ANA

Travel tidbits from United, Alaska, SEA & R2D2

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Tech glitch hits United Airlines Wednesday night

Big headaches Wednesday night for United Airlines and its passengers due to a major system outage that led to widespread delays and ground stops across the country.

The airline said the issue was related to a technology glitch.

The issue was resolved late in the evening, but it may take days for all travelers on delayed and canceled flights to get to their destinations.

Alaska Airlines announces new flights and a new livery

Alaska Airlines is making news left and right. This week, the carrier announced new routes to London and Reykjavik from Seattle starting in Spring 2026, adding to previously announced new service to Rome, also set to begin in Spring 2026.

The airline also unveiled a new livery for its 787-9 aircraft and announced that by Spring all Dreamliners in its fleet will be flying with this new design.

Already, there’s debate over the new livery.

Some people love it. But others are disappointed because the smiling face of the Inuk man known as “Chester” – which has been a staple on the tail of Alaska Airlines’ aircraft for years – is nowhere to be seen.

What do you think?

Sweet pre-security treats at SEA Airport

There used to be a couple of vending machiens filled with fun and unusual Asian treats in the waiting area outside international arrivals at Seattle-Tacome International Airport.

An equally cool – maybe cooler – concession has taken its place.

All Nippon Airways – ANA – retires its R2-D2 Start Wars livery

ANA (All Nippon Airways) introduced a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with an R2-D2 livery back in September 2015.

After delighting fans and planespottsers with this livery for almost 10 years, the livery was retired on August 6.

Polly want a first class ticket?

We’re hoping this parrot that landed at Dublin Airport has been reunited wiht its family.

ANA joins with Pokémon in new safety video

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Star Alliance member All Nippon Airways (ANA) and The Pokémon Company have teamed up to make Pokémon-themed in-flight safety and disembarkation videos that are running now on ANA’s Pikachu Jet NH, a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, and Evee Jet NH, a Boeing 777.

The videos feature a charming assortment of familiar Pokémon characters helping the flight crew guide passengers through the safety instructions.

Take a look.

Here’s ANA’s disembarkation video. Also with the Pokémon theme.

And here are the two jets in the ‘set’ that that will are running these videos:

Plane paradise for Pokémon Fans

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More Pokeman characters are taking to the skies thanks to the Pokémon Company’s “Pokémon Air Adventures” partnership with a variety of airlines to decorate planes with  Pokémon characters – inside and out.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) launched a Pikachu Jet NH on June 4, 2023 and will be launching a second Pokémon themed plane, the Eevee Jet NH, on August 31.

ANA’s Pikachu Jet flies mainly in Asia, to and from Tokyo. The Eevee Jet, a specially painted Boeing 777-300ER, will operate for 5 years and fly between Tokyo Haneda and the US (New York and San Francisco) and between Haneda and London from August 31, 2023 through October 28, 2023. After that, the plane will likely be used on other routes.

Here are some images of the Pikachu jet, along with a ‘behind-the-scenes’ video of it being painted.

And here are some images of the Eevee Jet NH, plus the themed headrests inside the plane.

ANA isn’t the only airline participating in Pokémon Air Adventures. China Airlines, Scoot and several others have special Pikachu planes too.

ANA’s 1st A380 looks like a turtle

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All Nippon Airways (ANA) is celebrating the rollout of its first Airbus A380 from the Airbus Paintshop in Hamburg, Germany.  And the plane is pretty darn cute. 

The new plane sports a paint job featuring the Hawaiian green sea turtle, known as “Honu.” The turtle not only makes a cute livery, it has special meaning: in the Hawaiian language, the sea turtle symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

ANA is scheduled to receive this new A380 jet, nicknamed FLYING HONU, in March 2019. The plane’s inaugural flight is scheduled to leave from Tokyo Narita Airport and travel to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on May 24, 2019.

ANA is set to get three Airbus A380s and each will feature livery in different colors and with different designs.

