The fish was nicely done, and the range of tastes and textures was amazing. Simply that. There had been thought from the way the carrot had been cut to the whole putting of the menu together.

The main course came, and that again - was simply wonderful.











A tasty Miso soup, Rice and a Grilled Yellowtail Fish in Teriyaki Sauce

Again, the flavours were wonderful with the fish cooked well. The thought that went into this designing this meal service shows.

The meal was concluded with an ice-cream with plum service. And again, just to show that they are first to fly the 787, there’s an chocolate for that.





With the service cleared down it was time to explore the seat and my surroundings.

Firstly lets get onto one of my general bones of contention when flying - In Flight Entertainment Systems. Now the IFE screen is lovely, big and clear and seems to be based on the Panasonic EX2 system, which as an IFE system is a great basis as the controls are easy to use (be it via touch or remote).




Controller and screen

However, a great IFE system is only REALLY great when there’s content on it. And the content seemed to be lacking. Whilst there was a good mix of Western Hollywood films, it’s a very general mix. Thankfully ANA have a wonderful feature aboard their planes - iPod connectivity. The idea (like the Singapore Airlines and United Airlines idea) is that you plug a cable in, and you can use your iDevice to watch on their system (and it’ll charge the phone at the same time). Unlike United, you ask the flight attendant nicely, and they’ll bring you a cable you can use for the flight.



So with a cable and a follow the instructions, I had my GhettoIFE system... or rather a GhettoIFE System Plus. And it looks rather good wouldn’t you agree?


GhettoIFE Plus!

Moving on to the windows. And as we all know the 787’s have these Electrochromism-based "auto-dimming" window things. Here are a few examples of me playing with the windows.


Wide open on the left, slightly dimmed on the right


Pretty much all the way down...


Black when looked head on

Whilst it dims pretty dark, from an angle, some light does get through. In addition, I’m not over hot with the idea that crew can control the light controls from a central place. And I dread to think what will happen when the system one day fails - will it leave everything clear or in pitch darkness?



Anyway, the cabin itself is full of LED lighting. And whilst there were no rainbow displays, there we colour shifts from the Dreamliner blue, to an evening orange, to black at night, with Red and Green lights for the toilets.


Sunset in the cabin


Blues and Greens


Sunset passes the Dreamliner

Continued...