For the longest time, I had wanted to take advantage of the sweet spot in the US Airways award chart and do a North Asia via Europe quasi-RTW. With the impending merger, I knew the clock was probably ticking on this opportunity, and at the least ticking on using their Star partners. The final straw was when I received a targeted offer for 25%
Originally I had wanted to visit Japan at fall peak and then Christmas time in Vienna, but with the busy holiday season, that just didn’t work out. Instead, January it was!
Unfortunately, my beloved Canon chose a very inopportune time to bite the dust on me with a lens error that occurred shortly into my first flight. This took the wind out of photography sails, and I wasn’t feeling as artsy-fartsy with inferior equipment, but I still have most of the bases covered.
ANA recently added a second daily flight to Chicago. It’s interesting how this works. The new eastbound flight is timed better for connections, while the westbound flight gets into NRT too late to connect to nearly everything. Between the timing, the huge capacity increase on the route, and the low winter season, I quickly discovered NH1011 loads to generally be shockingly low.
The downside of this is the scheduled utilization of a non-refurbished 77W with the old 7-abreast/slanted J seats. While the bells and whistles of the new cabins are appealing, I was feeling fine about this trade off, thinking i’d have 2 seats to myself- one for sleeping and one for sitting. Hard to beat that.
So imagine my surprise when, upon checking in on the awesomely-detailed seat maps of ANA.com, I saw the new staggered lie flat! Must have been a last minute equip swap .
It’s going to be difficult to keep from fawning over every aspect of this flight. I know I have a fraction of premium experiences compared to many of you, but i’ve been around the block a few times, having flown AA, BA, LH, and CX premium cabins. 13 hours later...this had become my best flight, ANA had become my favorite airline, and neither debate was particular competitive.
On to the flight!
ANA1011
Chicago ORD-Tokyo NRT
D: 16:30
A: 20:45+1
Boeing 777-300ER
Chilled out in the United Club on C Concourse before the flight, mostly amassing cups and cups of snack mix and foraging for the honey sesame sticks. Noticed that there were cheese cubes instead of the packaged Tillamook. I’ll take the blame for this tragedy of the commons, since I just found a stash of 3 month old sweaty cheese in my backpack. It sounded like a good idea at the time...
Headed on over to the usual ANA gate C10 around 4. Unfortunately could not get any decent vanity shots of this beautiful bird from the outside. First class had the first jetway all to them, all two of them. It was very evident from the gate area that the flight was way below capacity across the board. Few groups of Japanese students and tour groups, not much more.
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Upon boarding, the equip swap was confirmed with the new J product. I took my 16K seat near back of the cabin and over the wing. FIrst impressions of the seat were good. Since flying CX, i’ve considered that style to be the gold standard of business class. While I can’t say this staggered style is any better, I found it to be as good. Nothing screams "luxury" about it, but it does feel quite "Japanese" (whatever that means) and comfortable. The seat is not indulgent, but firm and promoted good posture which is important to me. The foot cubby was large enough to not be bothersome when lying on my side. The privacy of the window side seats is pretty unmatched. Very good TV screen and large, sturdy tray table. The side table is very nice and convenient for keeping snacks and drinks on hand at all times, which they most assuredly were. The blue plastic used for this is kind of tacky and utilitarian, but the slick lighting and pure functionality make up for it. I’m also such a sucker for blue LED accent lighting. That, and water features. If this plane had a fountain I wouldn’t have left. There are the Toto’s...
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Then came at least 4 different crew members introducing themselves. Crew was overall excellent and exactly what I expected... generally young and attractive with an insatiable lust for cuteness.
The vacuous nature of this flight became more apparent when doors closed and the last 5 rows of J were pretty much my domain. The crew told me the pax count was only around 80. Really hard to beat this.
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Note the lack of focus..
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After some deicing at the gate, we pushed back on time and the captain announced an expected flight time of 13:15. Certainly long for this route, but I wasn’t complaining. The short, powerful takeoff amazed as usual and I was happy to say goodbye to this wretched midwestern winter in search of other variations on winter.
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I browsed the extensive menu. At first I had the wrong one, since the NRT-ORD version was at the front. Lots of drinks. Very nice whiskey, sake, shochu, etc menu. Very extensive snack menu, which is always appreciated. I was excited go with the Japanese meals on this flight, trying whatever they threw at me. Wine menu was underwhelming, but I had no use for it with all these Japanese treats onboard.
I started with a Suntory Hibiki 17, which would be a trend. It’s a very nice whiskey which I really enjoyed.
Part of the extensive drink menu:
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Started with an amuse bouche of crab tart, ham/melon, and some pickled stuff.
Here is the menu which will better describe the food than I can, obviously.
![]()
I’m thinking whoever writes these in English moonlights in anime erotica or something...
