Trip Reports - Losing my Int'l F virginity... stargold's first time :-)

Trip Report

Background:

Those of you who have been reading my posts in the UA forum will know what I've been up to, but for those of you who haven't, here it goes:
Due to some upcoming changes to the AC program concerning awards on other carriers, plus my desire to switch to Cathay Pacific (whilst accumulating on AAdvantage) led me to redeem my AC miles on a ridiculously extravagant trip of First Class on some intra-Asia segments plus a return on ANA from NRT-LHR and CDG-NRT

It took me all the miles that I collected in one year and half (plus about US$50 top up the 2000 or so that I didn’t have) for two awards, one UA intra-Asia (40k miles) and one ANA Japan-Europe (120k miles).

The booking of the award was dramatic, to say the least. Since I had left reserving the flights until literally less than one week before the departure date, it was a small miracle that I was basically able to get the exact flights that I wanted. At first I was planning to depart from LHR to return to NRT, but the dates that I wanted weren't available (despite the fact that there was only one or two people booked in the F cabin of those cabins) and this completely messed up my plans because the return from Europe had to fit in with departing for HKG on UA.

I had almost given up on going to HKG and changed my routing to a simple ICN-NRT-LHR RT until a sudden flash of an idea went through my mind: What about returning from other airports in Europe? Suddenly I remembered that I had a school friend who is spending one year in Paris, so I asked the Aeroplan agent whether there were seats available from CDG on the original dates I wanted. And bingo! There were seats.

So I now went back to my original (and long) plan which turned out to be:

09DEC UA838 ICN NRT
10DEC NH201 NRT LHR
15DEC (Eurostar) LON PAR (approx. USD60 on a youth fare)
16DEC NH206 CDG NRT (arrive next day)
17DEC UA827 NRT HKG
21DEC UA826 HKG NRT
21DEC UA837 NRT ICN

That’s just a ton of flights, I have to say. But since I was going on Int'l F, it really didn't matter :D:D

So I managed to ticket the trip the day after reserving the flights (and a huge thanks must go to Jean, the Aeroplan agent who helped me through an hour and 40 minutes of a phone call in order to get my trip exactly how I wanted) and patiently (or not so patiently; in fact, very very anxiously) waited for my first experience on Int’l F.

1st Segment: ICN-NRT
UA838 ETD 1110 ETA 1325 747-400

I woke up sufficiently late (as per usual) for me to panic upon seeing the time, as I only had 30 minutes until the time I had planned to leave home. But I did eventually manage to get myself together and organize the luggage and even eat breakfast. Then I left my house at 7:20am.

As this was a Sunday morning, there was hardly any traffic through Seoul and it took a surprisingly short 50 minutes to get from my home to the departures area of the new Incheon Airport. But since I had departed from this airport about 3-4 times before, I was not all that excited at the airport.

I proceeded to the United First check-in, where I stood in a line for a brief moment before being called over for check-in by an agent in the desk. It was a very pleasant experience checking in with this particular agent, and she made sure everything was okay (even tagged my luggage through for tomorrow’s flight) and also put on the ‘UA International First’ hand luggage tags on my carry-ons, but I felt like I stood out too much with them on my bags so I took them off. A boarding pass and a lounge invitation was issued, and the only thing that I had to change was my seat, which she picked 1A for me but based on advice from the FT threads I wanted to change to 2A. Alas, someone was already on 2A, so 3A it will be for me. Still, no complaints.

Then I proceeded through security which took some 5 minutes. Then the passport controls; There was obviously quite a lot of people in the queues yet the 20 or so desks that they put in this particular passport control area was only manned by about 6 people. So it took about 15 minutes of queuing before I passed through the passport controls. All the while sweating because I had underestimated the temperature in the airport and so had a coat on.

Then it was to the lounge, the famous Silver Kris lounge operated by SQ, which every Star Alliance carrier serving ICN uses for their premium passengers. I was greeted warmly and was directed to the elevator that led to the First Class lounge, where I found a very good selection of food for breakfast, including French Toast, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, egg and etc. There was also some dim sums (which I liked very much) and a salad bar, as well as yogurt and sandwiches. They had the same selection for the Business Class section.

Elsewhere in the lounge, it was very well appointed with various amenities. Firstly there was a shower (which I didn’t have time to try). There were also about 4 workstations with large LCD panels and broadband access. Not to mention some very comfortable looking slumberettes (which again, I didn’t have time to try). They even had a telephone that you can use for free calls within the country, but as much as I wanted to chat away to a friend telling him how good the lounge is, all too soon it was time to board my flight, the first time I am going on Int’l F.

I walked from the lounge to the gate with another guy who was also on the flight, seat 2J. When we reached the boarding area, there was now a security check before one was allowed to pass through the BP machine. There was about 40-50 people waiting to be checked, and I was seriously debating whether to tell the inspector that I was going on Int’l F or to just queue like everyone else, when this lady said to the inspector ‘I am travelling First Class. Do I have to wait?’ A rather direct way of saying it, I thought, but at least we were allowed to proceed without waiting in the line (and I was saved from having to ask the inspector).

Once I stepped on the flight, I was greeted warmly by a flight attendant who took my coat and offered me a pre-departure drink (too early for champagne so I settled for the OJ). Then noise-cancelling headsets (which didn’t work very well, IMO) were handed out.

