ANA 787-8 economy review: who cares what it looks like? I’m diggin’ it.

ANA 787-8 economy review: who cares what it looks like? I’m diggin’ it.

The more that I fly ANA (All Nippon Airways), the more that I realize that the class of service and the aircraft type doesn’t really matter all that much. It’s always going to be great. 

The following is a full review of my recent ANA 787-8 economy class flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo (Haneda). 

Guess what? It was great. 

NH105
Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Tokyo, Japan (HND)
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Aircraft: 787-8
Registration: JA828A
Duration: 11 hours 47 minutes
Seat: 29G (Economy)

ANA 787-8 (JA828A) side view
ANA 787-8 (JA828A) side view illustration by NorebboStock.com
NH105 flight track
Our route from Los Angeles to Tokyo / Haneda this evening as NH105.

My full review of ANA 787-8 economy from Los Angeles to Tokyo / Haneda

Because my ultimate destination was Hiroshima, the best option for making connections out of Haneda was to take the midnight flight out of LAX. Longtime readers of this blog know that late night flights and SANspotter mix like oil and water, but I did what I had to do. Because ANA (and that “always great” thing). 

Arrival at LAX

The best way to enjoy ANA long-haul economy class? Connect to it via an inferior product. In my case, it was United Express Embraer 175 economy from San Diego. That’s about as inferior as it gets IMHO.

I arrived about 2 1/2 hours to spare. Most of that time was eaten up by a leisurely walk from Terminal 8 to Terminal B, followed by a quick stop for food.

LAX Tom Bradley international terminal at 10:40 PM
Welcome to a very empty Tom Bradley International Terminal (also known as Terminal B). Current time is 10:40 PM, and…things cannot proceed until I find some food. They just can’t.
Eating a bowl of chicken salad at the time Bradley international terminal LAX
Nourishment obtained (and devoured). It may not look like much, but knowing how stingy ANA is with food economy class on late night flights, this little bowl of chicken salad will be responsible for keeping me alive until Tokyo.

This flight to Haneda was going to be departing out of the West gates of Terminal B – which required even more walking once I finished my meal. I’ve never had to work so hard for a flight on ANA in all my life.

LAX Tom Bradley international terminal West gates at night
Aha! I found everybody. They’re over here in the west gates!
ANA 787-8 parked at gate 204 LAX at night
I also found the ANA 787-8 that will be taking us to Haneda this evening. Which is good, because it’s kind of the most important part of this review.
Gate 204 Tom Bradley international terminal LAX
Delayed (slightly). The funny thing about flights departing after midnight is the fact that delays don’t mean anything. It’s already late AF, so what’s a few more minutes? Bring it.
ANA / United Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda paper boarding pass
ANA LAX HND TBA OMG WTF

The boarding process

They got the boarding process underway at 11:55 PM, which was exactly 20 minutes behind schedule. The culprit? Rain and fog. At least I think that’s what it was. This aircraft arrived from Tokyo 6 hours earlier, so it certainly wasn’t because of tardiness. 

ANA 787–8 premium economy cabin
Passing through the premium economy cabin. And I could already feel that the salad wasn’t going to be enough.
ANA 787-8 economy class cabin
All up in dem gutz Entering the economy class cabin of the ANA 787-8.

Seat overview

FYI: the economy class seats on the 787-8 are not as fancy as the ones you saw in my ANA 777-300ER economy review. Those aircraft feature ANA’s newest interior. The long haul 787s do not. At least not yet. 

ANA 787-8 economy class row 29 center section
Row 29 (the middle section). Whether I liked it or not, this is where I was going to be whisked all the way to Tokyo tonight.
Pillows and blankets on every seat in ANA 787-8 economy class
Pillows and blankets on every seat (actually I’m just stalling because I don’t wanna sit down yet).
ANA 787-8 economy class seat width
This is every bit as spacious as JAL 787-8 economy IMHO. But it straight up feels like first class compared to ANA 787 domestic economy. Not all ANA 787s are created equal!
ANA 787-8 economy class leg room
Holy moly, this is kind of nice. I certainly won’t be complaining about the leg room in this review.

