schoflyer

Ok. Ready for my 787 ride to Okayama and back.
4F Suite Lounge now and my bird has just docked at gate 64 below me.
Outbound is paid premium.
Return Visit Japan. What better use of my time than to arrive early at HND, drink free beer and check-in for my return a good 6 hours before departure and spend my last 4 upgrade points on well, a 787 upgrade. I left my longer OKA segs open for a cash upgrade and the associated points ;-)
-Scho

CDG1

Got home from Haneda and Frankfurt some hours ago. I did not sleep the whole flight.

A great experience flyibng the long haul 787 wih ANA. All was absolutely perfect. The economy section offers ample leg room and comfort.

The on board service was almost to perfection. Everybody seemed happy. I did not want to leave the aircraft. I was the last passengzer to leave the plane.

I had arraged a late connection so I could see the plane off back to Haneda. The ceremony at Frankfurt airport seemed to have a tremendous success among all those who were there.

We had deplaned at a remote stand and bussed to the terminal at 5.00 AM and the aircraft was later taken to its designed gate for re-boarding and the ceremony and food feast in the gate room. I did not food feast as I had a huge breakfast in the B terminal Senator lounge the new one with the Babor Spa.

I was just hanging around the gate hold to look at the 787 again before it would be on their way out and back to Haneda. Some passengers did the return flight also on the same day.

I have got heaps of pictures I will have to see what kind of trip report I can do here or on A.net.

Sleepless over Siberia and through the whole flight.

The 787 inaugural experience was a treat. Thanks to ANA for the little goodies bag.
I now need some rest.

schoflyer

Well.
It was nice and all.
But at the end of the day it's an airplane that gets you from point a to b.
I enjoyed the business cradle seat. Comfy.
The rainbow light show is nicer in Y than up front. I fought my way back past the Y mini cabin during boarding to take a photo then swam upstream like a salmon trying to get to row 1.

Would I go fly a turn on the 787 again? No.
But I'm glad I did yesterday.

-Scho

sbm12

Agreed, and this has been the case with every aircraft I've flown on. I wasn't expecting it to be truly revolutionary, but it was a nice experience.

CDG1

I posted Part 1 of my 787 trip report on A.net

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...d.main/208052/

Will post the link to Part 2 when available. Should not be too long!

icchan4970

Interesting report.
Looking forward to the second report.
I guess you ate a lot of crabs in Yonago.

mrwunrfl

Enjoyed the TR and photos.

Here are a few photos I took on an OKJ->HND flight in November:
http://s1131.photobucket.com/albums/...cpZZ2QQtppZZ12

There are a couple of photos of the 787 on the other two pages along with photos of the Pokemon 747, kimono at Meiji Jingu, and F seats on OZ.

CDG1

Thanks for posting your pictures.

Looks like my cherished JA805A was grounded at Frankfurt airport yesterday and left FRA several hours late.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...in/5369461/#28

Anyone know for sure if the plane flew back to HND empty?
All speculation for now.
I am curious to know.

CDG1

I have posted Part 2 of my trip report with the flight, gate ceremonies at HND and Frankfurt and lots of pictures.

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...d.main/208176/

Enjoy!

RTWSTARALLIANCE

"I did not food feast as I had a huge breakfast in the B terminal Senator lounge the new one with the Babor Spa."

Upon arrival into FRA from HND will have four hours before my connection on OU down to ZAG then to DBV. Any suggestions on which is the best Lounge to hang out in? *G and have a Priority Pass card. On return from ZAG have three hours. The new Senator lounge at Terminal B with Babor Spa the best? Any info appreciated. Thanks.

sbm12

I'd just go to the lounge nearest your departure gate in FRA. The new one is nice but not enough to much around with immigration if that would be necessary to get there.

The spa is a paid option so unless you want to buy yourself a massage it doesn't offer a ton of value IMO.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Thank you. If it is convenient will try and find it.

MtRoot

I have an award ticket (booked with CO miles) on a FRA-HND 787 in June. The other segments (JFK-FRA, NRT-BKK) are in C but FRA-HND is currently booked in Y because C wasn't available at the time of booking. As a matter of fact, I've never seen C award available on 787s, which is understandable but I want to get C if possible given that I've paid the C price (ok, miles).

So my questions are
1) I know that the situation will change significantly as the novelty factor wears out, but what is the load on this route recently, particularly in C?

2) Has anyone seen C award availability on 787s?

3) Assuming that I'm stuck in Y until the day of departure, do you think there is any chance that I get an op-up if C is open and I show my itinerary with C in all other segments? I don't know the partner award deal in detail, but I'd guess that NH is entitled to a C compensation from CO (UA) if NH actually puts me in C (fare class I) because this is a C award, so NH won't loose anything especially if C is open anyway.

After all, it might be good to experience long-haul Y to see if 787 is really a game changer, but I can't help asking nonetheless...
Thanks for your insights!

armagebedar

High, anecdotally. Add to that the fact that half the planned 787 flights have been switched to the 772 and you have lots of folks trying to switch to the days where the 787 is operating.

I see availability several days a month until the end of July, but a lot of waitlisted flights. This is NH DIA availability, however, so *A award availability is likely rather poorer. NH does have a tendency to open up some seats a week or less before departure, however, so you may get lucky.

There is always a chance, if Y is overbooked. But NH elites tend to be upgraded first, and from what I hear there have been a lot of elites flying or looking to fly the FRA-HND route over the next several months.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I think loads are running near 100% in C. Can give you a real read in a few days. In my search for my C award on the flight I never saw inventory on the CO website for C. Not one seat in C. On that favored route the number of NH people with status would trump us UA/CO flyers. In fact we just flew into NRT and UA/CO status met nothing (was assuming this, which is fine) to NH. If you want that seat in C you might consider having NH points.