I guess there is no need to mention how pleased I was with the seat. It was comfortable and had sufficient storage space. Once everyone had settled into their respective suites, I saw that there were 8 other people out of 14 seats on this flight, 4 of whom were Japanese, and the other 4 looked to be Americans.

The check-in agent had made a comment when I was checking in, that the flight will be leaving 15 minutes early today. So I made sure I was not late for boarding. The door for First/Biz section closed at 10:40am, and economy class boarded until 10:55am. Then we pulled out of the pier at 11:00am, some 10 minutes before schedule.

At 11:30am, the flight attendants went around asking for everyone’s menu preferences. But the cutbacks were obvious with no paper menus (for Int’l F!) and I observed that the orders were taken at no logical order around the cabin, which could only mean that 1Ks were given the first choice. I had to make a selection between ‘a salad or cold Japanese noodles’, neither of them sounded particularly mouth-watering. But I went for the Japanese noodles and waited for my selection with some warm nuts and more OJ.

It was probably some 20 minutes until the FA came around with my cold Japanese noodles, and I’ll have to say it looked just as appetizing as it sounded when she was asking me for my preference. I would have given it 2/5 for presentation. As you know they eliminated the trolley service (citing lack of space in the aisles between the suites, which I did believe once I saw the narrow aisles) so they had a tray with everything on it. (Please note: everything=noodles and a chocolate cake). This really was quite poor for an Int’l F flight where ANA served a hot meal in Business class on the same route, and I was quite glad I had eaten some at the lounge. Anyway, I started on the noodles and concluded that despite tasting like someone poured in a whole bottle of chilli sauce into the noodles, it didn’t taste half as bad as it looked (but then, that’s not saying a lot). I would give it 3/5 for taste. But I couldn’t finish it as my tongue was burning by the time I went through about three quarters of the dish. Then I moved onto the chocolate cakes, which were passable at best, definitely not Int’l F standard. (Even I have a certain level of expectation for Int’l F despite having never been on it before). 3/5 for taste. It must be said that the salad did look much better than the noodles. There’s only so much they can mess up with some vegetable leaves, after all. :D

One thing that caught my attention was the tailwind, which showed to be 300Km/h. This gave us a ground-speed of more than 1200Km/h which I never had before.

After I had finished the meal, I was offered coffee, which was okay, making it better than the meal. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful with the FAs going around the cabin to top up glasses and the rest.

Service was actually very good on the flight, not quite up to ANA standard, but they were friendly and seemed pleased to have you onboard. Certainly not ‘prison matrons’!! 2 of them seemed to be NRT-based, whilst the other was probably US-based. They gave equally pleasant service, and I would probably give 4/5 for service.

At 12:30pm the pilot turned on the seatbelt sign, and we started our descent. We landed at 12:55, some 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. While we were taxing I noticed a BA 777 pulling out of the pier. (didn’t BA only operate 747s to NRT?)

As the purser made her announcement for passengers deplaning she made an interesting comment which went like, ‘We really appreciate your business since we know you have a choice of airlines. Thank you for flying us’ which I thought was something new, considering the horror stories about the FAs in the US who really do not want you to travel with them.

After I got out of the plane, I walked rather hurriedly (knowing how bad the queue for immigrations can get at NRT sometimes) and then I heard this man running after me calling ‘Mr. Maeng!!!’ I turned back and saw a guy in a gray uniform with that rose on his lapel and knew immediately that it was a United Int’l First Concierge.

I didn’t know why he was running after me; I almost thought I had done something wrong or something! But actually it was him trying to check that I had indeed posted a luggage on a connection to LHR for tomorrow, and just wanted me to make sure I showed the ANA agent tomorrow morning the luggage tag from UA. Also he was ever so kind to remind me that ANA departs from Terminal 2, not Terminal 1. (Well, something I knew for a long time as I had done this route many, many times before)

In all, I found that overall, ground services are really quite good on United, the seat is comfortable, the FAs (if you’re lucky) are really great, but the only real problem was the various little cutbacks and the food. The food service was really worse than that of ANA in Business on the same route and that’s the only thing I was seriously unhappy with.

Then, I stopped by the Hotel desk at NRT following what tvl4free had previously posted on his trip report. They gave me a rate of JPY7000 at the Narita Washington Hotel including tax and service, which I thought was very good.

I checked into my hotel and found an adequate, if remarkably unremarkable, property. It will do for my ~USD55 a night transit, I thought. After unpacking my laptop and some clothes, I went out to go and see Narita City, something other FTers suggested instead of going into Tokyo if you’re short of time (or money). So I took a shuttle bus to the Narita station in the city centre, and got off there. Once I was off the bus, I realized I had no real idea as to what I wanted to do (or indeed, where the shops are) so I asked an American guy who was standing at the bus stop ‘Where can I do some shopping?’ and he said ‘If you just stay on the bus that you were on, they’ll take you to a shopping mall. In fact, since I’m going there too, I’ll go with you’. He also had a woman next to him who seemed to be following him.

So what a coincidence it was then, that the guy was the first officer for the flight that I was just on, and the woman was the Business FA on the same flight! This started the evening off, where we went to the shopping mall together and I bought a few things and then we met back at the bus stop. Then we decided to go for dinner, so we went back to the city centre and tried going to a noodle restaurant. But it was only a small shop so there were no seats when we got there, we went to a bar instead to pass the time until a table might be free.

