- United First Orange County to San Francisco andUnited International Lounge
- United Business San Francisco to Frankfurt
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge
- Lufthansa First Frankfurt to Tokyo
- Tokyo for a Day
- ANA Business
Tokyo to Frankfurt
- Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport
- United Flight Frankfurt to San Francisco
- United First San Francisco to Orange County
- Trip Summary
ANA #203
from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to Frankfurt (FRA)
ANA Boeing 787
Seat: 3K
Cabin:
Business
Date:
02/19/12
Scheduled Departure: 1:00am
Actual Departure:
12:59am
Scheduled Arrival:
5:25am
Actual Arrival:
5:29am
 |
| My Ride at the Gate |
The time had finally come to try out Boeing’s new
airplane, the 787. I headed over to the
gate about an hour before departure so see the aircraft at the gate. ANA modified their livery to add a 787 on the
side of the fuselage so I was happy to see that on the plane verifying I the
787 was in service.
The gate area wasn’t that full even through
boarding. Several agents were at the
gate preparing for the flight and at 35 minutes after midnight they invited
business class and priority passengers to begin boarding. I was standing up and close to the gate so I
was able to be first in line to pass my boarding card and passport to the
agent. I was soon walking down the jet
bridge to board the aircraft. Two
bridges were used, one to the front door for business class and the other for
the second door for economy passengers.
I didn’t get a chance to see the main entry point then although the
entry through the front gallery area was better than most airplanes I’ve been
on.
 |
| Gate Area |
There are a total of 18 seats in the forward
business class section in a staggered configuration. When I took a picture of the cabin, the
flight attendant behind me offered to take one with me in the picture. Another business class section is just aft of
the lavatory and galley area.
 |
| The Front Business Cabin |
 |
| Me on the 787 |
The new business class seat on the 787 has some
cool features but it is more functional than aesthetic. The seat is comfortable, good cushion (not as
much as United or Continentals product), and plenty of room at the
shoulders. The seats are staggered so that
you always have a side table between you and the next person. This setup is great for the business traveler
but lousy if you are flying with someone since there is no option to seat
together or even see each other.
 |
| Aisle Seat Profile |
 |
| My Window Seat |
 |
| My Window Seat |
The video screen at the seat is large and is above
the power ports and tray table. Most other business seats located the table
within the armrests to hide it somewhat. Here, the table is pulled out from
below the screen and it latched in place with a pivoting arm. This is probably the least elegant design
component. The table slides all the way
out and has plenty of space for dining or working. The integration of the power outlets into the
screen unit is actually a great solution.
It saves you from having cords along the floor or seat getting in the
way of your legs.
 |
| Screen, Table, and Power Ports |
Controls for the seat are located on the side table
unit along with the handset for the AVOD.
The side table is large with a cup holder and a light. One armrest can fold upright while the other
can be lowered to provide more space.
When it is lowered, a small panel remains that you can remove although I
don’t think I was supposed to. The seat
control unit also has two unique buttons on it.
One button turns the LED side table light on and off and the other is a
do not disturb button. When pressed, a
plaque lights up on the top of the seat to indicate to flight attendants
passing by to let you rest uninterrupted.
My issue with the seat design here is that the handset, which has all of
the controls for the AVOD but also the reading light above the seat and the
attendant call button, is located at the same point you rest your elbow on the
arm rest. If you move your arm you can
hit those buttons by accident.
 |
| Side Table and Control Unit |
One of the most striking aspects of the 787 is the
amount of space the windows occupy. They
are about 30% larger than standard airplane windows. Where I usually have to stoop down to look
out of the windows I can sit fully upright and look out. All of the windows, except the ones in the
bathroom, do not have pull down shades.
Instead they are electrically dimmed to the point where light is blocked
out but some transparency remains.
Unfortunately I was on a night flight and wouldn’t be able to fully test
out this feature. I did do a comparison
shot of fully open versus fully dimmed and you can see the difference even at
night.
 |
| Fully Transparent Window |
 |
| Fully Shaded Window |
 |
| Windows |
The bathrooms are nowhere near as nice of the ones
on the A380 but they are equipped with a couple features that are not
standard. One, a nearly full length
mirror is on one wall. The other items
involve the toilet. They have installed
a bidet function and there is also hand motion activated flush which also
closes the toilet seat.
 |
| Amenity Kit |
 |
| Forward Bathroom (One W/O Window) |
Service on the flight was interesting. All of the flight attendants were polite,
friendly, and smiling. Items were
provided quickly when asked, but a few small details just seemed lacking. No pre-flight beverages were offered, not
even water. Once airborne we were given
small bottles of water and later offered Champaign, white wine, or red wine
from a tray of pre-poured glasses. I
chose the Chateau La Lauzette Bordeaux from the Haut (high) Medoc. I have actually been wine tasting in that
region before and enjoyed this slightly spicy red. My wine glass was quickly refilled when empty
which is always nice. Hot towels were
given out before meal service and after using mine it stayed on the side table
and wasn’t picked up until after I had finished dinner.
