Hi again everyone, thanks for joining me for another flight review. Today we’re taking a hop from ORD to NRT aboard ANA First Class on their Boeing 777-300 ER. As I would soon realize, this flight wouldn’t be operated with their newer cabin featuring the Suite (F)/Room (Business). I took the same flight in business last year on a 777 with the new cabin. Although not on its newest product, let’s take a look at how ANA fares on a transatlantic first class route.
Unlike almost all other international flights that leave from the new T5, ANA operates out of T1 where United is based. There are both ups and downs to this, as we will soon see. I arrived round 8:20 am and waited around 10 minutes before the check-in desks opened.
Security was very quick, and we were through into T1. The negative of leaving from T1 is the terminal is far older than the new T5. On the other hand, having previously taking Qatar out of T5, I was limited to a terribly small lounge with literally no food nor windows. Here, I was able to use United’s Polaris lounge, which was beautiful.
The lounge matches one of the best anywhere, with beautiful furnishes and ample seating space, is this not one of the coolest hallways you’ve ever seen? This was just the toilets!
! I first visited the dining room where breakfast options were arguably rather limited. The omelet was decent, but all its fillings were available at the buffet.
There are also lots of tarmac views of United’s fleet, clearly visible with the lounge’s massive windows.
I spent some time at the buffet area and ordered myself United’s signature cocktail at the bar. Haven heard rather negative reviews of the Polaris product (I have never experienced it myself), the lounge is definitely a highlight.
After a couple hours, I spent some time walking around the terminal which wasn’t very exciting since most were smaller United planes on domestic routes. ANA’s 777-300 ER really stands out.
Here we are, ANA’s old First Class product. Although not as sleek and modern as The Suite, this product does lovely wooden finishes and incredible leg space. I found myself slightly uncomfortable last time in the Room, but I’m sure the Suite offers more space
Waiting for me were headphones, an amenity kit, pajamas, slippers, a fast track customs card for Narita, a free WIFI voucher, and a 100 year Hibiki Whisky coupon which limits each F passenger to a purchase of 50000 yen (around 160 USD). Without a sliding door, privacy is lacking, but when you fully sit back in the seat the partition does prevent you from seeing your neighbour. The IFE screen is a decent size, but hard to compare to the massive one offered in the Suite.
Something that felt quite lacking is the storage space. On your left, there’s a tiny pocket which can barely fit anything, same is said on the right side which fit my passport and EarPods, but nothing else.
The amenity kit featured Sensai products, and an ANA reusable bag.
The purser came over to introduce herself and offer up a tray of small products for grabs, I took a toothbrush, eye mask, earbuds, tissue, foot warmer, and something they call ANA Original Aroma where if you press on the small square it gives off a nice smell, but its hard to really feel the scent unless you press your nose up close to it.
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They also gave our customs cards. A habit I have for all flights is I like to take the duvet/blanket as soon as I board and put it over my legs. The one here was by far the smallest I’ve ever seen, barely able to cover both of my legs at once. It resembled one of those small sheets on the end of a hotel room bed. I asked if they had anything larger but was told that was all they had.
Here's a look at the rest of the cabin, around half full today.
The bathroom was quite small like all 777-300 ERs tend to be, they did come with amenities such as body lotion, toothbrushes, mouthwash, towels, and more of those small ANA aroma cards.
A welcome champagne was offered. There was no menu at the seat so I asked if I could have a glance, it was promptly offered and here is the full food and beverages menu. There was only one full meal service on this 10 hour flight, which is a first for me on any transatlantic route. There are however many light dishes to offer whenever, but still unusual to see no full breakfast service.
Here's a full look at both menus
. Although two or three flight attendants came over to introduce themselves, I never really heard from them the rest of the flight. I had a second flight out from Narita over to Bangkok (which will likely be my next review) at 17:25, and after inquiring if I would make it on time, they didn’t get back to me until I asked again after take off. They also seemed rather distant during service, which was quite odd. We blasted off from ORD at noon exactly, 10 minutes later than expected.
