All Nippon operated flight?

[Bowie MeMe]

I am considering a United flight operated by ANA. Advantage or not? What about moving to economy plus. On a United flight a dummy booking could get economy plus seat for $139 added fee. Will ANA be about the same? ANA flight can not book seat on United web site? Where would I get the price?

 

The seating shows 3-3-3 seating Not my favorite. Any experience with other airlines that might have 2 4 2 seating? Working on IAD to Tokyo or LAX to Tokyo roundtrip. Thanks.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Bowie MeMe

[waterbug123]

I am considering a United flight operated by ANA. Advantage or not? What about moving to economy plus. On a United flight a dummy booking could get economy plus seat for $139 added fee. Will ANA be about the same? ANA flight can not book seat on United web site? Where would I get the price?

 

 

I have zero experience with ANA but generally speaking, use the ANA locator code to go to their website and select your seats. You can either get the ANA locator code by calling United, or by using the United ticket number (not the same as the 5 or 6 digit United locator code; look on your receipt for a longer 10-12 digit ticket number.) and entering that on the ANA website to get your ANA locator code and/or get directly to the seat selection page.

(Again, no specific experience with ANA, but that has always been the process for me when, for example, I have a Delta ticket but actually flying Air France metal.

[cwtravel]

ANA is an excellent airline, much better than United in my opinion. If taking one of their flights from say Tokyo to Washington Dulles, they will have Premium Economy seats, which are much, much different than United Economy Plus.

 

Premium Economy are wider seats with more leg room and generally are in a small 30-40 seat cabin with dedicated flight attendants for that cabin. Meals and service are better than in economy. Of course the cost, unless you catch a sale, is generally much more than regular economy but much less than business. United's Economy Plus are the same economy seats with a little added leg room. I doubt you will be able to get PE on ANA for a couple hundred dollars more than regular economy.

 

My wife & I just flew Qantas to/from Sydney in their PE and were very pleased. There is no way we will ever do a long (8+ hours) again in economy. It is too bad, in my opinion, that the US carriers have not installed true PE seats on their long haul flights.

[6rugrats]

I am considering a United flight operated by ANA. Advantage or not? What about moving to economy plus. On a United flight a dummy booking could get economy plus seat for $139 added fee. Will ANA be about the same? ANA flight can not book seat on United web site? Where would I get the price?

 

The seating shows 3-3-3 seating Not my favorite. Any experience with other airlines that might have 2 4 2 seating? Working on IAD to Tokyo or LAX to Tokyo roundtrip. Thanks.

 

First it's not really a UA flight, it's an ANA flight, and ANA does not have E+. The only airline with E+ is United. And, if you are booking this on UA's webpage as an ANA codeshare, you can only choose Economy, Business or F.

 

The only way you can choose your seats on ANA is by booking on UA, and then going your itinerary and pulling up your ANA PNR and then contacting ANA to choose seats.

 

Is there some reason you wouldn't book this directly with ANA? Codeshares are such a pain.

Edited April 30, 2014 by 6rugrats

[Bowie MeMe]

ANA is showing higher price by at least $100 but it could be just a fluke now. I am still playing with the flights -- can't even yet decide if IAD to NRT or LAX to NRT or EWR to HND or even IAD to DOH to DPS (Bali where we pick up the cruise). This is my fun time trying for the perfect flight before I actually put the plastic down. We have taken United with E+ to PEK and found it not too bad. We go often rather than Business -- even ANA economy plus is $1000 more per person for flights we need. Choices: Money spent/Value perceived and it is always personal -- my best flight frequently is not someone else's . Thank Heavens or the price would go up on the perfect flight:p

[marchanxiety]

We flew the IAD-NRT trip on ANA and were very impressed. Can't say anything about economy as we were in Business. The only drawback is that the Japanese like to keep their planes very warm! Dress in layers with the bottom layer being very light. By the end of the trip the cabin, even in business, was VERY stuffy and stale.

[grandma*knows*best]

FYI, UA does have a non-stop flight IAD-NRT, FLT #803, if you are looking to fly on UA metal where you can buy up to E+. It's on a 777-200 (3-3-3 in E class). There is also a flight from IAD which connects at LAX where you can fly the Dreamnliner LAX-NRT, which might be fun (if there isn't an equipment swap!)

