I once again returned to Japan (for my fourth trip to the Land of the Rising Sun), but I wanted to try something different this time. We flew on All Nippon Airways — or ANA in short — for the very first time. This is Japan's largest airline and among the world's top ten best airlines, having been rated by Skytrax as a five-star airline for thirteen straight years since 2013. But will this airline satisfy my first impressions with them? Let's find out.
Notes:
- This is a personal blog on our travel experience and is neither promoted nor endorsed by ANA.
- Exchange rates between currencies are as of May 2026: USD1 = PHP 61 and 159 JPY.
Since 2023, ANA has held promotional sales called "Hello Blue Sale", where discounted base fares of USD 200 plus FREE domestic flights are up for grabs. Depending on the sale and travel period, there are blackout dates for such; examples are select dates during the prescribed travel period (somewhere in between August or September, etc.), the Christmas and winter season (second half of December), and etc., which are not covered by the discounts.
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| A Boeing 787-8 of ANA parked at Narita International Airport hours after our initial arrival. |
Our Japan itinerary this year called for a visit to Hokkaido, followed by a trip to Tokyo. Considering that Cebu Pacific offers direct, non-stop flights between Manila and Sapporo, multi-city bookings with this airline are unusually expensive, given that many Filipino travelers (mostly budget-conscious) patronize the low-cost airline. And yet, CEB is the only one operating this route, making this expensive to afford due to lack of competition (although Philippine Airlines also flies the direct route seasonally, only CEB flies it year-round).
We later decided to choose ANA due to its affordability and booking flexibility. By booking on one itinerary instead of multiple itineraries, plus the perks of free inter-island flights, we managed to reduce our expenses that would otherwise go to another expensive domestic itinerary instead of souvenirs and tax-free groceries.
Travel requirements
Aside from your passport and travel itinerary, you would also need to fulfill the following requirements to Japan:
Philippines
- eTravel - used for departing Filipino citizens and ALL arriving international passengers. Mobile users can download the eGovPH app, while you can visit the sign-in portal here. For Filipinos, this should be filled up TWICE: for your departing flight and for your arriving flight. You can fill this up within 72 hours from the dates of your flights.
- Travel Tax - economy class passengers should pay this levy of 1,620 pesos either online or at TIEZA counters at airports.
Japan
- Valid Travel Visa - for the purpose of my Philippine viewers, a visa is required to enter Japan. Visit this site for more details.
- Visit Japan Web - acts like an online arrival card. Arriving tourists are required to create an account in this portal and accomplish the immigration and customs forms before arriving in Japan. You can fill up the arrival form here.
First leg: Manila to Narita
Flight information
Route map
Check-in and pre-departure
Although ANA offers online check-in (specifically via its mobile app), we decided to forgo it and do the traditional in-counter setup.
The Japanese style of service is employed particularly at the start of a service. At 5:55 am, fifteen minutes before the scheduled opening of the counters, the check-in agents gather in front of the passengers and greets them in the most Japanese way possible: by bowing before the agents start their service. It took us almost twenty minutes until we were called to check in our suitcases. This flight was the first of a two-leg journey to Sapporo; we were given both the boarding passes for both this flight and our connecting flight as well. For privacy reasons, we did not include a picture of them greeting and bowing before the passengers.
Each passenger is entitled to two free checked bags weighing 23 kg each and a combined allowance of 10 kg for carry-on baggage (one cabin bag and one personal item).
Boarding and take-off
Boarding commenced at 8:40 am. ANA usually boards its passengers on international flights 30 minutes before its scheduled departure. This practice of quick boarding, also employed by other Japanese carriers (and likewise in Japan as well), is done orderly and with great courtesy. Japan’s practice deviates from the worldwide practice of boarding around forty-five minutes to one hour before departure, with the gate being closed around fifteen to twenty minutes before.
We soon pushed back at 9:09 am, right on schedule, and took off at 9:28 am. The flight was mostly uneventful, with occurrences of moderate turbulence some twenty minutes into the flight.
The 787's features
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| Economy seating on the 787-8 Dreamliner of ANA |
International 787-8s have a capacity of 240: 42 business and 198 economy seats. Economy seats have a pitch of 34–38 inches and a seat width of 17.2 inches. Seating is configured 2–2–2 in business class and 3–3–3 in economy.
