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Old Dec 26, 08, 1:00 am   #1
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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NRT-CDG F award another perfect flight

NH 205 on 21 December NRT-CDG in F award

Alone in the F cabin seated in 1A

One FA to prepare the food and another for the service at meal times, other times one FA to take care in case I moved an inch and looked like I needed anything !

Kir Royake made with Krug
Umeshu (plum wine) rock
Perrier water

Caviar
Baby leaves salad with paupiette of crab (Zuwaikani)

German white wine

Japanese clear soup

Chateau Neuf du Pape red wine

Grilled fish teriyaki

Assortment of cheeses

Truffle Ice cream

Colombia coffee

Chocolates


Second meal before landing in Paris

Mixed baby leaves salad
White Japanese rice congee, plain with a little sugar

This is the 3rd time on 14 years of flying ANA F that I had the F cabin to myself, once NRT-LHR, once FRA-NRT and this time.

ANA must have one of the best F products with SQ
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Old Dec 26, 08, 9:56 am   #2
 
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Sounds fabulous! I'm trying to find some availability for this route myself, but it is rather difficult when trying to snatch 2 seats in F for BMI awards. Must say I've been encouraged lately with posts from several FTers getting award seats, and reading reviews as yours makes me even more eager
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Old Dec 26, 08, 10:50 am   #3
 
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Sounds nice! Cheers.
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Old Dec 26, 08, 8:32 pm   #4
 
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Thanks for the report. I'm flying NRT-IAD on an F award in April and am really looking forward to it. Since you were the only one in the F cabin, did you find the service overbearing at all? Or was attentive but not *too* attentive?
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Old Dec 27, 08, 12:28 am   #5
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rts123 View Post
Thanks for the report. I'm flying NRT-IAD on an F award in April and am really looking forward to it. Since you were the only one in the F cabin, did you find the service overbearing at all? Or was attentive but not *too* attentive?
It was perfect. I told the purser that I would call if/when needed outside of the meal times (I was asked what time I would like the meals).
Even then, each time I used the lavatory,my bed was refreshed, water topped up and lavatory cleaned and supplies replenished. One of the 2 F lavatories was made available to C class by way of the curtain but the other one was always at my disposal, even the FAs used the other ones....
If you leave from NRT I would strongly recommend at least part of the Japanese meal, the fish teriyaki was out of this world....and I always appreciate the clear soup.
Enjoy
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Old Dec 27, 08, 6:05 am   #6
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In your opinion, do you find the service / food better outbound from Japan or inbound? I guess catering from places like CDG, SFO would be better than some..

I find SQ F to be overrated anyway. That's my personal opinion.
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Old Dec 27, 08, 7:11 am   #7
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy Betsy View Post
In your opinion, do you find the service / food better outbound from Japan or inbound? I guess catering from places like CDG, SFO would be better than some..

I find SQ F to be overrated anyway. That's my personal opinion.
Catering is remarkably better from Japan on NH
Service on board NH is not different inbound or outbound

SQ F flies where NH F does not,they are not in real competition in F only maybe on the NRT-LAX route
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Old Dec 27, 08, 6:25 pm   #8
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JackR View Post
Catering is remarkably better from Japan on NH
Service on board NH is not different inbound or outbound

SQ F flies where NH F does not,they are not in real competition in F only maybe on the NRT-LAX route
I agree with that. Except the catering advantage of flying out of NRT, everything else is consistent and good.
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Old Jan 3, 09, 4:22 am   #9
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JackR View Post
NH 205 on 21 December NRT-CDG in F award

Alone in the F cabin seated in 1A

One FA to prepare the food and another for the service at meal times, other times one FA to take care in case I moved an inch and looked like I needed anything !

Kir Royake made with Krug
Umeshu (plum wine) rock
Perrier water

Caviar
Baby leaves salad with paupiette of crab (Zuwaikani)

German white wine

Japanese clear soup

Chateau Neuf du Pape red wine

Grilled fish teriyaki

Assortment of cheeses

Truffle Ice cream

Colombia coffee

Chocolates


Second meal before landing in Paris

Mixed baby leaves salad
White Japanese rice congee, plain with a little sugar

This is the 3rd time on 14 years of flying ANA F that I had the F cabin to myself, once NRT-LHR, once FRA-NRT and this time.

ANA must have one of the best F products with SQ
Glad to hear you had a great experience!

