Introduction

 

I’ve been on a whirlwind trip over the past few days. To recap I started in Boston and flew First Class on United Airlines to Seoul via San Francisco. I then flew Asiana short haul Business Class to Tokyo Japan overnighted there at the Narita Hilton. So today I was flying my first 787 Dreamliner. I had the pleasure of flying ANA, the launch customer for this new class of plane created by Boeing. I’ve never tried hard to fly this plane, but sine its first revenue flight in October 2011 I’ve really wanted to check it out. This plane is groundbreaking in that it’s made of multiple composite materials, has a more open feel due to the Sky Interior, larger windows with gradient shading feature and also boasts a cabin pressurization of only 6000’, normally planes are pressurized at a higher level than that. This is supposed to make people feel more refreshed when flying long distances. Additionally with its increased fuel efficiency new long thin routes were hopefully going to materialize.

 

So on this day I had a short flight of about three hours from Narita, Japan to Shanghai, China.  I arrived at the gate about 10 minutes prior to boarding and hung around waiting to board. Once they called my group I made my way on the plane. The cabin was pretty spacious with 2x2x2 seating in Business and slightly staggered, with 59 seats. ANA has 5 versions of this plane,  4 with a 2 class configuration (business and coach) and one with a 3 class which included fist. Today mine was operated by one of the 2 class 787-800. I quickly found my spot and started snapping pictures. There was plenty of space between you and the row in front.   The seats have two controls, one for recline and for the upright position. This was a lie flat seat, but I thought with this limited control it was difficult to adjust specific part of the seat like the back or leg rest. It was all set to adjust as you pushed the button. It was ok, but I thought on a new airframe they would have found a better seat option. There was also a small compartment under the armrest to store glasses and a phone, plus a power plug. Then below the TV screens was space for a small carryon, also they had a spot to store shoes or slippers. Overall not a ton of space but enough to get by.

As I mentioned, the seats are in a 2x2x2 configuration. Notice that the overhead bins are pretty high up and when closed provide a really open cabin. Also there were small dividers between each seat. Since this was one of the regional versions the spacing appeared to be tighter then on some of the other 800’s. Also I’m under the impression on the more spacious versions, the cocktail table is much larger between the seats.

The TV was not large, but was definitely, doable. This is not Singapore Airlines for crying out loud.

Notice plenty of legroom, storage for my shoes, backpack and place for my headphones and magazines. Lastly a tiny spot to store something thin an narrow like a…..I have no idea.

I got a bunch of double takes, I think it’s my shirt. I’m hoping it says Toy Story in Kanji, but frankly I could be wrong, lets’ just hope it wasn’t  offensive.

Please click to enlarge the menu selections

 

The meal was outstanding. I have flown ANA three previous times, and have never ever been disappointed with the food. They know how to cater for sure. I had Japanese option which included Miso soup, rice, salmon with soy glaze, sliced beef in wine sauce, omelet, marinated dicon and octopus. My mouth is watering just writing this.

 Nothing makes a meal complete without a glass of Sake or two.

OVERALL:

The flight was great, and just too short. But hey this really is a trip report about flying First Class around the world, so anytime in business class no matter how good is too long. Really :). Service as usual on ANA was perfect, the flight attendants, were there to help and refill your drink before you were even ready for one. They were attentive, but not annoying. The seat was comfortable, if not a bit narrow, for three hours it was just fine.Would this flight make me seek out a Dreamliner again? No. But it would also not make me avoid it either.