ANA All Nippon Airways

I feel cheated by ANA. When I booked in BC I could already make the seat reservation. ANA gave the 1-2-1 configuration indicating the latest horizontal seats. For my wife and I I booked the two middle seats on both legs NH206 and 205. At the airport I discovered a 2-3-2 configuration with the old sliding down seats! I was very angry and contacted ANA they replied that ANA has the right to change the configuration without notice to the passenger. The seat is one of the worst I have flown narrow very hard and sliding down! Sleeping almost impossible!

Kobe-Chitose-Kobe. B737-800. No Star alliance lounge at Kobe. Star Alliance lounge at Sapporo/Chitose with special security way (very useful). Nice wines. no food at all! Paid but nice food onboard of both flights. Smiling staff every time. Very clean and nice aircraft. A good experience.

SEA-NRT on the 787 which is a 10-hour flight. In the 3x3x3 configuration the seat was small and uncomfortable. The cabin was very hot which made it even worse. And my wife and I were separated because of the change in aircraft configuration. On a positive note the flight attendants were friendly and efficient and the selection of Hollywood movies was nice. The bathrooms were clean and the food was OK. But it's all about the seat. I can only recommend to small people who can tolerate hot cabin temperatures.

Haneda-Osaka Osaka-Fukuoka Fukuoka-Narita! I had a special rate for tourist which was quite cheap. Perfect service. Great check in service for Star Alliance Gold and very friendly staff. Good designed lounges but they don't have any proper food in the lounges by domestic flights.

San Jose to Tokyo Narita on new Dreamliner Business Class. Seat comfort was first rate plenty of room and great access to the aisle. IFE was very good service was amazing. Food was too salty for me otherwise a great flight.

LAX-HAN. Previously flew this same route in economy class and found ANA's service in that class to be comparable to business/first class on most other airlines. I was not disappointed with the business class experience in ANA as the service was quite outstanding. Attention was paid to every little thing from cleaning toilets after use to offering beverage or food the moment one's eyes flutter open after some sleep. The entertainment system offered a full compliment of Hollywood Japanese and a few international films along with music television shows (mostly Japanese) and games. Since this was a red eye flight meals were a simple amuse (delicious although my husband wouldn't eat it because it was far too exotic) along with a breakfast meal before landing. I opted for the Japanese breakfast and the presentation was both outstanding and quite delicious. They also offer many wonderful snacks during the flight and my mother-in-law fell in love with the Ippu-do ramen dish she had as a mid-flight snack. My only problem was with the seat which is somewhat of a lie down configuration although the leg portion of the seats hangs downward. I could only feel comfortable laying on my side even though portions of the seat dug into my hip. Still definitely worth the price of flying.

NRT-ITM. B767. 2-3-2 configuration. Good space for legs. Fast and efficient check-in. Bus boarding with separate bus for Priority pax. Big screen with front camera views including during take-off and landing. No individual screen. Paid drinks and food. Baggage arrived immediately. Cabin attendants just vanished.

Flight from Narita to Seattle on Boeing Dreamliner. On the flight to Narita seats were 2 on outside 3 in the middle. Return flight different airplane seats 3 rows outside 3 in middle. It was the most cramped of any flight I have ever taken including domestic. An agonizing trip. The service is quintessentially Japanese: gracious efficient. It is just that 2/3 of the seats are taken up by almost totally empty business and first class seats. Even United was better in terms of comfort.

JFK-NRT B777 Seat 6E. A Fantastic experience. Perfect check-in: an employee put our luggage on balance no belt transportation for C pax luggage. Poor BA lounge in JFK not at NH standards. First part of Business class cabin is extremely quiet (8 pax only). New seats offer a huge space nearly a suite much larger than any competitor on 777. Food top quality Japanese and French. Beef was rare as requested. French Champagne was good (not a Premium one). Wines not so good unfortunately. Fabulous Sake. First meal was served at the right speed. A nice surprise: during the following 11 hours of flight meals could be served at any time on demand with a large choice of food. Cabin attendant spoke perfect English and were extremely efficient. Surprising variety of movies. Camera during flight but not upon taking of or landing.

Flew from Sapporo to Haneda on a packed 777-300. Flight departed on time and arrived on time. Boarding was orderly but they allow too many carry on bags onboard the crew had a difficult time closing the overhead bins. As you can imagine 10 across seating is really cramped. Flight was about 1 hour 45 mins with no inflight entertainment except headsets for listening to music and scattered video monitors showing a Japanese documentary. Service wise was bad and minimal. Onboard for an hour and 45 min flight you are only offered water oolong tea and apple juice. No other drinks available not even orange juice. Asked the FA for ice and she just pointed to her drinks. For the price we paid as it was not cheap its definitely not worth it. For Japanese standard of service its appalling.