![]()
Most of it was great, whatever it was. You’d think the menu would’ve helped me figure all of it out... Only negative was the chewy octopus. Shocker. Never have developed a taste for that.
As you can see, the tableware was really cool.
Then came the main event..
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This was a delicious dish. The sablefish was very rich and delicate. Just excellent.
![]()
Green Tea Cheesecake to finish. This was wonderful too.
![]()
More Hibiki and chocolates to wind down.
Entertainment: I thought the entertainment system was good. I watched a few newer movies I hadn’t seen- We’re the Millers, Jobs. They had a lot of Japanese tourism content which I really enjoy and some aviation stuff. There were a few things without english subtitles unfortunately. I’ve heard people complain about the content. It was fine for me. But then again, I haven’t actually flown an airline with a *great* IFE system like Emirates ICE, etc. That’s ok, ignorance is bliss.
Flat bed: I was able to sleep for about 3 hours after dinner, which is no small feat for me. I generally don’t sleep too well on planes, no matter which class, strangely. There was a mattress pad provided. I prefer a firm surface and ended up not using it.
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Tonights routing taking us over Northern Alaska. Hey, I can see Russia from here!
I checked out the spread in the galley. Wine, nuts, crackers, and these interesting Hokkaido honey bears. These were actually delicious and I ate/took way too many of them.
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I wonder if he liked the Grateful Dead. We'll never know...
Soon after, I picked out the ramen from the snack selection and it was quickly prepared. It was pretty good.
![]()
Soy sauce ramen and cold green tea
![]()
I think the beverage choice at this time was a sweet potato shochu. It was interesting, but give me back my Hibiki! Love the lighting...
![]()
Snack and 2nd meal menu
![]()
Chose Grilled Salmon with mustard. Another seriously delicious ANA meal. Just look at that presentation. It tasted just as good.
![]()
Should also note the fruit was excellent.
![]()
The service was rounded out by simple but sweet pre-arrival ice cream
As I said, the crew was excellent on all accounts. I was able to chat at length with several of them, from topics ranging from my itinerary in Japan to my Wisconsin motion W logo matching that of her Tokyo University. I was later given a postcard note from them telling me about a good bakery in Kyoto. Very nice gesture!
Better overview of the seat on arrival (I was in the one behind)
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Arrival was smooth and uneventful, touching down on 34L around the 9PM local hour.
All in all, a pretty much flawless experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. There may be better airlines or business classes out there, but I certainly haven’t flown them. With the empty cabin, the experience felt much closer to First. Outside of some frills like caviar and a larger seat, i’d expect most aspects were close. The main courses and service were certainly F quality.
Thanks for reading. More to come!
Originally I had wanted to visit Japan at fall peak and then Christmas time in Vienna, but with the busy holiday season, that just didn’t work out. Instead, January it was!
Unfortunately, my beloved Canon chose a very inopportune time to bite the dust on me with a lens error that occurred shortly into my first flight. This took the wind out of photography sails, and I wasn’t feeling as artsy-fartsy with inferior equipment, but I still have most of the bases covered.
ANA recently added a second daily flight to Chicago. It’s interesting how this works. The new eastbound flight is timed better for connections, while the westbound flight gets into NRT too late to connect to nearly everything. Between the timing, the huge capacity increase on the route, and the low winter season, I quickly discovered NH1011 loads to generally be shockingly low.
The downside of this is the scheduled utilization of a non-refurbished 77W with the old 7-abreast/slanted J seats. While the bells and whistles of the new cabins are appealing, I was feeling fine about this trade off, thinking i’d have 2 seats to myself- one for sleeping and one for sitting. Hard to beat that.
So imagine my surprise when, upon checking in on the awesomely-detailed seat maps of ANA.com, I saw the new staggered lie flat! Must have been a last minute equip swap .
It’s going to be difficult to keep from fawning over every aspect of this flight. I know I have a fraction of premium experiences compared to many of you, but i’ve been around the block a few times, having flown AA, BA, LH, and CX premium cabins. 13 hours later...this had become my best flight, ANA had become my favorite airline, and neither debate was particular competitive.
On to the flight!
ANA1011
Chicago ORD-Tokyo NRT
D: 16:30
A: 20:45+1
Boeing 777-300ER
Chilled out in the United Club on C Concourse before the flight, mostly amassing cups and cups of snack mix and foraging for the honey sesame sticks. Noticed that there were cheese cubes instead of the packaged Tillamook. I’ll take the blame for this tragedy of the commons, since I just found a stash of 3 month old sweaty cheese in my backpack. It sounded like a good idea at the time...
Headed on over to the usual ANA gate C10 around 4. Unfortunately could not get any decent vanity shots of this beautiful bird from the outside. First class had the first jetway all to them, all two of them. It was very evident from the gate area that the flight was way below capacity across the board. Few groups of Japanese students and tour groups, not much more.
