Tokyo Heatwave: SIN-HND-SIN on ANA 787-9 Dreamliner Premium Economy (NH842/843)

[yflyer]

NH842 has a very civilised departure timing of 11.15am. I headed to Changi Airport T1 on a sunny Sunday morning in mid July.



No check-in queues at 9.35am in the morning, when I got to the check-in counters.



Check-in was quick. As I left the check-in area, I was surprised to see the ANA tech crew at the far end of the check-in island going through what looked to be breathalyser tests. A very public place to do these tests. Needless to say, I saw the staff there give them the thumbs up...

Passport checks to enter the airside are are now automated, with scans of your passport and boarding pass, along with facial recognition -- no more pesky thumbprints.

The airside area was quite busy, with most shops open.



Apart from the shops, there were many comfortable rest / work zones in the airside area where pax could spend time (No lounge access needed in T1 to get comfortable!) ...



As Krisflyer / Star Gold, I did have lounge access, so I headed up the escalator to the lounge area...



Three lounges in this part of the terminal, QF, BA and the SATS Premier Lounge...

[yflyer]

I recently spent 3 days in Tokyo. It was a very hot 3 days in July 2023, while Tokyo was in the grip of a heatwave, with daytime temperatures as high as 37 degrees C. Still it was great to be back in Japan, which I last visited before the pandemic.

I travel less for work these days. One lasting effect of the pandemic is that it is now perfectly acceptable to do meetings with senior executives via video. Less of a need to travel for meetings. But the reality is that to work or do business with someone, you do need that face to face interaction, so while I travel less, the occasional trip is still necessary.

With so few trips, it is even more important for me to make each flight experience to count. While work schedule is of course top priority, as well as paying a reasonable ticket price, within those parameters I will make it a point to pick and choose flights which broaden my experience of equipment types, airlines and classes of travel. Life would be boring, otherwise!

My current employer has a travel policy which allows for premium economy for flights over 7 hours. My previous employer's policy was 8 hours and above. What a difference an hour makes! WIth a 7 hour cut-off, I am now able to travel to Japan and Australia in Premium. Great! No plans to change my handle to peyfler yet...but it does make trip planning a little more exciting...

I flew there and back on ANA's 787-9 Dreamliner, in Premium Economy. While I had flown ANA before in Y, this was my first time in PEY. It would be interesting to see how ANA's PEY product compared to SQ's.

Of course, while there, I ate several interesting meals, at the kind of places only locals would know about, and also headed out for a run (despite the heat!).