When two AirlineReporter writers decide to go on a weekend guys trip, the possibilities are endless. The thing is – we don’t mind long flights, crazy routing, or extended layovers – after all, that’s all part of the adventure.
It’s amazing how much ground you can cover in a few days, if you really want to. Once we made the decision to go somewhere, Associate Editor, Blaine Nickeson, and I spent a few weeks scouring the internet for decent airfares. We considered various destinations across five continents. Finally, something really interesting (and cheap!) popped up: Denver to Tokyo on United’s 787-8 connecting on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on ANA’s 787-8.
One stop from Denver to a city nearly on the other side of the world? Oh yeah, this is the kind of stuff the Dreamliner was built for.
JA873A, better known as “The R2-D2 plane” rolled out of the paint hangar – Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
It’s finally here!
We’ve waited months to see ANA bring their cross-promotion with Disney Japan for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to light, and boy was it worth it!
Just look at it! The attention to detail is stunning! Photo: Bernie Leighton | AirlineReporter
This aircraft is, of course, the first of three in the ANA Star Wars line. ANA takes its partnership with Star Wars seriously. How seriously?
Entering the ANA 777-300ER Inspiration of Japan first class cabin – Photo: David Delagarza | AirlineReporter
Airline: All Nippon Airways (NH)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Departed: Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
Arrived: Tokyo Narita (NRT)
Class: First Class
Seats: 1D & 1G
Length: About 14 hours
It seemed to happen every day for two weeks – I’d glance out my office window in Denver at about noon, just in time to see the contrail of a high-altitude wide-body fly by. Being the diligent AvGeek I am, I would check out my flight tracker phone app to find out what I just saw. The answer was the same every time: ANA Flight 173 – from Houston to Tokyo. It felt like I was being teased — I had first class tickets booked on that very flight for our upcoming trip. Seeing that plane in the sky, day after day, was just rubbing it in — today’s not the day. But that day would soon come.
Flying this route was actually somewhat of a last-minute change to our itinerary, in which Bangkok was our final destination. We had initially been booked trans-Pacific on United’s Global First service from Chicago to Beijing; however, a very short layover in Beijing combined with United’s poor on-time performance on the 747-400 was making me nervous. I had been keeping an eye on alternate routing when I found first class award availability on ANA and Thai Airways via Houston and Tokyo about three weeks prior to the trip. Yes, please! The Houston-to-Tokyo route is a new addition to ANA’s North American offerings, having just kicked off service in June.
All three ANA Star Wars liveries – Photo: ANA
YES — AvGeek and Star Wars goodness together!
ANA has just announced that they will be putting two new Star Wars themed liveries to their fleet, which will jin the previously announced R2-D2 ANA Jet on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The first will feature BB-8, a brand new droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which will be on a Boeing 777-300ER.
Special Star Wars BB-8 and R2-D2 combo livery on a Boeing 767-300 – Image: ANA
The second will be a combination livery of BB-8 down one side and R2-D2 on the other of a Boeing 767-300. If you want to see more images, we have plenty to share…
ANA’s tribute to R2-D2 is truly a masterpiece. Image- ANA.
We all know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming out Christmas of this year. We even saw the second teaser trailer on April 16 of this year, BB-8 is adorable.
Just look at this thing. This is going to sell more models than the VC-25A! Image: ANA
What we did not expect is that ANA would partner with Disney to launch what they are calling their Star Wars project that will take five years to complete. While we don’t know much about what the project will entail- we do know that it’s all starting with a new-build 787-9 that will be coming “this Autumn.”
