Review of ANA flight Tokyo Beijing in Business

Airline ANA
Flight NH1255
Class Business
Seat 3A
Aircraft Boeing 787-8
Flight time 03:55
Take-off 12 Aug 13, 09:25
Arrival at 12 Aug 13, 12:20
NH   #15 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 227 reviews
flyingjapans
By 10853
Published on 17th September 2013
Hi guys,



This will be my first Flight-Report in English.



But before getting to it let me introduce myself : my name's Kristof, half french and half japanese and I am part of the Flight-Report team as one of its Community Managers, although you English-speakers won't see me very often as I am in charge of the french part.



Here is the first leg of my journey back from Japan where I spent two weeks for my usual summer holidays. The Flight Reports covering all legs of the inbound journey are already posted in French : I had first booked a Royal Jordanian flight to get to Hong Kong via Amman, naturally, but also Bangkok where the flight makes a technical stop (but where several passengers board and deplane). Once I reached Hong Kong, I travelled with Singapore Airlines via its main and only hub, Singapore, to get to Tokyo .


1. Paris CDG - Amman (Royal Jordanian 118, Airbus A321, Crown Business)

2. Amman - Bangkok (Royal Jordanian 182, Airbus A330-200, Crown Business)

3. Bangkok - Hong Kong (Royal Jordanian 182bis, Airbus A330-200, Crown Business)

4. Hong Kong - Singapour (Singapore Airlines 861, Airbus A380-800, Economy)

5. Singapour - Tokyo/NRT (Singapore Airlines 638, Boeing 777-300ER, Economy)

6. Tokyo/HND - Beijing (All Nippon Airways 1255, Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner, Business) Vous êtes ici

7. Beijing - …


The ANA flight that suited my needs in terms of schedule was operated by His Majesty the Fire-Breathing Boeing 787. As a few of you may already know, I was literally expelled two times from it. Actually, back in February, JAL was meant to open the Tokyo-Helsinki route. I booked it, but they cancelled the inauguration because of the grounding. In early April this time, I took advantage of my father's United miles to book the Warsaw-Chicago line sold by LOT Polish Airlines but the grounding order was still effective.



Thus I was very excited to finally fly with the Seven Eight Seven! Although a bit sad to leave Japan.



This first picture was taken when I was ready to leave home. I didn't forget to switch my stopwatch on. Let's see how many hours my journey home will last!

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As always, I went to Haneda Airport using the very convenient and cheap bus service which makes a stop just in front of my pied-à-terre, in the Eastern part of Tokyo (Koto-Ku, for those who know the world's biggest city well).

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It will take me to Haneda Airport Intl Terminal (by the way, I was the only passenger going overseas - we were the 12th of August, and most of the passengers were going to the four corners of Japan to join their families for the O-Bon festival) in less than 30 minutes.
After seeing the Cancelled sign next to a flight to Beijing on the Flight Information Display Screen, I feared it was mine, but it was an earlier flight operated by CA. Hurray!

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The check in area at Haneda feels very spacious and clean


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I went direcly through check-in procedures at the ANA Counter. The employee was very nice to me and checked my luggage all the way to my final destination. However, he informed me that he will not be able to print out my second boarding pass here so I will have to pick it up in Beijing.


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After this very quick stop at check in counter I will be hanging out a little bit around the airport.

An abandoned flight simulator next to the JAL counter

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Raise your head, PIKACHU's HERE!

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There is a nice observation deck here in HND with little open spaces on the fences to let your camera's zoom go through and take nicer photos.

An ANA 787 which is not mine


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A 767 equipped with winglets

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An overall view of the observation deck



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A KE 747 probably going back to Seoul Gimpo this morning

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What a nice poster!

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Some flowers following HND's design standards

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A part of Haneda Airport was designed into a reproduction of a Japanese village from the Edo Era. It is called Edo Village and is the ideal place to buy your last souvenirs or eat a snack (if you don't have lounge access, obviously!)

