ANA First Class Lounge at Tokyo-Narita Evaluation

The ANA Suite Lounge at Tokyo-Narita is a cushty place to chill out earlier than your top notch flight on All Nippon Airways. Like many premium lounges, it presents made-to-order meals objects, bathe suites, relaxation pods and workspaces.

The visitor checklist right here is unique: You must be flying top notch on a Star Alliance airline or maintain the best tier of ANA elite standing. (Enterprise class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members have entry to the common ANA Lounge, which is positioned simply subsequent door.)

Nevertheless, the lounge lacked the wow issue that one may anticipate from the ANA top notch flying expertise or a firstclass lounge. I felt like I used to be visiting a enterprise class lounge as an alternative. Some airways like Air France, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific make investments closely within the top notch lounge expertise, offering issues like tarmac transfers from the lounge, sit-down eating with waiter service and beautiful design. You gained’t get these issues on the ANA Suite Lounge.

Right here’s a have a look at the ANA top notch lounge (and total top notch floor expertise) at Tokyo-Narita airport throughout my go to in September 2024.

The primary class expertise at Tokyo-Narita begins even earlier than you set foot within the lounge.

Once you arrive on the airport, head straight to the ANA Suite Examine-in, an unique space reserved for top notch flyers and ANA’s personal top-tier elites.

Right here, you’ll discover a big room with a number of counters, the place an agent will provide help to test in and test your luggage. The agent I interacted with was extraordinarily well mannered and useful, confirming varied particulars of my flight, akin to my seat quantity and meal choice.

The very best perk, although, is a non-public safety checkpoint to breeze by means of safety.

The ANA top notch lounge is positioned close to gate 51 in Satellite tv for pc No. 5 of Terminal 1, which is the place Star Alliance flights depart from at Tokyo-Narita. To get to the lounge, flip left after passing immigration exit management and preserve going straight till you see indicators for airline lounges and an escalator taking you upstairs.

To the left is the ANA Lounge entrance, which can be utilized by Star Alliance enterprise class prospects and passengers with Star Alliance Gold standing. Head proper for the doorway to the much-more unique ANA Suite Lounge, out there to top notch flyers and top-tier elites with ANA Diamond standing.

The lounge is open from 7 a.m. till the departure of the ultimate ANA Group-operated flight of the day.

The ANA top notch lounge is kind of spacious, contemplating its strict necessities for admission. Once I arrived round 2 p.m., it was pretty empty, though it had began to replenish by the point I left to board round 4:30 p.m.

Once you first enter the lounge, you’ll go by means of a protracted hall that leads you to the buffet and noodle bar in your left and a big seating space in your proper.

There are extra seating choices additional down, starting from bar-style seating to armchairs and loungers.

It’s a really open format with little privateness — an enormous distinction from ANA’s top notch seat, which has sliding privateness doorways. Some seating areas have dividers, however they’re separated by see-through strips of material.

One in all my favourite issues in regards to the house: big home windows that span a whole facet of the lounge, supplying you with nice views of the runways.

It was a dreary day, however I used to be capable of spot two of ANA’s three Airbus A380s with the “Flying Honu” livery. These plane fly completely between Tokyo-Narita and Honolulu and sport a beautiful turtle design (honu is the Hawaiian phrase for sea turtle).

Off the big seating space by the doorway, a hall results in a enterprise middle with 4 cubicles, which guests can use as quiet work areas.

A few of the enterprise facilities embody headphones, a printer and even a calculator. I didn’t check out how simple it was to connect with the supplied monitor, however the lounge is well-staffed, so I’m certain somebody would have been capable of help if wanted.

Once more, there’s not a whole lot of privateness in right here, which might be a problem if you’ll want to take calls, however you can additionally pop into a close-by cellphone sales space.

Throughout from the enterprise middle, there’s a rest space with three relaxation pods. Two of them have therapeutic massage chairs, whereas the third has an everyday lounge chair.

I don’t see therapeutic massage chairs in lounges too typically, so I needed to give it a attempt. In the event you give it a attempt, keep in mind to take off your watch or bracelets. The compression in your wrists may be fairly intense.

There’s additionally a smoking room out there.

