ANA 777-300ER premium economy is one of the best long-haul premium economy hard products in existence. The seats are wide, very cushy, and feature large video screens with generous recline.
As a matter of fact, the recline is steep enough to make even the most conceited individuals feel a little sorry for the person sitting behind them. Just maybe.
But what’s up with the food? It was the worst food I’ve been served in long-haul premium economy on any airline, to the point where I was wondering if somebody made a career-ending goof with the catering or something. It was shockingly mediocre.
NH108
Tokyo, Japan (HND) – San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Aircraft: 777-381ER
Registration: JA793A
Duration: 9 hours 16 minutes
Seat: 26G (Premium Economy)
ANA 777-300ER (JA793A) side view illustration by NorebboStock.com.Our route from Tokyo / Haneda to San Francisco this evening as NH108.
My full review of ANA 777-300ER premium economy from Tokyo / Haneda to San Francisco
I was actually supposed to be sitting way back in the bowels of economy class for this flight. Somehow I ended up with an upgrade to premium economy (which I didn’t find out about until I checked in), so yeah – this is a review I was not expecting to make. I’m not exactly sure how (or why) I was upgraded, but I suspect that my mid-tier Star Alliance Gold status had a lot to do with it.
Arrival at Haneda Airport (Terminal 3)
I had about 2 hours to make this connection after arriving from Hiroshima. That flight arrived in Terminal 2, so it was necessary to hop on a shuttle bus to get over to T3.
It ended up being a quick and easy process, and I was thrilled to see that the security line to get into Terminal 3 was essentially nonexistent. It doesn’t always go this smoothly (but I appreciate it when it does).
If I was a smoker, this is where you would see me sucking down an unfiltered Marlboro as I transition from tourist to content creator. It takes more than you realize to psych myself up to begin an absolute monster of an airline review!No, I’m not sure that being jacked up on unfiltered cigarettes is required to take a picture of the entrance to Terminal 3 here at HND, but I gotta start somewhere…Ok, I am fully psyched now (no artificial stimulation required). The ticketing hall here in T3 is beautiful!Dang it. Why are the lines to check in always so short when I already have my boarding pass? Oh well – I don’t even see a dedicated line for premium economy anyway, so I guess it’s no biggie.
Inside the T3 departures area
Terminal 3 at the Tokyo Haneda Airport is basically the opposite of the International Terminal over at Narita. It’s nowhere near as large, but the high ceilings and eclectic dining options make it a comfortable place to relax before a flight. Speaking of which, I dipped into the Terminal 3 ANA Lounge for a bit to wait things out. It was OK.
Whoa. How is it possible that it only took me five minutes to get through the security checkpoint? Isn’t Haneda known for chewing up and spitting out even the most seasoned travelers?Keeping an eye out for danger, because things have almost been too easy so far. What’s the catch? And which direction will it be coming from?Beats me. I made it to gate 111 unscathed (and very much looking forward to premium economy all the way home).One last check of all the details. As sexy as an ANA premium economy boarding pass is, I’ll bet It ain’t got nothin’ on a business class boarding pass. I can’t wait to hold one of those someday!
The boarding process for flight number 108 to San Francisco
I love boarding flights in Japan. The ANA gate agents made it explicitly clear where everyone was supposed to stand, which eliminated nearly all of the pushing and shoving that normally happens in the moments prior to boarding. There were clearly marked signs for each boarding group, and they weren’t afraid to call anyone out for approaching the scanning machine when it wasn’t their turn. Nice!
There’s not much to say about the start of the boarding process other than the fact that it was as organized as a military drill (but with more smiles and no annoying gunfire). Business class, premium economy, and economy passengers board through one door, while first class passengers get their own. Both lead to the same place though, so there’s no need to panic if you have a momentary lapse of remembering your place in the hierarchy. How cool is that large video screen showing the direction of all seat numbers? Frankly, I didn’t even notice it at the time (which makes me wonder what else I missed).Pro tip: covering your eyes and sprinting as fast as you can through the business class cabin will keep you from feeling disappointed upon arrival at your lowly premium economy seat.
My first impressions of the ANA 77W premium economy seats
As you’ll see in the pics below, premium economy on the ANA 777-300ER looks (and feels) fantastic. The seats are wide with extremely generous legroom, and the video screens in the seat back headrests are nothing short of gargantuan. It’s essentially what I consider to be an extremely good domestic US first class seat. Not that those exist anymore, but you know what I mean.