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I am now heading towards immigration : there is not much time left before my flight and I want to spend some time in the lounge

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After an extremely quick walk though security and immigration I am now outside Japan on the air side

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The ANA lounge is in the right side of the terminal

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On the way to the lounge I see my 787 which will take me to Beijing, this time I got it!

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Okay, lounge spotting now!


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The lounge is split into two parts : the regular part for Business class and Gold passengers as well as the Suite Lounge for First Class passenger. As ANA doesn't operates first class out of HND, I guess it is used by its partners which operate first class.


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I am warmly welcomed and I have a nice first impression of this lounge

There are chairs in front of the windows which allow us to watch the traffic while eating or working


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It is bright enough

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A quick look at the buffet with :



- The selection of alcohols,

- Cold salty snacks and sandwiches

- Meatballs

- Yakisoba (fried noodles)

- Crackers and sweety snacks

- The noodle bar





There was also miso soup and curry rice, YUMMMM!!!!!!!

Here is my selection : curry all the way even if it's early in the morning with tea

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Some Fukujinzuke : japanese people will know about it


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The home page at that time

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Some other views of this nice lounge




A stand of magazines available in several languages

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I ask the employee at the front desk if it is possible to take a shower. She will keep my boarding pass while I use it

The bathroom is very clean and looks nice

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After that refreshing pause it is time to board : in fact it has already started and there is a crowd of people waiting in the Economy Line but the Business class line goes faster.



Alright, my 787 awaits me!

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I am greeted by the FA before heading to my seat. 787 operated by NH are configured with either the intercontinental full flat seat or this regional seat, it is nonetheless very comfortable although it's a cradle seat

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Boarding continues

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A nice pitch we've got here

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CX is parked next to us, and while pushing back, a BR 330 wearing Hello Kitty livery appears

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Then comes the security demonstration: I looked attentively at the in case of fire part of the video XD

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While an ANA 777-200 is back…

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Some others are taxiing like us

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The IFE shows we will be flying over North Korea, but this is technically impossible. We will be bypassing it by flying over South Korea then step by step going up to China.

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We will let another ANA airplane take off before reaching the air

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9:55. We're a bit late. Off we go!

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A nice view of technical areas

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The weather was cloudy this day in Tokyo so I won't really have a nice view of my native city

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We will first fly over Tokyo Bay.

We are logically flying over Odaiba, which is one of these huge man-made islands in Tokyo bay and its amusement park, we might see the Rainbow Bridge in the foreground as well.

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Here is Disneyland, where dreams come true!

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So sad to leave my favorite city.

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Japan is a very skinny country. You might need 30 minutes to reach Niigata, lying on the sea of Japan, by the air. We made an U-turn to head towards China, but while we were still climbing, after 10 minutes, our Fuji-San was clearly visible from my window. I have no word to describe that! WOOOOOOW! So proud my country has this so beautiful landmarks :)

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A few minutes later the background has already changed : we are leaving the Kanto area and now a mountainous Japan is depicted

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It seems that some passengers are already enjoying their flight

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The seat control panel is very straight forward :

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Menus were already in the seat pocket at boarding : I didn't take a look at it because it would have made me hungry!

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The meal part of the menu is divided up in three parts : one for what was served in June, July each and now one for what is served in August.

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As in Japan the law does not allow pre-departure drinks the first drink service comes with a snack shortly before the meal comes.

My neighbor, who is a Chinese national residing in Japan according to his passport (Chinese passport with a Japanese re-entry form stapled in it) speaks Japanese well, but when our FA comes to take orders for drinks, he just says NIHON SHU (sake) without any greeting such as Thank you. Yuk!

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Cheers!

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Farewell Japan, here we are close to the city of Tottori

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I chose the Westerndish, although I usually have a preference for the Japanese course. But I was yearning for the jalapeno pork, and I also wanted to taste the Yaourt Satine made by Pierre Herme.

The meal is served by a very good-looking and gentle female FA with whom I could speak japanese.

Capped…

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Uncapped

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The appetizer tasted very fresh and good, especially the salmon mousse on the left.

