JAL vs ANA B787 Business Class 2023 Trans Pacific (ex SFO to NRT or HND)
Jul 8, 2023, 1:24 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 515
JAL vs ANA B787 Business Class 2023 Trans Pacific (ex SFO to NRT or HND)
Quick question. Planning a trip to Japan and India for January 2024. United operates flights, but their flights are pricing out at a considerably higher price. All Japanese flights from SFO to either NRT or HND are on 787s. ANA's flights are coming in at about $300 more per ticket. From my understanding, ANA offers staggered seats while JAL offers a Sky Suite. I presume that ANA will not operate the 773, which features the Room, in winter 2024. Based only on the hard and soft product, which carrier would you choose? I am a Mileage Plus member, but I'm really more interested in the quality of seat comfort and service.
Jul 8, 2023, 10:22 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 1,582
They really aren’t significantly different. Everyone has their favorite soft product and for me it’s ANA, but JAL is good too. You can’t go wrong with either. If JAL has the apex suite hard product then I prefer that to ANA’s staggered business.
Jul 12, 2023, 4:20 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Programs: JAL Global Club & oneworld Sapphire, ANA SFC & Star Alliance Gold
Posts: 3,747
In my opinion JAL Apex and ANA Staggered are both excellent products. You really can't go wrong either way. If traveling with a companion, then JAL is better because you can lower the divider between seats and converse easily. The ANA Staggered seats make communication with a companion difficult.
Jul 12, 2023, 10:58 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 1,970
For F I would take ANA over JAL any day of the week, especially with The SUITE. I would still take The ROOM (ANA J) over JAL J all other things equal, otherwise I would take whichever is cheaper/less points/better time.
Jul 18, 2023, 6:43 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: TYO / WAS / NYC
Programs: American Express got a hit man lookin' for me
Posts: 4,598
Be aware that ANA's late night SFO-HND flight has very minimal service compared to the daytime options. No lounge available at SFO when it departs (at least last time I tried it a few months ago) and the in-flight meal is extremely pathetic. It can be nice for saving time, but is definitely not a great passenger experience.
Jul 18, 2023, 1:50 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 190
Be aware that ANA's late night SFO-HND flight has very minimal service compared to the daytime options. No lounge available at SFO when it departs (at least last time I tried it a few months ago) and the in-flight meal is extremely pathetic. It can be nice for saving time, but is definitely not a great passenger experience.
Jul 22, 2023, 1:09 am
#8
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,905
Be aware that ANA's late night SFO-HND flight has very minimal service compared to the daytime options. No lounge available at SFO when it departs (at least last time I tried it a few months ago) and the in-flight meal is extremely pathetic. It can be nice for saving time, but is definitely not a great passenger experience.
Jul 22, 2023, 6:30 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: TYO / WAS / NYC
Programs: American Express got a hit man lookin' for me
Posts: 4,598
There is an Asian take-out restaurant in the concourse and ANA gives out meal vouchers to lounge-eligible pax, but the restaurant closes at midnight, an hour or so before boarding time (departure is at 1:45 am). Other shops in the terminal close at 11 pm, and United's lounges all close at 10:30. So you will end up spending a good hour in a desolate terminal with access to nothing but restrooms and vending machines.