Review: ANA Business Class Boeing 787 [HND - SEA]
FROM:
Tokyo [HND]
TO:
Seattle [SEA]
CABIN:
Business [Old Style 1-2-1]
SEATMAP:
Boeing 787-9
DATE:
January 2026
ANA Airlines Business class on their 787 from Tokyo/Haneda to Seatle offers an overall good experience for a long haul flight. While some finer details are missing, and the Haneda lounge has overcrowding issues, ANA is good value for points even not in ‘The Room’.
Overall Rating:
ANA primarily offers two types of busienss class products on their international flights. The saught after ‘The Room’ suite style, and the older style which I have today.
Only certain Boeing 777s on certain routes are equipped with this product, and it can be a bit difficult to nab one of these, especially as ANA does not release which specific planes are on what routes so far in advance. Plus some routes that feature ‘The Room’ also alternate with the older product.
ANA does have plans to purchase new 777-9s with a new product, as well as adding ‘The Room FX’ to 787-9s. We will see.
I have flown JAL a number of times in the past, so I will be curious to see the comparison. My first ever true business class lie flat was a JAL from Tokyo to Seattle many moons ago that turned me on to the sport. Surprisingly I have not flown them much since – good value award space has been a little uncommon when I search for whatever reason.
In This Post:
How I Booked ANA Business Class
ANA 787 Business Class Pre Flight
–ANA 787 Business Class Lounge
–ANA 787 Business Class Boarding
ANA 787 Business Class In Flight
–ANA 787 Business Class Cabin
–ANA 787 Business Class Seat
–ANA 787 Business Class In Flight Entertainment
–ANA 787 Business Class Lavatories
-ANA 787 Business Class Meals
-ANA 787 Business Class In Flight Service
Bottom Line
Photo Gallery
How I Booked ANA Business Class
This flight was booked through Aeroplan for 55,000 points and 135 CAD. For about a 3800 flight this gets me a 7 cents per point redemption rate which is such fantastic value I was not bothered about not having ‘The Room’.
I found this particular availability using Seats.aero.
ANA 787 Business Class Lounge
Flying out of Terminal 3 at Tokyo Haneda today grants access to the ANA Business Lounge. This lounge also serves Premium Economy and is a Star Alliance partner lounge.
ANA Business Lounge Terminal 3 | Tokyo Haneda International Airport
The T3 lounge is located out of security and to the right, near gate 109/110 and up an escalator.
Lots of people checking in at 3p bodes poorly for the crowds.
It is a big lounge, but very crowded. It seems to allow premium economy passengers, other Star Alliance business passengers, and just about anyone with any sort of ANA status.
Additional room with more couches
Center seating area has bar seating and tables and chairs.
Furthest back room has additional seating is notably less crowded.
The rear room did empty out after about 5/6p, but the main room remained crowded. Seems people were not aware of or bothered about this additional section.
Dining area has a good selection of hot and cold food, including a ‘made to order’ menu accessed by a QR code that includes a Tonkatsu Ramen, which was so-so.
Wine and spirits selection as well as self pour beer.
Lots of people checking in at 3p bodes poorly for the crowds.
Cold tea on tap
What was a letdown was the ANA curry – seemed to be lacking any ‘substance’ though could easily be because people were taking the good bits.
The chicken and dumplings were good though, along with the random lasagna.
Restaurant bar seating with tarmac views
The shower system is a bit odd. Times are booked using the Kiosk, or a web browser so I’m told. Today at 6p showers are already fully booked until midnight. Plus, it seems you can book your time up to 7 days in advance (this is visible on the browser link – ana-lounge-reservation.jp). There is also no cancellation waitlist offered. So word to the wise, book a shower spot as far in advance as you can.
For a lounge of this size, that accommodates Premium Economy, ANA status holders, and Star Alliance Business passengers, prepare to be disappointed. They just do not have the shower capacity that is needed.
