Economy class aboard ANA's Dreamliner

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I’ve taken severaloverseas trips where my departure leg is either in First or Business class but,for whatever reason, I’m assigned Economy for my return leg. While I’m alwaysworried about being cramped in a budget seat for nine or ten hours, my recentexperience in the economy section of ANA’s 787 Dreamliner showed I needn’t havebeen concerned.

ANA 787 Dreamliner arrives in Seattle

On a recent mediatour during which reporters and bloggers rode on the first Dreamliner to offerpassenger service from Seattle, I flew business class from Seattle (SEA) toTokyo (NRT). As I wrote in a previous post ,it was a delightful experience that I’m sorry didn’t last longer.
Coming home, I once again found myself facing a flight inwhat I only semi-jokingly refer to as “steerage.” Others, like cartoonist Donna Barstow who drew a scathing cartoon forThe New Yorker magazine, have been even less charitable. In her cartoon, aflight attendant asks a boarding passenger, “First class or livestock?”
Perhaps because theJapanese take better care of their livestock than Americans (or Uniteds orDeltas, for that matter), ANA’s economy class was surprisingly pleasant,especially considering the length of the flight. In fact, the hour-long busride from Haneda airport to Narita airport was far less comfortable.
While lessluxurious than its business class, ANA’s economy class is probably the besteconomy classes I’ve flown.  The seatsare 18.5” wide, among the widest economy seats in the industry. 

Economy seating

Seat pitch was amore standard 31” but, to preserve personal space, the seats do notrecline. Instead, the bottom portion of the seat slides forward by three inchesto provide a bit of tilt. While that decreases the original seat pitch as yourknees come closer to the seat back in front of you, it also means the seat infront won’t come toward you.  That makesit easier to work on one’s laptop without being cramped by the passenger infront of you.
Another smart touch is the configuration of the seats, whichare placed in such a manner that there is no “middle seat.”
Upon first impression, seating looks like a two-four-twoconfiguration. However, the four seats between the aircraft’s two aisles areactually two sets of two with a few extra inches between the two sets of seats,meaning that no seat has more than one shared arm rest. On a long flight, thosefew extra inches are a small detail that yields big benefits.
As in businessclass, each seat has a personal entertainment center with on-demand videos,movies, in-flight maps, and other features. Headphones are provided, thoughthey are not noise canceling like the Sony® headphones in business class. Infact, I found them too uncomfortable to wear for even the length of one movie,so I switched to the ear buds I carry when traveling.
All entertainmentcenters provide the ability to send text messages to fellow passengers, a veryuseful feature for families or business associates who aren’t seated together.

Economy class meal service

While not as variedas the food in business class, economy passengers were also given a choice ofJapanese or Western cuisine and complimentary beverages throughout the flight.
Service wasexcellent, with flight attendants (F/As) constantly up and down the aisles,checking on whether passengers had everything they needed.
With regard to theF/As, those tending economy class on my flight were far less fluent in Englishthan their counterparts in business class, who were quite happy to carry onconversations with their passengers. However, the F/As in economy were every bit as gracious, and were veryadept at working around this hiccup.
For example, Ianswered the question, “Would you like something to drink?” by saying, “Yes.Scotch, please,” because I had spotted Chivas Regal on the menu.  Though apparently puzzled by my response,the F/A remedied the situation deftly. She turned to the beverage page on themenu and indicated that I should point to what I wanted.  When I looked more closely, I realized that,like the British, the Japanese refer to scotch as simply “whisky,” so it couldhave been my reference to “scotch” that confused the issue.
Lavatories ineconomy class are standard sized as opposed to the larger “Dream Lavs” inbusiness class, but also feature the TOTO toilets with built-in bidet functionthat are very popular in Japan.
Surprisingly, myeconomy seat allowed my to snooze comfortably when the flight crew darkened theelectrically controlled windows, indicating it was time to nap. And stowing mycarry-ons in the ample overhead storage meant there was plenty of room for mylong legs under the seat in front of me whether I used the foldable footrest ornot.
Finally – and ittook me several days to realize this – the higher air pressure in the cabin ofthe Dreamliner, along with advanced air treatment, dramatically reduced thetime it took me to recover from the trip. In fact, the difference was sopronounced that I hesitate to call it “jet lag”; more accurately put, it wasjust adjusting to the change in the time zones. 
And that’s abenefit everyone who flies on the 787 Dreamliner will enjoy, whether they ridein business or economy class.
ANA provided mewith round-trip transportation and lodging in Tokyo as part of a mediafamiliarization trip so that several reporters and bloggers could experienceits service and the 787 first-hand.

Photos by Carl Dombek
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