yank2688

Hey everyone, I'm treating a friend to a trip to Tokyo for his law school graduation. I have three options (well really two):

Business is a last resort on United so it's either UA Global First on a 777-200 or ANA Business on their 777-300ER. What would everyone recommend?

Thanks!

dvs7310

The UA GF seat is marginally more comfortable than the NH Staggered C seat, but not much. The service and food are significantly better on NH. The new NH C seats are also quite a bit more private than the UA GF seats. The one downside to NH for me is their menu is usually seafood heavy. On long haul routes they'll always have some type of meat but selection is a bit limited.

UA GF doesn't really offer a true international F experience, so no point doing it unless it was the only option.

djjaguar64

UA no good, ANA premium airline, better food and service, impress your friend, he or she does not need a traumatizing in flight experience on UA.

sannmann

ANA staggered business is excellent.

Kacee

This gets debated all the time on the UA forum.

United First vs. ANA Business to Asia

United First vs. Ana 787 Business

UA First vs. NH Business vs. CA First

It's probably a toss up, with UA having the better seat and AVOD, NH more reliable, much better food, more consistent service, and nicer aircraft.

Those of us who fly UA quite a bit are particularly prone to choose another airline.

Note though that while I'm no expert on NH equipment, I believe IAD is one of the routes that still gets the old aircraft sometimes.

dvs7310

I'm thinking (and hoping) that they have enough of the new planes now that it's pretty consistent. I was checking IAD and JFK a few weeks ago and it was consistently the new First Cube on the days I looked at. I believe all the planes with the First Cube also have the new Staggered Business. I know London is still getting the old config, and last summer I heard that the early flight from ORD is sometimes old config as well but that may have updated by now.

It'd be worth the OP sampling a few days and seeing what is going out of IAD. UA GF would be much more comfortable than old NH C.

armagebedar

ANA now only has one unconverted 77W (JA782A), so your odds of getting it are extremely low.

gnaget

ANA used to operate the 777-200 IAD-NRT and it varied from day to day 1-2 years ago. But I guess it is all 777-300 now?

dvs7310

It does show as 77W daily for IAD on Expertflyer now. To my knowledge the only 772 NH still flies to the US is the night flight HND-LAX. That one is a real gem I'll tell you... (read with sarcasm), but it's timing is convenient for people working in Japan and going home to visit.

drvannostren

You're a helluva friend! Lemme know if you're looking for more lol. Unless ANA is running the 767, which it appears isn't the case here, I'd go ANA. I just flew them YVR-HND-GMP, brilliant across the board, EXCEPT (I didn't sit in it) the 767 J class is a joke, 10:40 flight time and the seat is like a north American J seat, only recline doesn't even mimic lie flat.

I'm not a fan of Asian food, but I also realize I'm kinda in the minority there, that would likely be the only thing that would even sway me a tiny bit towards UA. If for some reason he needs UA miles that might be a factor or if there's an aircraft he wants to fly...I've never flown a 747 so if I had a choice I'd fly UA even if it's a lesser airline (assuming the price is right) to try a 747.

But again, after my first time on ANA I'd rate it above just about anything I've flown, it's really a tremendous service and product. The FAs are super and the service seemed to never end. I got a free upgrade GMP-HND (only 1:30 or so) to the business class 777 suite type seat, I really enjoyed it. I could see how the other J class seat might be less appealing, but it looks identical to the UA one so if the seats are the same and the price is comparable (or doesn't matter...again, I'm available if you need more friends!) then it's ANA 100% of the time.

Oh though I did see someone mention the AVOD...I will say the newer UA aircrafts have a better AVOD than NH did. The 767 had a crappy older version, with the same content as the bright new beautiful one the 777 had. For a long range flight is was pretty lacking in choices. 788 had the same choices and in Y they used the same system the newer UA 737s use if that rings a bell, sorry I don't have names for any of these things lol.