I recently got to go to Taipei, Taiwan. LAX has 7 daily flights direct to TPE (Taoyuan International Airport) in Taipei. Being the nut case that I am I felt fortunate to be able to fly on All Nippon Airways via NRT (Tokyo-Narita).
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| My routing for this trip |
I was really excited to try ANA's staggered business class seat. I have previously tried economy, premium economy, and first class. So with this trip I will have tried all of their products!
I got to LAX pretty early because I knew of the afternoon rush that happens. There was already traffic building up in the central terminal area when I arrived. Check-in had just opened up and I had a short line to wait in. Security line was also surprisingly fast especially since I took advantage of the premium passenger line. I made my way to the Star Alliance lounge and settled in on the terrace area overlooking the central core of TBIT.
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| View from the Start Alliance Lounge LAX |
I just relaxed and enjoyed the wifi. I did eat some stuff since I didn't have breakfast yet. The food was somewhat bland but I really enjoyed the mango curried chicken and egg wrap.
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| Mango curried chicken and egg wrap |
I left the lounge a little bit early just to walk around TBIT until I arrived at my gate. It was already starting to fill up with people and the plane was delaying about 40 minutes.
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| JA779A today |
I was originally booked at seat 17G which is a seat in the center section but with a table in the aisle. The ANA business class configuration, if you aren't familiar, is staggered meaning every other seat is directly next to the aisle. This configuration allows for every seat to have aisle access without needing to have angled seats (like reverse herringbone). Unfortunately this does mean some seats are right next to the aisle, but if you can snag one that is buffered by the side table then it is a really private seat. I had requested a window seat and as luck would have it, one opened up in 9A!
Upon boarding the seat turns out to be the one with the table next to the aisle plus it had a really awesome view of the GE90 engine.
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| View out from Seat 9A |
The seats are also fully lay flat.
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| Seat 9A |
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| Seat 9A television |
You can see how isolated you are from the aisle.
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| Seat 9A looking to rest of the cabin |
And it turns out that the seat behind me would be empty for this flight too.
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| View of business staggered cabin |
Seat controls were to the right of the seat.
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| Seat controls |
The seat controls are pretty straight forward. There is also a standard pull out remote. For this flight I found that the entertainment system lagged a little bit in response. Either that or the controls were worn out so that I would have to press multiple times or my commands would be registered as something else. In terms of the seat controls the only thing that I found lacking was the ability to independently control the footrest portion of the seat. If you stretched your legs out then you have no support for your knees. To get it to come out you have to recline the entire seat. I am a short person so often times I would have to track the seat forward in order to get my feet to comfortably reach the ottoman underneath the TV.
In the seat waiting for you was the mattress pad, blanket, pillow, and amenities. The amenities included slippers, noise cancelling headphones, and a L'Occitane amenity kit.
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| ANA Business Class Amenities |
Flight attendants soon came around to introduce themselves to you and offered sparkling wine or orange juice as a pre-departure beverage. I chose orange juice.
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| Pre-departure orange juice |
I'm always amazed how quickly Asian airlines can board. Soon they announced that doors were closed and the safety video began.
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| Let's buckle up! |
Underneath the TV were power plugs and media hookups. You can apparently connect an iPod or MP3 player to the entertainment system and play your music through it.
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| Connections underneath the TV |
Soon we started our push back and we were on our way for Runway 25R.
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| Bye LA! |
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| Going to 25R |
Soon after takeoff the seatbelt signs turned off and service began. It was a beautiful sky blue day and smooth flying. Service started with a post-departure drink and amuse bouche. I ordered a kabosu which is the ANA citrus drink. It is one of my favorite drinks when flying ANA.
I opted for the washoku or Japanese course. The other option out of LAX was the Patina restaurant meal. ANA does a good job of changing up their food menu and doing collaborations with famous restaurants and chefs. However the thought of a baby chicken meal on an airplane didn't sound as good to me as the Japanese course. Obviously when flying a Japanese carrier the Japanese food will almost always be a good bet. In business class, the Japanese meal is served in two sets. In contrast, in first class each of these courses is served individually. The flight attendants are really good at explaining which dish is which although obviously a lot more detail is given in first.
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| Washoku course Part 1: Zensai, Sunomono, Taikawase |
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| Zensai: Fishcake with corn, konjac noodles, cod roe, grilled vegetables with beef, simmered winter melon |
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| Sunomono: grilled eel and Chinese yam with ginger vinegar |
The main course was a salt-grilled yellowtail (yum) accompanied with steam rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles. If you've never had Japanese pickles before, you should treat yourself. They're widely varied and flavored and go great with congee or rice.