Upon boarding, the equip swap was confirmed with the new J product. I took my 16K seat near back of the cabin and over the wing. FIrst impressions of the seat were good. Since flying CX, i’ve considered that style to be the gold standard of business class. While I can’t say this staggered style is any better, I found it to be as good. Nothing screams "luxury" about it, but it does feel quite "Japanese" (whatever that means) and comfortable. The seat is not indulgent, but firm and promoted good posture which is important to me. The foot cubby was large enough to not be bothersome when lying on my side. The privacy of the window side seats is pretty unmatched. Very good TV screen and large, sturdy tray table. The side table is very nice and convenient for keeping snacks and drinks on hand at all times, which they most assuredly were. The blue plastic used for this is kind of tacky and utilitarian, but the slick lighting and pure functionality make up for it. I’m also such a sucker for blue LED accent lighting. That, and water features. If this plane had a fountain I wouldn’t have left. There are the Toto’s...
Then came at least 4 different crew members introducing themselves. Crew was overall excellent and exactly what I expected... generally young and attractive with an insatiable lust for cuteness.
The vacuous nature of this flight became more apparent when doors closed and the last 5 rows of J were pretty much my domain. The crew told me the pax count was only around 80. Really hard to beat this.
Note the lack of focus..
After some deicing at the gate, we pushed back on time and the captain announced an expected flight time of 13:15. Certainly long for this route, but I wasn’t complaining. The short, powerful takeoff amazed as usual and I was happy to say goodbye to this wretched midwestern winter in search of other variations on winter.
I browsed the extensive menu. At first I had the wrong one, since the NRT-ORD version was at the front. Lots of drinks. Very nice whiskey, sake, shochu, etc menu. Very extensive snack menu, which is always appreciated. I was excited go with the Japanese meals on this flight, trying whatever they threw at me. Wine menu was underwhelming, but I had no use for it with all these Japanese treats onboard.
I started with a Suntory Hibiki 17, which would be a trend. It’s a very nice whiskey which I really enjoyed.
Part of the extensive drink menu:
Started with an amuse bouche of crab tart, ham/melon, and some pickled stuff.
Here is the menu which will better describe the food than I can, obviously.
I’m thinking whoever writes these in English moonlights in anime erotica or something...
Most of it was great, whatever it was. You’d think the menu would’ve helped me figure all of it out... Only negative was the chewy octopus. Shocker. Never have developed a taste for that.
As you can see, the tableware was really cool.
Then came the main event..
This was a delicious dish. The sablefish was very rich and delicate. Just excellent.
Green Tea Cheesecake to finish. This was wonderful too.
More Hibiki and chocolates to wind down.
Entertainment: I thought the entertainment system was good. I watched a few newer movies I hadn’t seen- We’re the Millers, Jobs. They had a lot of Japanese tourism content which I really enjoy and some aviation stuff. There were a few things without english subtitles unfortunately. I’ve heard people complain about the content. It was fine for me. But then again, I haven’t actually flown an airline with a *great* IFE system like Emirates ICE, etc. That’s ok, ignorance is bliss.
Flat bed: I was able to sleep for about 3 hours after dinner, which is no small feat for me. I generally don’t sleep too well on planes, no matter which class, strangely. There was a mattress pad provided. I prefer a firm surface and ended up not using it.
Tonights routing taking us over Northern Alaska. Hey, I can see Russia from here!
I checked out the spread in the galley. Wine, nuts, crackers, and these interesting Hokkaido honey bears. These were actually delicious and I ate/took way too many of them.
I wonder if he liked the Grateful Dead. We'll never know...
Soon after, I picked out the ramen from the snack selection and it was quickly prepared. It was pretty good.
Soy sauce ramen and cold green tea
I think the beverage choice at this time was a sweet potato shochu. It was interesting, but give me back my Hibiki! Love the lighting...
Snack and 2nd meal menu
Chose Grilled Salmon with mustard. Another seriously delicious ANA meal. Just look at that presentation. It tasted just as good.
Should also note the fruit was excellent.
The service was rounded out by simple but sweet pre-arrival ice cream
As I said, the crew was excellent on all accounts. I was able to chat at length with several of them, from topics ranging from my itinerary in Japan to my Wisconsin motion W logo matching that of her Tokyo University. I was later given a postcard note from them telling me about a good bakery in Kyoto. Very nice gesture!
Better overview of the seat on arrival (I was in the one behind)
Arrival was smooth and uneventful, touching down on 34L around the 9PM local hour.
All in all, a pretty much flawless experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. There may be better airlines or business classes out there, but I certainly haven’t flown them. With the empty cabin, the experience felt much closer to First. Outside of some frills like caviar and a larger seat, i’d expect most aspects were close. The main courses and service were certainly F quality.
Thanks for reading. More to come!