Edited May 1, 2014 by grandma*knows*best

[Fattony]

The only drawback is that the Japanese like to keep their planes very warm!

 

 

Not sure how many flights this poster used on which to base such a generalization. We flew JAL from Narita to Ho Chi Minh City. We were fine. But always good to dress in layers, since you don't know what the conditions will be on a specific flight, regardless of carrier.

[Zach1213]

Not sure how many flights this poster used on which to base such a generalization. We flew JAL from Narita to Ho Chi Minh City. We were fine. But always good to dress in layers, since you don't know what the conditions will be on a specific flight, regardless of carrier.

 

It's actually fairly common to see threads, including on places like Flyertalk, speaking of how warm ANA and JAL planes are. I've been on several JAL flights, both domestic and foreign (as short as NRT-PUS, as long as ORD-NRT), and have to say that they usually do run warm in my experience. Most recently was last summer, BKK-NRT, where I was in a near sweat for about half of the flight. That was in a t-shirt and shorts coming out of the hot Thai summer, so I couldn't get much less dressed than that (and still be allowed on the plane ;))

Edited May 5, 2014 by Zach1213

[Dididi]

We've flown IAD-NRT twice on ANA, one in economy plus and the other time in regular economy. If you check seatguru.com, you'll see that the seats in economy are narrower than usual and leg room is not great. And let's not even mention the entertainment boxes under some of the seats. My advice is to compare seats before you make your final decision.

 

That said, ANA's service is superb.

[6rugrats]

We've flown IAD-NRT twice on ANA, one in economy plus ....

 

ANA does not have E+.

[grandma*knows*best]

We've flown IAD-NRT twice on ANA, one in economy plus and the other time in regular economy. If you check seatguru.com, you'll see that the seats in economy are narrower than usual and leg room is not great. And let's not even mention the entertainment boxes under some of the seats. My advice is to compare seats before you make your final decision.

 

That said, ANA's service is superb.

 

The above poster is right. ANA does NOT have Economy Plus seating, which is only found on United Airlines. This is explained here:

 

https://www.ana.co.jp/wws/japan/e/local/int/inflight/allservice/

 

There is a big difference between the two.

Edited May 9, 2014 by grandma*knows*best

[Dididi]

Correction.

 

What I meant to say is that we flew Premium Economy on ANA, not Economy Plus. The Premium Economy in ANA is way better than the couple of inches of extra legroom offered by United on its economy plus rows. It is a separate class from regular economy.

 

Regular Economy on ANA, which we have flown too, is on very narrow seats with limited legroom. The restrooms are cleaned on the hour, every hour. There are lots of snacks in the galley (Haagen Daaz ice cream, Nestle Crunch bars, rice crackers, Pringles, etc.) and the meals are excellent. Love ANA but would likely not book regular economy on it again.

[Zach1213]

Correction.

 

What I meant to say is that we flew Premium Economy on ANA, not Economy Plus. The Premium Economy in ANA is way better than the couple of inches of extra legroom offered by United on its economy plus rows. It is a separate class from regular economy.

 

Regular Economy on ANA, which we have flown too, is on very narrow seats with limited legroom. The restrooms are cleaned on the hour, every hour. There are lots of snacks in the galley (Haagen Daaz ice cream, Nestle Crunch bars, rice crackers, Pringles, etc.) and the meals are excellent. Love ANA but would likely not book regular economy on it again.

 

Premium Economy is always better than Economy Plus. That's why it's often several times of magnitude higher in cost ;)

 

(But not always. Some airlines often have great PE deals where the cost isn't too much more. I am often impressed at how much of a steal PE can be on British Airways, where you get bigger seats, business class meals, and some other perks).

[Globaliser]

The only drawback is that the Japanese like to keep their planes very warm!

Not sure how many flights this poster used on which to base such a generalization.

It's actually fairly common to see threads, including on places like Flyertalk, speaking of how warm ANA and JAL planes are.