Perhaps a ‘cut the line’ or special queue for those actually flying ANA business should be implemented, because right now it is not a very good system. I have never had to wait more than 30-40 minutes even at peak time for any lounge shower. Even SilverKris lounges in Singapore, which I consider quite crowded, are able to acommodate walkups within 30 minutes.
I sat on the browser periodically refreshing and an 8p shower spot opened at 7:58 which I quickly booked.
The shower room is a good size, and well equipped. Clean and stocked with toothbrush, razor, etc.
Good water pressure with the rain shower.
No complaints and worth the annoyance refreshing the booking webpage. But for sure if you can make a reservation several days in advance if you will be in the lounge at any remotely busy time.
What I assume are fancy lotions as they are glued to the tray/counter.
The problems with this lounge can be boiled down to simple overcrowding.
I am not sure what percentage of the lounge patrons were flying Premium Economy, but I would wager removing this access, or shifting these passengers elsewhere, would start to alleviate the stress.
Turkish Airlines handles this well, with one lounge for Business Class, and the other for their premium economy or other earned status passengers.
ANA 787 Business Class Boarding
Boarding is from gate 110, just outside the lounge elevator.
Boarding is in groups 1-5, with 1 being first class, and 2 business class. Organized lines began boarding more or less on time with folks needing extra assistance boarding first starting at 845.
There was then about 10 minutes of staff milling about after and no additional boarding happening until 855.
Upon boarding, the section manager is around to say ‘Hi’.
Shortly after, Champagne is brought by in a plastic cup. Interestingly, menus are not provided at the seat, nor are they brought around. And no food or drink orders are taken before pushback.
Despite the late boarding, pushback is just about on time at 21:17.
Pokemon (of course) themed safety video plays before a 21:38 liftoff.
ANA 787 Business Class Cabin
The cabin is bright, with a blue and white color palate. It is fine, but dated. Very early 2000s.
This airplane has middle bins, but it still feels spacious.
ANA 787 Business Class Seat
Sitting in 3A today. Gives me IKEA vibes for whatever reason.
Slippers (Very comfy), mattress pad, blanket, pillow, and amenity kit are waiting in the seat.
A visibly old seat, but not in too bad of shape. Just glad its not a 2-2-2 recliner. The provided mattress pad does help with the comfort, and it is plenty wide for me.
Large side table, but lacking in storage space.
Window side armrest does not go down. Kind of reminds me of the Starlux A330 seat, perhaps this is an earlier version.
Seat controls are a bit sparse. Back reclines, but thats about it. Kind of have to play with seat location to position yourself well.
Not too much privacy towards the aisle area.
Storage is limited to magazines and a rack for the headphones.
A (very old) media controller, as well as USB charging, headphone input and power plug are well located.
Footwell is deep and wide, with space below for shoes or other small items.
Fully flat bed of course. The fulcrum area where the backrest and seat portion come together create a weird bump in the butt area. Had to shift down a bit to put the bump towards the back, but then feet become a bit snug. Not sure if this was an issue with this particular seat, or a general problem with the product. Was not detrimental to sleep, but an annoyance nonetheless.
ANA 787 Business Class In Flight Entertainment
Decent sized screen for how old the product is, however the interface is incredibly dated.
Films have to be browsed one at a time, and in non alphabetical order. It is a touch screen though.
My headphone adapter does not fit into the plug – it has mismatched sizes, while my adapter has both the same size. I am note sure if this is a Japan thing, and I don’t recall this issue from my JAL flights.
Fortunately it is an overnight flight, so I don’t plan to use the IFE anyways.
Writing this now I wonder if I should have tried just the single 3.5mm directly. Oh well.
Provided headphones are Sony, but of pretty poor quality. They sit on top of your ears so noise cancelling is more of a suggestion.
An email with a WiFi code is sent before boarding, but it seems you can grab one from an FA in flight.
WiFi is free for business class, but is pretty slow on the way out of Japan this evening.
ANA 787 Business Class Lavatories
The middle lavatory I used was quite small. But clean. Toilet has bidet functions of course.
