JFK-NRT-SIN on UA / SIN-NRT-JFK on ANA
Jan 26, 2005, 10:53 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 9,757
JFK-NRT-SIN on UA / SIN-NRT-JFK on ANA
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/s...&x=1&sm=1&sl=1
Here are the pics which include food from the flights.. feel free to ignore the rest of the stuff.
For the SIN Do in January 2005, I decided to go with a *Alliance award in Business - great deal for 90k miles. ^ I also realized that there aren't any trip reports for ANA in New Club Style C.. esp for NRT-JFK.. so here goes:
13Jan2005
UA801 JFK-NRT
Pre-Boarding: Got to the airport very early, since I wanted to avoid NYC rush hour with a 11ish am departure time. Check-in was fine.. was informed that flight was departing on-time, despite horrendous fog outside. JFK RCC in Terminal 7 is nice and roomy with a decent view of the planes. Plenty of quiet corners and not noisy. Food selection is halfway miserable - typical for domestic RCC lounges.
On-board: Flight was about 75% full. I was in 9J with plenty of legroom. My seatmate was a bit of a crab so there wasn't much conversation going on. Flight crew was fantastic - very attentive and not lazy. I had pre-ordered the obento .. and it was delicious, as usual. There seemed to be a large number of expats on the plane, returning home from holidays in the US. There was also a group of people headed for Fashion Week in Hong Kong. They were fashionably dressed, of course.
1 Unisom later..
Layover: Landing at NRT was pretty easy.. it was the obnoxiously long transit security line which dragged things down. Luckily, it was moving fairly quickly and I made my way to the gigantic RCC lounge. Met up with some SIN-bound FTers.. and a small group of us made our way to the SQ lounge on the other end of the terminal. Our efforts were rewarded with a bountiful selection of lounge snacks - dim sum, Fauchon ice cream cups, sushi, snacks, drinks.. and laptop computers. Definitely worth spending the layover here instead of the United RCC. Time practically flew by.. and I found myself boarding 30 min before departure.
Warning-- be aware of the scheduled departure time of your flight! The monitors display the time you should be on the plane (ie, 15 min before) and not the scheduled time. Weird, I know.
14Jan2005
UA837 NRT-SIN
On-board: It was a lot more crowded on the 777 than the JFK-NRT flight. This time, I was in 13A next to a non-talkative housewife. Food wasn't as exciting.. and there weren't any amenity kits on this leg.
Since I wasn't planning on sleeping once I arrived in Singapore.. I slept as much as possible on this short 7ish hour flight. There was quite a bit of turbulence as we left Narita.. good thing I slept right through it !
Arrival is a breeze at Singapore Changi airport. I didn't have any luggage checked in.. and immigration/customs is a brisk 5 minute affair. Always a pleasure.
---------SIN Do fun!----------
16Jan2005
NH902 SIN-NRT
I was given the option of leaving Singapore on a red-eye flight and not on those dreadful 7am flights with United.. this sounded much more attractive and I had one less hotel night to purchase.
Note to self -- taxis are hard to get on a Sunday evening. Must call in advance next time.
Pre-Boarding: The departure hall was rather chaotic, as there are many red-eye flights leaving at the same time. Good thing Changi has a separate check-in area for C/F passengers on ANA. Although I was conversing in English, there was an ANA rep alongside the check-in agent (for translation purposes, I guess). The plane was changed at the last minute to a 747 with old style C. They gave me an aisle seat in the exit row upstairs and blocked the seat next to me. As it turned out, the flight was pretty empty. The agent gave me my boarding passes as well as coupons for the Signet Lounge in NRT and SIN. After getting a tax refund and some heavy duty-free shopping, I hit the Signet Lounge. It was nice and quiet - tucked away upstairs with some other lounges.. small selection of sushi snacks and drinks/espresso.. I loitered for about 15 minutes before fleeing.. all those nervous-looking Japanese businessmen were creeping me out. I sought refuge in the duty free shops until it was time to enter the boarding pen area.
Believe it or not, ANA only boards 20 minutes or so prior to takeoff.. and they leave on time! Either Japanese carriers are extremely efficient or.. I have no idea. It was impressive. For a moment, I thought we were going to be late (but of course, we weren't).
On-board: My seat was not as cozy as the United Business class seat.. the controls are not all located in the same spot.. thus, I didn't realize I could extend the knee support until I looked down. In-flight entertainment was nice with some Nintendo games. Food was okay and recline was decent enough to get some sleep.
Layover: Once again, we had to pass through the transit security line, although this was a lot shorter. Took the shuttle train to another section of Terminal 2.. and stopped in the Signet Lounge again. This time, it was a lot more welcoming with plenty of natural light.. a separate, enclosed area for the smokers.. and plenty of munchies. My favorite part was the laptops provided for internet access and how they faced the windows. Snagged a picture of that (in the album). The crowd in the lounge was pretty mixed - not creepy at all. They even had a "beer machine" like the one in the NRT RCC. Duty free shopping at NRT is not as pleasant as Singapore, so my purchases were fairly limited. Somehow, 3.5 hrs manage to fly by. I did consider the idea of going through immigration to explore other shopping venues.. but the lounge attendants weren't too clear with their Engrish instructions. Maybe next time.
