A swing through South America

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For completeness, this is 2-2-2 J seat on the NH B787-8 which does the CGK-HND route:





The more modern B787-9 is 1-2-1, but I believe this is still considered a ‘regional J’ config. Certainly the B773 suite up next flight should be a further step up.

 

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Arrival into NRT was rainy with low clouds so no real views of, anything.


Transit was very simple for NH to NH. Alight, walk for a couple of hundred metres, have onward boarding pass scanned and then immediately through dedicated transfer security. Almost adjacent to security was the ANA Suite Lounge entry so straight in there I went.

Unfortunately it was rammed, with plenty of late afternoon departures including I think about 4 or 5 UA wide-bodies departing for various points in North America. I stayed long enough to use the facilities and then walked around the terminal.

The original doge (before the term was corrupted) featured at one shop.



My inbound aircraft

was parked beside this A380, which for the longest time I figured was a whale, but guess it must be a turtle livery having now seen the side a little better



Then my B773 for the next flight was parked beside it. Easiest transit ever.

 

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NRT-ORD NH12
B777-300 J
JA794A
Departed 40mins late.
Arrived notionally 45 minutes early, but that was just landing. The taxi and waiting for a gate took 55 minutes so actually off the aircraft about 10-15 minutes late.

The B773 has the best fit out NH offers in premium classes. The J suite is large with two privacy elements; a door and a screen. The seat itself is like a bench seat that could realistically seat two people. You sit on one half for take off/landing due to the position of the sash belt, but can lie effectively diagonally from the other half when in bed mode.



The seat wasn’t exactly soft, the footwell fabric was showing wear and there were chips of paint off in multiple areas with the suite showing maybe premature aging. The first ones flew in the second half of 2019 so I guess this could be the result of 7 years of use.


Certainly a very spacious feel and the setup is 1-2-1 across the aisles. The suites alternate facing forward and then facing backward to allow the leg footwells to be side by side. I was in a backwards facing position, which from row 11 meant a view of the engine nacelle and the wing.





As mentioned above there was a slight delay to boarding and then delayed taxiing out. NRT was busy in the late afternoon so that left some time for some AFF style ‘twitching’.

Zipair B787 with the revised (no Z) tail. It’s a crosshatch or almost tartan effect now.


Queen of the skies in China Airlines Cargo form.


Then the taxiing-to-lineup view back to the queue. There was a TG B777 that pushed back about the same time as our aircraft but must have been number 7 or 8 in that queue.

 

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After getting airborne I could see the runway we had landed and taxied in beside previously. Not the best image but look above the engine and you can see the taxiway curves in toward the piano keys. It’s I guess the normal recommended safe distance away from the runway for most of its length, except that part there where it gets closer.



The taxiway had to curve around one of the ‘hold out’ landowners that NRT has been built around. There’s still active farm land owned by someone whose land wasn’t compulsorily acquired when the airport was built.


Here’s a better view from Google maps.

Whilst taxiing in from the previous flight and through the rain drops I could also see some high walls with what just looked like a small square of trees growing in it. Seems like it is also a hold out piece of land for a shrine and is almost beside the start of runway asphalt.


People go to visit the shrine but it seems most go for plane spotting when the wind is from the appropriate direction.


I’d say it’s a must for South African rugby fans and Airlink planners! Much safer too.

 

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On climb out through the moisture laden atmosphere there was plenty of aerodynamic condensation appearing around the wing. It stopped after what I figured must be a high enough altitude for there to not be much moisture left. But then there was this effect which started around FL280.


Really noticeable and interesting with the ‘live’ mode I used to capture it. Unfortunately doesn’t seem to post like that showing the movement.

The bedding that came with the seat was pretty good and included a mini mattress. As I wanted to get closer to US time zones I went to sleep straight away (helped by feeling tired from the early start). It was supposed to be an 11hr 30min flight time but we clearly had a tail wind. I got pretty close to seven hours decent sleep and woke to this for flight time remaining, which was quite surprising.


I didn’t feel like having the allocated first meal I’d slept through so ordered a cup of tea and then the ANA special ramen and a smoked chicken sandwich.



The lovely crew member then brought me a chestnut cake that was delicious and some fruit.

As noted previously, the arrival was very early into ORD. We landed to grey overcast conditions and then went on a taxiing magical mystery tour of the entire airfield.



Eventually we pulled up near Terminal 5 to wait for our bay to clear; which was not going to be easy. It was busier than NRT.


These are just the jets active.

The view from our temporary parking position on a taxiway.

Note the blue sky, as this was about 45 minutes after landing.


We had taxied onto the T5 ramp but then gone around to make it three sides of a rectangle at a waiting point. Were there for 10-15 minutes waiting.

Eventually the path cleared just enough to get onto a bay.

The amount of time most aircraft spent waiting for others to clear was significant. There was also vehicle traffic everywhere stuck waiting. They clearly don’t like doing that so as soon as an aircraft clears from in front of a road holding point two or three vehicles will dart across in front of the next aircraft. If you saw it elsewhere you’d probably expect safety notices being raised or drivers having their airside accreditation being removed, but I guess this is just another example of US aviation and ‘creeping normalcy’ away from best practice.