tonykline1947

My trip starts tomorrow, IAH-EWR-IAD-NRT-CGK-NRT-EWR-IAH, with a short TA at CGK. I'm really looking towards it and planing to catch up of few tv episodes and get some work done with my phone turned off.

Exleftseat

Do tell, inquisitive minds want to know. Doing this twice in January and would love to find out details.

anandrag

How painful was it? It's a lot of hours to sit in coach...

Art Thomas

I had the same routing out and back. CLE/IAH/NRT/CGK. The nice thing about the IAH flight is that it allowed a 3 hour layover in NRT. I must say the ANA Lounge is FAR superior to the UA Lounge.

This was my first experience with ANA. The seats are designed by and for Japanese Pax. They are smaller and do not recline much. I was lucky to get a bulkhead. The meals are posted on line at the ANA site. People seemed to like the Japanese offering, but I stayed with the "international" choice. (reserve seats at their website, in English, and register your passport as well.)

All told....it was 28 hours flying out, 29 hours in Jakarta and 28 hours home. My longest trip. I'm still recovering.

I did not veer far from the very nice FM7 Resort Hotel. The least expensive means of local transportation is also the fastest. It's riding on the back of someone's motorcycle. (Try to find someone with an extra helmet. Hope that "Ronnie Ringworm" is not in the helmet.)

As it turned out, the NRT/IAH flight was delayed and I was glad for the overnight in IAH.

Exleftseat

Since my flights are shown as UA codeshares in my UA PNR I am unable to chose seats or input any data on NH website Did seat selection by phone but no luck with any exit or bulkhead seats, which are reserved for NH elites.

Art Thomas

My ticket was UA too. Get the NH Res number from your UA ticket information. then go to ANA, English site and you can enter the flight information, get seat assignments and view the meals you will be offered. As I recall, you enter the information not as a "Frequent Flyer Club member" or through the Reservation locator. You enter the flight date and number and then your last name. You should be able to do it. I suspect that at least *G opens up the bulkhead seats.

clockhand

Quick tips/reports after having done 2 x NYC-IAH-NRT-CGK over the last 2 weeks.

At NRT: definitely go to ANA lounge. Even if your flight is listed as UA flight (like my ticket which was issued by ANA actually had it as UA 9641), you can still get into ANA lounge if you are *G. Far better selection of food, more choices of alcohol, better toilet things for shower and massage chair! I almost fell asleep in a massage chair once to miss my flight!

At CGK, I spent 3000 points for one trip (week days) and 4000 points for one (weekend) at Sheraton Bandara. I am shooting for Platinum status this year and 3-4000 points for 1 night was a bargain for me. I'd rather sleep on a real mattress for a few hours than trying to sleep at the airport. There is a 24h complimentary shuttle between airport and Sheraton. Pretty quick (5-10 min) and it's a small van. Sheraon Bandara also has a cool pool in which I was able to swim for 30 min or so past midnight. There is breakfast here too, which starts 4 or 5 am. I left Sheraton at 430 am shuttle (there is shuttle every 30 min), and was able to grab some food both times.

VOA: VOA is $35 USD -- as reported by others, it was recently increased from $25 to $35. Your receipt still says $25. It only allows single entry, so I paid $35 twice.

Departure tax: 150,000 IDR. It's about $13-14 USD if you exchange at the airport. ANA takes 150,000 IDR OR $20 USD. When you arrive, I suggest you to exchange at the arriving section of the airport. There is a currency exchange AFTER immigration when you leave. ANA asks you to pay departure tax when you check in.

CGK: *G status got me an access to a lounge called Premier Lounge. Good enough selection of food and drinks to kill some time. Also I walked around the airport to grab some souvenir.

All 8 long-haul flights: IAH<->NRT, NRT<->CGK, I was able to get a seat where I was the only one in that row, which means I was able to lay down 180 to sleep. Definitely suggest you to check UA websites and ANA websites constantly to check for these seats.

On UA website, you can get the 6-digit confirmation code for ANA. Using that, you should be able to see seats. If not, go to concierge desk at ANA lounge or even customer service desk at NRT. Ask if you can see the seat map. If you ask something like, "is there any seat that I can take the entire row?" ANA services agents may not understand what you are asking correctly...

Any questions -- feel free to ask here or PM me.

tonykline1947

FTR, I booked W fare and cleared both TPAC legs at booking which made the trip manageable. Not a pure MR at 5.8 cpm, but I had no other options to use 2 expiring GPUs. I SDCed from IAD-NRT to EWR-NRT for a better bulkhead seat on CO 772.

I second to go to ANA lounge at NRT. There are 2 at the opposite ends of the terminal. UA club appears to be in the middle. In addition to aforementioned pluses, ANA lounge staff is easy on the eyes and there is a dedicated sake bar stand.

As expected, seating in ANA Y was brutal despite the good food and very friendly flight crew.

At CGK, right at the gate, I was met by ANA rep with my name and boarding passes for return flights even though I did not request it. I guess that they assumed I was transiting. I took the boarding passes and proceeded to immigration. $35 USD, no questions asked about short stay.

Took a 2hr ride on Silver bird to see the nighttime Jakarta. Back at CGK, had a stogie and a drink outside of Arrivals area. I also had few chats with local cab drivers, who were very friendly, spoke good English and did not push their services hard – all to my pleasant surprise. Inside the airport, the only air conditioned area before check-in appears to be on the very far left. Do not expect too much from the toilet facilities on the land side at CGK

CGK: *G status = Premier Lounge. Internet is barely adequate. It HAS a shower, single very small ran down stall, only cold water, almost no soap in dispenser. I USED IT ANYWAY. Sorry about poor picture quality.



Departure tax: 150,000 IDR. I tried to wiggle out of it since I already had the BP. No luck.

Will be happy to answer any questions..