Review of ANA flight from Chicago to Tokyo in Economy

Background:
This series will cover a quickie to Chicago aboard All Nippon Airways (NH) or ??? as it is colloquially called here.
Part 1 – NGO-NRT [NH 338, Boeing B737-700, Economy] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-12166.html
Part 2 – NRT-ORD [NH 12, Boeing B777-300ER, Economy] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-12188.html
Part 3 – ORD-NRT [NH 11, Boeing B777-300ER, Economy] – You are here
Part 4 – NRT-NGO [NH 337, Boeing B737-500, Economy] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-12391.html
This report will cover the longer westbound flight from O’Hare to Narita. There are 5 flights per day non-stop between these two airports (AA x1, JL x1, NH x2, and UA x1). NH also operates an afternoon flight that leaves the same time as the UA plane, but I opted for the earlier of the two flights in order to catch the earlier NRT-NGO flight home.
Pre-flight:
My driver dropped me off at the curb in front of the NH check-in area 2 hours before departure. NH and LH share a check-in area.

Inside the terminal, the check-in area was not crowded and I was immediately helped by a very friendly UA agent. When she saw the EY card, she freaked out since she had never seen an EY card before. I showed her a printout I carry of the NH/EY benefits agreement. She immediately picked up the phone and called the NH office to get the information she needed. She tagged my bag priority, but told me I would not be able to get lounge access since there is no ANA operated lounge in ORD (I already knew this detail). A guy in a NH uniform (not of Japanese decent) comes up and sees what is going on. He looks at the priority tag on my suitcase and asks the UA agent why I have it since I don’t have *A on my Y boarding pass. The UA agent explained the EY benefits and he just scoffed and walked away. Disgusting behavior to not only a customer, but also a coworker. That really upset me. Anyways, the UA agent hands me my boarding passes.

The UA agent then asks me if I know where the Premier Access lane is for security. I haven’t been to O’Hare since the update so I said no. She quickly pulls out a map and explains to me how to get to the Premier Access lane. She then gives me directions to the gate by telling me to turn left at the dinosaur and then taking another left once I leave the underground tunnel. She gave very detailed instructions and was the best check-in agent I have met this year and she wasn’t even an employee of the airline I was using. I submitted a letter to UA praising her after I got back to Nagoya. People like that deserve to be recognized for their work.

The new UA Premier Access check-in area at ORD.

I kept walking all the way to the other Premier Access security line at the far end of Terminal 1. Right after I took this picture, a TSA officer walked out from inside and saw me taking the picture. As I showed my documents, he said “Why don’t you take another one, I’ll pose for you.” And there goes my awkward moment of this report.

Not sure what was so “premier” about this line, it still took 25-minutes to clear because they only had one body scanner working. The NH crew was in the line next to me and they also took a long time to clear security even though they only had to use the metal detectors. After security, there is this classy area sponsored by Springhill Suites where you can “relax” after the stress of TSA.

Walking towards the dinosaur, I stop for some spotting. I was taking a picture of the scimitar winglets, but I later noticed something else in this photo. You can see a NH tail poking up in the distance. My plane is getting towed to Terminal 1 from Terminal 5 where it arrived earlier this morning.

The Uninental livery gets some crap, but I think I can make it look good in my photos. This B737-900ER, for example, looks pretty good.

As promised, the dinosaur at ORD.

As instructed by the check-in agent, I take a left and head underground. Shameless advertisements for EconomyPlus.

Not as fancy as the lightshow in the DTW tunnel, but ORD has its own flair.

After taking the escalators up to the concourse, the FIDS. My flight is still showing on-time.

With 30 minutes to kill before boarding, I do some spotting.
UA B767-300.

UA B777-200.

UA B747-400.

UA B757-200.

UA CRJ-200.

I’m getting closer to my bird, but my gate is blind so I can only see the tail poking up.

UA A320.

UA B737-900ER with UA B747-400 in the distance.

Waiting for the scimitar winglets to arrive in Asia.

UA B737-800.

View of my plane from the adjacent gate. We have a “We Support UNESCO” decal on my plane.

My gate, C10. There is essentially no seating area at my gate. There aren’t even enough seats for a CRJ-200, much less a B77W. The line for boarding ended up wrapping down this hallway because of the construction in the center of the terminal

I casually go into the restaurant next to my gate, walk up to the windows, and snag a couple of shots before anyone has the chance to stop me. This was the only way to actually get a picture of my plane because of the orientation of the gates in Concourse C.

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All Nippon Airways, NH 11
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [JA734A, delivered March 2006]
Departure: 11:00 (ATD: 11:26)
Arrival: 13:45 (ATA: 13:46)
Flight time: 12:20
I board with business class. The same rude NH agent from the check-in area was there during boarding. I stayed clear of him, still a bad taste in my mouth. Down the jetbridge.

