Review of ANA flight from Tokyo to San Francisco in Business

Routing

Airport

After exiting transit security, I was deposited right next to our gate tonight.

Just down the hall are the NH lounges.

ANA Lounge

Entering the lounge, I hand over my lounge invitation card and am welcomed in.

At this time of night, the lounge is hammered with all of the flights to North America and Oceania due to leave.

I was able to find some empty seats in the back corner to take a short rest.

Not hungry, I just took a cup of coffee to kill some time.

Boarding

About 30 minutes before boarding, I left to wander the terminal to get some exercise.

Boarding started on time, so I joined the back of the Group 2 queue.

Down we go to our plane.

Entering 2L, I was welcomed and directed down the aisle to my seat.

Our plane tonight will feature the old J product, which I find much more comfortable than The Room even if it lacks the "privacy" of doors.

My seat tonight in the rear of the main J cabin.

Seat Features and Amenities

Pre-placed on the seat is a large number of items: mattress pad, duvet, pillow, slippers, headphones, and amenity kit.

The slippers have been downgraded recently with the loss of both the slipper bag and shoe horn.

The amenity kit is provided by Ettinger and good quality although the contents are limited containing just a reusable shopping bag and pouch of Aveda products (lip balm and body lotion). Other items can be requested from the FAs similar to SQ or are located in the lavatories.

The seat is very modular in design with screen, tray table, foot cubby, and storage compartment arranged vertically.

Below the screen is a flip down compartment with USB-A and 110V universal outlet.

The foot cubby is voluminous and below is a large storage area that can comfortably fit a backpack and shoes.

The footwell is definitely one of the biggest on the market and has no taper.

The side table contains a small storage compartment, cup holder, literature rack, reading light, and headphone jack. Water bottles were pre-placed on the side tables.

The literature contents are the safety card and airsickness bag that doubles as Wi-Fi instructions. The in-flight magazine is only available on request.

Below the side table are the seat controls and IFE remote. The side armrest flips up to give an extra 5 cm of seat width in bed mode.

These seats offer good privacy with no other passengers visible when seated.

The cabin as boarding completes. The main cabin would be 100% full. Despite the age of this product, it was well designed since very few heads are visible with the high walls of these seats.

Departure from Haneda

Pre-departures beverages were offered from a tray, I took the sparkling wine served in a plastic cup, which gives UA vibes.

Pushing back, the Pokemon themed safety video played.

Taxing out, we pass a KE A321neo.

CZ A321.

From T3, it was a long taxi around to Runway 16L. We took off at 23:21, ~30 minutes late. We did a corkscrew around Tokyo Bay before exiting over the southern tip of Chiba.

First Meal Service

NH's service on late night departures is very abbreviated. There is a small amuse offered after take-off and then just a smaller meal before landing. I understand they do this to maximize sleep on these short TPACs, but feel like they should at least give the option to passengers to take a meal or not versus just ordering small dishes off the fairly basic anytime menu. This is especially since the pre-arrival meal is not large, it is smaller than a regional meal making the overall dining experience quite poor for a ~9h flight.

The drinks options are slightly expanded from the regional offering. We have the choice of 2 sakes, 2 shochus (the same as offered on regional routes), champagne, 2 red wines, 2 whites, and the expected selection of liquors and non-alcoholic drinks.

Meal service started with a packaged oshibori.

The amuse was offered along with a drink, I took the sake from Toyama.

The amuse is nicely presented and the mussels were good, but that's all you get served in a plastic cup.

The meal service does what it is intended to do, enabling the service to conclude quickly with the cabin plunged into darkness just 46 minutes into the flight.

The lavatory near 3L was small, but clean and appointed with the expected bidet toilet and dental hygiene products.

Despite their age, these seats offer a wide bed with ample foot room. These are way more comfortable for sleeping than The Room in my opinion. The provided mattress pad is also very good and the duvet light since NH keeps the cabins warm.