Sink area is stocked with toothbrushes and mouthwash, but no facial mist or lotions.
ANA 787 Business Class Meals
A wrapped cold towel is passed around as we reach cursing altitude around 21:55. Menus follwed.
It is a good looking menu, with Japanese and Western options. I always feel obligated to choose the Japanese menu out of Japan. It always has a weird variety of interesting morsels.
First Meal | Dinner
A drink cart is around starting at 22:20, with my drink served (row 3) at 22:32. In a glass, thank goodness. Along with an amuse bouche.
The shrimp was light and tasty. The cinnamon part was just OK.
The meal order was finally taken at 22:36, after drinks and the amuse bouche. The starters were then brought out twenty minutes later at 22:54
It was at this point I asked myself why I choose the Japanese menu on these business class flights. My palate does not really like most of the small portions. On paper they sound nice, but in practice they are just not for me.
They are all quite unique and interesting though, and I do appreciate the experience. I did not dislike these, but I should just stick with sashimi and ramen.
Starter was cleared at 23:07 and main brought shortly after at 23:11.
The sablefish was delicious, and the wagyu was good, but nothing special.
The soup and rice were good as expected.
Desert was around on a cart at 23:38. I went with the cheesecake and cheese plate.
The cheesecake was delicious. Lovely touch of orange and a unique presentation. This one was produced by the chef who put together the ‘international’ menu. It was at this point I was regretting my dinner choice.
The cheeses were also good.
Post dinner tea and a chocolate were provided. Bottled water was also passed around before cabin lights dimmed.
Second Meal | Breakfast
Lights on for meal service about 2 hours before landing.
I ordered a latte, and was brought a coffee with milk. This also happened on Asiana Airlines. Maybe its a me problem and I need to just start requesting cappuccinos instead.
Today is the international option, red sauce pasta and a sausage. It was fine. Fruit was the standout – pineapple especially. No melons in sight, horray.
The menu from Seattle to Tokyo offers an Eggs Benedict, which I have had before on a different airline and *that* is a solid breakfast menu item that can be well executed on an airplane.
Since there are no rules, I also ordered an ice cream and tea after. Ice cream was as strawberry Haagen Daas.
ANA Business Class In Flight Service
For me on this flight the theme with the service was ‘nice and slow’
On a night departure, I appreciate a quick meal service. Singapore gets it all wrapped up in more or less one hour. This flight was closer to two.
After takeoff service was really delayed. There was a turbulence warning from the captain and seatbelt signs were turned on, but the actual turbulence was all but nonexistent. Perhaps it is ANA policy to pause service when the seatbelt sign is on at the lightest hint of turbulence – I am not sure.
I am also not a fan of the drink trolly. While it may not add additional time to be served a drink, it certainly felt slower as I waited 12 minutes for the 3 people in front of me to be served.
A lack of hot towel service and pre-meal drinks was also felt. Many airlines take a drink order before takeoff, and you are immediately served it and some nuts to munch while the full meal service is prepped. Not so in this case and this wait time is really felt.
I know a lot of this is perhaps down to policy so I cannot fault the crew too much, but nevertheless it does impact the experience negatively. The crew themselves were all friendly enough, but I did feel lacking the warmth of other cabin crews.
Bottom Line
This flight had 4 or 5 unoccupied business class seats, and I can see why. Between Japanese airlines, from my memory I felt JAL offered a better culinary experience, and seat (apex suite). And I felt this did not compare to Singapore or the Taiwanese carriers. That being said, this was one flight and I have not tried ‘The Room’, so I do want to give ANA another go in the future.
All in all, the flight was just ‘fine’. Nothing special but not bad in a way I would actively avoid in the future. From this stand alone experience, I would put number of airlines ahead of them when I seek out a business class product to fly across the pacific. But at the same time, when. a 7cpp rewards flight comes available, it is not one I will hesitate to book if the routing/timing works for me. But I would not go out of my way to fly it.