To conclude my review trip across the world, I flew ANA’s 777 premium economy from Tokyo to London, a 14h 40m flight. Japan Airlines and ANA are both powerhouses in the airline industry, and I wanted to try the newest premium economy cabins they had on offer. I flew Japan Airlines’ A350 premium economy in January, and wanted to see how ANA compared.
My ANA flight was good, though I feel like there was a clear winner. In fact, based on my experience with ANA, I’d consider their premium economy a notch below the best – definitely below Qantas and Japan Airlines, just underperforming Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Emirates and Air New Zealand, and roughly on par with KLM (which I consider to be the best European premium economy class). Specifically, the seat, amenities and catering just weren’t as good as I’d hoped, and felt a notch below regional competitors.
Here are my first impressions of my flight, and I’ll have a full review to come in the next few weeks.
ANA’s 777 Premium Economy Seat: Middling, Except For The Big Screen
ANA’s 777 premium economy cabin features 24 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. While the trend is that premium economy cabin sizes are increasing, both Japan Airlines and ANA bucked the trend, offering smaller premium economy cabins at higher-than-average price points.
This was ANA’s relatively newer seat – there’s an even newer seat coming (along with their The Room FX business class cabin), though the current seat is featured on select 777s, all A380s, and all 787-10s.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Cabin
While I found recline to be good, otherwise I didn’t really care for the seat. Seat pitch was industry-standard at 38″ – due to how thick the seats were I felt like legroom was even slightly impeded, much like on Finnair. There was an extra pouch by the seat pocket where I could place a laptop, and a phone pocket just underneath the armrest, though I would’ve appreciated a significantly larger amount of storage at the seat.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Phone Pockets
I actually think that these are very similar seats to what Lufthansa offers – it felt a bit last-generation for a seat that was introduced in 2019. I guess my expectations were a bit too high.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Seat Recline
The one feature that made the seat stand out was the 15.6″ screen, which was very responsive and easy to navigate. I believe that ANA has one of the largest screens in premium economy (tying Cathay Pacific, and believe or not, Lufthansa and Swiss on their new aircraft), and it was indeed easy to use.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Inflight Entertainment Screen
ANA’s 777 Premium Economy Entertainment and WiFi
Since I’ve already spoken about the screen, I’ll talk about the entertainment system and WiFi. I counted ~260 movies onboard this flight, which is an okay, though definitely not an extensive selection. To ANA’s credit, some of the movies on the system were very good.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Entertainment System
I also enjoyed the external camera available on this ANA 777. It’s not as good as the A350 cameras, though still fun to watch, particularly during taxiing.
ANA 777 Entertainment System External Camera
The headphones that we were provided were good as well – not actively noise-cancelling like ANA’s, though definitely on the better side for a premium economy product.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Headphones
In terms of WiFi, ANA offers WiFi with no data caps at a reasonable price. Messaging was free, and WiFi for the full flight cost US$21.95 (£16.6/HK$172). The WiFi cut out over the Arctic as expected, though I actually felt like the blackout period was quite short for a flight like this. WiFi speeds measured (much) lower than Japan Airlines, though they both use Panasonic as a provider, so I think it would’ve depended on where in the flight I did the test.
So between entertainment and WiFi, I don’t have any complaints about my experience in ANA from that angle.
ANA’s 777 Premium Economy Amenities: Below Average
While on Japan Airlines I felt like I got an eclectic mix of amenities that I wouldn’t have expected on most flights (including a bizarre pillow, but a gentle steam eye mask), on ANA I just found the selection of amenities to be underwhelming.
The pillow and blanket were both extremely similar to what I’d expect in economy. I was still able to get comfortable, though many airlines do so much better on this front, in my opinion.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Pillow and Blanket
Perhaps what I’m more disappointed by is the complete lack of an amenity kit. Instead, we were just handed out amenities such as a dental kit, an eye mask, a face mask, and ear plugs – no lotion or other amenities here.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Amenities
On the plus side, we did get slippers, and a shoe horn or (presumably shoe) bag were available on request.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Slippers
While on Japan Airlines I felt like I was getting a different set of amenities perhaps catered to a different target market, on ANA I just felt like I was getting a more low-effort selection of amenities. Between the economy-style pillow and blanket and the lack of an amenity kit (with uninspiring amenities), I would’ve expected more for this airline to properly compete with Japan Airlines.