Mid-Flight Service

I got a good 4h of sleep and awoke about half way through the flight. Pressing the call button, a FA was at my side in less than 5 seconds and I put in a snack order. The snack options weren't overly exciting this month, so I just went with the safe option: ramen.

The tray tables on these seats are some of my favorites. They are massive and sturdy making them excellent for working on.

The ramen was brought out on a tray along with a cup of hojicha and packaged oshibori. No linens are laid for snacks.

The broth was thick, rich, and flavorful so well executed by NH.

While working, more drinks were offered so I took a coffee. Water bottles were regularly replaced since the crew were up the aisles every 30-45 minutes mid-flight.

In-Flight Entertainment

These older cabins still have the older interface making the IFE very clunky and difficult to navigate. The quantity of content appears adequate, but with the laborious way of clicking through long lists of titles makes it very impractical. There are cameras on the B77Ws, but the quality is not up to A350 standards.

NH recently rolled out complimentary Wi-Fi to all premium passengers and free messaging to all passengers. The Wi-Fi prices are competitive otherwise (full flight: $21.95). The vouchers are e-mailed ahead of the flight, but I think if your e-mail address is linked to your e-ticket, you don't need the code and can just sign-in with your e-mail address directly.

Second Meal Service

The lights cycled back on ~2.5h before arrival, which seems very early considering the overall length of this flight.

Service started with the distribution of another packaged oshibori.

Linens were then laid as meal orders were taken. There are only two options either the Japanese set meal or the Western set meal. I pre-ordered the Japanese meal and that was confirmed by the FA.

I opted for a glass of sake to accompany the meal.

The meal tray was then delivered.

The meal unpackaged.

A small plate of pickles.

Miso soup.

The zensai contained Cherry Blossom Tofu & Crab Meat with Green Pea Sauce, Swordfish Sushi Roll, Deep-fried Shrimp Fishcake, and Japanese Omelet with Fish Paste.

A small fruit cup as dessert.

The shusai this month is Grilled Spanish Mackerel with Miso Sauce and Steamed Rice.

The meal was good, but would have preferred a more comprehensive meal given the light offering post-departure. As you can see from the screen, the meal was complete with still 2 hours to arrival. If you are going to wake up the cabin ~2.5 hours before arrival, it should be for a full meal service. This small meal should have waited until 1.5 hours before arrival.

Coffee and tea were offered after the tray was cleared, I took a sencha.

Since everyone was up and still had 2 hours until arrival, I went ahead and just opened the window blinds to make it easier to work.

Drinks were offered again so another cup of coffee.

As we started our descent into SFO, the purser came through and thanked me for flying and offered the standard selection of candies and NH postcards.

Arrival into San Francisco

The first sight of land as we make landfall south of Half Moon Bay.

Downtown San Francisco in the distance and SFO in the foreground.

We make our turn over Los Altos to align. SLAC and Stanford are both visible above the wing/engine.

Circling Bair Island and the Port of Redwood City.

Crossing Coyote Point.

We clear the sea wall and land on Runway 28L at 16:13, slightly ahead of schedule.

Back to the land of UA.

We hold on the taxiway to let some UA B772s taxi around.

Reaching G, it is clear who dominates the concourse.

We take our gate at the end next to a UA B77W.

Pikachu says goodbye as we deplane.

NH includes pertinent information at the end of the jet bridge, we will collect bags from Carousel 5 today.

A long walk to immigration.

There will be no wait for Global Entry and I am through in 30 seconds.

We reach the baggage claim at 16:31, just 18 minutes after touching down. SFO remains one of the most efficient gateways.

Bags will start circulating 10 minutes later and I will be on my way home.

That concludes this series, thanks for stopping by!

Flight Information

All Nippon Airways, NH108
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [JA791A, delivered April 2015]
Departure: 22:55 (ATD: 23:21)
Arrival: 16:35 (ATA: 16:13)
Flight time: 8:52