We talked a lot at the bar, and then we managed to get the seats at the noodle restaurant and met a lot of other airlines’ FAs and pilots. Had a very good dinner, talked some more, and then went back to the bar and had a final drink. All the while talking about United, being an FA, being a pilot, etc etc. It was definitely very interesting and more importantly, he bought the drinks for all 3 of us! :D:D
Anyway, in the end we decided that we needed a good rest (they had flights the next day too) so we said our goodbyes and I returned to the hotel, and I went to sleep. It has to be said, that this was one of the best days travelling for me so far, meeting interesting people for dinner and drinks while in transit!

stargold, nice report so far - looking foward to hearing about that legendary ANA First hospitality!

As someone who has just lost his UA J virginity (thanks to operational upgrades SYD-MEL-SYD) what you are saying about UA F sounds right, and certainly applied to my flights in J - great ground service, the feeling that they look after their frequent flyers, excellent seats and personal room, a bit of a lottery re FA's (half were superb, half were pretty miserable), and fairly disappointing food/beverage service. Though to be fair we were on an hour long flight and got full food service and even hot towels (I know that many of you are obsessed with hot towels!) on a domestic flight which by the sounds of it is quite a contrast to US domestic services these days...

Stargold, a great report so far and one that I've really enjoyed reading. As jealous as I am about your experience in international F, I'm even more jealous about the chance to see Narita with the UA pilot & FA, and the chance to chat travel with them.

Dinner was an added bonus! Talk about United going the extra mile (mind you, I suspect the pilot can afford it!)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Can't wait for the next installment.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">So what a coincidence it was then, that the guy was the first officer for the flight that I was just on, and the woman was the Business FA on the same flight!</font>

I would say that it was a coincidence that you ran into them.

History says, however, that it was probably not a coincidence that they ran into each other.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Great trip report!

Greg

Stargold.... watch out... chances are you will like this 'first time' so much you will get hooked.... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Great start! I look forward to the next installment...

I have arrived safely in England a few days ago, but so far have not had the time to write a trip report for the NRT-LHR.

But let me just give you a one-line summary of the flight:

It was everything I imagined, plus more.

So... you'll have to wait a few days before I finish writing it and post it here while I'm enjoying England's "winter sun"... =p

FYI, Next flight: 16DEC CDG NRT

Sigh

One day, my turn in international F will arrive. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by onedog:
Sigh

One day, my turn in international F will arrive. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

onedog,

I know what you mean. But on the flip side my wait will be over in about 4 months when me and the Mrs. head off to Lisbon via BA First. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I'm looking forward to the plane ride more than actually being in Portugal.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by greg99:
I would say that it was a coincidence that you ran into them.

History says, however, that it was probably not a coincidence that they ran into each other.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Great trip report!
Greg</font>

Greg! Be nice!! We were warned in NRT not to go out alone (yes, even in super-safe Japan something horrible happened to a AA f/a in NRT). Soooo maybe the two of them weren't up to anything. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif And I know UA's f/a's and pilots add quite a bit of color to the local area.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by greg99:
History says, however, that it was probably not a coincidence that they ran into each other.</font>

Some of the nicest people in this world have been the products of layover romances between crew members. Myself included.

VIVA LAYOVERS! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by toadman:
onedog,

I know what you mean. But on the flip side my wait will be over in about 4 months when me and the Mrs. head off to Lisbon via BA First. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I'm looking forward to the plane ride more than actually being in Portugal.

</font>

Spoken like a true FF http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Hey Stargold.... we want the next installment..... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by B747-437B:
Some of the nicest people in this world have been the products of layover romances between crew members. Myself included.</font>

Ooh, just a bit more than I needed to know there. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Stargold,

Your report on FC between ICN-NRT is exactly consistent with my experience. I've done this several times in the last few months. Seats are great, flight attendants are generally excellent, lounge and ground service great at both NRT and ICN, on board food mediocre if you're lucky.

Since I'm usually tired from being out too late in either Tokyo or Seoul the night before, I happily grab some of the sushi or dim sum in the lounge and sleep well in the comfortable suites on board.

Segment 2, 10th December
NH201 ETD 1120 ETA 1445

I started the day with a soft alarm that woke me from the good night’s sleep. After a shower I skipped the breakfast and checked out of the hotel. At 8:15 I got onto the bus that took me to Narita Terminal 2. There I was first faced with the queue for X-ray, which took some 5 minutes. Past the X-ray, I went to a FC desk where there was one person in front of me who was finished in no time.

The check-in for the flight was very pleasant as you’d expect, and my request for seat 1K was granted. I guessed that 1K would offer me the most privacy in the cabin. The check-in agent told me there were only 4 other passengers on this flight, which was good news. Then she informed me that, since my (very incompetent, I might add) AC ticketing desk didn’t collect the appropriate tax for the NRT departure as well as the new insurance surcharge, I would have to pay it now. No problem with that, shouldn’t take too long, or so I thought. After she wrote out the lounge invitation she handed me my passport, boarding pass and such, then directed me to the Ticketing desk for me to pay my tax.

