ANA Business Class Review

Airline	Plane Type	Class of Service	Route	Rating
ANA (NH)	Boeing 777	Business	HND-SFO	8/10

Booking

In recent months, both Japan Air and ANA tend to release some last minute premium award space to/from Japan. If one is flexible with the gateway departure and the date plus/minus a couple days you can often find last minute availability. About a week and a half out I found ANA Biz from HND to SFO. Even better was that it was the newest cabin configuration with “The Room” business class seats. I was excited to see how business class stacked up after flying “The Suite” a couple months ago as part of my Around the World in First trip. The best option to book ANA is by booking with Virgin Atlantic. You confirm availability either on United or Aeroplan site and then call Virgin to book as one is unable to book ANA flights with Virgin online. Virgin charges 45K miles for ANA business from Japan to the West Coast plus applicable fees and surcharges. By comparison, United charges 110K for ANA metal and Aeroplan charges 75K for the same flight.

Ground Experience

After a day around Tokyo, I headed to Haneda airport about 3 hours before scheduled departure time. Despite several scheduled departures in the evening, I didn’t have to wait long with a dedicated business class check-in lane. Passing through security and immigration was quick and I was on my way to the ANA Business class lounge.

At Haneda, the ANA lounge is spacious with a lot of seats. However, even despite all the seats it was very crowded with several flight departures in the evening. There was a decent selection of options in the buffet including the famous curry. You could scan a QR code on a table to order something from the noodle bar as well. ANA lounges are also well known for self-dispensing beer. Overall it is a solid business class lounge but given how crowded it can get, not something I would arrive early for. However, I was glad to fill up on some food options prior to the flight given the limited dining on flight.

Cabin & Seat

ANA’s business class is massive with 64 seats spread across 3 cabins. There’s a forward cabin between doors one and two immediately behind first class with 8 seats spread across 2 rows. There’s the main cabin with 40 seats across 10 rows. Then there is a rear cabin with 16 seats across 4 rows. I chose seat 19A, a window seat in the smaller rear cabin.

Fundamentally ANA’s new business class seats are staggered, so in alternating rows passengers are either seated closer to the windows or closer to the aisle:

• In odd numbered rows (seats “A,” “E,””F,” and “K”), seats are rear facing and are further from the aisle, and window seats are closer to the windows
• In even numbered rows (seats “C,””D,””G,” and “H”), seats are forward facing and are closer to the aisle, and window seats are further from the windows

ANA’s new business class cabin sports an ingenious layout that maximizes space and privacy. And they’ve achieved that by doing something that might throw off some travelers: Each row of business class alternates, with one facing forward and the next facing backwards.

That setup, first popularized by Qatar and its legendary Qsuites business class, is critical for giving passengers more space and privacy than you’ll find on almost any other plane. With almost shoulder-height walls on every suite complete with doors you can open and close, ANA’s business class is arguably even more private.

In my opinion, ANA’s “The Room” is the best standard business class seat available (notwithstanding some newer business plus configurations in the first row of some business class cabins such as Air France). One immediately noticeable difference of “The Room” seat is just how wide it is compared to other business class seats at 38 inches at its widest point. That’s wider than many First class seats. It’s also plenty long, measuring 72 inches of legroom when fully reclined.

In front of the seat is a large 24 inch high definition personal entertainment monitor that is best in class. To the left of the seat is a compartment that opens, which has a literature pocket, a mirror, and a small pouch where you can store things. At the bottom of this are 110v and USB outlets. They put some thought into the design, because the bottom of the cabinet has an area that “folds up”, so that you can charge things while the compartment is otherwise closed.

Finally, like many newer trendier business class products, “The Room” also features a door. There are two parts to the door: the door can be slid in and out from the “front” of the seat and there’s a privacy partition in the “back” of the seat that can be raised or lowered that becomes part of the door.

Overall the seats are beautiful and spacious and a definite highlight of the product.

In-Flight Dining

With the flight departing at 11pm Tokyo time, ANA does abbreviated dining upon take-off and a standard meal service before landing to maximize sleep for most travelers. After getting settled into my seat, I was offered a pre departure drink and ordered champagne.

After take-off, ANA offers a la carte light dishes that can be ordered anytime. I requested a spicy chicken sandwich, but apparently it wasn’t available on-board as I was instead served a mini ham and cheese croissant. I also ordered another glass of champagne and was offered a small amuse bouche and had ice cream.

Prior to landing, there was an option of a Japanese meal or Western meal. The Western option was seafood tomato risotto. As usual flying to/from Japan I ordered the Japanese meal. The meal was served on one tray and was fine, but the course was still smaller than comparable business class flights.

Amenities & Service

.Waiting at the seat was a significant amount of bedding including a couple pillows, a blanket and a mattress sheet.

From there, the amenities are pretty basic for most business class products. There was a soft-shell amenity kit from Globetrotter that had meager basics included. There were some slippers which is always a nice touch. Headphones were flimsy and offered no noise cancellation features. You’ll definitely want to pack your own headphones for the flight. ANA also does not provide pajamas in business class.

ANA has high-speed Wi-Fi and it’s a reasonable $21.95 for the entire flight. One thing to keep in mind is that you can’t transfer internet between two devices without incurring another charge.

Asian airlines tend to excel in service, but on this particular flight I found service to be quite lacking with the flight attendants going through the motions. For example, for the meal order after take-off I had to use the call button both to order my food and have it cleared away so I could get situated for sleep. The FA’s weren’t rude but rather seemed more in-attentive and aloof compared to what I usually find on Transpacific flights.

Overall Impression

The hard product with ANA’s “The Room” was amazing and ANA hit it out of the park with this product. The seat is almost equivalent or better than many first class products. As far as the soft product, I was disappointed with both the quality of food offerings and service. I’d definitely fly ANA Business class in the future despite the soft product flaws. Business class is mostly about the seat, and ANA’s “The Room” is unparalleled in that regard. I’d expect the soft product to be better on longer non overnight flights.