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| Your travel journalist trying out the shadeless windows of the 787! |
I tested the “shade-less” windows of the 787; the brightness of the windows, which are larger than the Airbus A330, A350, and older Boeing 777s, are controlled by a button below the windows. Moreover, to control the reading lights, you need to press a button on the remote control located below the seat monitor.
I also find the in-flight entertainment system quite dated, since this plane has not been retrofitted since its delivery. While newer planes and some older planes have successfully retrofitted their IFE system, I, however, feel like ANA can keep this old system running for now due to the planes' young age. However, the system is easy for me to navigate; on movies, you can even press the skip "forward" or "backward" button once but you need to immediately press the screen again to stop the playback from progressing or reversing, since without any further input, the skipping still continues. During this flight, I watched Tangled, a popular Disney movie that I used to watch during my little days.
Let's talk about the inflight Wi-Fi. Like most full-service airlines, you are charged a certain fee to use the inflight Wi-Fi system. It is, however, a complimentary offering to business class passengers, as well as first-class passengers (for the long-haul B777-300ER and the Flying Honu Airbus A380s); but you need to have a voucher code to access it. For economy class, here are some important points to take note of, some are based on ANA's website:
- Text messaging is FREE to all passengers.
- Use of the Wi-Fi has three plans, ranging from the cheapest to the most expensive: 30 minutes ($6.95; 423.95 pesos), 3 hours ($16.95; 1,033.95 pesos - I chose this plan), and the entire flight ($21.95; 1338.95 pesos - maximum of 24 hours)
- Based on my personal experience, the Wi-Fi, however, is not strong enough for stable viewing/streaming on YouTube.
Lunch service
ANA serves two meal options; I chose the Roasted Chicken with Calamansi Sauce and Garlic Rice over the Braised Pork Belly meal. The meal tasted fine. We were also given free ice cream, and we also have options to select juices (like orange or apple juice).
A fun bonding with the crew (because of my papercraft)
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| The scale model of the Dreamliner, crafted using paper by yours truly :) |
Prior to this flight, I also made a papercraft scale model of the Dreamliner, which I brought it inflight.
When the crew were already collecting the passengers’ garbage, one of the female stewardesses suddenly felt shocked and amused as she looked on my Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner papercraft. I shared that this was my fourth trip to Japan but my first flight on ANA, and that I have been making papercrafts for a long time now. She briefly borrowed my papercraft so that she could take a picture of it at the rear galley. A few minutes after giving it back to me, the same flight attendant gave me a special papercraft puzzle of ANA’s Flying Honu Airbus A380-841. I was also given more souvenirs, including pictures of ANA’s Dreamliner with the “787” sticker that was placed on the airline’s first Dreamliners until around 2017.
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| A 787 postcard from the cabin crew |
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| A Flying Honu papercraft given to me from the flight attendants |
Arrival
We soon began our descent to Tokyo. During this process, some flight attendants gave away candies to passengers, which is unusual in other airlines and a nice move in my opinion.
After two hours and forty-eight minutes of flying, we subsequently landed at Narita International Airport. ANA serves Terminal 1, the oldest of the three terminals at NRT. We were parked at 2:24 pm.
Before I disembarked, I mingled with some of the flight attendants and shared with them my 787 papercraft. It even caught the attention of ground staff there; one of them pictured me holding it and herself holding it with me in the background. I also had pictures with them; but my mom reminded me based on the instructions from the crew not to post their faces on my YouTube channel.
Second flight: Narita to Sapporo
Flight information
Bag drop and pre-departure
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| The domestic transfer bag drop counters at the ground floor of NRT Terminal 1 |
We first cleared immigration and customs and claimed our checked baggage at Terminal 1. It is a policy for international passengers with onward connections to domestic flights to clear immigration and customs first before proceeding to their next flight. At NRT, there are bag drop counters on the arrival level for passengers with onward domestic connections; you just need to present your boarding pass that was given to you at your very first origin (in our case, Manila) to the agents there.
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| Entrance to the domestic airside of NRT Terminal 1 |
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| The domestic pre-departure airside at NRT Terminal 1 |
Terminal 1's domestic airside is accessible from the arrivals level of the south wing. The uppermost level, where most check-in counters are located, are solely for international flights. NRT’s domestic airside at Terminal 1 primarily consists of around eight bus gates, which transport passengers to their planes parked at the remote gates.
