MY 400 SGD ANA BUSINESS CLASS flight from Singapore to Los Angeles!
This came out of the blue. I was flying back from Auckland onboard Singapore Airlines and I caught a whiff of this out-of-the-world deal! I knew that this was an error fare and decided to try it out. Special mention goes to Singapore Airlines’ onboard Wi-fi! The speed was good enough for me to search and issue a couple of tickets. I blame the long flight that made me splurge for 3 round trip tickets! You never know when error fares will work in your favour. When it comes to a situation like this. Always book first and ask later! Sadly ANA ended up not honouring the rate but before the cancellation, I had already managed to fly on two tickets! Check out this post for my experience with booking ANA tickets. 400 SGD to North America is unbelievable. Not only is it on a premium airline like ANA, but I also get to earn almost 25,000 KrisFlyer Elite and redeemable miles. I am also halfway to qualifying for KrisFlyer Gold / Star Alliance Gold status. A ticket like this usually goes for a minimum of 10,000 SGD. With that, I got my first ever ANA premium cabin experience. Come fly with me!
Checking In
ANA uses Terminal 1 at Singapore Changi Airport. This makes it rather inconvenient as the Star Alliance ‘hub” at Changi is over in Terminals 2 and 3. It’s been such a long time since I flew out of Terminal 1. The check-in counters are to the far right of the terminal. I was there at around 4.20am to check in for my flight. It was pretty crowded and there is a line since ANA wants passengers to fill in some form for USA arrivals.
I was soon helped at the business class desks. It took me quite some time to check and given how I was travelling on an error fare, it certainly made me worried. I had some ticketing issues since it was showing the original route that I ticketed (CGK – LAX) rather than the one I reissued (SIN – LAX). The helpful Japanese station manager took over and helped me. It turned out that the changes is not associated with my itinerary and they had to manually synchronise it. I did have a valid ticket and soon got my boarding pass. Woohoo! I did have a slight thought that this might happen when flying back from Ontario. That will not be pleasant since the first leg is on United and ANA staff are not even there. Well, that is another story for another day! For now, I am happy to get to LAX!!!
Given how early this flight is, I decided to just be at the airport for the bare minimum. It is way too early to make the trek over to T3 to use the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge. ANA uses the SATS Lounge for their premium customers and elite members. This is not at a level for ANA.
Boarding Process
Boarding is scheduled for 5.45am. Security at Changi Airport Terminal 1 is at individual gates. I catered plenty of time for it since with the typical Japanese culture, boarding is mostly always on time. They had premium lines for security but it was a mess. I was flagged for having a pen in my carry-on! I certainly did not know that we had to take out a pen.
Boarding started right on time at 5.45am and I sprang down the lines to get some really good pictures of the flight. It started with passengers needing special assistance, Diamond Members and then Business Class passengers. ANA boarding is super efficient! The best that I have seen across all of my flights. Everything is in order and very formal. I barely had time to get empty pictures of the cabin.
While this is not ANA’s newest business-class product, it is rather refreshing seeing it for the first time. I was seared in 1H. The window seat on the first row. The purser came over to help me with my jacket and to introduce herself. I was constantly addressed by name during the flight. This is a very nice touch. I love how the crew will go around to every business class passenger to introduce themself at the start of the flight. This is more in-depth and impressive than Singapore Airlines.
The crew soon came over with bottles of water and welcome drinks. There is a choice of sparkling wine and orange juice. They serve Pol Remy Sparkling Wine. Champagne is only served on certain routes and in the air after take-off. I hate it that they use plastic cups while on ground. The crew working my aisle was very friendly and spoke excellent English. You got to love the Japanese hospitality where they bow and all.
We started pushback at around 6.18am and were airborne by 6.40 am. It was pitch dark outside given the early departure and we didn’t get much of a view. Weirdly, the crew didn’t dim the cabin for take-off.
Air Nippon Airlines / Air Japan 787 Staggered Business Class
While technically this is flown as Air Japan, in reality, it is no different from a normal ANA flight. The seats are the same, the crew are the same and the food is the same. ANA have two staggered business class configuration on the 787. It depends on whether you are on the 787-9 or 787-10. Seats are in a 1-2-1 configuration. On the two aisles, the seats alternate between being closer to the window or the aisle.
For solo travellers, the seats nearer to the window are the ones to go for! For this flight, I am seated in 1H which is extremely private and comfortable.
For the middle seats, there is a nice gap between the two seats. Similarly, it also alternates between being closer to the left aisle or the right aisle. This also leads to the table platform being on the left or the right.
Upon settling down in my seat, you can find a mattress pad and blanket on the seat. Alongside, there is also a memory foam pillow, headphones and slippers. I would prefer the crew to give them out later on. Depending on you flight, you might get a Sony or Panasonic headphones. I find that the seat lack storage. The mattress pad and blanket get in the way.
The product is used for ANA long-haul flights too. It is a pretty comfortable seat and well-padded. I far prefer this to SQ Regional Business Class seats. It is just right for my size. You have armrests on both sides and the pillow offers great back support. I love the memory foam pillow.
Controls for the seats are located to the side and this allows you to adjust the lumbar support, shift the seat forward and backwards as well as to adjust the backrest. I hated that there isn’t any leg rest for the seat.
A huge platform can be found to the left of my seat. This table location depends on which seat you are in. I would love to have more compartments for personal items. The connection for the headphones and power outlets is located here too. There are also some reading lights on the side of the seat in addition to the overhead ones.
The cabin might look a little smaller with overhead compartments both in the middle and on the side of the aircraft. I had two windows all to myself and as with the 787, the windows are tinted and controlled by a button. I am not a fan of this.