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The pork was cooked well and the salsa sauce was excellent, however it is regrettable to use an aluminum jar and that is comparable with the AF long-haul service… Although we are now on a flight lasting less than three hours, so it's fine.

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The yoghurt by Pierre Herme was tasty.

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The meal is now over! Let's play a bit with the opacity button, which is the main innovation for passengers on this Seven Eight Seven.

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I woke up at 5 this morning, and I am a bit tired. Full recline from now on! There is a possibility to sleep well, even if it's a cradle seat.

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These are bad quality headphones

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Guess what's in the seatpocket?

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Let's take a look at the IFE : here is the airshow

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The main screen with all apps

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There is a chat screen as a friend of mine flying ANA told me : it works like a real e-mail box

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Toilets are clean with ANA branded soap in it

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The cabin is still resting, although we are approaching Beijing

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Arrival forms are distributed without pens : I will request one of those

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We are now roughly 100 kilometers away from Beijing and FAs prepare the cabin for landing

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The power supply is still working

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57 kilometers to go

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The engine is still there and not on fire

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It is cloudy here in Beijing

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Typical communist architecture out there

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A big rural roundabout

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Yuck, pollution!

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Could it be the domestic terminal with all these mid-size Air China airplanes?

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We're parking next to this JAL 787 also coming from Tokyo

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Seat-belts signs off, everybody is ready to deplane, last pic of my seat

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Dear Mister 787, it's probably the first and the last time I'm flying with you, it was nonetheless a pleasure!!

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The livery is beautiful

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Is this Lufthansa airplane coming from Frankfurt or Munchen?

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I'm now heading towards passport control. Thanks for reading guys!

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See more

Verdict

ANA

9.0/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering8.0

ANA Domestic Lounge

8.8/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering8.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Services10.0

Tokyo - HND

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Beijing - PEK

7.6/10
Efficiency5.0
Access8.5
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

It was a really nice flight with Japan's largest carrier. We arrived on time, and priorities at boarding were successfully applied. The cabin is modern and the seat is comfortable for this three hour flight. The IFE is exhaustive, but there are not many known Western singers or bands in the musical selection. The meal service is great for three hours, but a more refined appetizer could be offered. It would also be great to get rid of the aluminum jar.

Thanks for reading!

Kristof

Information on the route Tokyo (HND) Beijing (PEK)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 8 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Tokyo (HND) → Beijing (PEK).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Japan Airlines avec 8.1/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 4 heures et 5 minutes.

  More information

25 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 87658 by
    pititom GOLD 11489 Comments
    Don't worry, it's obvious you could moderate the English part as accurately as the French one :) I'm not so sure about your geography as Tokyo is far from being the biggest city in the world ;)

    Nice weather : my experience on HND terrace was completely wasted by heavy rain :(

    Is that a beer in the early morning !? SHOW ME SOME I.D RIGHT NOW KID !! Oh, ok...it's tea :) All right ;)

    Ouch ! I had these seats on an old Aeroflot B767...you see the threshold ANA is challenging here ;) Granted it was for a much longer flight.

    Monopole...isn't that Champagne ? SHOW ME SOME I.D RIGHT NOW KID !! Ok, signature looks very good ;)