I'd never heard about this until today, but funnily enough I was reading about this on another board (not FT) just this morning! So I can confirm that some frequent flyers that I trust have also commented about this phenomenon.

[FlyerTalker]

I'd never heard about this until today, but funnily enough I was reading about this on another board (not FT) just this morning! So I can confirm that some frequent flyers that I trust have also commented about this phenomenon.

Have noticed this on flights to/from NRT, even on DL. I think DL does it to avoid complaints.

 

Have also found this on Chinese carriers....had a China Southern flight where I wanted to strip down to my skivvies and douse myself with ice water. Luckily, Mrs FT said she didn't think I should inflict that vision into people's memory...at least not without sufficient warning. Kinda like how looking at a solar eclipse can damage your eyes.

[Zach1213]

Have noticed this on flights to/from NRT, even on DL. I think DL does it to avoid complaints.

 

Have also found this on Chinese carriers....had a China Southern flight where I wanted to strip down to my skivvies and douse myself with ice water. Luckily, Mrs FT said she didn't think I should inflict that vision into people's memory...at least not without sufficient warning. Kinda like how looking at a solar eclipse can damage your eyes.

 

 

I've been on several Chinese airlines and luckily never experienced it. But I certainly have several times on Japanese!

Edited May 15, 2014 by Zach1213

[Bowie MeMe]

If I fly IAD to NRT roundtrip on United the price is dollars short of $2000 (ANA metal is $10 more). If I book the ticket IAD to CGK (Jakarta) on United it is the same flight to Tokyo and ONLY ONE HOUR 5 minutes layover until seven hour flight to Jakarta Indonesia on ANA metal and the cost is $1,020 (900$ savings per person!) crazy as it may seem. (Can't book on ANA because only roundtrips on ANA USA website) How can I pull this situation to allow a 25 hour stopover in Tokyo then the next day catching the flight to Jakarta? (And of course I want the $1020 fare !)There is no way for a 65 minute international to international flight through a huge airport like NRT. Suggestions? Could consider Singapore ($1,200) but same problem of long flight following a huge transpacific flight and very small connection window.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Bowie MeMe

[FlyerTalker]

If I fly IAD to NRT roundtrip on United the price is dollars short of $2000 (ANA metal is $10 more). If I book the ticket IAD to CGK (Jakarta) on United it is the same flight to Tokyo and ONLY ONE HOUR 5 minutes layover until seven hour flight to Jakarta Indonesia on ANA metal and the cost is $1,020 (900$ savings per person!) crazy as it may seem. (Can't book on ANA because only roundtrips on ANA USA website) How can I pull this situation to allow a 25 hour stopover in Tokyo then the next day catching the flight to Jakarta? (And of course I want the $1020 fare !)There is no way for a 65 minute international to international flight through a huge airport like NRT. Suggestions? Could consider Singapore ($1,200) but same problem of long flight following a huge transpacific flight and very small connection window.

The MCT for UA to NH is 60 minutes, so it's a legal connection. If you delay til the next day, you no longer have a connection, but rather a stopover with the likelihood of breaking the fare at NRT for significantly more money.

 

You may want to read THIS POST for more details on connections vs stopovers.

 

One possibility is for you to forgo the NH non-stop and see if you can take the later SQ flight to SIN, then on to CGK. Leaves NRT at 20:50, arrives SIN at 03:00, with onward flights leaving at either 06:20, 07:40 or 09:25. It makes for a double connect, but with longer connect times. Also, most of Changi is closed at that hour, aside from some lounges and eating spots, so you miss out on that experience.

 

All in all, phone calls to UA, NH and SQ may be the way to go. In the big picture, what's a phone center fee compared to the overall costs??

[Globaliser]

How can I pull this situation to allow a 25 hour stopover in Tokyo then the next day catching the flight to Jakarta? (And of course I want the $1020 fare !)

Just book it as a multi-city trip.

 

For example, if you were originally looking at 17 October IAD-NRT-CGK, you'd book 17 October IAD-NRT, then 19 October NRT-CGK, which would give you the 24+ hours stopover at NRT that you're looking for.

 

If I'm looking at the same fare as you, you'll find that there's a stopover charge of $100, plus some small changes in taxes, fees and charges.