intro
Firstly, I want to apologize for not being active in the past 2 weeks as much. Just finished up 13 flights in 10 days through South America (including 2 flights on the new LATAM J) on the trip of a lifetime! Those reviews will start soon. However, let's get into the review of ANA the room!
Back in mid-2022, when the aviation market was beginning to recover, I had to get to Bali to partake in the next step of my health treatment. Since I was going to be in Bali for a while and not flying, I decided to make this trip extra special by flying the new ANA business class on their 777 from New York to Tokyo.
Before we dive into the full review, "The Room" is a one-of-a-kind business class product with the most space I have seen from any business class product in the sky. However, the soft product on ANA has little room for improvement as it feels quite like a conveyor belt.
how i booked
These days, award space is virtually unheard of in Business Class or First Class on this route. However, when I checked online a few days before departure, I found plenty of space open on Points for the day I selected to connect to Jakarta through Haneda.
For 110K United Miles per person, transferred over from Chase UR, I managed to book the following itinerary. Yes I know, I could have done it through Virgin for cheaper, but it is what it is.
NH109- New York (JFK)- Tokyo (Haneda) Business Class "The Room"
NH855- Tokyo (Haneda)- Jakarta (CGK) Business Class 787-9
While 110K points might not be the best value on paper, as it is much cheaper through ANA, it still represents terrific value for over 20 hours of flying! The taxes and fees were minimal as well as United skips out on those?.
check in
After getting my tonsils removed, a week later it was time to head to JFK for our 3 pm departure. A car service picked us up in the LES of Manhattan where it was about a 35-minute drive to JFK at around midday.
Once we arrived at JFK Terminal 7, virtually no one was there. In total, I would estimate 20 people in line across all 4 cabins, this is the only thing I miss about the Pandemic.
The staff verified our documents and we embarked to the BA lounge (ANA used to use this lounge).
boarding
This certain configuration on this 777 features 64 business class seats across 3 cabins, talk about a premium configuration?! I made my way down the aisle and settled into my seat 15K for this long ride over to Tokyo today.
At first glance, wow! The footwell is huge!
The cabin was about half full on today's flight in business class, and 1/4 full in First Class! Now, we would never dream of seeing those numbers in a million years in this era.
The safety video was played, and we were pushing back on schedule in no time. I am personally not a fan of the slippers on ANA as they feel cheap, but I still changed into them.
Pajamas are not offered in Business Class and on this flight, nor was a cardigan weirdly.
We headed out to 31L for our departure.
We had a standard takeoff roll and was airborne a few minutes behind schedule, heading through some low New York cloud cover.
the seat/suite
Where to even begin with this seat, it is ginormous and everything is laid out perfectly!
To your right lies the TV remote along with the seat controls. These are both placed perfectly, as you won't bump them nor will they be in your way.
My only issue with the seat was storage. There was a compartment under the TV but not much else. However, when in lie-flat mode, the seat became storage?. There was USB charging port, along with a plug to charge your devices.
On the ground, the cabin crew keeps the doors open for taxi, takeoff, and landing. However, once past 10,000 feet you can shut the door to turn your seat into "the room". This is debatably the most privacy you can expect from a business class seat, right up there with QR.
As I mentioned earlier, the footwell is massive. One of my biggest issues with business class on airlines is how you have to cram your feet into a tiny footwell, not on ANA.
The seat was so big that I could have done yoga in it (not quite as big as SQ Suites). It could easily fit two people across and perhaps a young adult as well.
I am 6 feet tall, so when in bed mode, I could just about reach the other side of the bed with my hand, resembling how wide the bed is.
The bed came with a mattress topper and duvet/blanket. I nabbed a couple of pillows off of some other's seats and made a pillow fort. All in all, I managed to get a solid 8 hours straight of sleep on the flight. Not bad at all! It was extremely comfortable and spacious, top marks here ANA!
Lastly, I found the electronic shades to be perfect. If you have flown BA First Class, then these are pretty much the same. Unlike the 787, the cabin crew can't dim them?.
dining
Waiting upon my seat when we boarded was the menu for today's flight. Some airlines had yet to bring back printed menus (looking at you in Thai Airways) so it was nice to see them onboard today.
Here is what the menu looked like for today's flight! Both the Japanese option and the International Cuisine looked divine!
Seeing as I wasn't drinking at the time, I opted to go for a Pepsi since ANA doesn't serve Coca-cola on board. More like a Pepsi Cola huh?.
My starter was served about an hour and a half after takeoff, not that I was in a rush. The bread was fine, and so was the starter; there is not much to report here. The presentation was on point though.
30 minutes later my main course came out. For the main, I chose to mix and match the international cuisine with the Japanese. The braised beef shank
The braised beef shank was absolutely terrific, and the Japanese sticky rice, ummm… I had a lot more than one serving I can tell you that. How do ANA make such good rice in the air? One shall never know?.
There were a couple of different snacks available throughout the flight which included a "cheeseburger". However, I didn't eat anything else on the flight except a couple of Kitkats, of course.
ife
The IFE screen is massive and of some incredible quality. It felt as if you were at home in your couch watching the warriors play a game in the playoffs. GRR Steph Curry, Dame is a better 3-point shooter?. Hot take, I digress. I loved that they had live TV which I utilized onboard both of my flights with ANA!
The map was also well-detailed and of good quality. Welcome back to Tokyo for the fifth time since the start of the pandemic ?.
arrival
We had a beautiful approach into Haneda this morning, funnily enough this was my second time landing in Haneda ever out of the 14 times I've flown into Tokyo. Look at that 777 Wing!!!!!
It's a lucky rainbow. Every day that we're alive is a lucky day!
We touched down a little bit ahead of schedule and had a short taxi to our gate.
Where a 16-hour overnight layover was in order, with all the hotels closed due to the pandemic, brutal…
If you interested in reading more, feel free to check out my blog!
I was going to say how the heck did you get in to Japan in 2022, but then I figured it was because you were connecting to another country, The Room does indeed look like an amazing product--right up there with Qsuites, if not better. I wonder how much of the disappointing catering and distant service was due to the pandemic since this was in 2022. Most Western countries were feeling like they were coming out of the pandemic by then, but most of Asia was still in the dark days. Heck even during my trip last year, going to Japan felt like a trip back in time to 2020 with so many Covid protocols still in place (I know it's loosened up since). And even in 2023 service on JAL was still simplified pandemic-era catering, as well as less content on the IFE, so I can imagine it could be similar for ANA, a full year prior.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading Kevin and your comment! I think that the only way to test it out would be to fly it again?. Another excuse haha. You are so right about how different it was in Japan (and China) until 2023, I wonder if it is still the same now. It's interesting, as I feel like Thai Airways was pretty much the same during the pandemic but not with the Japanese carriers. Now I have to go check out your reviews to Japan BRB.
Thank you for this entertaining review! I agree, ANA The Room is up there with QR Q Suite, and better than it in some ways. Just stunning.