ANA’s 777 Premium Economy Food: Tasty, But Not As Good As Japan Airlines
One of the things to note about Japan Airlines and ANA premium economy is that they serve meals identical to economy. Even the presentation is in disposable, reheatable tupperware. As you’d expect for a Japanese airline, though, there are some fantastic side dishes along with the mains. Also, much like on Japan Airlines, there’s the option of purchasing a premium meal for around £10/meal – I bypassed this, as I wanted to try what the airline offered for a majority of premium economy passengers.
Japan Airlines had mindblowingly good catering in economy class – there was even a soft-boiled egg with the first main meal. I felt ANA’s catering was just “very good” for economy, and a little bit more sloppily presented than premium economy counterparts.
For main meals, the oyakodon with the first main meal was very good, and the egg was a nice texture, and not overcooked. The chicken escabeche and Japanese omelet were very good as well.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Main Meal
Meanwhile, I just found the pre-landing meal (bento with fried fish) to be okay at best – the entire dish just seemed a bit too soggy for my liking.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Main Meal
Both ANA and Japan Airlines do cup noodles in premium economy, and ANA does one-up Japan Airlines by offering ochazuke (rice in savoury green tea). At some point I was handed a muffin as well – the cabin lights did come on occasionally for a coffee service or for the muffin, though they were only turned up halfway.
ANA 777 Premium Economy Class Midflight Snacks
There are also some galley snacks, which are shared with economy.
ANA 777 Economy Class Galley Snacks
In terms of drinks, ANA has a fairly solid selection, with sparkling wine, sake, and shochu (no umeshu) on offer. Much like Japan Airlines I was asked whether I wanted my shochu on the rocks and with soda water, though they did run out of shochu quite early on in the flight.
The airline does serve a signature kabosu (citrus) juice, though, which I really enjoyed – I thought it was really refreshing, and a great way to stay hydrated onboard a very long flight. This juice is also available in economy class, and I enjoyed it just as much as Japan Airlines’ Sky Time drink (in fact I might’ve even preferred the kabosu juice, as it was less sweet).
However, overall I found the food quality to be a notch below Japan Airlines, especially when it came to the main meals. I also wish that both Japanese airlines could present their meals better in premium economy class, as this lags behind much of the competition.
ANA’s T2 Haneda Lounge: Definitely The Best Part Of The Experience
While I found most of ANA’s premium economy offering to be second-rate, there was one element of the experience that was much better than what I’d experienced on Japan Airlines. Specifically, ANA has a lounge at Haneda Airport’s Terminal 2, and all premium economy passengers (yep, including non-status passengers) have access to the business class section.
While the lounge itself isn’t amazing (it can’t compete with some of the world’s best hub lounges), I thought it was much nicer than either of the Japan Airlines lounges at Haneda Airport, with a much larger variety of seating.
ANA Lounge, Haneda T2
There was a noodle bar featuring noodles such as grated yam soba and tonkotsu ramen with black garlic oil. There’s even a cocktail bar, though it’s only open from 6 PM until 2 AM, so I didn’t have access (probably not a bad thing at 6 AM in the morning).
ANA Lounge, Haneda T2 Noodle Bar
While still not one of the best hub lounges, this is probably one of the best lounges out there that premium economy passengers have access to, and above average for an airline business class hub lounge. While the lounge filled up later in the morning, it remained possible to get a comfortable seat throughout the lounge.
Do note that while every single Japan Airlines premium economy destination offers lounge access, the same isn’t true for ANA – they didn’t manage to get contracts at some airports, such as Frankfurt, Munich, and Vienna Airport. So ANA premium economy passengers only get lounge access at a select range of destinations.
Conclusion: ANA’s 777 Premium Economy
While ANA’s 777 premium economy was perfectly fine, it certainly isn’t a product I’ll seek out in the future. Neither the seat, amenities, nor catering were industry-leading. The only standout elements were a large, responsive entertainment screen, working WiFi, and a good hub lounge at Tokyo Haneda.
I was expecting Japan Airlines and ANA to have premium economy products of a similar calibre, though the difference was bigger than I was expecting. Japan Airlines has some quirks to their premium economy soft product (mainly economy-style service flow and some strange amenities), though makes up for it with an industry-leading seat, impressive catering execution, and numerous fun amenities. Meanwhile ANA has the same cutbacks, though without the bells and whistles to make up for it.
Have you flown ANA premium economy before? How was your experience?
