX or NH Wings, not mainline NH). Taking a look at this route map, destinations are mainly on the islands of Kyushu and Hokkaido since these are destinations that are not easily accessible by the more practical Shinkansen.

There is a single daily flight from Nagoya to Hakodate, so there was little choice when choosing flights. Fortunately, NH sends a B737-800 on this route meaning it is configured with a Premium class. I would normally just fly economy on a flight like this, but since I had enough *A miles, I decided to splurge for Premium class to try out this new product. I will fly to Hakodate on Saturday morning and return the next day in the afternoon. This gives us a very simple routing:
Part 1 – NGO-HKD [NH 497, Boeing B737-800, Premium] – You are here
Part 2 – HKD-NGO [NH 498, Boeing B737-800, Premium] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-10411.html
Pre-flight:
As like all NGO85 trips, we start on the Meitetsu ?Sky Airport Express with service to Ch'bu Centrair from downtown Nagoya for ¥1230 ($10 / €10). Seat pitch is good and April’s issue of Wind is in the seatback. Today was a clear day, so we get a nice view of Ch'bu Centrair as we get close to the airport.

Exiting the train, we head towards the domestic side of the airport for check-in. Technically, you don’t need to check-in for domestic flights in Japan unless you are checking bags. When you book the ticket, there is a barcode on the e-receipt you use at security to get your boarding pass receipt. What unnerves me the most about this process is that your ID is never checked. Anyone can take your receipt and board your flight for you. I think this is done to speed up check-in for domestic flights in order to make them more competitive with the Shinkansen, but from a security standpoint this is very alarming (from an American’s perspective).
I wanted a printed boarding pass on NH cardstock so I went to the check-in desk anyways. There was of course no one at the Premium class check-in line so I was quickly helped. No surprises here, but the first words out of the agents mouth after “?????” (“Good day”) was “????????” (“Is Japanese okay?”). I, of course, immediately concede so check-in was done in Japanese and I was handed my e-ticket receipt on NH cardstock with a smile and bow.

I then head upstairs to the shopping area to give a daytime glimpse of NGO’s activities. During the day, it doesn’t have the same “night club” feel that Kevin likes, but it is nonetheless dark since the airport only uses the skylights for lighting. It’s of course very crowded (you’ll see why in a minute) and all of the restaurants and shops are pretty busy. Looking up, you can see that they have the airport decorated with cherry blossoms. I’m neither hungry or interested in buying omiyage so I head straight out onto the observation deck.

There is nothing like a cool, crisp spring morning and a tarmac filled with airplanes! The deck is pretty empty right now, but the tarmac isn’t. Looking at the international side of the airport first, we can see a row of beautiful planes (TG, AY, SQ, and CX) lining one side.

Right in the middle is the LH A343 with a KE A332 getting backed up. UA and NH B737s are sitting at remote stands in the background. Looking to the left, we can see even more tails (CI, JL, VN, NH, MU, and PR).

But who is this hiding in the heat haze in the very back corner??? The Boeing DreamLifter is here! This is actually a very common sighting at NGO (Marathon also saw it when he was at NGO a couple of years ago). Why is it here you might ask? Both Fuji Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries do a lot of parts construction work for Boeing, so they fly the components from Nagoya to Everett for final assembly.

One last look at the Air Pepsi A332 before we head over to the domestic side of the observation deck.

The domestic side is pretty barren since they alternate international and domestic activity at the airport since it is a single runway. We have a NH Dash-8 doing its start-up; you can see the right propeller is now starting up while the left is still off. There is a CZ A320 taxing to the runway, which is then followed out by the same NH Dash-8 that was just starting up. Finally, a JL B738 is getting backed up.

Turning around, we can see the arrival of a NH B767 in the distance who then taxis by me.

The Japanese love plane spotting, I’m just using this guy as an example of how intense of a hobby this is for them.

What was he photographing? The KE A332’s departure. I can only catch the lift-up as she heads back to ICN. She was then followed by the CZ A320 and the NH Dash-8.

Their departures were followed by the arrival of this war veteran: a UA B738 (ex-CO) who has 16 years of Micronesia duty under her belt. You can see how beat up she is with chipped paint and scratches everywhere.

She was followed in by her better looking cousin, a NH B738.

This one is dedicated to the Kevin of yore, a DL B757-200.

CX A333, SQ A333, AY A333, and TG B773.

The DreamLifter is now open and getting ready to get loaded up. A JL B738 taxis by.

The LH A343 is getting backed up for its departure to FRA.

And to wrap up this 30 minute spotting session, the final tail line-up at the international terminal before heading inside: CI A333, NH B738, JL B788, VN A321, UA B738, and MU B738. Remember this sight, since by the time my plane leaves in an hour, this entire terminal will be empty.