I wish I could say the same... On my last NH flight from Narita to London, the F purser was very unpleasant and even made fun of me for being the only non-Japanese speaker in First Class. I replied: "Yes, I'm truly sorry that I only speak English and Spanish--two of the world's most spoken languages after all; I'm also sorry that you are an underachiever and not an award-winning Singapore Girl, but on the positive side, at the end of this flight, NH management will know the reasons why this Spaniard will be booking all his future F tickets on SQ."
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Old Jan 3, 09, 5:28 am   #10
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They made fun of you for not speaking Japanese? What was the actual comment you objected to? I have to think there was some sort of cultural misunderstsanding.
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Old Jan 3, 09, 10:50 am   #11
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gleff View Post
They made fun of you for not speaking Japanese? What was the actual comment you objected to? I have to think there was some sort of cultural misunderstsanding.
Not they, only the F Purser did, the other Cabin Crew member working in F was ok. But, to answer your question, it was a very odd experience because I do not look Asian at all and since the beginning of the flight, the F Purser kept talking to me in Japanese. Every time, I would politely ask her to use English because otherwise I wouldn't understand. Then, by the time the meal service started, she told me: "You don't speak a word of Japanese, glad you managed to board the plane in Narita." I couldn't believe her overly sarcastic tone, but then again, I have never viewed NH as a top airline.
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Old Jan 3, 09, 5:09 pm   #12
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fly747first View Post
Not they, only the F Purser did, the other Cabin Crew member working in F was ok. But, to answer your question, it was a very odd experience because I do not look Asian at all and since the beginning of the flight, the F Purser kept talking to me in Japanese. Every time, I would politely ask her to use English because otherwise I wouldn't understand. Then, by the time the meal service started, she told me: "You don't speak a word of Japanese, glad you managed to board the plane in Narita." I couldn't believe her overly sarcastic tone, but then again, I have never viewed NH as a top airline.
Same experience here as well when flying NH F, they rather like to strictly following the rules, when there is something out of the rule, rather than saying no, the F purser just fake a smile, but I can see from her face she is not happy about my request, rather than SQ F and OZ F just go above and beyond to serve the pax from their heart. Now, on the other hand, it is very obvious NH treat their own people (Japanese) better than others. e.g. engaging a lot more conversation

There are obvious availability in award F in NH, I tried it once, will never again unless there is some significant changes. I will certainly still fly NH Y and C, but not F.

Last edited by ORDnHKG; Jan 3, 09 at 5:20 pm.
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Old Jan 3, 09, 6:18 pm   #13
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ORDnHKG View Post
Same experience here as well when flying NH F, they rather like to strictly following the rules, when there is something out of the rule, rather than saying no, the F purser just fake a smile, but I can see from her face she is not happy about my request, rather than SQ F and OZ F just go above and beyond to serve the pax from their heart. Now, on the other hand, it is very obvious NH treat their own people (Japanese) better than others. e.g. engaging a lot more conversation

There are obvious availability in award F in NH, I tried it once, will never again unless there is some significant changes. I will certainly still fly NH Y and C, but not F.
Same here, I will avoid NH at all costs. Plus, I'm proud to say that I'm quite popular among the OZ and SQ boys and girls. Haha.
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Old Jan 3, 09, 9:15 pm   #14
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fly747first View Post
Glad to hear you had a great experience!

I wish I could say the same... On my last NH flight from Narita to London, the F purser was very unpleasant and even made fun of me for being the only non-Japanese speaker in First Class. I replied: "Yes, I'm truly sorry that I only speak English and Spanish--two of the world's most spoken languages after all; I'm also sorry that you are an underachiever and not an award-winning Singapore Girl, but on the positive side, at the end of this flight, NH management will know the reasons why this Spaniard will be booking all his future F tickets on SQ."
eh...sir, Chinese is actually the world's most spoken language by far. It's not English or Spanish (and I speak all of the above BTW). Actually, Chinese speakers > > more than English + Spanish combined...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ative_speakers

In fact, some estimates that Hindi is in fact the 2nd most spoken language on Earth. Hopefully, the purser didn't roll her eyes at you for your response that is so obviously lacking in common knowledge...

RE: Your experience on NH F, I think it's quite atypical of most people's experience on FT. Not to suggest it's impossible since a bad apple in a bunch is not so difficult to believe nonetheless, it's more likely that it's a cultural misunderstanding as gleff suggested. Many western customers on FT reported absolutely fantastic experience with NH F except the person who replied to you in this thread and said he concur. He is a well known ANA basher, not a Western customer and is with little credibility in this forum, so his comments re: NH should be taken with a grain of salt.

You could actually ask for the purser's business card. They carry it and would definitely give you one if you requested. Then, you could write a letter of complaint to ANA Customer Service. I actually have their address, if you want I can PM it to you. You can detail exactly what happened, indicate the time/date of your flight and if possible, identify the purser. I am sure you will get a response.

Otherwise, SQ is a lovely airline and their F is fantastic. I prefer NH over SQ but that's a matter of persoanl preference in part due to cost and FFP affiliation. I saw that you also complained about Japan Airlines in the OZ forum, perhaps there is a definite cultural gap for you here and Japanese airlines are just not meeting your personal preferences, which is quite all right. Different strokes for different people, there is nothing with that.
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Old Jan 4, 09, 12:30 am   #15
 
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I just got off NH11 ORD-NRT in F.
Great crew, great flight. The only way in which NH is inferior to SQ is in the IFE system.

What I found amazing was that F cabin was 3 out of 8 seats occupied,
C cabin was around 25% occupied, and Y cabin was full.

The last time I took this flight was similar. I don't see how they can keep up the service
with these loads
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