Welcome to premium economy! This is row 26 and 27 (the middle section).These are pretty good looking seats IMHO. No, they aren’t as vivid blue as the seats you saw in my ANA A321neo economy review, but they make up for it in girth. Junk in the trunk FTW.Does anyone know if there is a direct Japanese translation for “holy ****”? If I knew it, I’d be saying it right now. These seats are nice!Premium economy here on the ANA 777-300ER is a 2-4-2 layout, which seems to be the standard for long-haul premium economy these days. I like! And I’m not just saying that because I covered my eyes as I ran through the business class section just now.This might be TMI, but…to say that my rear end was getting giddy as a prepared to sit down is an understatement. It’s been a long time since my *** has been this excited!Even though the leg room is nearly identical to what I recently experienced in Lufthansa A350-900 premium economy, this just feels better. Maybe it’s because my pants match the seats? I don’t know.This is definitely more spacious British Airways A350-1000 premium economy though. And I promise I wasn’t trying to be all matchy-matchy with my wardrobe. This was purely accidental.There’s basically nothing about this seat that I don’t like (yet). Not only is the underseat storage space huge, this retractable foot rest is actually long enough to be useful. I say again: this is nice!Having a closer look at all the seat controls and features of this premium economy seat leads me to believe that (perhaps) it wasn’t necessary to blast through the business class cabin as fast as I did earlier. I would’ve liked this no matter what.They were even kind enough to include ice buckets for keeping the Sapporo chilled to perfection. At least that’s what I assume this is for.Unfortunately, there’s no sign of the alcohol cart yet, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.This pic is for those of you shouting at your screen to get me to show you the amenities already. They didn’t hand out amenity kits, but we still got slippers, noise canceling headphones, and an assortment of convenient toiletries (toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.).The blankets look (and feel) amazing BTW. Past experience has taught me that ANA keeps the cabin quite warm though, so (unlike those bitchin’ slippers), this will probably be of little use tonight.It’s also very likely that I won’t get much use out of this massive video screen either. Not because I’m disappointed by it, but because I’m old, it’s 11 PM, and way past my bedtime. Sleep > watching ‘Bullet Train’ (again).
The departure
As much as I would have preferred to have a window seat, I still got to see the entirety of taxi and takeoff thanks to the high-resolution forward facing camera (which can be accessed via the video screen). As a matter of fact, it was so good that I may or may not have been whispering airplane noises to myself the entire time.
One last opportunity to give the competition some stink eye as we push off the gate!Thank God for the high-resolution front-facing camera. Otherwise, my ‘taxi out to the runway’ footage would have probably consisted of excruciatingly detailed pics of the barf bag and the bolts holding the seats to the floor.My ‘wheels up’ footage leaves a lot to be desired though. This was the best I could do to capture the miracle of flight as we rotated off the runway.
For anyone who cares to know, we took off 16 minutes late at 11:21 PM. Close enough I guess.
In-flight entertainment
ANA long haul in-flight entertainment is really good. And you know what makes it even better? Watching it on the extremely large high-resolution screens here in premium economy. There’s a wide variety of both western and Asian movies and TV shows on tap, along with a decent catalog of music and podcasts as well.
The fact that I had to use a wide-angle lens (and lean back) to get comprehensive pics of these video screens tells you everything you to know about how awesomely large they are. Welcome to the welcome screen.The main menu almost makes me envious of everyone who’s planning on staying awake and watching movies and TV shows for the entire flight! Almost.What is it with me choosing flights featuring amazing catalogs of in-flight entertainment that depart well past my bedtime? I’m such an idiot.
Unlike some of my other recent long-haul premium economy experiences on other airlines, ANA was kind enough to provide noise canceling headphones. Like, really good noise canceling headphones.
Nope, these high-quality noise canceling headphones aren’t making it any easier for me to choose sleep over watching Bullet Train on repeat for the next 10 hours (at high volume).Crap. Maybe I’ll just watch it once.Oh – the remote control isn’t even remotely necessary in my opinion. But it’s here (in the center armrest) if anyone needs it.
The first meal service
Considering that we departed well after 11 PM, all we got for the first meal service was a snack. Which is fine by me, as I was far more interested in sleeping than I was eating. That said, there was nothing “premium” about the sandwich that they served. It looked disgusting, and I wanted none of it. It’s a good thing I wasn’t hungry.
You like water, right? I hope so, because that’s all you’re going to get here in premium economy prior to the first meal service.Speaking of the first meal service, this is it. Oh well – I went a little overboard on the curry back in the lounge earlier, so my belly isn’t exactly craving more stuff at the moment. A mayonnaise sandwich? No thanks! While this is admittedly slightly more upscale than the tuna sandwich you saw in my ANA 777-300ER economy review, there ain’t nothing ‘premium’ about this. I didn’t even have the courage to open the package.“Why does it always gotta be mayonnaise?”The snack mix was good though! I could’ve scarfed down an entire box of this stuff.
Seat comfort (and recline)
Whenever I fly long haul premium economy, it seems that seat recline is what most people want to hear about the most. I totally get it. I mean, what’s the point of paying exponentially more for an economy seat if the seat itself isn’t exponentially more comfortable?