It’s now about an hour to my departure time so I head towards security for the domestic side of the airport. First, we stop and admire this morning’s domestic departures in both English and Japanese. My flight is showing on-time, leaving from Gate 9. Security line is empty as always and I’m through within 2 minutes.

Airside, we see there are no duty-free shops, instead only a dark lobby with some stores to buy omiyage. Right next to security is the generic domestic terminal lounge. It’s shared by JL and NH. But first: stop and think about what you are expecting to see behind these doors.

Surprise! Here is the entire lounge in one photo. The greeting was pretty minimal, just a bow and a hand gesture towards the bar code reader that I use to scan my boarding pass myself. It beeps, then a hand gesture towards the lounge. The lounge has no windows. It has this simple seating area, then desks along the back wall where everyone currently is sitting. There is a bar area to the left of this photo where there was a coffee machine, soda machine (tea, orange juice, soft-drinks, water), one bottle of Suntory whiskey, and then the beer tap (Yebisu, just for Numero_2). The fridge to the right just had cold glasses for the beer. Not a single item of food. That’s right, nothing. Right after I took this photo, a stream of twenty people came in so I don’t have a better photo of the bar, but it was easy enough to describe.

My offering thus will be liquid only: a coffee and an orange juice (not fresh, from the soda machine). I just sit down and take my boarding pass photos and the corporate screen shot using the NGO Free WiFi. A casual glance to the left shows this large spill in the carpet. Definitely a classy lounge.

After I finish my drinks, I leave. The domestic side of the terminal is a mirror image of the international side, with the dark corridors and colorful carpet. That said, the airport is very clean and functional.

As I walk to my gate, I see the NH B763 getting backed up before it heads down to Okinawa.

My plane is here (foreground) and is parked next to a NH Dash-8 that was heading to Matsuyama. A KE B738 just arrived from ICN and is taxing to the international side of the airport in the distance.

I arrive at my gate twenty minutes before departure and the gate agents are already behind the counters. The flight is still on-time. NH recently updated its crew uniforms in February 2015 so they now wear grey jackets, but the blue or or pink neck scarves are retained.

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All Nippon Airways, NH497
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [JA61AN, delivered August 2010]
Departure: 11:15 (ATD: 11:25)
Arrival: 12:45 (ATA: 12:38)
Flight time: 1:13
Right on time, 15 minutes prior to departure, the boarding starts. That might shock most of you since you are thinking there is no way this plane could possibly leave on time with that short of a boarding window, but in Japan that is standard and the planes are rarely late.
Now here is my second point of contention with NH: all boarding announcements at the gate are made in Japanese only. They start off with special assistance boarding and three old ladies in wheelchairs are escorted down to the plane. They then call for Premium class passengers along with NH and *A elites to board. That’s me, so I scan my boarding pass by myself and walk through the turnstyle. This gives a nice view of the tarmac so I take a picture before heading down the jetbridge.

Reaching the actual jetbridge, I can’t help but take another picture of this beautiful NH B738 bound for Ishigaki.

Reaching the threshold of the plane, I can see that we have pilots today (always a relief) and then I go to the other side and take the classic fuselage shot.

Walking onto the plane, I’m greeted in Japanese by two FAs, one of them then walks me to my seat. (My experiences with Asian carriers is that a Westerner is always greeted in English) She takes my backpack and puts it in the overhead bin then asks me if I need anything. I made the mistake of greeting them in Japanese, so they are going along with it speaking to me in Japanese, but this is where I challenge them. I respond in English to her question by asking for a pillow (only a blanket was pre-placed in the seat). She looks startled and then quickly looks through the overhead bin to pull one out and hands it to me without saying anything, only bows and quickly goes back to the galley. Aha! As soon as I address them in English, they immediately change their service pattern and stop talking. I guess NH has not changed since I last flew them.
Anyways, here is a picture of my seat (taken on arrival, hence the blanket was not nicely folded into the seatbelt). The cabin is in two rows of a 2/2 configuration standard in Asia and similar to US domestic first.

Settling into my seat, I look out the window and see the baggage getting loaded up. Our neighbor has now changed and we have a NH B735 parked next door.

Once priority boarding is finished, the count in the Premium cabin is 3/8. The FA then comes by and offers me a choice of two English newspapers; I take The Japan News and thank her in Japanese (the game is over). She then looks surprised by the Japanese, and asks me if Japanese is okay, to which I acknowledge that I can speak some Japanese and she compliments me for my Japanese ability (in other words, she was relieved not to be forced to speak English). I love the Japanese newspapers: a quick look at the bottom of the front page and it’s an article about how they are accusing the Chinese of hacking Japanese networks. So much love in this region of the world…

Economy boarding is well underway at this point. Seat pitch is good (50 in, 127 cm). With these seats, there is no under seat storage, so both rows are like being in the bulkhead. In the seat back, there are slippers (same as NH long-haul business class with shoe horn and shoe bag inside), low quality headphones, and then the standard literature that I’ll show later on.