No amenity kits are included (of course), but you’ll get a pair of decently comfortable headphones and a really comfortable blanket. The pillows are a’ight.

It’s a very dated looking economy class product in my opinion. That said, legroom is fantastic for long haul economy, so I don’t even care what it looks like.

ANA 787-8 economy class in seat video screen
These seats feature both video screens (which were large and vibrant) and retractable remote controls for said video screens (which I deemed to be unnecessary due to the proximity of the multi-mentioned video screens).
In seat coat hooks and USB charging ports ANA 787-8 economy
Coat hooks and USB-A charging ports too. You’ll survive just fine.
ANA 787-8 economy in seat  electrical outlet
Those requiring full size 110 V electrical outlets to power a laptop will be required to stretch like a rubber band to find the hole down here beneath in between the seats. A somewhat familiar experience for some of you?
ANA 787-8 economy class passengers
Imagine being able to sleep in economy class. This ranks right up there with having a full head of hair and a chiseled jaw for me.

The departure

They got us pushed off the gate at 12:25 AM, and from there it was a fairly speedy taxi all the way out to runway 25R.  It was a  little foggy and rainy though. Rare form for LAX.

Passengers waiting to takeoff ANA 787-8 economy
Current time: 12:43 AM. Location: Approaching the threshold of runway 25R. The mood: Dead.
ANA 787-8 economy economy class cabin looking forward from seat 29G
We have liftoff! I’m slightly concerned about the fact that we’re banking to the left (when we should be banking to the right), but otherwise, things are going smashingly well so far.

In flight entertainment

Quite possibly the most dated part of these seats is the integrated entertainment system. Sure, the video screens are plenty big enough. The problem is that resolution (and performance) is very “10 years ago.” 

ANA 787-8 economy class audio jack, USB port and other inputs
I already mentioned the USB-C port located just beneath the video screen. Forgive me for not showing you the 3.5 mm audio jack and the unknown glowing blue square thingy (for connecting God knows what).
ANA 787-8 economy class video screen language selection screen
English? Don’t mind if I do.
As long as you go into this experience expecting in-flight entertainment circa 2013(ish), I think you’re gonna like this.

It’s also worth noting that the catalog of content is somewhat lacking by current standards. If it’s the latest Hollywood blockbusters are what you demand, ANA is not your airline. 

ANA 787-8 economy class entertainment system remote control
I sh*t you not, this handy remote control is actually referred to as “The Sky Master 3.” Somebody thought very highly of this thing.
ANA 787-8 economy class in-flight entertainment remote control instructions
Not only that, they actually spent the time to create a diagram explaining the function of every button. One of the many reasons why I absolutely love Japan.
ANA 787-8 economy class headphones
The headphones? They’re not that bad actually.
SANspotter testing the headphones in ANA 787-8 economy
“They’re not that bad actually!”

The first meal service

As with any late night departure on ANA, the first meal service consisted of a simple snack box (and a drink). It’s not much, but I completely understand why they do it. I didn’t see anybody around me eat everything in the box. As a matter of fact, many didn’t eat anything at all.

ANA 787-8 economy class snack box
The ANA “it’s too late so we’re not going to feed you a proper meal” snack box. Hence the reason for paying $20 for a small chicken salad back at the airport. I’m not as dumb as I look!
ANA 787-8 economy class snack box details
At least they tried to be whimsical about it.
The appetizer: a banana. The main course: a tuna salad sandwich. For dessert: Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies. Mayonnaise is a no go for me, but I ate sh*t out of that banana and those cookies.
ANA 787-8 economy drink service
A word of warning about the beverage service in ANA economy: the paper cups they use are small, and they’ll only fill them halfway. I’ve had shots of whiskey more substantial than this.
ANA 787-8 economy complementary bottled water
They do provide complementary (Japanese sized) bottled water though. I think I drank like 6 of these bad boys over the course of the flight.

