Friday Flyday: Hong Kong to Tokyo-Narita on ANA

Welcome on board my trip from Hong Kong to Tokyo-Narita on ANA. The 767-300s flying the route offer the carrier’s regional business class product which is not especially modern (recliner seat, relatively small IFE screens), but it is also a reasonably short flight so that’s less a concern for me. Here we go!

I chose the Thai Airways lounge for my pre-flight time, mostly because I wanted dumplings for breakfast. By default ANA directs passengers to the United Club which is nearby. The somewhat recently renovated Singapore Air lounge is also available but I’ve never particularly enjoyed that one, probably due to the lack of windows. I didn’t spend much time in the lounge and soon enough was boarding for the 4ish hours up to Tokyo.

After a few days of less than stellar weather in the region we had clear skies as we departed over Hong Kong Harbor.

Once in the air the meal service was set up quickly and efficiently. I chose the Japanese-style dining option with lots of little bites of various things, both warm and cold. I probably should’ve spent more time reading the menu to know what each of them was but it didn’t really seem to matter much. A glass of Shochu and the little bites kept me well entertained for the first 90 minutes or so of the trip.

I chose the bulkhead row which meant the IFE screen flips up from the center console. That also means it is relatively small. And the glare was awful, especially as I couldn’t tilt it forward. Larger screens are available in the other rows, but this choice did get me a window with an empty adjacent seat, so I suppose that counts for something.

The AVOD system is functional though it offers a relatively limited selection of movies. I ended up watching Furious 7 and I’m reasonably furious I wasted those two hours of my life, though I’m not sure many of the other choices were much better.

Soon enough we were descending through the clouds off the coast near Narita and treated to a spectacular view.

And, in a first for me, a hard stand when we finally touched down. That meant a bus ride to the terminal rather than the quick walk up to transfer security and back down into the terminal. It was still quick and we were 20 minutes early anyways so no connections were at risk. The plane-side selfie makes up for the inconvenience, I suppose.

Overall a very typical regional business class trip. The seat, IFE, meals & service were all average. The views were spectacular.