Hi all! I was lucky enough to, for a flight I booked nearly a year in advance, have the chance to fly ANA's new 777 First Class home from the Fujisan marathon! Since I didn't see any reviews of this product online so far, I figured I'd share my experience for anyone interested. I think especially for those traveling together, this setup is a huge improvement over the current one and a very exciting development for ANA. My two goals on this flight were to get enough sleep ahead of landing in the morning in NYC, and to regain the calories I burned running the marathon. This flight was a fantastic way of accomplishing both of those. Read on for the full review with photos below:
Let's start with the seat itself. I think it would be wide enough for just about anyone to fit, and I could only comfortably put one arm on an armrest at a time. The seat was fairly hard and the fabric wasn't particularly soft, but that was fine by me since I was wearing comfortable clothes.
The screen fits the whole width of the suite; it's as large as the ones on Asiana (RIP) and other carriers that give the screen this much space. My breath was literally taken away by the autumn picture they displayed of Mt. Fuji, where I had just come from! I kept the flight map on for most of my flight, and the resolution stayed immaculate throughout.
Below the screen was an ottoman that was too far for me to reach with my legs even if I extended them from the seat. On it were the pajamas and cardigan we were offered; I always take the pajamas with me for keepsake (even though these were a little scratchy, and the pants were extremely loose), and the plane's temperature was too warm for me to use the cardigan.
Predeparture champagne, but not Krug. One unexpected thing for me about the seat was the windowshade function. By pressing the button below the window, a soft screen and then a darker opaque screen came down over the windows, a much more elegant presentation than normal window shades. It's the first time I've seen anything like it, and I may or may not have spent a few minutes just drawing the blinds up and down!
The seat console was pretty self-explanatory and I didn't have to ask for instructions to use it; I used the right-center button the most to move myself closer to the tray table (which was in a fixed position) for the meal service.
The handheld console was a comfortable distance from my right hand I was able to easily use it without ever taking it out of its holder. I used the call button a couple times and a flight attendant always came out within 5 to 10 seconds.
The storage bin on my left was narrow and I found it useful for storing my passport and phone. A magazine or newspaper could have also gone there. There were two smaller bins on the other side of my seat that didn't fit more than a short book or the headphones and amenity kit. I didn't use my laptop this flight but I didn't see a place that I'd naturally put it. Definitely a lot less storage options than the old seat.
A closer-up of the blanket, pajamas, and cardigan on the ottoman.
The bathroom was normal as far as 777 bathrooms go, if my memory serves the format is the same as the Cathay 777's bathrooms. They use hand towels which is a nice touch, but the fabric for them isn't particularly soft.
I've always wondered who is actually brave enough to use the bidet feature on a Japanese airline's toilet; unfortunately this flight did not put me in that bucket!
A photo of the Japanese meal menu; this is available online as well up to 2 months before the flight as well. I ended up ordering this one.
A photo of the Western meal menu; I ended up ordering just the caviar and dessert off of here. They were probably the top things I ate this flight.
The Krug makes an appearance now, along with the starting amuse bouche! This was 1 of 2 glasses; I noticed the bottle they were pouring from was smaller than the normal size. I wonder if they usually end up with most of a bottle leftover anyway, and decided to downsize as a result. I'd rather have this than the time Thai tried to peer pressure me into finishing the bottle of Dom Perignon!
The caviar course's presentation was absolutely stunning, the best I've seen either in the air or on the ground. The vegetable chunks and lobster and scallop meat inside was exquisite, as was the caviar itself of course. I will remember this one for years to come.
Perhaps an unorthodox choice, but I chose to try the Hibiki 21 and John Walker King George V 1934 whiskies side by side here. I'm no whisky expert, but what was striking to me was how intoxicating just the smell was, especially the smokiness of the 1934. The part of tasting them that sticks with me is the feeling of warmth flooding you. It's stiffening but in a pleasant way. Nevertheless, I could not see myself dropping hundreds of dollars for bottles of these.
More small morsels from the Japanese course came out; these were mostly bitesized. I stuck with water for this course.
A close-up of the uni dish; I'm lucky they're able to source this from so close to Tokyo; it tasted nearly as fresh as the one I had in the Toyosu market earlier that morning.
This fish soup was a good breakpoint in the meal and helped me sober up a bit before tackling more liquor, as there were still a couple drinks I wanted to try!
A sashimi course, which was fine. I took the sake the the flight attendant recommended to me along with this course.
I'm not sure if the usual flow is to bring the rest of the food at this point, since I tend to take a long time to eat. I paired this with a Chardonnay from the wine list that had some award attached to it. At this point I gave up on the red and riesling wines that I'd also hoped to try.
The Japanese desert was a refreshing ball of agar jelly and some assorted berries beneath it.
The ball of matcha ice cream here was this dish's best hit; I really enjoyed it as a whole and the presentation was very impressive as well.
They brought back chocolates to finish and I somehow managed to eat these as well. The whole meal, plus the breakfast later, probably more than made up for the calories I burned running the Fujisan marathon.
Managed to grab a picture of the tray table before it was rolled back up. There's no worries about it being large enough to hold everything. It's worth noting that I couldn't move it and, as a fairly skinny person, could barely squeeze out between it and the walls of the suite.
Waking up at 2 a.m. to drive to the Toyosu market, plus all the drinks at this point, helped me fall asleep at what was 1:30 p.m. local time. I ended up sleeping for about 7 hours with some tossing and turning. The bed is pretty hard, but I remedied both this and the cabin heat by sleeping on top of the comforter provided. It was hard to wake up from this setup later on.
The flight attendants woke me up about 2 hours before landing, and it was only now that I realized that there are actual doors that slide closed to the suite! I rushed to set up a picture before they came back to clean up the bed itself.
As you can see here, the walls are high enough that someone in the adjacent suite can't see in. They'd have to go into the aisle and then look down from there.
I started off the breakfast service with some of their special Fuji Apple juice, and a Miyazaki Sencha tea. I had a cup of matcha (not pictured) that was equally good shortly afterwards.
It was only at this point that the flight attendant showed me that they had a breakfast and small bites menu; I was overwhelmed at first with the number of choices. She recommended this pork sandwich as a trademark of the Tokyo restaurant Ryuza, and it certainly hit the spot
Then there was a good-natured miscommunication where I requested the cheese and truffle omlet, only to have the cheese course arrive! I started nibbling at it while the other dishes I requested were made, and two of them were so good that I actually ended up finishing them.
This dish had salmon flakes and eggs on top of rice and seaweed; not pictured is the broth that had to be poured on shortly afterwards. The Ikura was extremely fresh and that impressed me given how long it had spent on the plane at that point. This was by far the most delicious part of the breakfast service.
The omlet was pretty good but I think I was mostly too full to really enjoy it at this point. I think most people picky about their eggs would find this just fine.
I finished the meal with an excellent cappuccino, which in addition to the earlier teas kept me chugging through an entire day of working in New York upon landing! What a way to kick the jetlag.
The windows were crisp and clear and I got some shots I was very happy with, especially this one with downtown Manhattan in the bottom right corner. I love it when the plane passes by the city on approach like this.
This is the first review I've written, so any feedback would be much appreciated! Also if there's anything in particular you want to see a photo of, let me know and I'll see if I can dig one up.