I’ve been into points and miles for quite a while, but it wasn’t until this past summer that I finally got to fly ANA (All Nippon Airways, NH) First Class. As a Skytrax five-star airline, ANA’s premium-cabin products have long enjoyed a strong reputation, and I had been looking forward to trying them for a long time. Here’s a quick trip report for our readers.
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Redeeming the award ticket
ANA has long offered some of the best-value award pricing in Star Alliance. A 95,000-mile round-trip business class award between the U.S. and China is basically impossible to beat within the alliance, and 180,000 miles round trip in first class is also an excellent price. Although ANA-issued awards must be booked as round trips, you can choose different cabins in each direction, which makes things fairly flexible and is especially helpful for those who don’t have enough points for a full round-trip in F.
ANA miles can be transferred in from MR or SPG. Of course, if you have MR points, you should prioritize using MR, since SPG points are harder to earn and generally more valuable.
For this U.S.-China round trip, I flew one segment in ANA First Class and the other in Air Canada business class. The total mileage cost was (95,000+180,000)/2=137,500, plus about $300 in YQ and taxes/fees.
Before boarding
On May 35 this year, I was scheduled to fly NH109, operated by a 777-300ER, departing from JFK Terminal 7 for Haneda Airport. In a terminal dominated by major oneworld carriers like British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Qatar Airways, even ANA’s counter as a five-star airline had to hide in the far-right corner deeper inside the terminal. First class passengers also had to use the British Airways lounge, which was kind of interesting.
The BA lounge actually had a pretty nice atmosphere, with a decent drink selection. Food-wise, there were no hot items, just salads, sandwiches, and similar snacks, but it was still much better than most U.S. airline lounges. That said, if you walk into this lounge expecting an ANA First Class ground experience, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you’re flying the other direction, from Tokyo to the U.S., you can use the ANA Suite Lounge at NRT or HND, so if you’re only redeeming a one-way first class ticket, that direction is definitely the better choice. Here are a few photos of the BA lounge:
There really isn’t much to say about BA’s food, but the sofas by the windows in the lounge were pretty comfortable to recline on. After sitting there for a while, it was time to board.
The seat
ANA’s international first class cabin on the 777 has eight seats in a two-row 1-2-1 layout. After booking, I quickly grabbed seat 1,000, but after boarding I found the first class cabin to be extremely empty, with only two or three passengers total. The first class suite has a square, office-cubicle-style design, and compared with some of the flashy Gulf carriers, the look is very understated.
Even though there’s no door, privacy is still excellent. As you can see from the photo below, if everyone is seated, you really have no chance of seeing the other passengers.
The first class seat is noticeably wider than the business class seat, and the storage space on both sides is adequate. One especially thoughtful detail: when you open the small compartment for the headphones, there’s a mirror on the inside. Nice touch. (See below.)
When I boarded, the pajamas, headphones, and amenity kit were already at the seat. I’m not entirely sure how ANA determines pajama sizing, but the set I received fit well. Soon after I sat down, a flight attendant came by. ANA’s cabin crew remembered passengers’ last names—and even pronounced them correctly QAQ—served pre-departure drinks, and also took out the slippers and placed them by each passenger’s feet. :-P
Food onboard
As someone who often flies Air Canada and eats instant noodles on board, I almost teared up when I saw ANA’s catering. Definitely worth going hungry all afternoon for. (I had originally planned to go eat in Flushing at lunchtime and then head to the airport afterward, but every place I wanted to try had a huge line, so I angrily went to the airport hungry instead TAT.)
Not long after reaching cruising altitude, the flight attendants began meal service. Although ANA offers both Japanese and Western options, we strongly recommend choosing the Japanese meal.
The pre-meal amuse included foie gras mousse, smoked salmon, king oyster mushroom, and cheese finger crackers. The drink was Krug. These days, Krug seems to be close to a standard offering in first class. I don’t really know much about wine, but I still asked for a glass.
Top left: abalone and eggplant; top right: tofu with sesame sauce, winter melon, corn fish tofu, and shrimp aspic; bottom left: tuna and buri sashimi; bottom right: soup.
Top: (main course) salt-grilled salmon; bottom left: beef; bottom right: grilled eel and vegetables.
After all the dishes had been served, they thoughtfully brought rice and miso soup as well. After the meal, a flight attendant came over and encouraged me to have some ice cream. Even though each individual Japanese dish was only a small portion, after more than a dozen courses I was already full. Still, I couldn’t say no to the kind offer, so I ordered one anyway. This is what the ice cream looked like when it arrived:
I guess the crew figured I was the kind of person who would sleep right after eating, because soon after clearing the ice cream, someone came by to ask whether I wanted to change into pajamas and make the bed. When I woke up from a nap, the plane had already crossed the International Date Line, and it was time to keep eating.
Here’s a photo of the Anytime Dishes menu.
There were quite a few food options available between meal services during the flight. With my limited stomach capacity, I tried Ippudo ramen, eel chazuke, and a seafood rice bowl. The ramen was still noticeably worse than what you get on the ground (though honestly, I’m not a huge fan of Ippudo on the ground either), but the chazuke and seafood bowl definitely deserve praise.
Other details
As usual, here’s a photo of the amenity kit. ANA First Class uses a hard-sided Samsonite case, and the skincare brand inside is The Ginza, which is under Shiseido. I don’t know much about skincare products, so I’ll just leave it at the photo.
Conclusion
Overall, while ANA may not have the very best hard product in the industry, its soft product—especially cabin service and catering—is outstanding. ANA’s excellent service shows up in countless little details. For example, the cabin crew remembered my last name throughout the flight instead of just calling me “Sir”; when speaking with passengers, they crouched down instead of looking down from above; and when a passenger wanted to change into pajamas, they would first go to the lavatory to put down the footstool. The list goes on.
ANA absolutely deserves its many years as a Skytrax five-star airline. If you have enough points and need to fly between China and the U.S., we strongly recommend trying ANA’s premium cabins.