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| Shusai and Steamed Rice |
The rice was excellent. The soup was a little bit bland. The pickles were great. I was really looking forward to the grilled yellowtail but it seemed over done. The texture wasn't too good and it just didn't seem that fresh. I was a little disappointed in the meal at this point but dessert was next.
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| Grilled yellowtail |
I never knew this about ANA but they serve their desserts off of carts. Some people find that offensive but I find it to be magical. It's a literal cart of sweets that you can glance over at and pick whatever you want off of it. It's like living some childhood dream so how can you not like it?
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| The dessert cart |
The flight attendants were really good at explaining the desserts. I find that they often times look nothing like what you would expect from the menu. The menu also tells you the vegan tropical fruit verrine (by Patina) OR the coffee mousse and banana cake along with cheese and fruits. I love to have fruits for dessert so I sheepishly asked if I could try both the verrine and the fruit bowl. They didn't blink at all and handed me both desserts. Okay then! Perhaps I'm not the first person to ask.
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| Tropical fruit terrine by Patina and fruit bowl |
The fruit terrine was deeeeelicious. I probably could have asked for another but I had other food planned for this flight. The fruits were also a nice way to end my meal.
Once everything was cleaned up the lights were slowly dimmed for people to nap. I napped for maybe half an hour and woke up to finish Zootopia. I found myself disappointed in the movie selections on board the plane this time. Normally I can find a lot of things that I want to watch but this time I ended up watching some old movies like Primal Fear with Richard Gere and Edward Norton (a must see if you haven't seen it yet). At the end of the movie I figured it was time for a snack.
Ramen.
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| Ramen snack with hot green tea and Hibiki 17 year whiskey |
So. Friggin. Good.
The ANA green tea also was as good as I remembered it to be and a perfect accompaniment to the ramen. You can also order this in premium economy but it is not as good as the one in business class. I believe first class also has the same ramen but I didn't try it that time I flew. I also ordered a 17 year Hibiki whiskey on the rocks because I promised myself I would get one.
I wanted another bowl of ramen. I almost ordered it but then I figured I shouldn't stuff. First world problems here.
The Hibiki made me sleepy so I set up the bed. The seat pad was comfortable. The pillow could have been thicker. What I really liked was the comforter. It was perfect for me. Not too hot, not too cold. It seemed to be made of some really nice material too. The comforter is interesting in that it originally comes folded in a pocket on one of its sides and you unfurl the blanket from it. When sleeping I used it to put my feet in so that the blanket wouldn't slip off of me while I was sleeping and turning. I'm not sure if that is really what it was for but it worked out well for me. The noise cancelling headphones did a really good job of removing the cabin noise so I got some really good sleep. Overall I found the seat pretty comfortable in bed mode. I can see how some people may find it narrow though. It did seem like I had to sleep with my arms pretty much at my side in order to rest comfortably somewhere and not dangle off the seat.
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| Bed Mode! |
I slept until the lights started coming back on and we were 1 hour 45 minutes out from Tokyo. Time to eat again? Ok! I have never tried any Western food on ANA so I chose that for my pre-arrival meal. It was grilled chicken with fruit and yoghurt. I really just wanted the yoghurt.
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| Pre-arrival international meal |
This was served on one tray. The chicken was a bit too dry for my taste. I really should have just stuck with the Japanese option but after the first meal I wasn't feeling fish anymore.
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| Almost to Tokyo! |
I snagged some cool postcards on board and made myself a crane with origami paper I found in the galley that the flight attendants left out for passengers to play with.
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| Goodies! |
Before I knew it we were arriving at Narita. The descent was a little bit rough and it seemed the pilot was in a hurry.
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| Eastern coast of Japan |
Nonetheless we arrived safely!
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| Bonus cute van at NRT |
I had a tight connection in NRT for TPE so I bolted off the plane to re-clear security and find my next gate. Unfortunately my next flight was way at the other end of the other terminal so I had to traverse the underground tunnel.
Overall my first experience on ANA business went pretty well. I was disappointed in some of the food offerings. I would blame LAX catering more though. The service seemed decent but a little bit in a hurry sometimes. They seemed a little impatient when I spoke slowly which I found odd. I enjoyed the seat a lot. Seat 9A has great window views. I took a peek at mini-business class cabin that people are so fond of. I'm gonna go against the popular opinion here and say that I prefer the main business class cabin. The mini one seemed almost claustrophobic to me since it only consists of two rows and has the lavatory right behind it. I was really disappointed in the movie selections this time around too.
Next up: NRT-TPE NH823
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