Boarding is finished on-time, the front-door immediately closes, and we begin push back. Japanese efficiency prevails and we can board a B737 in less than 15 minutes contrary to any domestic flight in the US. No pre-departure drinks are offered or oshibori (not a big deal, these could be had at the lounge since boarding is so quick). After the safety video (standard Japanese/English version with Japanese subtitles), we get this awesome flight simulation: they show the entire route along with speed and time.

The taxi is kind of long and we are in a queue to depart. First up was the TG B773 heading back to BKK. This was followed by an IBEX CRJ-700 bound for SDJ. There was then a brief pause at the threshold of the runway as this CI B738 came crashing down from TPE.

We align onto the runway and then begin our north-bound take-off. As we head down the runway, we can see the DreamLifter one last time. Then the completely empty international terminal other than one lonely OZ A321, which was filled to the brim when I was at the observation deck just an hour ago. Wheels are up as we pass by the control tower and domestic terminal. The CI B738 taxis below as we head into Ise Bay.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we went straight over downtown Nagoya. Up first is the Port of Nagoya (largest and busiest in Japan), the center of the next picture is Mizuho Stadium: home of the Nagoya Grampus, and then the center of the last photo is Nagoya Dome: home of the Chunichi Dragons.

We then rise up into the foothills of the Japanese Alps, so I take a break and introduce the offerings of this product. We have the blanket, pillow, and safety card.

Moments later we reach the Japanese Alps, and can take in some beautiful aeriel shots on this clear, sunny day.

The FAs are then released for service. The purser can be seen making the seatbelt announcement in the galley (only in Japanese).

Let's take a look at the Premium class service guide located in the seatback pocket and see what we have on offer today. Opening it up, we can see the top is a big advertisement about NH being the “Inspiration of Japan” and how they have renewed their 5* rating with SkyTrax and are the only Japanese carrier to receive such an accolade. These subtly say: “Suck it, JL!” We do get a meal on this flight. As indicated on this chart, meal offerings vary by time of day and origin of departure. Our flight departs between 11:00 and 13:00, so we will get a Premium Gozen for lunch. The other side of the first page is a list of all the non-alcoholic drinks that won’t interest most readers of this site.

Now onto the alcoholic drinks section. No champagne is a big minus. They offer four French wines, but then a sparkling wine from Spain? I don’t drink wine, so I’ll let you judge these offerings on your own. The other side shows we have a sake from Niigata and sh'ch? from Kagoshima. Then a good beer selection of all your standard Japanese brews.

The last page of the Premium class guide talks about the seats. Here we can see the new Premium class seat that appears on all regionally configured aircraft (aka, used as business class for any route to the Asian region that is not used by a long-haul configured aircraft). For example, this B738 configuration also operates the NGO-PVG and NGO-HKG routes and is sold as J. Are these 5* quality seats for those kind of routes? I’m thinking no since they lack personal IFE, but for a 1-hour domestic flight: no complaints here!

Service is underway, and we can see our FA has the coat off and is now in apron. You can also see the IFE is running in this photo, it was just showing travel shows highlighting different parts of Japan and then switching to the moving map every 10-15 minutes. The IFE is quasi-personal, there is one overhead monitor per pair of seats so it is very easy to watch, but it's not completely personal, but do you really need personal IFE on a 1-hour flight? The moving map showed up on the cabin IFE, which was all I needed.

It was then my turn for service. She came out, opened my tray table, and then placed down my bento boxes, hashi (chopsticks), and an oshibori. She then asked me what I would like to drink. I asked for hot tea. She returned immediately with a cup of miso soup and then my cup of tea (served in a paper cup). The cold oshibori was in a wrapper, but it was actually cloth and of decent thickness.

Opening up my little wrapped bento boxes, let’s see what we have today! On top there is a little card standing this is a Premium Gozen and on the back is the menu (in Japanese only). It's nice that they say how many calories are in this meal (406 kcal). It was prepared by Nagoya Air Catering (NAC), which I should mention has never given me a bad meal ex-NGO on all carriers.

Without further ado, the revealed meal! As I mentioned, front left is the miso soup. The bento box on the left had rice, topped with egg, shrimp, and peas. The bento box on the right was everything else divided into five compartments: meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. Of course, Japanese food is a feast for the eyes, but it’s the taste that counts. The miso soup was hot and of good quality. The bento boxes were all very good and I happily ate it all up. This is very much in line with what I eat for lunch on a daily basis so I was happy. I actually liked this better than the kaiseki served by EY. I thought this was a very good meal offering for a 1-hour domestic flight. It may not look like a whole lot of food, but this was the only thing I ate for lunch (since the lounge had nothing) and I didn't feel hungry again until 21:00.

