Feels like first class: Flying ANA The Room business class from LA-Tokyo

When Japanese airline All Nippon Airways introduced all-new first- and business-class suites back in July 2019, I couldn’t wait to fly them.

Designed by famed architect Kengo Kuma, who also created Japan’s stunning new National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics, the ANA suites are gorgeous but understated, with wood paneling that harkens to Japan’s lush forests, innovative layouts inspired by traditional Japanese living spaces and closing panels for added privacy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience the new suites before the pandemic limited travel to Japan. But as travel restrictions to Asia loosened earlier this year, including making it easier for international travelers to transit through Japanese airports (the country is now fully reopened to tourists), I went on the search for an award ticket so I could get to fly in at least one of these singular seats.

My chance finally came in September, when I booked an award ticket that would have me traveling from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) in ANA’s “The Room” business class as part of a longer itinerary.

Though I have yet to try the new “The Suite” first class, my long-haul flight in ANA business class was an outstanding experience on its own thanks to the innovative seat’s features and the excellent service on board.

Here’s what it’s like flying in ANA’s The Room business-class suite — and why it is worth booking.

A 10-hour flight is a lot more snooze-able in first class – see how many points away you are from a cozy, 30,000 foot slumber with the free TPG App!

I have American Express Membership Rewards points that would transfer to ANA’s own Mileage Club program as well as to Air Canada Aeroplan and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, whose miles and points you can also use to book tickets on ANA. I also have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic and United MileagePlus, which is a Star Alliance partner with ANA.

I decided to try to use United miles since I already had a sizable stash of those and it was easier to use them to book my entire itinerary as a single award ticket rather than trying to use either Aeroplan or Flying Club.

Searching both United.com and AirCanada.com, I found a few days with award availability on ANA from Los Angeles, where I’m based, to both NRT and Haneda Airport (HND) in Tokyo on the way to various destinations in Southeast Asia.

The new business- and first-class suites are only aboard some, but not all, of ANA’s Boeing 777-300ERs, and not the airline’s other jet types, so I was careful only to search routes and specific flights where I was sure the new suites would be in service.

If in doubt, when you find an award ticket on an ANA 777-300ER, you can search for the same flight on ANA’s site and it will denote whether the flight has The Room on board. Otherwise, you can also look at the seat map for your flight: If it has 16 rows of business class running from rows 5-20, you should be set.

I ended up booking an itinerary that would have me flying ANA The Room business class from LAX to NRT, then on to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) in the airline’s older business class aboard a Boeing 787-9 after a brief layover. I’d overnight in Bangkok before continuing on to Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) on Thai in economy.

My ticket totaled 103,500 United MileagePlus miles plus $18.40 in taxes and fees. I found a similar ticket that would only get me to Bangkok using around 87,000 Aeroplan miles with slightly higher taxes and fees, but then I would have needed to purchase my ongoing ticket to Bali, so I stuck with MileagePlus.

Not that I would (or could) book a paid fare this high, but I priced out my itinerary on Google flights at just over $6,100. Looking at dates over the next few months, the prices for the same itinerary I flew varied at the time from around $4,100 to $7,800. So even at the lower end of that range, I was getting nearly 4 cents per United mile in value. That’s well over the 1.21 cents apiece TPG currently values United MileagePlus miles at.

My flight departed at 12:45 p.m. and I arrived at the airport 2 1/2 hours ahead of that just to have some extra time to get through the traffic at LAX (hopefully the airport’s long-awaited people mover will open next year and cut through some of that congestion) and past security at the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Check-in for my flight was just getting underway when I strolled into the terminal, and there were a few…