I’m happy to report that the the ANA 777-300ER premium economy seats have a significant amount of recline in them. Of course they aren’t lie flat seats, but they go back far enough. At least enough to make you sigh and grunt in a way that will make your seatmate wonder what the heck you’re doing to yourself under the blanket.
Check out that seat recline! We’re talkin’ pimped out ‘64 Impala (on bags) levels of gangsta lean here.RIP to anyone who may be in my way, because I’m about to lay this ***** down.Actually, the recline was so steep that I only laid the ***** down about halfway. Maybe I’m too nice, but I didn’t have it in me to be rude to the guy sitting behind me.Fumbling around with the seat control buttons just now led me to discover this retractable leg rest (and what an amazing discovery it was). FYI, this negates every bad thing I said about the mayonnaise sandwich earlier. It’s all good.I know. This looks a little cramped, but I’m going on record proclaiming this to be the most comfortable long-haul premium economy seat that I’ve ever slept in. Yes, I actually drooled in my sleep a little at one point. But no, these seats were *not* amazing enough to make me lose control of my bladder (or worse, my bowels). Perhaps that’ll happen in the next version.
A quick walk around the cabin
Although I wasn’t able to calculate with any amount of accuracy how long I slept, it had to have been five hours. At least. There was still more than three hours to go when I woke up, so a quick walk around the cabin seemed like a decent way to kill some of that time.
A premium economy lavatory so clean that I’d probably walk into it barefoot if someone double dog dared me to. Nobody had to twist my arm to swing by the self serve snack bar though.
The second meal service
It’s one thing to be cozy and comfortable when eating low-quality food. It’s an entirely different thing to be doing it with completely numb lower extremities. It’s a good thing that I was so impressed with my seat, because the food (on its own) was disappointing enough to start slinging insults.
No, I am not impressed by the fact that the pre-meal ‘hot towel’ is essentially the same exact thing you can get for wiping your you-know-what down at your local Walmart (in the adult diapers aisle).The breakfast menu looks pretty good actually – although I’m willing to bet anything that these are the very same options they’re presenting the economy class passengers with.Any guesses before I pry the cover off the entrée?I know! I didn’t think I would choose the pancakes either.“Slightly flaccid, oddly colored, and not big enough to be satisfying.” What kind of blog is this anyway?I’m thinking that maybe it’s better if I refrain from trying to describe the sausage links.Honestly, all food tastes the same when brain-melting jet lag starts kicking in. To the best of my recollection, this was an acceptable (but bland) meal.How is it even possible that the food I was served in Delta A350-900 premium economy was so much better than what I just shoveled into my face? ANA has the better seat (by far), but Delta sure is kicking their *** when it comes to food.
This pre-landing meal was not even close to what I was expecting. Sure, it tasted fine, but it was bare budget economy class fare as far as I’m concerned.
The descent (and landing) into San Francisco
Once again, thanks to the high-resolution forward facing camera, I was able to watch our entire descent and landing into San Francisco as if I had my nose pressed to the window. It was almost as good as having a window seat. Almost.
Taking notes for the next time I try to fly across the Pacific in Microsoft Flight Simulator. My last attempt ended in a fiery nosedive into the abyss just 30 minutes after takeoff, so I’ve got a lot to learn.“ANA one zero eight heavy, be advised that the guy sitting in 26G watching your every move, so you better not screw this up. No pressure. Over.”“Roger! Waiting on clearance, Clarence.”“Only if you call me Shirley. Welcome to San Francisco.”Seems as if this British Airways crew is wasting no time in getting away from my stupid ‘Airplane!’ movie quote jokes as quickly as they can. I don’t blame them.Well, that was fun! Yeah, the food was a total let down, but I wouldn’t have any issues doing this again.Correction: “I wouldn’t have any issues doing this again, but I’m sure as heck going to try my best to do it in a business class seat instead.”
Pros and cons of ANA 777-300ER long haul premium economy
There’s a lot to like – and dislike – about flying long haul in ANA 77W premium economy. My main criticism is that it wasn’t quite as posh as some of my other long-haul premium economy experiences (EVA Air 777-300ER premium economy for example).
ANA used to be so good in all classes of service. As a matter of fact, it used to be that I considered them to be the standard for all other airlines to look up to. I’m not so sure anymore.
Pros
The seats are extremely spacious (in regards to both width and leg room).
The amount of seat recline is very generous. I was able to sleep very well thanks to being able to lie back so far.
The video screens are massive! They may be the largest video screens that I’ve ever seen outside of business class.
The cabin crew was extremely polite, happy, and proactive. They were up walking through the aisles and attending to passengers for the entire flight.
Cons
The food wasn’t any better than what you would get in economy class. They didn’t even attempt to serve it on nicer dishware.
The large video screens cast a lot of light. RIP to your jet lagged body and soul if anyone near you is watching a movie while you are trying to sleep.