Expecting for it to only take about 3 minutes, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Apparently, the AC ticketing desk in Seoul was even more incompetent that I had thought, actually managing to collect a completely random amount for one of the two taxes for France (and forgetting about the other French tax). In all, the ticketing agent at the desk spent a good 15 minutes, struggling with the calculator and the CRS with the phone in her hand, to give me a grand total of JPY3900. I was less than pleased with this amount, as I had no JPY left (I tried to finish it before I left Japan) so I had to pay with a credit card. After the encounter with the ticketing desk agent who seemed to take absolutely no notice of the fact that she was serving a FC customer (or at least her manners suggested so, I hate to think what she would have been like to an Economy passenger) I proceeded to the security and immigrations desk, which had about 3 minutes’ worth of wait in each.

Once I was past the immigrations I headed for the “signet” lounge No. 1. After handing the lounge attendant my invitation, I settled into a seat and had a look at the food/beverage service they offered. The snack service was pretty ordinary, and so was the drinks selection. In fact, so was everything else, such as seating and atmosphere. Definitely not up to standard for a FC lounge of a home airport.

Then I tried the “signet” No. 2 which was some 50m away from the immigrations desk. This time the atmosphere was much brighter, and offered much better seating. However, the snack selection remained the same.

After coming back to the “signet” No. 1 (because I had left my bags there) I hooked my laptop to the internet using a free phone line and downloaded my emails, checked into FT and chatted for some 20 minutes before my flight was called for boarding from gate E70, a bus gate.

When I reached there, there were many, many people swarming in front of the BP reader machine with premium passengers trying to wiggle their way past the crowd. They had separate buses for premium/economy passengers but even the First/Biz bus got very full (even after one bus left already) which could only mean a very full flight in C-class.

The chief purser and two FC cabin attendants greeted me when I boarded the plane. My coat was taken; I was offered a noise-cancelling headset and also a pair of slippers. No pre-departure drinks even in FC apparently “to allow enough time for the new security measures” which I had trouble believing but I let it pass. Then one of the FAs came round with a basket of amenities which contained: eyeshades, earplugs, hand moisturizer, face spray, toothbrush/toothpaste, face masks and probably a few things that I can no longer remember. I was offered a small black case to put all these things in, which seems useful for travelling. After the cabin settled for takeoff, I waited whilst using the noise reduction feature of the headphone (without any music) and tried getting some shut-eye but didn’t manage, in the end.

We pulled from the gate on time at 11:20am and after some taxiing we took off at 11:35am. Then the seatbelt sign was turned off around 12:10pm, and the flight attendants came round with a drinks menu for the drinks orders.

The menu was very impressive, it was almost as if I had come to a normal restaurant (except with only one champagne and 4 red / 4 white wines, but all very high quality, or so I’m told). I broke a recent rule of mine, which was not to drink in the air, because the Krug was just too tempting, as I had not tried it before. So the bubbly it will be. She came back with a flute (a normal-sized one) and poured the champagne perfectly into it. The champagne, whilst hardly being a wine connoisseur, was very good and worthy of the brand. I am not really into wine in general so I didn’t drink any, but I’m sure they are also very good. Being even less of a Japanese sake fan, I had absolutely no idea of how they were but sounded impressive (as accurate as I can get in that field, I’m afraid).

While I was sipping my champagne, she (I guess the two FAs will be referred to as “she” from now on) came around with some canapés and Japanese delicacies. I chose some smoked sea bream and its eggs on blinis, and a little basket (and I mean little) of some Japanese delicacies, which were both excellent. I even got a second serving of the Japanese choice.

Then she came around with the food menu. And wow, it was just too good to be true. I basically had a choice between a full-course western meal and a first-class Japanese meal. After much thought, I still couldn’t decide which one as they both sounded so good. But the plastic cutlery for the western meal decided it for me; I went for the Japanese meal.

After she set up the table (high quality table linens and napkin) she brought me something called “Tender milk pudding” which I can’t really explain, but it did taste very nice. After she cleared that, she brought me a small bowl of clear soup with some lobster medallions, which was equally good. By now I had a pretty good idea of how good the food will be for the rest of the meal.

Once the milk pudding and the soup were cleared away, she brought me a plate of raw sliced blowfish (definitely a delicacy in Japan, very expensive) that was very fresh and tasted excellent. After I cleared that, she took away the plate and then brought me a lacquer tray of the rest of the Japanese meal. It contained a bowl of rice, the main course (stewed local fresh alfonsino in soy-based sauce), assortment of stewed vegetables, some condiments for the rice and a miso soup (I am definitely missing something here but as I forgot to ask for the menu, I no longer can remember the exact menu, I only have a summarized printout from the reservations system)

Wow, what can I say? The quality was without doubt one of the best that I have tasted, both on the ground and in the air. No exaggeration. Of course I haven’t tried the best Kaiseki restaurants in Japan, but still out of the restaurants that I have tried and food on flights, this was without doubt one of the best Japanese meals I have ever had.

Just as I was recovering from the sheer culinary pleasure, the dessert service began. It began by the FA bringing me fresh fruit (pre-peeled and ready to eat). I only had the melon, which was obviously very sweet and fresh. Then she brought around the cakes, of which I had a very tasty strawberry cake. Just as I thought there couldn’t be any more dessert, she came around with a tray of different ice-cream cakes, which looked very appetizing so I decided to go for the strawberry and the Japanese lemon ice-cake. And yet again, the taste was so good; I kept forgetting that I was eating on a plane.