17Jan2005
NH10 NRT-JFK
On-board: I was sitting at one of the nicest seats upstairs - exit row window. This was in the New Style Club ANA seat. I wasn't too fond of the slanted flat bed design, so I opted for a more reclined seat position (similar to the UA Biz seat config). The chair wasn't as padded as UA's.. but I definitely enjoyed the motorized seat controls as well as the large monitor. The nosecam was pretty interesting as well. Movie selection was near-awful (Mr 3000?? yuck) and even the anime selection was a bit stuffy. I was disappointed in how they didn't offer any of the Nintendo games that I saw on the previous flight. It was limited to these cheap PC games like Chess and Slots. Lame!
I was offered the use of a cardigan but I felt like a creepy Japanese businessman after wearing it.. so off it went into the side storage bin. Unfortunately, I didn't find an amenity kit in the seat.. and there was no indication as to where one would find something like that. I considered asking for some earplugs but the FAs were always rushing around, never idle.. so I just assumed my request wouldn't be worthwhile. There was some slippers provided at each seat, as well as a bag to put your shoes in.
The real difference was in the service of the flight attendants. They were extremely professional, very well coiffed.. and always on their feet. I can say that it really made me feel comfortable.. although I did miss the camaraderie of US-based flight crew. The second floor was packed full.. and someone even brought their own comforter to sleep with! The down pillow and down comforter provided were more than adequate.
Time flies when you are having fun. Arrival into JFK was brisk and hassle-free. I noticed that the arrival stamp is now oval-shaped and not square-stamplike. Interesting. 30 minutes after stepping off the plane, I was freezing in my car.. waiting for it to warm up.
Final thoughts:
Although the flat bed seat of New Style Club ANA wasn't all that I had hoped for.. the service and food alone was enough to convince me that ANA is the way to go.. perhaps next time in a fully flat F seat.
United Business class is reliably wonderful, which is nice. Now if only they put in some better IFE!
Here are the pics which include food from the flights.. feel free to ignore the rest of the stuff.
For the SIN Do in January 2005, I decided to go with a *Alliance award in Business - great deal for 90k miles. ^ I also realized that there aren't any trip reports for ANA in New Club Style C.. esp for NRT-JFK.. so here goes:
13Jan2005
UA801 JFK-NRT
Pre-Boarding: Got to the airport very early, since I wanted to avoid NYC rush hour with a 11ish am departure time. Check-in was fine.. was informed that flight was departing on-time, despite horrendous fog outside. JFK RCC in Terminal 7 is nice and roomy with a decent view of the planes. Plenty of quiet corners and not noisy. Food selection is halfway miserable - typical for domestic RCC lounges.
On-board: Flight was about 75% full. I was in 9J with plenty of legroom. My seatmate was a bit of a crab so there wasn't much conversation going on. Flight crew was fantastic - very attentive and not lazy. I had pre-ordered the obento .. and it was delicious, as usual. There seemed to be a large number of expats on the plane, returning home from holidays in the US. There was also a group of people headed for Fashion Week in Hong Kong. They were fashionably dressed, of course.
1 Unisom later..
Layover: Landing at NRT was pretty easy.. it was the obnoxiously long transit security line which dragged things down. Luckily, it was moving fairly quickly and I made my way to the gigantic RCC lounge. Met up with some SIN-bound FTers.. and a small group of us made our way to the SQ lounge on the other end of the terminal. Our efforts were rewarded with a bountiful selection of lounge snacks - dim sum, Fauchon ice cream cups, sushi, snacks, drinks.. and laptop computers. Definitely worth spending the layover here instead of the United RCC. Time practically flew by.. and I found myself boarding 30 min before departure.
Warning-- be aware of the scheduled departure time of your flight! The monitors display the time you should be on the plane (ie, 15 min before) and not the scheduled time. Weird, I know.
14Jan2005
UA837 NRT-SIN
On-board: It was a lot more crowded on the 777 than the JFK-NRT flight. This time, I was in 13A next to a non-talkative housewife. Food wasn't as exciting.. and there weren't any amenity kits on this leg.
Since I wasn't planning on sleeping once I arrived in Singapore.. I slept as much as possible on this short 7ish hour flight. There was quite a bit of turbulence as we left Narita.. good thing I slept right through it !Arrival is a breeze at Singapore Changi airport. I didn't have any luggage checked in.. and immigration/customs is a brisk 5 minute affair. Always a pleasure.
---------SIN Do fun!----------
16Jan2005
NH902 SIN-NRT
I was given the option of leaving Singapore on a red-eye flight and not on those dreadful 7am flights with United.. this sounded much more attractive and I had one less hotel night to purchase.
Note to self -- taxis are hard to get on a Sunday evening. Must call in advance next time.