Meal service began quickly after take off, beginning with a wet towel (oshiburi). First we began with the amuse bouche with a sesame cheese ball, roast beef roll with herb sauce, cheese pepper bar, and crab meat salad with fish roe. These are alright but the cheese felt quite overwhelming especially considering half of the four featured large chunks of it. I also ordered a Hibiki 17 years on the rocks and a limited edition (as said on the menu) iced green tea.
Then was the Sakizuke (Starter) of Scallop & avocado in tomato cup, and the Zensai (selection of morsels) featuring a marinated deep fried Abalone & Zucchini with Crab meat sauce, salt-grilled duck with soy sauce, pumpkin & cream cheese, pork & asparagus roll, and a smoked salmon & white asparagus roll. Even more cheese, for some reason. Everything else here was awesome, especially the scallop & avocado in the tomato cup, which I wasn’t expecting to be a good combination.
The soup was next, a very refreshing broth.
This was the first time having sashimi on a plane which was cool. I did feel they could’ve done some more considering the prawn and cuttlefish didn’t taste the freshest.
The remainder of the meal came together and was a classic Japanese tray. ANA has received quite a bit of criticism with their recent standards, whether food wise or service. I was honestly slightly underwhelmed with the main course, as I’ve had better tasting fish and beef on JAL’s business class. It just felt slightly disappointing considering the price point of the ticket and importance ANA places on these US-Japan routes.
Once the meal concluded, still hungry, I ordered the udon noodles from the anytime light dishes menu. After adding some chili flakes, this udon was honestly tastier than the main meal.
After finishing up, I asked the purser for turndown service as I got changed. I came back to see a small assortment of desserts on my plate. Although cute, I again felt a bit underwhelmed with this. I don’t want to be overly sinical, but being one of Japan’s two main carriers, wouldn’t you expect something more for the main service dessert?
The bed was very comfortable with the large space, the blanket and large pillow really made this feel like a hotel room in the sky.
After a few hours rest, I woke up hungry again! This time, my purser recommended the ramen noodles with pickled ginger, I also went with a ginger ale. As you can see, the spots of black in the bowl comes from the seasoning packet that really enhances the thickness and flavor of the broth, which was awesome. I mention the black because I ordered a second bowl before landing, and the broth was far less flavorful than this one, none of the thicker black seasoning was featured in the latter, for some reason. I also ordered the fishcakes, which came with soy sauce and wasabi. These were alright.
After another few hours of sleep, I ordered the full Japanese meal from the anytime menu. This was very resemblant of the main dinner meal. The fish tasted very similar and eggplant/beef was quite plain. Again, you really would expect something slightly more. JAL business also featured an anything menu and almost all their options beat out ANA’s F’s anytime menu, not a great look for the competitor.
Here’s my second bowl of ramen, and note the missing black flavoring I mentioned earlier.
The headphones worked very well with Sony’s noise cancellation. ANA’s IFE system did feel it fell short. They had very limited options and often had only one episode from a random season for most of their TV shows. I recall watching Modern family S3E23 and The Office S2E2.
Credit where credit is due, the fruit plate was very extensive and tasted wonderful.
Around an hour and a half before landing, lights were turned on for breakfast. The purser again mentioned that there was no set breakfast service and we should order from the anytime menu. I really loved the udon first time round so I went with the same option. I also tried the corn soup which also tasted great. Well done here ANA.
I also tried the grilled eel rice, which was very tasty. I wish there could be a few more pieces of eel for the large portion of rice, but no complaints with this. Went with a second plate of fruit, just as good as the first.
Although I was very full at this time, the crew encouraged me to try the Japanese red bean dessert and ice cream. The red bean was awesome, very sweet which was balanced out well with the sour lemon sorbet. This felt like the only time the crew actively engaged with me.
Throughout the flight, the lady sitting next to me also seemed to try and chat with the crew, but often didn’t receive much of a response.
Before long, we arrived at Narita airport, I took one final snap of our cabin. I do wish to try out the suite in a future flight, but the hard product in ANA’s older F cabins definitely hold up.
I really appreciated the Fast Track card once I approached the long line of customs, many thanks to ANA here!
