Schedules, fares and redemptions for ANA’s A380 Hawaii flights

We recently covered the rollout of All Nippon Airways’ first of three Airbus A380s in its special turtle livery, including details of the new cabin products set to be installed on these jets which will enter service in May this year.

Flight schedules and award tickets went online yesterday, with some special offers too, and here’s how it looks.

The schedule

This is the current ANA flight schedule between Tokyo and Honolulu, with two Boeing 787-9s flying the route on a daily basis from Narita airport and an additional 787-9 flying from Haneda.

Current schedule (until 23rd May 2019)

* Next day

First A380 in service (24th May 2019 – 30th June 2019)

* Next day

Second A380 in service (From 1st July 2019)

* Next day

It hasn’t been announced which flights the third and final A380 to join the ANA fleet will operate, though it seems logical that the NH182 / NH181 pairing will then operate with an A380 on a daily basis, switching the entire Narita to Honolulu operation to the superjumbo year-round.

This would then leave the sole daily Tokyo Haneda flight operated by ANA using the Boeing 787-9 from that time.

First Class fares and award availability

First Class promises to be a treat on these aircraft, with eight suites on the upper deck in dark grey / black tones, with closing doors and 32″ IFE screen. Special amenity kits will be provided, as will catering from “Noe” an award-winning Italian Restaurant located at the five star luxury Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina, as we highlighted in our recent article.

ANA has published some promotional First Class fares for these Airbus A380 flights, announcing that return fares from Tokyo to Honolulu will be available from ¥ 350,000, around S$4,400, plus taxes and fees.

We did find this fare on a few dates, mostly in early July, however on other dates it costs much more.

Star Award availability (seats for redemption for those using miles from other Star Alliance programs like KrisFlyer and Lifemiles) is non-existent in Business Class so far on these flights, and very sparse indeed in Economy Class. This is not the case if you book using your ANA Mileage Plan miles, see later in the article for details on that.

First Class Star award availability starts off similarly, but it does pick up in July however once two daily flights are operating on certain days of the week (and a daily A380 is the norm), and award seats really become much more plentiful in August.

July

• 13 First Class seats NRT-HNL; 7 First Class seats HNL-NRT
• Max seats on same day: 4 (NRT-HNL); 2 (HNL-NRT)
• Max seats on same flight: 2 (NRT-HNL); 1 (HNL-NRT)

August

• 22 First Class seats NRT-HNL; 25 First Class seats HNL-NRT
• Max seats on same day: 3 (NRT-HNL); 4 (HNL-NRT)
• Max seats on same flight: 2 (NRT-HNL); 2 (HNL-NRT)

ANA has never offered First Class on its Honolulu route before, so this new 8-seat cabin at the front of the A380’s upper deck, featuring two rows of enclosed suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, is a true enhancement on the route.

With upwards of 16 seats per day flying on the city pair by July, and cash fares very much on the high side, we think First Class award availability will improve even more as the launch date for these flights approaches.

We found the same award space well replicated via the KrisFlyer portal:

at United.com:

and through Lifemiles:

You’ll certainly want to be redeeming Lifemiles or United MileagePlus miles on this route over KrisFlyer miles, which are a very expensive option in comparison. Other good options include Aegean Miles+Bonus and Lufthansa Miles & More. Which brings us on to…

Redemption rates

Here are the miles redemption options for these Hawaii flights. Firstly, all the way from Singapore to Honolulu via Tokyo.

ANA redemption Singapore – Honolulu via Tokyo Narita
FFP used	Economy	Business	First
	55,000	97,500	135,000
	30,000*	50,000*	90,000*
	30,000	52,000	85,000
	40,000	55,000	75,000
	35,000	65,000	80,000
	30,000	51,000	75,000
	55,000	97,500	145,000

* ANA Mileage Club requires all redemption flights to be return journeys, the mileage shown here is half the total for a return trip for proper comparison with other FFPs, but there is no option to actually book one-way under ANA Mileage Club. Slightly lower rates apply for low and regular season (high season rates shown for ANA).

Secondly if you just want to redeem from Tokyo to Honolulu.

ANA redemption Tokyo – Honolulu
FFP used	Economy	Business	First
	54,000	105,000	125,000
	20,000*	32,500*	64,500*
	20,000	35,000	62,500
	40,000	55,000	75,000
	27,500	55,000	85,000
	27,500	48,000	66,000
	50,000	92,500	145,000

* ANA Mileage Club requires all redemption flights to be return journeys, the mileage shown here is half the total for a return trip for proper comparison with other FFPs, but there is no option to actually book one-way under ANA Mileage Club. Slightly lower rates apply for low and regular season (high season rates shown for ANA).

COUCHii seats

One of the more revolutionary aspects of ANA’s Airbus A380s is ‘COUCHii’. These Economy Class seats at the very back of the aircraft have extendable leg rests and retractable armrests allowing rows of three or four seats to be converted into flat sleeping surfaces for couples or young families (or if you like, just for you!).

The Fee for ANA COUCHii

ANA has revealed a special offer for COUCHii on flights departing from Tokyo between 24th May 2019 and 11th July 2019, or departing from Honolulu between 24th May 2019 and 12th July 2019.

Outside the special offer period the supplement payable for these seats is based on the season. Click here to view the low and high season definitions, plus full details of the terms and conditions for ANA COUCHii.

The following tables show the special offer fares, based on a booking in the three- or four-seat arrangement.

COUCHii 3-seat
Pax	Special Offer Price (¥)	Usual Price (¥)		Suggested Use
		Low Season	High Season
3	4,500	9,000	9,000	or
2	9,500	19,000	49,000	or
1	59,000	59,000	169,000

COUCHii 4-seat
Pax	Special Offer Price (¥)	Usual Price (¥)		Suggested Use
		Low Season	High Season
4	6,000	12,000	12,000
3	11,000	22,000	52,000	or
2	52,000	52,000	172,000	or
1	92,000	92,000	252,000

Making an ANA COUCHii booking is relatively straightforward, simply select your ANA A380 flight in Economy Class via the ANA website, and once you proceed through to the seat selection stage you will be offered to select the COUCHii seats for your booking group.

On the seat map, navigate to the back of the main deck on the aircraft and you’ll see the available COUCHii options. Just allocate your party into one of the three or four seat groups as you wish.

Economy and Premium Economy award offers

For ANA Mileage Club (AMC) members, the airline has two offers running for the A380 Honolulu flights.

Economy and Premium Economy Award Guarantee

The first offer is that for flights departing during the promotional period 24th May 2019 to 11th July 2019 in either direction, award seats in Economy Class and Premium Economy Class are guaranteed to be available to AMC members if there are seats available for commercial sale.

You must book by 7th July 2019 to take advantage of this availability.

Economy and Premium Economy Miles Back Draw

For the same promotional period mentioned above, 1 in every 100 AMC members making an Economy or Premium Economy redemption on these A380 flights will win all their miles back for those flights.

Not great odds, but you never know.

Summary

A great option from Singapore via Tokyo to Hawaii, this promises to be a much-anticipated product with couple seats in Business Class (not currently seen on other ANA planes) and those amazing enclosed Suites in First Class.

Not all frequent flyer programs offer a good deal for ANA flights, but there are some that do and award availability in First Class is decent. With up to 16 Suites per day flying the route by July, on a city pair ANA has never offered a First Class option on before, we’d put money on award availability getting even better.

(Cover Photo: ANA Holdings Inc)