    Ouch ! Capped dish and AF sauce jar ! Now SU won :(

    Thank you for this report. Obviously, you're excitement about flying the B787 made you generous. A plane change to anything else would have probably opened your eyes on a just above average seat and catering. But it FINALLY is the 787 so whatever ;)
  • Comment 87659 by
    pititom GOLD 11489 Comments
    your *
  • Comment 87665 by
    Bargi62 SILVER 3586 Comments
    Thanks for your first report on 787.
    Nice view on Tokyo bay.
    It seems that catering and heidsieck are top for a short flight.
  • Comment 87674 by
    marathon GOLD 10117 Comments
    You left some French in your routing, but I got the meaning ^^ (you missed this one, pititom!)
    Typical of an Asian lounge with a counter in front of the window (compare it with AF's M gates' lounge in CDG-2E, for instance). Curry rice : typical cheap Japanese food ! (I like it too)
    Hey hey, one of BR's Hello Kitty jets ;)
    I like the view of Odaiba; my Japanese friends took me there last month. What a great view of Mt Fuji ! I never had that :(
    Did you really expect your Chinese neighbour to say onegaishimasu ?
    OK, you can't fly over North Korea, but it is not much of a detour on that route. Not like when you could not fly over the Soviet Union.
    The architecture seen on the descent to PEK is partly Communist, and mostly Socialist with Chinese characteristics.
    Yes, the first picture of PEK's Terminal 3 is the domestic end (that is where the road access is, while the symmetrical international end is surrounded with tarmac). The light colored roof is that of the parking lot.
    Cheers for your first English language FR !
  • Comment 87677 by
    manureva744 251 Comments
    Nice report, but I don't understand why it is an outright outrage when some airlines serve a dish with the lid still on or with an aluminum cup in the dish, and why it is perfectly OK for ANA to do so... Had AF done this it would have ended up with a terrible comment and the mark would have been much lower...

    It is also a shame that they serve the hot dish with the starter at the same time... It is Business Class, the least they could do is hav a tray with the starter, dessert, cheese, and then swap the finished starter with the main course.

    The other faux pas that would have met a -5 for AF is the Anchor butter in a plastic tub...

    I do enjoy the superb presentation of the starter and the main course though, this is where the japanese chefs are amazing, attention to details !


  • Comment 87680 by
    offcm 957 Comments
    nice report kristof and nice product for ANA but i don't like the look of the seat.

    thank you for your report
  • Comment 87681 by
    lagentsecret 12186 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR

    The lounge is very large but beverage selection is limited and choice of food not so great

    The cabin looks old : the reason could be the cradle seats

    Nice pictures of Fuji-san

    No choice for the main of the western meal

    It seems to me that in business class the main should be uncapped

    What about the 787 interior noise ? Is it as quiet as A380's ?

    To be honest after reading your report and DURIAN's, I'm not impressed by 787, only a more fuel efficient airplane :(

    See you soon










  • Comment 87686 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Thanks for this great FR! Or should I say Arrigato :-)
    Very well written and interesting read!
    Ah you finally got to take that 787! His majesty the fire-breathing B787 LOL!!! I love it! Luckily he decided not to breathe his fire on you that day.
    Are you sure that's tea your drinking in the lounge? It looks awefully fizzy...underaged drinking?! ^^
    Beautiful aerial pics of Fuji-san!
    I agree with Manureva744, leaving the foil on the main dish in Business is really tacky. Everything else seems great though!
    Looking forward to the next leg and again congrats on FINALLY catching a ride on that elusive nightmareliner!
  • Comment 87694 by
    Avionero 77 Comments
    Hello Everyone! Let me introduce myself; I am Marco. This is my first comment in FR, although I´ve been reading some excellent flight reports for several weeks ;)

    Kristof: congratulations for your 787 debut flight!
    I especially enjoyed your very good report, since ANA is my favorite airline and Tokyo one of my favorite cities...
    I loved that Mount Fuji photo.
    One question: what in the world is Fukujinzuke? :P

    Pititom: I think indeed Tokyo is the World´s largest city, by land area and population.

    Cheers!
  • Comment 87702 by
    Durian 1171 Comments
    Thanks for this report!
    The HND lounge looks like copy-paste from my NRT-SIN recent flight, glad you tried the curry, this complements the noodle I chose ;-)
    The cabin in the front of your 787 does not look better than the Y class I experienced between HND and HIJ, choice of color maybe ?
    Very nice pictures of Mount Fuji !
  • Comment 87704 by
    indianocean SILVER 7572 Comments
    Haneda airport is more convenient than Narita because it's closer to downtown and has no curfew to respect.
    No wonder it's getting more and more popular among asian carriers.
    You've finally got the chance to board the 787.
    Thx for sharing
  • Comment 87709 by
    Papoumada GOLD 7321 Comments
    You did it at last !

    Why are you so sure it is your first and last trip on board a 787? Maybe you mean that special one?