Halfway through the meal, the FA came by again and asked me if I wanted anything else to drink and asked me how the food was. I asked for more tea and sh'ch? and told her that I liked the offering on this route. She asked me how I wanted the sh'ch? served, so I just asked for a cup of ice. She came back with my hot tea, a bottle of sh'ch?, a cup of ice, and a packet of otsumami (seasoned rice crackers). At this point, we were now flying along the coast of Japan just north of Niigata.

After I finished my bento boxes, she came by again and chatted for a bit asking me why I was flying to Hakodate. She asked me how I liked the sh'ch? explaining that it comes from Kagoshima and asked me if I wanted more. I told her that I thought it had a good taste (potato is my favorite), but declined another just asking for a cup of coffee instead. I still had a long day of sightseeing ahead of me so I thought better of it. She brought the coffee with a little chocolate (somehow didn’t make it into this photo). Now we started to get into cloudier weather near the northern parts of Honshu.

Since it's cloudy outside, let’s take a tour of the seat! The seat itself is leather and very comfortable. The recline is good and you have controls for the leg rest, which is always nice. Next to your headrest, there is a reading light, and a small little cubby where you can fit a wallet, phone, boarding passes, etc. You can also see the personal divider between the seats that offers good privacy when the seat is reclined.

The inside armrest of the seat has the tray table and textured surface so things don’t go flying off during takeoff/landing. At the front is a little dial that you can turn for service: nothing, wake me for meal, or do not disturb.

The outside armrest of the seat has the seat controls as well as the headphone jack and a little flip-up opening for the audio/video controls.

The inflight magazine for this month has a very colorful cover. Flipping inside, we can see the NH fleet list including everyone’s favorite member of the fleet: shiro nagasu kujira (blue whale). They also have the most confusing, impossible to read domestic route map that takes up four whole pages! The biggest downfall of this magazine is that there are no English articles, everything is in Japanese.

The captain came on and made some announcements in Japanese about our estimated arrival time and weather in Hakodate since we were beginning our descent. A peak out the window shows our winglet and grey clouds.

We then can see Hokkaido below us!

The FA made the final descent announcements in Japanese, but this time also repeated it in English! This was the only time English was spoken over the loud speaker by any crewmember whether FA or pilot. I was the only Westerner on the flight. A shot of the cabin after being prepared for landing. As they were preparing the cabin for landing, the FA came by and thanked me for flying and asked me how was my experience with NH was. That was a nice gesture and shows they at least care how their service is. I responded positively even though the whole anti-English vibes I get with NH still irk me.

Looking out the window, we can see we are now flying back over the water and it is very grey/rainy outside.

Then all of a sudden, we can see our final destination; a beautiful aerial welcome to Hakodate! Our final descent takes us right across the city. We can see the famous Mt. Hakodate rising up on the peninsula and the historically famous Hakodate Port in the foreground.

We slowly cross the city and finally dip down further to run along the Pacific coast.

We have a very smooth, soft landing at HKD right on time and then make the taxi back to the terminal. There is only one plane at the terminal when we show up and it is probably not a plane you’d expect to see here: a NH B772. NH, the Inspiration of Japan, indeed, but those P&Ws (thanks Numero_2 for the correction) are proudly showing they are American-made if you look at the decal on the side.

After arriving at the gate, an announcement is made to let Premium class passengers deplane first. It’s Japan, so they don’t have to physically block off economy; this request is explicitly respected. Heading out, the FAs thank me for flying and bow. Walking up the jetbridge, we get our first hint we are in Hokkaido: Russian is the third language before Chinese and Korean on the signage.

This is also a very dark airport and very small. Heading downstairs we arrive at the baggage claim that has two carousels. No bags for me, so I head straight through to the lobby. I pick up a one-day tram pass at the tourist information desk, and then head out to take the shuttle bus to the city. There are two options for reaching the city (other than taxi): city bus and shuttle bus. The shuttle bus seemed quicker but was slightly more expensive (¥410 ($3.50 / €3.50)). Be warned! No English signage for this bus, but if you look at the back you can see it runs from Hakodate Airport to Hakodate Station in 20 minutes. The shuttle buses are synched with the flights so there is no guessing as to what the schedule is (like you would with the normal city bus). And then a picture inside the bus as we head into town. The bus makes a couple of stops at hotels along the way. I reached Hakodate Station at 13:20 not bad considering we arrived pulled into our gate at 12:43.

And so why is NGO85 going to Hakodate, a city no foreign tourist to Japan ever visits? Well, Hakodate is home to one of the three most famous night views in Japan. Here is your tourist bonus teaser for the return leg:

Thanks for reading this report and please stop by for the return trip for another glance at the NH domestic product as well as a full tourist bonus of Hakodate.