A light meal service was provided on the flight due
to the late, rather very early hour of departure. The first course was a small appetizer plate
of some sort of sauce with vegetables, and a cocktail of fruit and shrimp in a
sweet liquid – all quite good. Also, two
cheese wafers were on the plate.
 |
| Appetizer Plate |
I opted for the udon noodles with duck breast in a
warm broth for dinner. It was served in
a bowl with chopsticks and was very tasty.
It wasn’t the easiest to eat but I probably could’ve asked for a spoon
if I wanted. After slurping down the
noodles, duck, leeks, and spinach I finished off the remaining broth and was
ready for dessert.
 |
| Udon Noodles with Duck |
There were a few options for dessert on the menu
and I opted for ice cream. A small
carton of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream was dropped off at my seat along with a
snack mix. There is a table tray light
just above the screen to use while eating.
There is no switch, but as you rotate the light from a flush/flat
position, it turns on automatically.
 |
| Dessert, Snacks, and Moneyball |
The meal service wrapped up about three hours after
takeoff and it was now time to sleep. I
reclined the seat all the way into the bed position. There is no separate or extra padded headrest
on the seat so you have a fully flat surface to lay on. Width wise, the seat was fine. My shoulders didn’t hit the sides of the seat
shell and I could turn from side to side easily. The length was almost an issue for me. I could lay down and fully stretch out and my
head would just be about touching the back of the seat shell and my feet would
just barely be touching the back of the foot well. Anyone over 6’2” will have to bend their
knees to sleep. The foot well is actually
the width of the seat unlike seats on Continental and United aircraft so you
don’t feel cramped.
I was able to get 6 hours of sleep in before waking
up on my own somewhere north of Moscow.
Boeing hypes the new aspects of the 787 including pressurization at a
lower level, higher humidity, and a quieter cabin. I did feel that the cabin was more
comfortable to be in. I was less
dehydrated than on some previous long haul flights, and I didn’t feel the need
to keep drinking water as I did on the 747 flight over. The cabin was quieter although you could
still hear the engine noise. The low end
of the spectrum and rumbling was gone but you could still hear the higher pitch
whine of the engines and the changes in speed.
The overall ride was smooth with only a couple bumps here and
there.
Once the flight attendants saw that I was awake, I
was given a hot towel and asked if I would prefer the western or Japanese
breakfast. I opted for the western
spinach omelet with ham and potato slices.
The eggs were decent, albeit greasy.
Fruit, warm breads, and orange juice were also provided.
 |
| Breakfast |
The cabin is lit through LEDs all over the
aircraft. The overall cabin lighting can
vary depending on the time of day or flight.
On boarding and landing, the cabin had a blue tint to it. During meal times the lighting was more of a
white / yellow. The blue accent lighting
around the side table reminded me of Tron when all the other lights were
off.
 |
| Boarding Lighting |
 |
| Meal Lighting |
 |
| Where is the Daft Punk Music? |
I felt that the AVOD library was rather minimal and
didn’t have the breadth of programming available on United or Lufthansa. There was a mix of Japanese and Hollywood
programming in the movie section but the TV section was pretty empty. The system also lets you shop from your
screen or instant message between other seats on the plane. The crew didn’t turn on the system until we
were up in the air for about 10-15 minutes and they shut down the system 30
minutes before landing. Only the map
function was available as we were heading in.
One part of the maps was interesting as it showed names and dates in the
ocean. My only thought is that the map
is showing shipwrecks as it listed the Kursk in 2000.
 |
| AVOD Menu |
 |
| Map, with Shipwrecks? |
The landing at Frankfurt was smooth and we taxied
for 10 minutes heading to our gate. Once
at the gate I waited until all of the plane disembarked so I could head to the
economy cabin and grab some photos. The
economy layout has two aisles in a 2-4-2 seat configuration although the 4
middle seats are more like two sets of two seats with an extra armrest in the middle. The back of the seats do not lean back, but
rather the seat bottom slides forward.
An indicator on the die of the seats lets the flight attendants know
whether the seat is in the upright and locked position for landing.
 |
| Economy Cabin |
 |
| Middle Seats with the Extra Armrest |
 |
| Upright Seat Indicator - Green is Good |
Passport control was packed when I got there around
5:45am. When I reached the border agent
I was asked only how long I would be in Germany and then sent off. My hotel for the night is adjacent to the
airport so I hope that I can get into a room early.
Only 32 international flights of the 787 have been in operation so far (minus a few cancellations), so being one of the first groups of people to fly it was fun. I don't know if the plane lives up to a revolutionary passenger experience, but it definitely is an improvement in comfort over other aircraft. Perhaps its just that my recent experience in first class on the A380 is coloring my perception.