There are two main methods to get meals on the ANA Suite Lounge: the buffet and the made-to-order noodle bar.

One main con of this lounge: There’s no devoted sit-down restaurant. This can be a staple of most top notch lounges, so the absence right here is disappointing. ANA may undoubtedly enhance right here, particularly as top-tier enterprise class lounges are elevating their meals choices (such because the sushi bar on the Delta One lounge at LAX).

The buffet is easy however skippable, for my part, contemplating the opposite meals choices out there. Choices embody a salad bar, finger meals, fruit and dessert, in addition to inari and rice balls.

With that mentioned, don’t skip the chocolate part within the buffet space. Attempt one of many individually wrapped candies from ANA Findelish, a model launched by ANA’s personal catering service.

In the event you’re seeking to chow down, head straight to the noodle bar the place you will get made-to-order Japanese and Western dishes. (The digital ordering service requires SMS textual content messaging, an possibility not included on my eSIM plan. You possibly can, nonetheless, nonetheless try the menu on-line.) In the event you order on the window, they’ll provide you with a buzzer to let you already know when your meals is prepared.

Japanese dishes embody ramen noodles, soba noodles, udon noodles, sushi and varied curries with rooster, vegetarian and halal rooster choices. The Western menu presents dishes like burgers (meat and plant-based), carbonara pasta, and mac and cheese.

I wasn’t fairly prepared to depart Japan, so I went with the sushi set, the rooster curry and a bowl of ramen. All of it was pleasing, however the standout was the flavorful rooster curry.

For dessert, I had a mini tub of Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream. Whereas the net menu lists strawberry, vanilla and cookies and cream, they solely had strawberry and vanilla whereas I used to be there.

There are many drink choices on the ANA Suite Lounge, together with teas, a espresso machine and a soda machine that additionally dispenses orange juice and chilly inexperienced tea, a pleasant shock.

Alcoholic drinks are additionally self-serve, together with beer on faucet, wine, champagne, sake and whiskey. Whereas there was a wide selection, 5 choices have been out of inventory throughout my go to.

I opted to skip the alcohol within the lounge, since I knew the good things was coming as soon as I received onboard.

For top notch flights to the U.S., ANA serves Krug Grande Cuvee for champagne within the air and Hibiki 17 for whiskey. (On flights to New York-JFK, ANA caters Hibiki 21.)

A visit to a firstclass lounge shouldn’t be full with out having a shower to clean up earlier than your long-haul flight.

The bathe services are simply outdoors the lounge entrance and accessible from the primary foyer, the place you first checked in. There are 10 bathe rooms out there, that are shared with the ANA enterprise class lounge, so in the event you’re seeking to bathe at a busy time, you might have to attend.

You possibly can request a bathe room at a digital kiosk instantly previous the lounge’s lengthy hall on the entrance. Once more, there’s a digital alert system that requires the usage of SMS textual content messages to let you already know when the bathe room is prepared, though you possibly can decide out.

Fortunately, there was a bathe suite prepared after I requested it. If there wasn’t, I most likely would have wanted to go to the bathe reception to choose up a buzzer. In the event you’re undecided what to do, ask one of many lounge employees to help you.

The bathe room was effectively stocked with facilities, together with slippers, dental equipment, comb, Dyson hair dryer and Sekkisei skincare merchandise. There was additionally a clock, which I had by no means seen earlier than in a lounge bathe however discovered fairly useful.

As you may anticipate after spending a while in Japan, the service on the ANA Suite Lounge was top-notch. Everybody was pleasant and useful, and lounge employees would supply a slight bow at any time when I walked by them.

Regardless that there was no sit-down eating service, the lounge brokers have been always strolling round to be sure that meals objects have been being cleared promptly.

I loved spending time on the ANA top notch lounge, though it did not exude the identical degree of luxurious as some rivals. The meals was good, the bathe was refreshing and the employees have been well mannered and pleasant. For vacationers in search of a spot to chill out and seize a chunk to eat earlier than their flight, this lounge will definitely test all of the containers.

In the event you’re flying ANA top notch from Tokyo-Narita, this lounge is unquestionably your best choice. Nevertheless, save your expectations for when you’re within the air, the place ANA top notch really shines.