Just to finish it off, I had a cup of coffee and couldn’t help but sport a huge grin at the sheer satisfaction of such a good meal in the air. I wasn’t about to explode; it was just nice, not so full that I regretted eating. So I would give it 5/5 for food service.

After the meal service finished (it took about an hour and half, I think) I asked for the Video Walkman and three films that I wanted to catch up on. Those were Bridget Jones’ Diary, Dr. Dolittle 2 and The Mexican. I started with the Bridget Jones’ Diary, which I found to be very funny and enjoyable. After I finished that, I moved onto Dr. Dolittle 2, which I found to be a bit of a disappointment.

After I finished the 2 movies, I decided it was time to give the bed seat a try. So I got my duvet (a very nice warm one, might I add, not a blanket but a down duvet) and put the seat to the full flat position. As tfung mentioned earlier, I would have liked for the seat to be ever so slightly above the full flat position but since that couldn’t be done, I just stuck to the full flat. Then I drifted slowly to sleep.

I did get about 2 hours of very good sleep, but woke up because I needed the lav. I guess the seat was very comfortable because I woke up having been sleeping on my side, so it just means you can sleep in a variety of positions and still be comfortable.

Now that I was awake again, I got slightly hungry so I asked for the menu again to decide what to eat next from their “The Delights” menu, which was as follows:
Japanese dainties and delicacies / Japanese noodles (udon with fried shrimps and vegetables) / Korean style beef and vegetables on rice / Chinese soup noodles / Japanese fish cakes stew in broth / Spaghetti Bolognaise / Rice with raw tuna toppings / Japanese curry with rice / Roasted rice balls / French onion soup / Ham sandwich (in croissant) and a few dessert items. Well, having heard that the udon was very good, I decided to try it first. It took the FA about 5 minutes to prepare, and was brought to my seat. It was a tempura-udon (some fried shrimps as topping) and it really was as good as any udon on the ground. I was surprised that they managed to get the texture of the noodles exactly right too, because it is usually hard to cook things in the air (as opposed to reheating things)

After the udon, I decided to watch the last movie, The Mexican. I have mixed opinions about it, but generally it was not bad. Following the movie, I was hungry yet again so it was time for the 2nd meal choice. Basically, it was a tray consisting of: Japanese delicacies (can’t remember the exact content anymore), Grilled yellowtail (Fish) in a soy-based sauce, steamed rice, dried seaweed, miso soup and Japanese pickles. And as you would expect, the quality was tops and it tasted really quite impressive. And I realize it is getting slightly repetitive when I keep saying that the food is all so good, but it really was; everything was restaurant-quality!

And after the second meal I just lazed around the cabin until it was time to prepare for landing. I did try to take a picture with my new Instax (Polaroid-like camera) but the cabin was not bright enough so the picture didn’t come out. When the aircraft finally landed, some 30 minutes before scheduled arrival time, they immediately closed the curtains behind FC so that no one tries to deplane before me :D and FC was asked to deplane first. The chief purser and the FC cabin attendants said the warmest goodbyes and I really did not want to leave the plane, as you would expect. After a long, long walk to the immigrations area, I found no one in the normal queue so I decided to save my Fast Track to give to a friend. After clearing immigrations, I went to the baggage claims where I had barely waited for one minute before my bags came out onto the carousel, with the ANA First Class tags on (they must have known that I was a FC passenger when they received the bags from UA).

To give an evaluation of the various aspects of the flight…
1. Check-in: I would give it 4/5. It was pleasant and smooth, nothing spectacular. No concierge, although I could have asked for an escort service to the lounge but I was supposed to reserve it in advance.
2. Lounge: This is probably one of ANA’s weakest points. The lounge was very small and too ordinary for such a fine airline’s home airport First Class lounge. The amenities were Business-class level on other airlines and there were no showers. In all, I would give it 2.5/5
3. Boarding: Since this flight departed from a bus-gate, the only thing that I could say about it is that it would have been less hectic if there were a separate bus for FC rather than together with BC. 3.5/5
4. Service: Absolutely fabulous. The FAs were most courteous and attentive, eager to listen to your every wish and requirement. I even felt awkward asking for anything because they seemed like they would fetch the moon for you if you asked. Definitely a 5/5
5. Seat: No suite, but very comfortable nevertheless. I was able to get a decent sleep from them and since there were very few passengers, privacy wasn’t a problem. In fact, I have no real complaints with the seat; although it would have been nice if you could have the seat at a very slight angle instead of the full 180 degrees flat. 4/5
6. Food service: What can I say? I was in food heaven! I was really impressed with the quality of the Japanese food served for the main meal (honestly one of the best I have had) and the snacks themselves were enough for a meal. Wine list (being no wine expert) looked impressive whilst they serve the Krug Grand Cuvee. 5/5 without a doubt.
7. Entertainment: Actually, contrary to what I had worried about, the lack of a modern IFE system wasn’t a problem in FC because of the availability of the Video Walkmans. They had quite a few films for the Walkman and I found it sufficient. 4/5
8. Amenities: They had laptop batteries available for use (you plug the battery into your DC-socket of your laptop) but I did not use it. The amenities kit was nothing special. The noise cancelling headphones were wonderful. Not bad overall, although hardly sensational.
9. Arrival: Fast track service, escort service available (if you reserved it in advance), free limo within 40 miles (if a paid ticket) means it’s pretty good, but not amazing due to the lack of concierges and an arrivals lounge (although whether you need one for only one flight that arrives in the afternoon is debatable), deserving 3/5.