Pre-Boarding: The departure hall was rather chaotic, as there are many red-eye flights leaving at the same time. Good thing Changi has a separate check-in area for C/F passengers on ANA. Although I was conversing in English, there was an ANA rep alongside the check-in agent (for translation purposes, I guess). The plane was changed at the last minute to a 747 with old style C. They gave me an aisle seat in the exit row upstairs and blocked the seat next to me. As it turned out, the flight was pretty empty. The agent gave me my boarding passes as well as coupons for the Signet Lounge in NRT and SIN. After getting a tax refund and some heavy duty-free shopping, I hit the Signet Lounge. It was nice and quiet - tucked away upstairs with some other lounges.. small selection of sushi snacks and drinks/espresso.. I loitered for about 15 minutes before fleeing.. all those nervous-looking Japanese businessmen were creeping me out. I sought refuge in the duty free shops until it was time to enter the boarding pen area.
Believe it or not, ANA only boards 20 minutes or so prior to takeoff.. and they leave on time! Either Japanese carriers are extremely efficient or.. I have no idea. It was impressive. For a moment, I thought we were going to be late (but of course, we weren't).
On-board: My seat was not as cozy as the United Business class seat.. the controls are not all located in the same spot.. thus, I didn't realize I could extend the knee support until I looked down. In-flight entertainment was nice with some Nintendo games. Food was okay and recline was decent enough to get some sleep.
Layover: Once again, we had to pass through the transit security line, although this was a lot shorter. Took the shuttle train to another section of Terminal 2.. and stopped in the Signet Lounge again. This time, it was a lot more welcoming with plenty of natural light.. a separate, enclosed area for the smokers.. and plenty of munchies. My favorite part was the laptops provided for internet access and how they faced the windows. Snagged a picture of that (in the album). The crowd in the lounge was pretty mixed - not creepy at all. They even had a "beer machine" like the one in the NRT RCC. Duty free shopping at NRT is not as pleasant as Singapore, so my purchases were fairly limited. Somehow, 3.5 hrs manage to fly by. I did consider the idea of going through immigration to explore other shopping venues.. but the lounge attendants weren't too clear with their Engrish instructions. Maybe next time.
17Jan2005
NH10 NRT-JFK
On-board: I was sitting at one of the nicest seats upstairs - exit row window. This was in the New Style Club ANA seat. I wasn't too fond of the slanted flat bed design, so I opted for a more reclined seat position (similar to the UA Biz seat config). The chair wasn't as padded as UA's.. but I definitely enjoyed the motorized seat controls as well as the large monitor. The nosecam was pretty interesting as well. Movie selection was near-awful (Mr 3000?? yuck) and even the anime selection was a bit stuffy. I was disappointed in how they didn't offer any of the Nintendo games that I saw on the previous flight. It was limited to these cheap PC games like Chess and Slots. Lame!
I was offered the use of a cardigan but I felt like a creepy Japanese businessman after wearing it.. so off it went into the side storage bin. Unfortunately, I didn't find an amenity kit in the seat.. and there was no indication as to where one would find something like that. I considered asking for some earplugs but the FAs were always rushing around, never idle.. so I just assumed my request wouldn't be worthwhile. There was some slippers provided at each seat, as well as a bag to put your shoes in.
The real difference was in the service of the flight attendants. They were extremely professional, very well coiffed.. and always on their feet. I can say that it really made me feel comfortable.. although I did miss the camaraderie of US-based flight crew. The second floor was packed full.. and someone even brought their own comforter to sleep with! The down pillow and down comforter provided were more than adequate.
Time flies when you are having fun. Arrival into JFK was brisk and hassle-free. I noticed that the arrival stamp is now oval-shaped and not square-stamplike. Interesting. 30 minutes after stepping off the plane, I was freezing in my car.. waiting for it to warm up.
Final thoughts:
Although the flat bed seat of New Style Club ANA wasn't all that I had hoped for.. the service and food alone was enough to convince me that ANA is the way to go.. perhaps next time in a fully flat F seat.
United Business class is reliably wonderful, which is nice. Now if only they put in some better IFE!
Jan 27, 2005, 9:22 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,389
Thanks
Thanks for a wonderful report! Yes, ANA has this sliding seat which is quite annoying and the movie selection is lacking.
But the Japanese meals look excellent.
A bit off topic... do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you use? Looking for a new purchase and your pix look great...
Thanks for sharing anyway,
Carfield
But the Japanese meals look excellent.
A bit off topic... do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you use? Looking for a new purchase and your pix look great...
Thanks for sharing anyway,
Carfield
Jan 27, 2005, 2:48 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 9,757
I have a 4 megapixel Sony DSC-S85 digital camera.. might not be sold anymore since I received it a couple years ago (Christmas 2001?).. it works great - a bit bulky compared to what's out there now.. but the quality is superb. I like the macro setting - it produces the most amazing pictures close-up.
Originally Posted by Carfield
A bit off topic... do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you use? Looking for a new purchase and your pix look great...
Thanks for sharing anyway,
Carfield
Thanks for sharing anyway,
Carfield