Between our arriving flight and the other one, we had three hours of spare time to rest and prepare. We also bought some souvenirs at a shop at the pre-departure area.
Boarding and take-off
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| Our Airbus A321 that would take us to Sapporo! |
Boarding commenced at 5:20 pm. At NRT, passengers departing domestically from T1 are transported to their planes by airport buses from the terminal building. We boarded as temperatures were recorded at 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 deg. Fahrenheit).
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| The A321 flying above the eastern seaside of Chiba Prefecture |
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| We got to also have a bird's-eye view of Narita Airport. What a fantastic and majestic experience to see Tokyo's international gateway from above! |
After a long taxi from the tarmac, we took off at 6:17 pm. We flew above Narita Airport as the plane turned and flew further north.
A321 features and onboard service
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| Inside our Airbus A321 |
The A321-200 that performed our flight is only one of four in ANA's fleet; there are more modern, fuel-efficient A321neos in the fleet than those A321ceos. This A321ceo is configured with eight business class seats and 186 economy seats, similar to the A321neo’s capacity. It also has charging ports below the seats, but these are only compatible with older USB cables (non-type C).
Unlike the previous flight, and unlike newer A320 family aircraft, this does not have its own embedded IFE screen. The Wi-Fi, advertised as FREE on domestic flights, did not work on this flight.
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| ANA serves only select drinks onboard domestic flights. This is their apple juice. |
The only refreshments you can find on domestic flights are just cabin crew serving drinks. I chose their apple juice to keep us refreshed while on the go.
Arrival
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| JA113A stayed on the ground for almost two hours before it departed for Haneda Airport before 9:30 pm. |
At one point, I slept a bit as the sky darkened. We soon landed at New Chitose Airport at 7:37 pm, two minutes behind schedule. We soon parked four minutes later. New Chitose Airport opened in 1988 as a replacement to the old Chitose Airport (now used as a military base), which opened in 1963 as the main gateway to Sapporo (the city once had its own airport, Okadama Airport, before the airport in Chitose was used due to OKD’s small size). Its terminal layout consists of a semi-circular domestic terminal and a small international terminal on the other side of it.
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| Your travel journalist at the arrival hall of New Chitose Airport's domestic terminal |
After the flight, I told the purser that I enjoyed my first domestic flight overseas. She was delighted with my comments, and we bid goodbye to each other before stepping at the gate. What a fruitful end to my first-ever domestic flight outside the Philippines.
To get to Sapporo, you can take a train that would lead you to the city center in just 40 minutes.
Verdict
Timing and frequency
All Nippon Airways flies twice daily to Tokyo, which is evenly split between one daily flight each to Haneda and Narita. The airline usually flies from Narita to Manila before dusk and arrives in the late evening, and then its crew and the plane stay on the ground for an overnight layover before returning to Narita the next morning. On the other hand, it flies out of Haneda in the morning, does a short layover in Manila for around 1.5 hours, then arrives back in Tokyo in the evening.
While we were planning for this trip, we chose to fly to Narita in the morning (arriving before 3:00 pm) instead of arriving in Haneda in the evening (around 8:00 pm) because we needed to immediately connect to a domestic flight to Sapporo upon arriving in Tokyo. Hence, the flight to Narita is best when you want to connect onward on the same day instead of doing it the next day at Haneda, which would be tedious (especially the need to transfer between terminals plus an additional overnight layover).
Overall service
First impressions lead to good memories. I am very glad to fly with ANA for the first time, as they offer exceptional service to passengers. They are the world's fifth-best airline and among the eleven airlines rated by Skytrax with five stars. I'm looking forward flying with them again soon.
Points for improvement
Apart from the inflight Wi-Fi that needs to be improved on the domestic flight and the expensive prices of it on international flights, I have nothing to suggest for improvements for this trip at least for these flights.
Ratings
I rate each aspect of the flight in a scale of 1 to 10.
- Check-in - 9.0/10
- In-flight entertainment - 9.8/10
- Punctuality - 9.8/10
- Seat - 9.5/10
- Meals - 9.1/10
- Crew - 10/10
- Price (around an average of 16,500 pesos/pax) - 9.5/10
Overall, ETJ rates this round-trip journey a 9.5 out of 10 points.
Watch my trip report here:
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