In all, this is without doubt, the best flight that I have ever taken. By now I just couldn’t wait for my next flight, CDG-NRT.
And here’s the Western Menu and the wine list:

Western Meal
Appetizer: Caviar with blinis
Soup: Turtle soup with gold leaves (?)
Seasonal Salad
Entrée choice:
1. Sauteed fillet of beef and fois gras poele
2. Sauteed red tilefish and oyster purse
3. Duck and fois gras poeles with framboise sauce
Cheese board
Dessert selection (see main report)
Assorted Rolls
Coffee or tea

Wine List
Champagne: Krug Grand Cuvee
White wine:
Pouilly Fume “les Roches” 1999
Chablis 1er Cru “Les Vaillons” 1998
Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru “Chateau de Blagny” 1997
Thanisch Reisling-Spätlese 1998
Red Wine:
Chateau d’Issan 1995
Chateau La Dominique 1997
Chateau Pontet-Canet 1997
Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaut Saint-Jacques 1998
Japanese Sake:
Taiheizan Pure Rice Ultra Premium Daiginj Sake (Akita)
Maroboshi Ultra Premium Daiginjo Sake (Hiroshima)
And various liquors

Wow... great report, Stargold. ANA First Class certainly lived up to what Ive been hearing.... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Stargold,

That report sounds very familiar to what I experienced recently. You are a far better wordman though. I was on the 201 about a month ago and the service is amazing, amd you describe it very well. I completely agree with your assessment of the quality in the air vs. the check-in through lounge part. The airside more than makes up for it and the food is extremely high quality. After 11 years here in Japan I am a bit of a harsh critic on Japanese food preparation and service. The FA’s on ANA serve it better than many fine restaurants, and the food quality itself rates high marks. The arrival service is worth requesting as they allow it for free ticket pasengers also. At LHR you will be met on the jetway by an ANA staff member and escorted to wherever you are going in the airport (transfer etc.). Please share your CDG-NRT experience with us as this has been very fun flying vicariously so far. (Note to Gaucho: You definitely need to try this service out. You will not feel too bad about leaving SQ PPS behind in June http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

Also meshes with my memories of NH first class.
I've been flying UA recently for the suites and extra bonus miles. However, I'm thinking I should maybe switch back to NH for some of those upcoming flights...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">she brought me a plate of raw sliced blowfish</font>

I knew that flying had become a bit more dangerous over the past few months, but this is ridiculous!!!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Great trip report.

Greg

Segment 3: CDG-NRT
NH206 ETD 1830 ETA 1405+1

I had spent the afternoon in Paris with a friend but I did not manage to meet Blairvanhorn or Celbrian… Anyway just a brief comment about the Eurostar that I took the day before to Paris. It was very unremarkable and I found it just about okay except that they managed to arrive in Paris approx. 40 minutes late which I found frustrating as I am rarely that late even on flights.

I took a taxi to the CDG airport Terminal 1, managing to arrive a healthy 2 and half hours before the scheduled departure time. The check in was handled by contract employees (non-ANA uniforms) but quite pleasant nevertheless. The agent welcomed me and asked for my seat preference (1K, which was fulfilled) but she seemed quite stumped when I asked one bag to be tagged to HKG and one bag to be only tagged to NRT. After wrestling with the computer for about 5 minutes involving 3 other agents, she finally asked me if I would mind picking up the claim tag at the gate (and I said no, of course). She then wrote out the lounge invitation (to the signet) and also called the agent (who was surprisingly ANA-uniformed) who was to escort me to the lounge. Once I had gathered all my bits and pieces I then proceeded through immigrations, which didn’t take a long time at all.

Since I managed to catch a rather feisty bout of headache (probably from the freezing room the night before) I wasn’t in the best of moods but no one managed to upset me which was good. Once I reached the lounge (in record time, I might add, probably less than 5 minutes) the lounge attendant (also in ANA uniform… what’s going on here?) welcomed me, handed me a hot towel and informed me that the lounge was self-service (I guess because in some signets, the attendant brings you the first order). The lounge was typical ANA style, pleasant but very basic. It did have a rather beaten up computer available for Internet connection (which someone was using). But the lounge was so unremarkable that I didn’t hang around in the lounge for too long; I had a brief look through and proceeded to the SAS Business lounge. I was admitted to the lounge on the strength of the International First ticket, and the lounge attendant wrote down the details of my BP. After that was over, I went to the business desks, which had 2 HP computers, connected to the Internet with a laser printer for use, and browsed through FT for a few minutes. The lounge was much better than the signet lounge, offering better beverage selections, brighter atmosphere and seating as well as good computer

