ANA announced NEW premium economy seats and enhanced service
 

http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/aboutana/pr...ex_120329.html

Finally ANA has ditched its old inspiration of Japan PY design thanks to Koito and went for a new design which looks awfully similar to CX's new PY seats ;)

Enhancement on current routes with PY seats (HND-LAX, NRT-IAD, NRT-ORD, NRT-MUC)
- sparkling wines and soup will be served with Y meals

Introduction of new PY seats sequentially on NRT-JFK, LHR, FRA, SFO, LAX, CDG from Sep 1 and will be completed by the end of the calendar year.
- 2-4-2 layout
- 19.3 inches wide
- Leg rests and foot rests provided at your feet* and central arm rests equipped with cocktail trays to hold your drinks. Seats also have large head rests to provide better support for your head, and a large net pocket* allows you to store various items such as drink bottles.
*Installed into the seat from the second row.
- 10.6 inch monitor (12.1 inch for first row), a personal TV monitor touch panel, PC power outlet, USB port, i-Pod connection, and a personal light

*Installed into the seat from the second row.

The release says that PY passengers can use lounges at NRT, HND, IAD, JFK, and LAX, as well as priority check-in and priority returns at baggage claim.

Interesting that they're bringing back PY on all of their 773ERs. The seats look better than the CX ones (provided they don't have just that stupid footrest and have actual leg rests in the non-front-row seats). I wonder if they are going to be reducing C seats or Y seats to make room for PY. Either way, as a DIA with free upgrades to PY, I'm pleased!

(By the way, it's SFO, not SAN.)

I'm guessing Y, as the front Y cabins (esp on the high C 77W) don't really fill the space and look a bit temporary.

Great news anyway.

LOL no idea why I put SAN there :p

The lounge access has always been a PY perk since 2007

http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/aboutana/pr...07/071113.html

The original plan was to put only 2 rows of PY seats in the current Y cabin...(row 25-27)
http://www.ana.co.jp/int/inflight/se...r_1/index.html

Isn't soup already served with J-menu option already ? If pax choose J-menu as their meal option, so is there additional soup other than miso soup come with the meal ?

Also, didn't see they mention anything about slippers, and some of the amenities from the amenity basket in C, are those stuff discontinue in the new setting ?

It doesn't look like miso soup from the pictures shown in the PR. No idea about the amenities either. It's odd that they don't mention those. Consider how cheap they are, it will be odd for them to remove those amenities

I see -- for some reason I thought it was just at NRT, but JFK, IAD, and LHR were available since the beginning. Once the 787s have PY installed, the HND lounge will be available as well (or was this available ever since HND-LAX began operating? I've never flown PY on that route so I'm not sure...). It's already crowded enough in the evenings, so I wonder if it will be able to cope with the (albeit small) influx of users?

Do they have plans to install them on 787? It didn't mention any of the 787 routes in the PR.

You are right...actually the PR in 2007 says. So I guess they are expanding the lounge access to other airports now

Yep, it says so in the Japanese announcement (but not the English one, strangely):

They will probably announce something for the HND-FRA, NRT-SEA and NRT-SJC routes once the 787 delivery schedule stabilizes.

Not strange at all that they have more info in the Japanese version of the PR. I would assume so. I guess 2-3 rows of PY in 787 in the mini Y cabin where row 21-23 are

Very nice designs. I like how crisp everything is. The wider screens on the AVODs look amazing, too!

Here's my dumb question - as someone who's not an ANA frequent flyer, but is planning some business into the Pacific rim later this year, how do I book a Premium Economy seat?

I'm 6'4" and self employed. I'd love to fly J but it's not always feasible. So I'm on the ANA website, and I can't see an option to book a Premium Economy fare...

Search for your route with economy fares and on the search results page select the premium economy tab, then the radio button for your fare type - Eco-wari Premium Light and Eco-wari Premium are the discounted PY fares. Or for complete changeability an "economy class normal fare" entitles you to PY seats, though these fares are fare more expensive than discounted J.

I could check some Premium Economy Fares after September 1, for such as NRT-JFK, LHR, FRA, but not SFO.
So, the Premium Economy Fares are not fully reflected yet.

The PY fares out of Japan are still ridiculous... For example, here are summertime fares for NRT-LAX.

Cheapest Y fare:
4/1～4/26 44,400
4/27～5/3 84,400
5/4～7/12 44,400
7/13～8/23 71,400
8/24～9/30 44,400

Cheapest PY fare:
4/1～9/30 296,000

Cheapest C fare:
4/1～4/26 277,400
4/27～5/3 329,400
5/4～7/12 277,400
7/13～9/30 329,400

Why the hell would anyone buy PY if it's more expensive than C?