Pre-arrival meal
At 3:15am/8:15am, the F/As turned on the flights. So, if you chose to sleep through “breakfast,” please remember to wear your eye-mask.
Morning over the Pacific Ocean
Hot towel and orange juice to start the morning
Here is the menu:
Light Dishes Anytime
We invite you to enjoy light dishes whenever you wish.
You’ll find these dishes are a delicious follow-up to alcoholic beverages.
Sake accompaniments
Seared kombu kelp-cured common octopus with sake jelly
Three kinds of Kagoshima deep-fried fishcake
Deep fried Niigata Koshinotori chicken
Soup
Corn Soup
Noodles
Ippudo “SORATON” (pork broth) ramen
Japanese Udon noodles garnished with mixed vegetables and shrimp tempura
Light Dishes
Tofu Steak with Daishi basil sauce and vegetable salad
Compression of confit vegetables, smoked red tuna, goat cheese, Gribiche sauce and toasted brioche
[From Esquisse, Tokyo]
Awaodori chicken and mushroom curry with steamed rice
Simmered Wagyu beef and eggs over steamed rice
Simmered pike conger in soy-based ginger sauce over steamed rice in soup stock and Japanese green tea
Refreshments
Garden salad
Served with a choice of dressings: Carrot and iyokan dressing Or Non-Oil tomato dressing
Cheese Plate
Picta Fleur, Verdalpe Piccante, Tome D’Auvergne, Lou Bren
Fruits
Plain yogurt with plentiful summer tangerine jam
Petits fours
Cereal with Milk
Honestly, it is a very extensive menu, but is it necessary? The downside of offering a full menu is that the F/As need to wake up passengers earlier because it takes them time to prepare all these dishes, and everyone might order differentt things. For the return daytime flight, it makes sense because passengers eat more during daytime and most passengers stayed awake or just took a short nap. It seems to make sense to offer a light one-tray breakfast. For Western choice, they can easily do a fruit plate with yogurt parfait and warmed bread basket. For Japanese choice, they can do a basic cold breakfast with choice of steamed rice or congee/porridge. They can easily wait till 75 minutes prior to arrival before serving breakfast.
Anyway, I chose to have a bowl of shrimp tempura Udon, as well as the fried chicken. The Udon was wonderful, but the chicken, while smelled good, tasted soggy. It was not a good idea to serve fried food at 37,000ft, and I should know better.
Really cute chili pepper shaker
Then I got a fruit plate, which was interesting with an exotic selection of fruits. The Japanese airlines are very good in making their fruit plates interesting.
About an hour prior to arrival, the F/A began inviting passengers to change back to their street clothes.
At 9:30am, we began our descent towards Honolulu!
Passing Kauai
We landed on R/W4R at 10:00am, and basically used up the whole runway.
A few interesting sights, as we taxied to C9, which was the second A380 gate here in Honolulu, and all the way towards the end of terminal.
Kai at C4
If you are flying NH 182, C9 will be your gate because 184 is still occupying C4 when you arrive.
C9
Arrival:
It was really the weakest experience during the whole trip. C9 was the furthest gate from the immigration area. While you no longer needed to take a shuttle to the immigration area, the new secured corridor was long. More passengers were joining the queue, as we passed by more gates. It seems like every airline seems to schedule their Hawaii flights to arrive at this 10 to 11am slot. There were all Japanese passengers. The air-conditioning was barely working and thankfully they had some industrial fans around.
The immigration hall was busy, but with Global Entry, it was easy.
ANA staffs were already retrieving bags from the baggage claim. I like how orderly they were. My first class tagged bag was already waiting for me. Unfortunately, I was stopped by the custom staff for a full secondary check before reaching the Global Entry exit. Despite she went through all the bags, it was a quick process because I only had one backpack and one small carry-on suitcase.
At 11am, I was waiting for Uber to bring me to the Hilton Garden Inn at the Waikiki Beach.
July 4, 2019
NH 183 HNL-NRT Lv1130 Arr1445+1 Airbus A380-800 JA381A “Lani”/Hawaiian Sky – ANA Blue
Fast forward to two days later, I flew back to Tokyo. Despite hoping for flying Kani, JA382A, Lani was being used for the only A380 flight this morning. I chose to arrive early so I could take some pictures of the ANA Suite Lounge. Since it was Independent Day, traffic to the airport was light. I arrived three hours prior to departure. I spotted the same AV geek Japanese lady flying back to Tokyo too, as I spotted her on my flight over to HNL two days ago. ANA has three check in counters for First class and diamond members, which is very impressive for an eight-people first class cabin.
ANA & United shared Lobby 8 for check-in.
There was a little bit of wait, as all three counters were occupied.
The agent spoke limited English and needed help from the supervisor for my connecting flight. I was connecting to SQ 11, and since it was on separate tickets, I have already printed my online boarding pass knowing the Japanese staffs would insist to see my onward ticket. I did not have a check in bag, so I did not ask them to do anything. Nonetheless, they decided to print out an onward boarding pass, which I truly appreciated. It certainly made the transit much easier, and I did not need to get an endorsement stamp from SQ’s transit desk.
With TSA Pre, security was easy for me, and following the instruction given to me by the agent, I found the ANA Shuttle to the C gates at the upper level immediately after passing security check.
It is just a white van with an ANA paper sign.
The driver was very friendly, and as long as you are an ANA passenger, they will take you to the C gates. But be warned that there are not many shopping and food at the C concourse. All the food and shopping are at the main area.
Gate C4
I took a few pictures of the new A380 gate before going to the lounge. It was really early so the gate area was pretty quiet. Lani looked good.
Lounge – The Best Airline Lounge in Honolulu
What ANA does best for this A380 project is the new ANA Lounge in Honolulu, which is divided into a large section for J and PE passengers, along with Star Alliance gold members, and a small Suite lounge for first class and diamond members. Honolulu really has no good lounge so I am glad that ANA builds one for multiple A380 and B787 flights. Allowing direct boarding from lounge to gate is another brilliant idea. What I like the most is the ANA “business class” lounge with an excellent apron/runway view. There are plenty of seats, as well as a tended bar with special drinks. There is a buffet of cold and hot food, and the staffs are immaculately dressed and trained. Everyone is so friendly.
The Suite Lounge is obviously smaller and it is shameful that there is no outside view. However, the service is more attentive with options for made-to-order noodle and “Ochazuke – Rice with green tea” dishes. The buffet itself was pretty similar between both sections. When I arrived, I was the first passenger, so I had a room full of staffs. I got my hot towel and was served my choice of beverage. Then I got a few bites from the buffet, and later, I ordered a bowl of Udon noodles.
Photos of the Suite Lounge:
Buffet of Suite Lounge
Menu for Suite Lounge only:
Photos of the ANA Lounge:
Photos of the Children Play Room
Lani at gate – view from ANA Lounge
Boarding:
I read from some of the earlier reviews that there are some issues with boarding from the lounge. They used to have only one entrance from the suite lounge, but they have already fixed it. They now have separate boarding lanes from both Suite and ANA lounge.
Boarding lane from ANA Lounge [Business/Premium Economy only]… If you fly economy, you have to go back to the gate downstairs.
For First Class
Boarding began at 10:58am and I was at seat 2A this time. First Class cabin was full again.
There was no personal note and special souvenir, but all the goodies were still here.
The F/As came by with a tray of amenities and WIFI cards.