5 minutes before scheduled boarding time, I went back to the signet briefly to pick up the bags that I left there then walked towards the gates, during which I realized I had FRF left over to spend before I leave. So I started looking at the duty free shops, which had good prices but a somewhat limited selection. After a lot of my characteristic inability to make decisions I picked up a few magazines and some skincare products as presents. I was too busy looking at what to buy to realize the time so I was very surprised to find that the time was now 6:25, only 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time. At the same time, I saw an ANA-uniformed agent running around desperately so I signalled to her that I was on the flight to NRT, and she exclaimed “I have been looking for you for sooooo long! We have to run!!” So we began running towards the gate while she radioed the gate “I found Mr. Maeng! Last passenger!” (Thinking about it now, had I not been a FC passenger, I would have probably been offloaded from the flight, something that gives me nightmares, as it would have invalidated the journey all the way to HKG)

And it was a pretty long run, through the long moving walkways and up quite a climb until I reached the gate area, where my carry-on bags were x-rayed and I was handed my baggage claim tags. Once I was on the aircraft, the chief purser and two other flight attendants welcomed me and gave me my headphones and an amenities kit (a new bag which was more stylish and useful, I might add) and offered me the in-flight wear which I declined as I knew they were too small for me. I knew just how late I was for the flight (I was a little embarrassed, since normally I am one of the first ones to board the flight) when the captain announced that we were ready for takeoff just half a minute after I stepped into the aircraft… :p

After some taxiing we took off, while I tried to sleep to get rid of my headache. But I didn’t manage to sleep at all so I was tired and grumpy when the chief purser thanked me for choosing ANA and asked for my drinks choice. I had a glass of oolong tea (one of the only 2 things that I drink on planes now, besides OJ). I knew I was too tired and unfit for alcohol so I passed on the Krug (which grieved me greatly). She also handed me the menu and the wine list. Then she brought around the canapés, which included: Fois gras on a thin bread, smoked eel on a thin bread and smoked salmon with salmon roe on top, also on a thin bread. A little basket of Japanese delicacies was also offered but I didn’t take it. Actually, the smoked eel tasted really good so I was hoping that she would be coming around again for second helpings (which didn’t happen) and instead she asked me for my meal choice. As I had the Japanese meal on the way to LHR, I decided to try the Western meal on this flight to see which one is better.

After the plates from the canapés were taken away, the flight attendant set up my table with the table linen and napkin (both nice and thick, unlike the UA variety). Then she brought around the appetizer, which was caviar with brioche. The setup was a plate of 3 reasonable sized brioches with the usual garnish, with my own jar of Sevruga caviar. Being no expert I couldn’t make much of a comparison but it did taste very good. After I finished the caviar, she brought me the soup. I was a bit disappointed by the creamed courgette soup because it was too watery and I had to put in lots of salt and pepper to make it taste of anything. But I finished it anyway (I don’t waste food on principle).

After the soup was cleared away I was served the salad. It was prepared on a trolley next to me and I was asked whether I would like some turkey ham and/or croutons with the salad; I chose to have both. Then she asked me which dressing I wanted, the choice being between Thousand Island (unoriginal!) and Japanese dressing. I went for the Japanese dressing. The vegetables were very fresh and tasted very good, complimented by the garnishes and the good dressing.

Once I had worked my way through the salad, she brought around the entrée, which was “roast breast of duck with green pepper sauce”, with fried potatoes and buttered batonnet vegetables. She put the food onto the plate next to me from the trolley, taking care to present it nicely by the layout on the plate. The other choices were: Tenderloin steak with Morel mushroom sauce, and Ragout of Seafood in Marinara sauce.

The duck did taste very good but it had lost too much moisture so it was slightly dry and not as tender as I would have liked. Otherwise, it was a good dish and I liked the vegetables too. But I would choose the Japanese menu over the Western menu, simply because they really know what they are doing with the Japanese menu and it tasted better.

Then it was time for the huge desserts course, which were cheese board, fresh fruits and assorted ice creams. The cheese board was a selection of 5 different cheeses but being no fan of strong cheese I asked for some Camembert and a soft cream cheese that I can no longer remember the name of. The cheeses were served with pumpernickels and dried apricots. I really liked the cream cheese so I asked for some more, but then I was really full by the time I finished the cream cheese so I left the Camembert. Having dried apricot made it taste all the better. Seriously, I was about to explode when I finished all the cheese and pumpernickels.

But no, I would never be allowed a break from the torrent of food. Then it was time for fresh fruits. She offered me melon, grapes, mango (!) and strawberries (I think). I wanted to try the mango because I forgot what it tasted like (you don’t get much of it in Korea) and some melon (just because it tastes good). Once that was finished, she brought around the dessert, which was the “assorted ice creams”. When I read assorted ice creams on the menu, I was pretty much expecting something along the lines of an ice cream cone or a sundae cup but no, they just have to look so appetizing in the little chocolate and raspberry cake form. I really did not want to eat anything more because I felt like exploding by now but I just had to try the raspberry ice cream cake and yet again, it was good.

But my headache was raging around in my head and I didn’t want to torture it any longer by staying awake so I quickly had my table cleared then went to seat 5A (for privacy) for sleep. I got the nice and thick duvet and then snuggled to sleep. When I woke up, I realized I had slept for about 5 hours. I had about 4-and-half hours left on this flight L so I decided to do some work on my laptop so I asked for the PC battery. In a few minutes she brought around the list of laptops that I could use with the battery. And here the first and only glitch of the flights on ANA happened; my laptop (a Fujitsu) is sold under different model names between Japan and overseas. The list only had the Japan model names, not the overseas. So even though I was certain that the list contained my laptop, she would not let me use it if I cannot locate the model number on the list. Ah shucks, I just gave up after 10 minutes of looking all over my laptop trying to find the Japanese model name and decided to watch Shrek for the second time. While I watching the film, she was very good about keeping my glass full and walking around the cabin. I had the Japanese Chicken Curry during the film and it was very, very good, as good as any normal curry restaurant on the ground.