The seat comes with a nice spacious cubby area and the space for your legs is healthy. Do note that the seats don’t come with a leg rest portion and this is extremely weird. To get a comfortable rest, you have to adjust your seat forward which could be a challenge when using the table, taking off and landing.
The table slides out from the platform. It is of a good size but the design limitation meant that the height can’t be adjusted. You can’t get out of the seat when the table is out. This is one of the cons of the seat.
The television is of a good size and very high quality. It comes with a good number of in-flight entertainment movies and shows. It is not world-class like KrisWorld or ICE but sufficient. They had wifi available but no complimentary access is offered for premium customers. Given that I was in the first row, there is a huge compartment to the right of my TV screen. This offers some additional storage area. Do opt for the first row if it is available.
The seat can be converted to bed mode with the buttons. You do not have to get up. Turn-down services are not automatically provided. You can lay down the mattress pad and the blanket. I had a solid 3 hours nap. The blankets and pillow were comfortable. Do note that ANA does not provide any pyjamas on mid-haul flights and they also tend to keep the cabin very warm. I did wish that the mattress pad was bigger and could fully cover the seat. I am around 1.8m tall and could stretch out fully in bed mode. It can be a little tight around the arms.
The toilets were rather standard.I love that they have stocked amenities like mouthwash, wet wipes and toothbrush. The toilets come with a bidet toilet and if you check out the toilets nearer to the side. There is a window inside the toilet! How lovely is it? Enjoy peeing at 35,000 ft with a view.
The views were excellent enroute to Japan.
Meal Service
While on the ground, the crew came over to distribute the menu for the flight. I did appreciate having a physical menu available. You can check the menu for your ANA flight here. ANA only change the menu at the end of February, May, August, and November. I am not a fan of ANA meals. It is very boring and I had the same meals for all my flights. Compare this to SQ’s awesome Book The Cook Meals. You can find the food menu for my flight here and the drinks menu here. After take off the crew came over with some wet wipes. Looks like ANA is another one that did not bring back hot towels. They also came by to take after-take-off drinks orders and meal orders. I got some champagne and went for a Japanese meal. I also got the ANA original drink, Kabosu. I am not a fan of the Champagne Castelnau – Cuvée Brut Réserve that ANA is pouring.
The meal service started roughly around 1 hour after take off. For this flight, they are doing a breakfast service. The crew first lay down table cloth before serving the meal via a tray. Everything is brought out at once. The meal consists of Zensai (A Selection of small dishes) which includes sesame tofu, a japanese omelette with dried nori, grilled burdock root rolled with conger eel and grilled chicken pâté with poppy seeds. Then the Shusai ( Main Course) is steamed whitefish with Grated Daikon Radish Sauce. This is served with steamed rice, miso Soup & Japanese Pickles. You also get some fruits.
I have mixed feelings about the meal. I enjoyed the tamago and sesame tofu. The fish tasted good but it is overcooked and the sauce was lumpy. I love the accompanying vegetables. The miso soup was very good too. I did wish that they have some Japanese fruits instead. I paired it with some sake.
The service was quite fast and by the time it is finished, we still had 5 hours of flight left. After the meal service, the crew came over with a basket of amenities like eye masks, ear plugs and other items. Guests can then order from the Light Dishes Menu anytime after the meal service. You can check out the menu above. The options are pretty good and better than the SQ snacks menu. It is nice that they have this for a mid-haul flight since the first meal was quite light. I got the IPPUDO Plant-based “Pla-ton” Ramen and Ice Cream after my nap.
The ramen was much better than expected. I wasn’t expecting a plant base ramen to be so flavourful. It was served piping hot and I had it with my favourite Japanese Iced Green Tea. I can personally attest to it that ramen does a better job than instant noodles in making people hungry at 39000 ft. My seatmate or friend woke me up when she had one!
On one of my later flights, I also tried the Singapore Chicken Rice and would just share them here since I am not doing a full review. It’s really good and delicious! This is much better than SQ BTC Boon Tong Kee chicken rice. The presentation is on point. It came with chilli ginger and dark soy sauce. There is a mix of dark and white meat. I polished off the entire dish.
Just before landing the crew came over with some sweets and cookies. They also offer me a pen as a memento for my first ANA flight. Drink options are very much lacking. I expected better labels for their wines and champagne. My go-to drinks on ANA would be Iced Green Tea and Sake. I love Oi Ocha Green Tea!
Conclusion
While technically this is flown as Air Japan, in reality, it is no different from a normal ANA flight. The seats are the same, the crew are the same and the food is the same. The staggered business class seats are the older ANA business class seats. ANA have the new product “The Room” which is found on a couple of 777. I won’t say that the seats are overly private, I could see other passengers around my seat to the side and behind me. The crew were alright but maybe a touch cold at times due to the language barrier. I love the hard product, especially the memory foam pillow. The seats are leaps better than SQ Regional Business Class. Food & Beverages wise, it is lacking when compared to SQ. I do wish that they can provide complimentary Wi-Fi for premium cabin passengers. It felt rather foreign and interesting for me since this is my first ANA flight. I trust that I will become an ANA expert very soon since I have like 7 more flights with them. Stay tuned to this series as I will be sharing my other ANA business class flights very soon. This is out of the world and paying just 400 SGD to fly a return business class on a premium airline to US West Coast is impeccable. Furthermore, I even get to earn almost 25,000 elite miles and redeemable Krisflyer makes it even sweeter!
P.S. ANA lost my baggage when coming back to Singapore which makes this a free ticket!
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