Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) will add two non-stop flights from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and New York’s John F. Kennedy International (JFK) to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) starting Oct. 30.
The airline is touting Haneda’s convenience to Tokyo over flights that land at Narita (NRT).
“ANA's Haneda flights make getting to Tokyo easy,” the carrier said on its website. “Save time and connect to Tokyo in about 11 minutes by train or monorail,” compared to a journey estimated at 70 minutes from Narita. Based on my experiences flying into NRT, that may be optimistic; a 90-minute trek from the airport to downtown is more the norm.
ANA is diversifying its U.S. routes so that there will be one flight to NRT and one to HND from each U.S. gateway, an ANA spokesperson told TheTravelPro.
The daily flights the carrier currently offers from NRT to ORD and JFK will be suspended from Oct. 30. Return flights from Narita will be operated by ANA's code-share partner United Airlines (NYSE:UAL) according to the airline’s website.
The new ANA flights to HND feature schedules that may make them more convenient, particularly for business travelers. While current flight schedules have flights arriving at both the Japanese and American destinations in mid-afternoon, the new flights will arrive in Japan in the evening and return flights will arrive in New York and Chicago in the morning.
Haneda-bound flights will leave New York at 4:55 p.m. daily, arriving at HND at 9:10 p.m. the next day, due to the crossing of the international date line. Return flights leave Haneda at 10:20 a.m., arriving at JFK at 9:00 a.m.
Flights will leave Chicago at 4:15 p.m. daily, arriving at HND at 8:30 p.m. the next day. Return flights leave Haneda at 10:50 a.m., arriving at ORD at 7:40 a.m.
Departure and arrival times at New York and Chicago will be an hour later during a one-week period in late October/early November and a two-week period in mid-March during which the U.S. and Japan are not synchronized in their observances of daylight saving time.
Flights will be aboard Boeing (NYSE:BA) 777-300 ER aircraft. Aircraft serving JFK will have a total of 212 seats: eight First Class, 68 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 112 standard Economy seats. Aircraft serving ORD will carry 250 passengers in eight First Class seats, 52 Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy and 166 standard Economy seats.
ANA describes the First class seats as “cabins” that provide passengers with a greater degree of privacy than an open-cabin arrangement, while SeatGuru.com describes them as “open suites.” Regardless of the adjectives, seats are a generous 33 inches wide and offer 76 inches of pitch
Business class seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration so that each seat has direct aisle access. In addition, seats are staggered so that no seat is directly behind the one in front of it. Seats are 21 inches wide with 62 inches of pitch, which are wider and offer greater pitch than the ANA Boeing 787 Dremliner I flew to Tokyo. Like the Dreamliner’s Business Class seats, the 777’s also lie fully flat.
Premium economy seats at 19.3 inches wide and have 38 inches of pitch, while standard economy seats have 34 inches of pitch which is the equivalent of many premium economy sections aboard U.S. airlines. However, standard economy seats are only 16.5 inches wide, making them among the narrowest in the industry and certainly among the narrowest on long-haul aircraft. Economy seats on the 777s are a full two inches narrower than the economy seats aboard the Dreamliner I rode, which I found quite acceptable.
Every seat is all classes comes equipped with a universal power port and USB port. The touch-panel type seat TV screen enables passengers to select movies, video programs, and music any time during the flight.
ANA also operates non-sop flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to HND. Flights to the Tokyo metropolitan area from the airline’s other North American gateways of Vancouver (YVR), Seattle (SEA), San Francisco (SFO), San Jose (SJC), Denver (DEN), Houston (IAH) and Washington, D.C. (IAD) continue to serve Narita.
Visit my main page at TheTravelPro.us for more news, reviews, and personal observations on the world of upmarket travel.
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Photos by Carl Dombek
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The airline is touting Haneda’s convenience to Tokyo over flights that land at Narita (NRT).
“ANA's Haneda flights make getting to Tokyo easy,” the carrier said on its website. “Save time and connect to Tokyo in about 11 minutes by train or monorail,” compared to a journey estimated at 70 minutes from Narita. Based on my experiences flying into NRT, that may be optimistic; a 90-minute trek from the airport to downtown is more the norm.
ANA is diversifying its U.S. routes so that there will be one flight to NRT and one to HND from each U.S. gateway, an ANA spokesperson told TheTravelPro.
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| Two ANA Dreamliners at Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) |
The new ANA flights to HND feature schedules that may make them more convenient, particularly for business travelers. While current flight schedules have flights arriving at both the Japanese and American destinations in mid-afternoon, the new flights will arrive in Japan in the evening and return flights will arrive in New York and Chicago in the morning.
Haneda-bound flights will leave New York at 4:55 p.m. daily, arriving at HND at 9:10 p.m. the next day, due to the crossing of the international date line. Return flights leave Haneda at 10:20 a.m., arriving at JFK at 9:00 a.m.
Flights will leave Chicago at 4:15 p.m. daily, arriving at HND at 8:30 p.m. the next day. Return flights leave Haneda at 10:50 a.m., arriving at ORD at 7:40 a.m.
Departure and arrival times at New York and Chicago will be an hour later during a one-week period in late October/early November and a two-week period in mid-March during which the U.S. and Japan are not synchronized in their observances of daylight saving time.
 |
| Business-class seat aboard ANA Dreamliner |
ANA describes the First class seats as “cabins” that provide passengers with a greater degree of privacy than an open-cabin arrangement, while SeatGuru.com describes them as “open suites.” Regardless of the adjectives, seats are a generous 33 inches wide and offer 76 inches of pitch
Business class seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration so that each seat has direct aisle access. In addition, seats are staggered so that no seat is directly behind the one in front of it. Seats are 21 inches wide with 62 inches of pitch, which are wider and offer greater pitch than the ANA Boeing 787 Dremliner I flew to Tokyo. Like the Dreamliner’s Business Class seats, the 777’s also lie fully flat.
 |
| Dessert and port in ANA Business Class |
Every seat is all classes comes equipped with a universal power port and USB port. The touch-panel type seat TV screen enables passengers to select movies, video programs, and music any time during the flight.
ANA also operates non-sop flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to HND. Flights to the Tokyo metropolitan area from the airline’s other North American gateways of Vancouver (YVR), Seattle (SEA), San Francisco (SFO), San Jose (SJC), Denver (DEN), Houston (IAH) and Washington, D.C. (IAD) continue to serve Narita.
Visit my main page at TheTravelPro.us for more news, reviews, and personal observations on the world of upmarket travel.
Follow @TheTravelProUS
Photos by Carl Dombek
Click on photos to view larger images
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