Key Details

Flight: NH882

Date: Feb 7, 2020

From: Perth, Western Australia

To: Tokyo, Japan  

Cabin: Economy Class

Rating: 9/10

The Route

Unfortunately due to Covid-19 and a still slow uptake of international travel out of Perth and through to Japan a direct flight between Western Australia and Japan still hasn’t resumed despite being immensely popular service prior to Covid. The route was first served by Qantas in the early 2000s before being discontinued leaving Perthities the best part of a decade without any direct options to fly to Japan. However in September 2019 Japan’s All Nippon Airlines (ANA) entered the Perth market for the first time offering a daily service between Perth and Tokyo Narita utilizing its Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Unfortunately these flights were discontinued in early 2022 after Australia shut its borders to international visitors and imposed harsh 14 day hotel quarantine on returning Australian citizens. At the time the daily service came in shy under 10 hours and left Perth in the evening at 9.45pm for a 8.20am arrival into Narita Airport the following morning whilst the Perth bound service left at 11.10am arriving into Perth at 8.15pm. As a first time flyer to Japan and indeed on ANA I managed to secure a sale fare for a very reasonable $852 return inclusive of all taxes and charges. 

Check in, Lounge and Boarding

I arrived at the airport approximately 3 hours prior to departure as I like to do beforehand for any international flights however in reality I had more than ample time to clear formalities prior to arriving airside. Despite a reasonable queue at check in I was processed by an agent within about 15 minutes before proceeding through Customs and international security checkpoint. All in all I was curbside to airside within half an hour – not bad at all for an international flight! As an economy class passenger on this flight and with no reliable status I did not have access any lounge for this particular flight however noted ANA used Air New Zealand’s lounge for this particular flight which welcomes business and even premium economy passengers.

Should I take an international flight out of Perth now I would have access to the newly opened Aspire International Lounge via Lounge Key access afforded to my Crypto.com Visa Card alternatively paid access is available to all passengers for a walk up price of $77 which is reduced to $66 online. Lounges aside Perth’s international terminal has reasonably good dining and drinking options provided many of these outlets shut or were severely reduced trading during Covid and these impacts are slowly alleviating. As with most airport restaurants and bars in Australia  don’t expect much change out of $15 for a pint or $30 for a meal.      

Seating in Economy Class

On this Service ANA operates the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which is well suited to this reasonably lengthy route that probably falls somewhere in between medium to long haul with its mood lightining, wide windows and higher cabin humidity helping to offer a more comfortable flight for all. This plane has a total of 184 seats across 2 classes. 152 of these are in economy class and are laid out in a 3-3-3 configuration. A Further 32 business seats can be found at the pointy end of the plane in a 2-2-2. For the economy flyer on this overnight route, I’d recommend an aisle seat as I Had to ensure easy access to the aisles for this long overnight flight. For the daytime return a window seat is great for relaxing and simply watching the scenery go by. Seat pitch came in at pretty standard 31 inches but with plenty of amenities available to even economy flyers the seat was reasonably comfortable however don’t bank on getting much sleep if you’re not able to easily sleep on other economy flights.    

Inflight Service and Food and Beverage

Inflight service on this near 10 hour trek to Japan was really outstanding considering we were flying in economy. A full hot meal service commenced approximately 1 hour after departure whereby I selected a bento style option was very tasty and washed down by a Kirin Beer amongst a full bar service that I had never seen so comprehensive in economy consisting of a wide range of soft drinks, tea and coffee and alcohol winding sparkling, red and white wine, spirits, 4 of Japan’s most famous beers -Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo and Suntory Premium Malts and even Sake. After the meal service lights were dimmed to give passengers time to rest before arriving in Japan but further requests for drinks were promptly delivered. A smaller breakfast was served before landing – nothing memorable but acceptable nonetheless. What I particularly liked was the long list of amenities ANA can provide to economy travelers such as pens or paracetamol which is a great touch to customer service so your never caught out without something  

   

Entertainment

ANA’s 787-8 Economy class seats all offer touch screen inflight entertainment screens with a reasonable amount of tv shows, movies and audio  content however there was considerable less English content than other major carriers such as Emirates or Singapoe Airlines. Some Japanese content did however have English substiles. Live tv was available on this flight consisting primarily of several news channels including CNN and also a sports channel with some live content. This is a great feature of ANA’s suite of entertainment options for those looking to keep in tune with world developments whilst flying.

Arrival:

The flight arrived on time into a rather cold yet beautifully crisp and Sunny morning at Narita, a small nearby city approximately 80km or 1 hour from the centre of Tokyo. With an arrival temperature of minus 2 celsius and as close as cold as it gets in Tokyo it was certainly a stark contrast to Perth which had been enduring a multi-day heatwave of temperatures in the low to mid 40s celsius! The arrival procedure into Japan is quite involved and very through yet done and efficiently and professionally. Within about an hour of arrival I had cleared all customs and immigrations formalities and was able to get reliable information despite the language barrier to ensure I caught the right train lines to get to my accommodation without a hitch! 

Summary:

Overall ANA was an excellent way to fly to Japan and provided easily the most direct and convenient way to travel to Tokyo from Perth. The service was great and clearly proving of its 5 star SkyTraxx airline ranking. If travelling to other parts of Japan as a first port of call other airlines such as Singapore Airlines may provide equally as convenient options.