After my film was over, I was hungry yet again which surprised me, judging by how much I stuffed my stomach not many hours ago, not to mention the Japanese curry. So I started pondering over “The Delights” menu again thinking about what to eat! In the end, I decided on the “fish cakes and vegetables in Japanese hot broth” and “Shanghai style noodles in soup with braised seafood”. After about 10 minutes, both bowls came to me at once and they were both huge (for a snack… it was big enough for a small meal!!) I was kind of worried about finishing both, but once I started I decided I couldn’t not finish because they were both… what a surprise… really good!! It is hard to believe that they can get the textures of the noodles just right in the sky, judging by the incompetence shown by FAs on other airlines to even prepare the simplest foods.

I had about an hour of flight time left by the time I finished all that food. Not much happened during that time, other than that I just tidied up my stuff and browsed some magazines and relaxed. I didn’t do as much on this flight as I had on the previous one because I had a headache (which did get better by the end of the flight) and I had watched the movies that I wanted to on the way here, so I didn’t really feel like watching the others on the way back.

Once we landed and parked at the gate, the FAs quickly drew the curtains behind the F cabin, and I was handed over to the escort who would take me through immigrations and to the baggage claims. Surprisingly, the escort person was not ANA employee, but the NAA employee (Narita Airport Authority). I remember reading something about them passing the passport controls for you while you wait, maybe that’s why they didn’t have an ANA employee doing it. Anyway, I found out that the check in agent at CDG managed to mess it up in the end, about the baggage that had to go two different destinations. Instead of doing what I had asked her to, one to NRT and one to HKG, she tagged both to HKG. I realized this when I looked at the baggage claim tags for the first time as I was walking towards the immigrations. So I had to get a transfers agent to track my bags and pull them out of the connection and unload them both into NRT because I couldn’t remember by looking at the tag numbers, which bag I wanted in NRT and which one in HKG.

After the agent told me that it will be taken care of, I proceeded to the immigrations with an ANA employee (the NAA agent left when the transfers agent told him it will take some time to sort it out) but she made me queue in the normal lanes (Albeit only a short one, maybe one or two people there). Then we went to the baggage hall, where in one minute or so after we waited, another ANA employee came from the baggage handling through a door into the baggage hall carrying my bags (both). So I took them and said goodbye to them and went out to the meeting area, then left one of them at a baggage storage place in the terminal (to be collected on my way back from HKG).

1. Check in: It was pretty ordinary… but less attentive and gracious than at NRT. 3/5
2. Lounge: Not very good, I have seen far better. 2/5
3. Boarding: No comment, I was late… :p
4. Service: Surprisingly, it was not as attentive as the LHR route and I was less pleased with the chief purser on this flight than on the LHR flight. She seemed less eager to please and ready to serve than the previous one. Also, the other flight attendant was younger than the equivalent on the LHR flight and whilst she spoke better English, the one on the LHR flight was more experienced (older) and I preferred her style of service to the one on the CDG flight. I even got a feeling that maybe they put all the best ones on the LHR route… maybe! Don’t get me wrong, all of them on both flight were extremely good, it’s just that the LHR ones were better. 4/5
5. Seat: Same as the previous flight, no further comments.
6. Food service: It was excellent except for the soup, which was too watery, and the main course, which could have done with a bit more moisture and tenderness for the meat. I would personally choose the Japanese meals if I flew them in First again because they were basically perfect with the Japanese meals but the Western meals had a few faults. The snacks were absolutely fabulous as I expected. Krug was still there (even though I passed on it). 4/5
7. Entertainment: I wished they had a better variety of movies in the videotapes collection because I ran out of things that I wanted to watch on this flight. Otherwise, it was same as the previous flight. 3.5/5
8. Amenities: It was the same but I couldn’t use the laptop power so 3/5
9. Arrival: Escort service that never was and the baggage handling messed up, plus the fact that they have nothing like the UA’s offerings in their home airport, means they deserve 3/5.

Overall, this flight was less smooth and not quite as amazing as the previous flight, perhaps because they try harder for the LHR route. But it was still very good overall, better than most other airlines that I could have taken, so I was very sad to realize that it will be some time until I can fly them in First again (because I’ll have to collect the miles first!) Or indeed, not again for a looong time if I switch to CX. But CX is reputed to have one of the best First Classes around so I guess it’s not too bad!

Stargold-- If you want to try a strong cheese, I suggest you have a super-ripe Camembert....

Great report, thanks & do keep them coming!!!

Thanks for the follow-up to your original posts about redeeming this award. Awaiting your other UA segment report.

Nice report stargold! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif All the food sounded yummy!

Excellent trip report thank you.

Before you ask, no Blair and I didn't curse you for not meeting with us on Saturday, so we'll deny any charges on the headache and late boarding. Just remember that next time you pass through Paris without paying your respects, we won't let you off the hook that easily http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif.