ANA – All Nippon Airways

ANA Airline is beyond amazing. Whenever we fly to Vietnam, we always use them. The stewardesses are so sweet, accommodating and patient. The service is fabulous and the food on flight is delicious. Out of all the airlines to travel to Asia, I highly recommend ANA.

I have flown with ANA before and did enjoy the flight. Food was great, staff were impeccable, seats a little rigid. Was rather disappointed with their front office operations though. I just trudged through the scorching afternoon sun from my office to the office on 16^th St NW hoping to make some flight bookings but was greeted with an entirely empty office. It was shut (not a staff in sight) with not so much of a sign or some indication that they had stepped out, etc. Disappointing that a world class airline would abandon their office at 1pm on Tues (a normal work day). Guess this just means I won’t be flying on ANA this time around …

Highly recommend flying ANA if you ever have to travel internationally — impeccable Japanese service, great food (Eastern & Western options available), great personal entertainment systems, and even free booze and Häagen-​Dazs ice cream on board. Comparable to JAL for those who have flown them to Asia. The seats don’t recline back but slide forward instead so you never have to worry about the person in front of you get all up in your personal space. The movie selection was pretty good as well — they had recent and critically acclaimed movies like Hobbit 2, American Hustle, Wolf of Wall Street, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and August: Osage County. They also had free (Japanese) snacks in the service area that you could just take whenever, which is always nice when you want to munch on something while watching a movie. I flew economy, but all the other classes looked really good too.

I have been flying on commercial airlines for over two decades. My first flight with ANA was in the winter of 2005 when I was flying back to Japan to visit friends. I don’t remember how much I payed for that fare but I flew in the economy section. To my surprise the economy seats were much more roomier than the other carriers that I have flown on (United, Korean Airlines, etc.). The food was substantially better too It was a roundtrip flight. After that flight I was sold on the ANA franchise and became a ANA Mileage Club member. I flew again with ANA when my job transferred me to Japan. My company wanted to fly me under their corporate account with American Airlines. I declined their offer and funded my own flight with ANA. During my years living in Japan I have used ANA a lot to fly around Japan to see the rest of the country. I then started upgrading to business class since the ticket was only about 20,000 Yen ($ 200) more than economy seats and I was finally allowed to use the ANA Lounges at the airports. From that point on I never wanted to fly economy again. When my company needed me to move back to Washington DC I used a large portion of my life savings to buy my first class ticket. I figured that you only live once and at least for once try first class. It was the best experience in flying that I have ever had. I don’t know when I can do that again as it is expensive. I will never fly with any other airline carrier ever again. I am an ANA fan for life. I love ANA.

I have to say I really enjoyed my flight. I just went to Japan for the first time earlier this month. I flew ANA from Seattle to Tokyo on their new 787 dreamliner. The service on board was excellent. The flight attendants are very stylish.
I was in coach, the seats weren’t super comfortable as they have this new reclining feature. Basically the best way to describe it is they recline a bit but your neighbor can’t recline into your lap.
The food was ok, I wouldn’t say it was the best but I’ve learned not to expect gourmet on airlines.
The other pluses there was a USB port in the seat so you can use that with your fave electronic device to pass the long journey and they have a variety of in-​flight entertainment to choose from. Also they passed out little cups of ice cream for dessert.
The minuses the guy behind me was literally pecking away on his entertainment screen which then meant I got the pleasure of being a bit jolted each time he tried to navigate or do whatever he was doing.

Ok… I normally hate flying. I normally hate flight attendants who are unionized with nasty attitudes. I normally hate airlines that make you pay $ 100 for 5″ of leg room that is quickly absorbed by the person in front of you when they lean back.
But ANA is none of those.
The flight attendants were a beautiful bunch — I don’t mean looks, well, that counts too, but they were pleasant and very attentive. If I asked for something, I didn’t get a sigh and my cup of water five minutes later. Instead, they would come right back, smile a cartoon characterish smile, and then go on with their business. Definitely a plus.
The seating was also great — pay a Y class fare and you can have their premium economy which was essentially one of the old business class seats in the economy section. It certainly was appreciated when I was flying for 13 hours to Japan.
I’ll be back on ANA whenever I’m forced to book United via our travel system — even if it means I have to leave later in the day! Arigato gozaimashita!

ANA’s counter in Dulles is the worst. The staff is rude and unhelpful. They don’t even pretend to be helpful. Most other counters at Dulles have staff that are trying to be helpful to passengers. Not ANA. For whatever reason, they also don’t send your bags to customs but require you to carry it. Other airlines use the conveyer belt. Severals years have passed any they have made no effort to fix this. Yet ANA charges you a higher price supposedly for better service. In flight service is nothing special either. ANA has gone down hill while raising their prices.
One telling example of ANA’s poor customer service attitude: most airlines will give you a gate pass to accompany someone to their gate, eg. an elderly relative. I’ve gotten these from other airlines very easily. ANA refused and didn’t say why. I called ANA and they said it’s up to the staff’s discretion whether to help people or not. So I guess we just got some grumpy jerk who wanted to give us a hard time.

I love this airline. The flight attendants were great and the food wasn’t too bad. I love the fact that they had Japanese movies for us to enjoy. I actually didn’t mind my 18 hour flight.

This is a review regarding the ANA Lounge. Top notch service. The staff really fuss over you here. I get annoyed how some lounges can be really snobby, like when the staff try to take on the identity of who they think should be coming into these places. Its the same malaise that affects those working in high end retail stores. You’ve seen them. At this lounge however, anytime I looked in their direction they’d give me the raised eyebrow look and ask if I needed anything. If I was a lazy fuck, I could have sat in my seat the whole time and told them exactly what i wanted, and they would have gotten it without any attitude.
The lounge was a bit crowded and I didn’t immediately see any open seats. The staff will happily find one for you if you don’t feel like wandering around. There seemed to be plenty of outlets recessed in the floor, or the walls to charge your laptop. The wifi was free and fast. Drinks were also free unlike some lounges that give you 1 or 2 drink tickets and the rest you have to pay. They had both japanese and american snacks, salmon rice balls, fresh fruit cups, and some basic japanese finger food. Another good thing was that the lounge was conveniently connected to the gate, so when it was time for boarding it was smooth, instead of the mad dash I usually have to do when I fly with other carriers.