Seat (and cabin) comfort

These economy seats aren’t the best for sleeping in, but I’ll tell you what: they’re not that bad if you can score an empty seat next to you. With enough wiggle room, it’s not all that hard to get comfortable.

ANA 787-8 economy class blanket
I’ve never not had anything bad to say about the blankets in ANA economy. All you really need to know is that these things always trigger my purr instinct.
ANA 787-8 economy class blanket size
They are a little small though. You’re probably gonna have to double up on them if you demand full coverage.

One of the things that helped to make this so comfortable with the fact that they kept the cabin temperature relatively high. It wasn’t too uncomfortably hot though – I wasn’t sweating buckets or anything. 

I ended up sleeping about 2 1/2 hours in total. It wasn’t very good sleep. My neck hurt for days afterwards. But it was deep enough to dream some really weird sh*t, so I guess it counts.

Sleeping in ANA 787-8 economy class
To the man (or woman) two rows behind me who was snoring like a buzz saw: God bless you for being able to sleep so soundly in these seats. A Herculean effort indeed.

The lavatory 

Not only were the seats showing their age, the lavatories were as well. Everything was clean and tidy of course, but the yellowing plastic (and mystery stains) were a pretty good indication that these aircraft are due for an overhaul. 

ANA 787-8 economy lavatory
As long as you can ignore the fact that there is somebody waiting just outside the door for you to hurry the hell up, the economy class lavatory isn’t all that bad of a place to hang out actually. If they’re being super impatient, feel free to leave behind a “surprise.” They’ll love that.

The second meal service

Finally! Real food! We were presented with two choices for the pre-landing meal service. Both looked good, and I would’ve been happy with either. Just know that whatever you choose, it’s standard economy class fare. It’s hardly gourmet. But it is tasty. 

ANA 787-8 economy class breakfast menu
Breakfast menu. The flight attendant who handed this to me went really far out of her way to recommend the chicken – which leads me to believe that she was running out of the beef and was looking for suckers to take the chicken.
ANA 787-8 economy class meal tray
“Sucker!” (What she was no doubt thinking as she handed me this tray of chicken).
ANA 787-8 economy class chicken and rice meal
Should I be concerned that some of this chicken appears to have died while trying to escape?
ANA 787-8 economy class meal close up
Heck no! This was quite good actually. I’m not really sure what that little guy was so worried about.

The descent (and landing) into Haneda Airport

It was still pitch black outside as we began the descent into Haneda. Everyone was still dead asleep, and the cabin was eerily quiet. My assumption is that nobody cared that we were 17 minutes behind schedule. I sure as heck didn’t.

In-flight map showing arrival into Tokyo Haneda airport
Looks like we’re gonna “Tokyo Drift” our way all the way into HND this morning. Anything to help make up a few minutes of lost time I guess.
I know it was really anticlimactic, but… Welcome to Haneda Airport!
ANA 787-8 economy class seatbelt
A big fat “neener neener” goes out to those of you who were hoping that this would’ve killed me dead (so that you’d never have to read any of my stupid airline reviews ever again). ANA 787-8 economy isn’t that bad, y’all.
ANA 787-8 economy class seatbacks with video screens
As a matter of fact, I’d go as far as to say that this was probably one of the best long-haul the economy class experiences I’ve had in a while. A little less mayonnaise, and this would’ve been pretty much fantastic.

Pros and cons

As I said at the top of this review, flying ANA is always going to be a great experience. It doesn’t matter that the interiors of these 787-8s are getting somewhat dated. Everything else makes it worth the price IMHO. 

Pros

  • Legroom is “premium economy” good.
  • Everything is spotless and clean (which is surprising giving the age of these interiors).
  • The blankets are some of the best in the business IMHO.

Cons

  • The first meal service is extremely limited on flights that depart late at night.
  • Did I mention the dated looking interior yet?
  • In flight entertainment is just OK. It’s not terrible, but don’t expect the latest and greatest content. 

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