    I am not that impressed by the catering.

    It may be forbidden to drink alcohol before taking off in Japan, but it seems they do not protect children from the abuse of alcohol once high in the sky ;)

    Is the seat a full-flat?

    I enjoyed that FR from Tokyo where I shall land in a few weeks.

    Thank you for sharing.
  • Comment 87715 by
    A380B77W 4295 Comments
    Thanks you for this excellent report !!

    Finally, you managed to take the 787 ! Well Done :D

    I agree for the livery, she is very pretty, but not the aircraft in my point if view.
  • Comment 87716 by
    A380B77W 4295 Comments
    *point of view*
  • Comment 87721 by
    frwstar2 1260 Comments
    Thanks.

    You did it !!

    Your flight is absolutly perfect. 787, good lounge, Tokyo and Fuji-san view.

    I imagine your fear perfectly when you see a HND-PEK flight cancelled.

    This lounge lokk like much better as NRT one. With a nice buffet.

    Curry rice Hummm...

    In flight meel louk like good. Perhaps porck too fatty.



  • Comment 87740 by
    Leadership TEAM BRONZE 5461 Comments
    Thank you so much Kristof for your first report in English, it's very well written and on par with your high quality French Report.

    Interesting aircraft, I am glad you finally managed to score it, you were the little black cat of the Dreamliner XD

    +1 with pititom it really looks like beer lol, but thankfully you took some Champagne on board.

    Regarding the cabin it's look quite good for a regional aircraft (seems better than CX for eg), big windows are indeed very nice.

    Thanks for the tribute with the signature, I appreciate.

    The catering is indeed average, presentation is mediocre but it's quite a short flight, so I guess it's acceptable.

    Nice airshow and nice view on the wings.

    Hope to see more soon.
  • Comment 87768 by
    Hcl75 1538 Comments
    Awesome flight report! It was a true pleasure to read it and FINALLY you caught the nightmare-liner!!!!

    Is this the same lounge DURIAN visited last month? On your FR it seems less dreary than on his.

    As for the flight: NH is quite disappointing and sadly your FR doesn't improve my thought about this airline :( (at least regarding its regional product). The seat seems SO old!! However the catering looks ok to me. Ok there are caps but it's a detail, and since the whole tray is well presented I believe we can forgive them for that.

    I almost forgot: AWESOME picture of the mount Fuiji!!! I actually never saw it despite 5 travels in Japan ^^

    Thank a lot for this FR. (The teasing at the beginning is quite worthless now)
  • Comment 87794 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thank you for this FR.
    You finally got that 787!
    But why do you say you probably won't fly it again?
    The NH lounge in NHD has a pretty good offering for a regional lounge and the view is nice.
    The cabin is more than ok for a short flight, but still inferior to the international configuration of NH's 787.
    I know about the behavior of your neighbour, so unbelievable...
  • Comment 87810 by
    Planet Earth 881 Comments
    Thank you for this great report.
  • Comment 87879 by
    Denzee 1755 Comments
    Thank you for this nice report. Finally you did it !!!

    Really love this lounge in HND where you have a lot of various and tasty foods.

    On the other hand, it's a shame to put this cradle seat even if it's a regional flight and your meal seems really average.
  • Comment 92014 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    It was a pleasure reading this comprehensive report full of great images. Japan is one of my favorite places and I'd like to visit it more often in the future.

    I love HND airport and find it quite convenient. It's too bad that I did not take advantage of the observation deck since my flight was at midnight.

    I was curious about the ANA lounge at HND and your report answered some questions. I had a chance to fly through this same airport to SFO and JAL also held my boarding pass when I asked for a shower at the Sakura lounge. I think airlines request that in case of an emergency so that they can account for missing people. One difference that I noticed is that the bathroom at the JAL lounge did not have a toilet, just the shower and a sink which was a bit inconvenient.

    The menu cover is simple and very minimalist. However, the meal presentation looks great. Pity about the aluminum containing the sauce. It would be classier if it was served in a small ceramic dish or ramekin.

    Thanks for sharing.



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