ANA All Nippon Airways

NRT-HKG-NRT in economy. Check-in efficient on both ends service onboard faultless food not bad and seat pitch decent especially on the 767 on return from HKG. I had vegetarian meals both ways and from Tokyo was rather gourmet and interesting but the one catered by Cathay was uninspired. The only bad point of the ANA flights is the entertainment system. The movies are few and old and I was glad I wasn't on a long-haul. Tried booking Delta on this same routing and days and was quoted double the price of what I paid on ANA. ANA website was easy to use.

SFO-NRT B777-300ER flight from SFO was on-time and was upgraded to Business Class due to overbooking in the economy cabin. A good airline with clean cabins and pleasant FAs food was as good as a typical Japanese restaurant. Able to sleep due to the inclined flat-bed.

HNL-NRT round trip economy. Outbound flight to NRT was delayed due to mechanical problems. My travel plans were flexible and I didn't want to wait at the HNL airport for the problem to be fixed and received excellent service from ANA ground staff who assisted me with getting on the next day's flight to NRT. The inflight service from the FAs was great on both the outbound and return. Very good quality meals and plenty of drinks served with FAs coming by with drinks throughout the flight.

NRT-LHR return. Seat 23D which looks appealing due to being a mini cabin had substantially less leg room. Couldn't straighten my legs and was in pain when getting off the aircraft. Food was average for lunch and poor for the second meal with a disgusting hotdog on outbound and some dodgy sliced meat on return. Return was again delayed this time due to servicing issues at LHR. Left me with short time for connection at NRT. Guess what again delayed both on take off and then delayed for another 40 minutes. Cabin crew polite and friendly as normal for Japanese airline. Not great value for money considering there seems to be a premium for flying with a Japanese airline out of NRT when compared to other Asian airports.

ANA failed to alert passengers about its cancelled flight ORD-Narita on June 2nd even though they knew 14 hours in advance that the plane never left Narita. The Passenger Reps couldn't be bothered to check other flight availability. Only after being prodded did they miraculously found a seat on United Airlines departing within 2 hours of its cancelled flight. I understand that technical issues are unavoidable but the total lack of accountability about the customer experience was shocking! ANA was previously known for its customer service (that we expect from Japanese airlines) but don't be fooled. I found ANA employees to be unprofessional at best rude at worst.

NRT-HNL in Economy B777. Fast check-in efficient friendly cabin attendants delicious meals wide variety of entertainment frequent water and green tea offerings spotless lavatories.

We paid about $2400 each for a nonstop Premium Economy ticket from IAD to NRT because the thought of cramped quarters in Economy for 14 hours to NRT and 12 hours back to IAD put us off. While I cannot complain about the quality and comfort of the seats - we had footrests seat width was spacious decent amount of pitch nice armrests so both you and the person next to you both had plenty of elbow room - the service was not that great. On the way to Narita we were served shortly after being airborne but it was 9.5 hours before we were offered any sort of food again. Sure the flight attendants would come by offering green tea or coffee but not even a lousy bag of pretzels? The same thing happened on the way back - fortunately we brought snacks with us so we were more prepared but it was still uncomfortable. If I'm paying twice the price of the economy ticket (which Premium was in this case) you would think we would have received at least a few more snacks than Economy. It was an uncomfortable experience. I doubt if we would fly ANA again because of it.

NRT-SFO-NRT Business class on B777-300. Lounge in Narita excellent. Onboard service is a little lacking. No pre-take off drinks served on ANA unlike other business class offerings elsewhere. When leveled out still no drinks were offered just a complimentary 'Kool-Aid' type of plum drink given out. Had to wait until the dinner ordering to get a beer. Food was great however the breakfast offering into SFO was poor for business class - a couple of muffins and poor tasting coffee. Food on the return and all-daylight flight was much better. Seat great but being tall not as comfortable as Asiana's flat beds. Also the bulkhead in business class found me touching with my feet whilst trying to sleep - annoying. Didn't bother sleeping on the return flight. Given the Business Class fare was a good deal the service wasn't bad but sure wasn't anything to get excited about. ANA need to lift their game in my opinion. In my answer 3 below its a recommendation in regards to competing airlines on the route not against other airlines. ANA are the best of a fairly average lot to the USA from Japan.

IAD-NRT-IAD. The food was excellent (kaiseki course) and FAs were quick on snack requests at any time during the flight. The sake was good! The seat was comfortable and I had no problems. The business lounge in IAD could have more refreshments but still better than US airline lounges. In fact ANA has one of the best customer service which North American airlines can never hope to match.

Haneda-Hong Kong-Haneda. Fast talking agents resulted in penalties which were more than the price of the economy class ticket even though I spent 4 times that to upgrade the tickets to business class using cash not miles. ANA C-class seats and AVOD are getting dated - pitch is much poorer than UA Cathay or Asiana. Cabin service was technically perfect but lacking sincerity. AVOD was spotty partner's AVOD did not work on the return flight. Indifferent attitude from the FAs. For the price paid almost any other airline is better in my own opinion even if you have to transfer in Incheon. On the positive side ground crew check- in gate staff were excellent. Unfortunately the reservations team and the FAs need to return to what made ANA a star in the alliance.