ANA announced some pretty substantial route network changes earlier in the week, in particular for their operations to and from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
There are several changes, so I’ll only hit the highlights:
ANA will be launching 767 Tokyo Haneda to Vancouver flight as of March 30, 2014
As part of their expansion at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, ANA will be launching daily 767-300ER service between Tokyo Haneda and Vancouver as of March 30, 2014. The flight will operate with the following schedule:
NH116 Tokyo to Vancouver departing 9:55PM arriving 2:55PM
NH115 Vancouver to Tokyo departing 4:55PM arriving 7:05PM (+1 day)
The ridiculous part is that this will be operated by ANA’s 767-300ERs, which feature horrible cradle business class seats. This will be the longest route ANA operates with this aircraft, which really is rather uncomfortable in business class for anything more than a couple of hours. These seats aren’t even angled flat, but rather seem to turn in about three different directions.
While Japan Airlines also flies 767s on their Vancouver route, they’re just in the process of refurbishing them with a new, fully flat business class product.
This new ANA Haneda to Vancouver flight will go on sale on December 19, 2013.
ANA will be launching 777-300ER Tokyo Haneda to London Heathrow flight as of March 30, 2014 (at the expense of Narita service)
ANA presently offers daily 777-300ER service between Tokyo Narita and London Heathrow. As of March 30, 2014, they’ll be transitioning this route from Tokyo Narita to Tokyo Haneda. The new flight will operate with the following schedule:
NH277 Tokyo to London departing 11:30AM arriving 4:00PM
NH278 London to Tokyo departing 7:35PM arriving 3:15PM (+1 day)
The schedule stays very similar to their previous service out of Narita, so they’ll be using one of their daytime longhaul Haneda slots for this route.
The new ANA Haneda to London flight will go on sale on December 17, 2013.
ANA 777-300ER first class
ANA will be launching 777-300ER Tokyo Haneda to Paris flight as of March 30, 2014 (second daily between the two cities)
ANA presently offers daily service between Tokyo Narita and Paris. As of March 30, 2014, they’ll be adding a second daily flight between the two cities, which will be operated out of Haneda rather than Narita. The schedule for the new Haneda flight will look as follows:
NH215 Tokyo to Paris departing 10:25AM arriving 3:45PM
NH216 Paris to Tokyo departing 9:10PM arriving 4:00PM (+1 day)
The new ANA Haneda to Paris flight will go on sale as of December 17, 2013
ANA 777-300ER business class
ANA will be launching several intra-Asia routes out of Tokyo Haneda as of March 30, 2014
The above are what I consider to be the most major changes, though as of March 30, 2014, ANA will also be launching daily service from Tokyo Haneda to Hanoi, Jakarta, and Manila. They’ll also be adding additional daily flights from Tokyo Haneda to Bangkok and Singapore, though those two will come at the expense of a daily frequency out of Tokyo Narita on the same routes.
Bottom line
It’s nice to see new service and some longhaul daytime slots being opened up out of Tokyo Haneda. However, if you’re only going to have a flight out of Tokyo Haneda or Tokyo Narita, I’m not necessarily convinced Haneda is the better option. While it’s more convenient if you’re terminating or originating in Tokyo, it still has much fewer connecting options.
@Racksiam The NRT-IAD F class was updated as of the end of March 2013. I missed it by 2 weeks.
of course i shouldn't expect to see any award availability yet, right? i see none for HND-CDG
WOW after almost 35 years, Tokyo International Airport (TYO, now HND) is really going, maybe someday will see more Japanese flights from HND than New Tokyo International Airport (NRT)
Not to be offensive or anything but I love those cradle seats. They don't go flat but if the footrest was put up a little more it could be the perfect lounging position.
what routes are those, lucky? link to post if you've already discussed.
should award availability be loaded when these routes go live next week, also?
@ greg -- There are some routes where ANA can't be booked via US Airways, though that's not the case on all flights/routes.
@ Andrew B -- ROFL!
@ RakSiam -- They're doing it at a snail's pace, that's for sure. I'm not sure what the timeline is for the remaining 777s. I'd keep an eye on the flight, as I wouldn't be surprised to see it updated between now and then.
@ Bill -- Well when the flight is loaded into the system on December 17 it should send a schedule change message to US Airways. You should automatically be rebooked on the new Heathrow route, and will be given the option of making a change for free if that schedule doesn't suit you.
I guess this 767 assignment is temporally. Will be replaced by long-haul version of 787 asap.
I was told you can no longer redeem US dividend miles for ANA first by an agent. There IT can't see it (similar to US not seeing LH J now) Can you confirm if that is true, no more ANA F with US miles.
Wow, those seats do look kind of uncomfortable. They should offer dental cleanings in them.
I took the 763 on BKK-NRT and slept quite well in the cradle. Thanks to the "reverse angle" center cushion, at least you don't slide down.
Is ANA releasing the 777-300ER in F from NY anytime soon? I can't find anything on United and want to ask before doing ANA search.
Any idea if NH is updating their 777's? I just booked an F award NRT-IAD for next October. I flew them before on this flight in C and it was the old angled 2-3-2 business class product that is far behind the competition. The seat map for my F class flight seems to show the older F class suites which I assume are fine but I'd prefer to be in the newer cube F class. It would be nice to have that a/c upgraded by the time I fly.
The ANA news is concerning; I have a North Asia award ticket on US Airways for May that's supposed to be a LHR-NRT flight. It seems like that flight will no longer be available. Would I automatically be rebooked on the HND flight? Would I need to contact US Airways? And if so, given the post-merger status, would I now need to find availability on a Oneworld partner instead, which would lead to a mixed...
The ANA news is concerning; I have a North Asia award ticket on US Airways for May that's supposed to be a LHR-NRT flight. It seems like that flight will no longer be available. Would I automatically be rebooked on the HND flight? Would I need to contact US Airways? And if so, given the post-merger status, would I now need to find availability on a Oneworld partner instead, which would lead to a mixed ticket of Oneworld and Star Alliance partners, which might very well cause the ticket to not price out? Very confused here.