Boarding, a FA welcomes me on board (she turns out to be one of the FAs working my row in the Y cabin).

After the long walk through J and Y+, we reach the first Y cabin. This is where I sat on the NRT-ORD segment.

The larger rear Y cabin. Again, we will be in the 3-4-2 configuration on this flight. The FA was helping an elderly gentleman into his seat. I was sitting right in front of him, so I didn’t take a picture of my seat, but I’m in an aisle seat in the 2-seater section about mid-cabin.

The view down my row.

The generous 34” seat pitch is more than adequate for a long-haul flight.

A peek out the window before my seatmate arrives. UA B747-400 next door.

Our route today. They predict 12:11, but it was actually 12:20, so not too bad of a prediction.

My seatmate arrives, a Filipino guy heading home to Manila. The boarding finishes on time and we get pushed back. The GPS is way off, our gate is not located in the grass.

As we turn onto the runway, my seatmate lets me lean over to snap a shot of the Chicago skyline in the horizon. He kept the shades down the rest of the flight so no more photos of the outside world in this report.

We effortlessly lift up, head towards Lake Michigan before turning north to Wisconsin.

After we level off, the FAs are released and get to work. Distribution of oshibori.

This was followed by aperitif service. I took a Suntory, water, and otsumami.

No menu cards today :( The FA took a verbal order. The option was chicken with pasta or vegetable curry. My Filipino seatmate was continually mistaken for Japanese throughout the flight, which was comical since he couldn’t understand a word they were saying to him, so I had to translate for him until the FAs finally picked up that he wasn't Japanese. (To Numero_2: even the Japanese can’t tell if someone is Japanese or not^^) Anyways, I took the vegetable curry. The tray as received.

The tray revealed. I also have a cup of miso soup in the back corner now.

The curry wasn’t spicy, but I thought it tasted fine. Not as good as the JL business class curry, but for Y it was good.

Soba noodles, seaweed, edamame and egg, and fruit. Maybe the seaweed is a bold choice by NH, I personally like it, but others might find it a bit aggressive. The fruit was a weird inclusion. It is normally a “dessert” type food, but we still had dessert coming.

Another drink service was also done when the meal trays were delivered. After I finished, my tray was cleared and I was offered ice cream. Standard Asian carrier dessert: Haagen-Dazs.

Dessert service was followed by coffee and tea service as the cabin lights were dimmed.

Just like meal service started at Saskatoon on the last flight, on this flight we ended meal service around Saskatoon. It’s the 2-hour mark.

Again, the FAs came through the cabin almost hourly offering water and tea from pitchers. There was also a full non-alcoholic drink selection in the rear galley along with various snacks and fruit laid out for self-service. As on the previous flight, we had a Chinese FA in our cabin that was there for her English ability.

I just spent the next several hours watching movies on Sky Channel. Decent selection. Better than some, worse than some. Enough to keep me occupied on this flight even though I already had the same selection a couple of days before.

Around Anchorage, I decided to use the restroom before taking a nap.

The lavatories in the back were so-so at this point in the flight. At least they have the same lotion that AA puts in their J amenity kits ;)

Cabin shot from the rear lavatories.

I had a nice chat with the FA that worked my aisle. She looked sleepy so I asked if she was tired, she said she just finished her rest break. They each get 3 hours of sleep mid-flight. She was an 8-year veteran of NH. Retreating to my seat, I slept until the next meal service started.

Oshibori were distributed.

Verbal meal offering again. The options were beef or fish. I went with the fish. My tray as received.

The tray revealed. Drink service was also conducted: hot tea and water for me.

The main was cod with potato wedges and vegetables. The sauce was tomato based. The vegetables are never great in Y, so these were the letdown of this meal since they had that steamed frozen vegetables taste. The bread was standard packaged bread. Yogurt and fruit were also standard.

Even though I didn’t use the cutlery, there was a serious issue with NH’s cleaning!

Meal service concluded with coffee and tea service.

Meal service ended around here as we approached Hokkaido.

After watching some more Sky Channel, we did the uncommon landing from the west into NRT.

After a shocking late arrival into NRT (only 1 minute late, so I’ll let it slide), we taxi around to Terminal 1 and take our spot at a gate. Deplaning, the Y FAs give a warm departure while the J FAs mumble bye. The long walk to immigration.

Immigration was quick and it was a 20-minute wait for bags. I collected my bag, cleared customs, and headed out towards the domestic check-in counters. I’ll leave off this series here as I recheck my bag and head into the ANA Arrivals Lounge (my way to force you to read the boring domestic report that will follow).