The blue livery of the Flying Honu, the first aircraft, links ANA’s corporate color scheme with Hawaii’s blue skies.

The second aircraft is expected to begin operating in July 2019 and it will have emerald green livery inspired by the  waters of Hawaii. 

The third A380 will be orange, in reference to the beautiful Hawaiian sunset.

“The Airbus A380 will be an important addition to ANA’s current fleet and it will allow passengers to reach the scenic islands of Hawaii in comfort and style,” said Yutaka Ito, ANA’s Executive Vice President. “The customized livery adds a personal touch that will make the trip that much more memorable,” he added. 

You can’t win if you don’t play: July edition

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Here are few travel-related contests to consider entering. Because you can’t win if you don’t play.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) and XPRIZE  joined forces for the Seat 14C  project, which is a mix of a science fiction anthology and a writing competition set 20 years in the future.

Storytellers are invited to submit stories imagining the year 2037 when an ANA flight from Tokyo to San Francisco mysteriously lands in the future.

Stories must be 2000 to 4000 words and sent in by 11:59 Pacific Time on August 25, 2017.  More story requirements and tips for the contest are here. The $10,000 prize package includes round trip airfare to Tokyo for two, four nights in a four-star hotel, $1,500 in spending money and more.

Win a million Star Alliance points

To celebrate 20 years of “Connecting People and Cultures” Star Alliance and its 28 member carriers are inviting customers to enter a contest to win one million frequent flyer miles.

The deadline to enter is July 31, 2017 and 21 winners – one for each participating frequent flyer program – will be announced on September 28, 2017.

20 out of the 21 participating frequent flyer programs are offering miles (or mile equivalents) . SAS’s EuroBonus Programme is offering flight tickets instead of miles.

To enter you’ll need to be a member of one of the member carrier’s frequent flyer programs. Then, upload a profile picture and an image of a favorite cultural experience and describe where it was and what made it so special. More details here.

SkyTeam contest for a round-the-world trip

SkyTeam is celebrating 17 years as an airline alliance with a contest offering two round-the-world tickets as a prizes.

To enter, take a short quiz about your travel style and watch a short video from a web series of ten short films following ‘celebrity’ frequent flyers.  Contest ends July 13, 2017. More info here.

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

Painted planes: a sea turtle for ANA; Bad Badtz-Maru for Eva Air

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Japan’s All Nippon Airways – ANA – is getting its first Airbus A380 and will introduce it on the  Tokyo-Honolulu route starting spring 2019.  When it does, the plane will be painted to look like an endangered  Hawaiian green sea turtle (‘Honu’ in Hawaiian) – which is a symbol of luck and prosperity.

The “FLYING HONU” design was chosen from more than 2,000 contest submissions and the winner received a pair of round-trip business class tickets between Tokyo and Honolulu.

In announcing the special livery, ANA said it will also be supporting activities in Hawaii to protect the Hawaiian green sea turtle and will introduce yet-to-be-finalized new passengers services for the plane and the route.

 

Meanwhile, earlier this month EVA Air launched a new “Travel Fun” Sanrio character-jet adorned with the character Bad Badtz-Maru that will be flying on the Taipei-Fukuoka and Taipei-Seoul routes.

The Airbus A330-300 is the first to fly internationally with a Bad Badtz-Maru livery and shows a vacation-ready Bad Badtz-Maru and some of his friends, along with hats, a camera, snacks and other items.

 

ANA’s BB-8 Star Wars plane #3 +contest

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ANA STAR WARS BB-8

Japan’s All Nippon Airways – ANA – has been thrilling Star Wars fans with its series of Star War’s liveried planes and on March 27 the third and final aircraft in the specially-decorated series of planes will start flying international routes.

The aircraft will be unveiled in a ceremony on March 27 at Osaka’s Itami Airport, where the special livery was applied, and will then make a one-off domestic flight as ANA22 from Itami to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

At just past midnight on March 29, the plane will take off as ANA Flight 106 to Los Angeles and it will then fly various international routes between Tokyo’s Haneda and Narita and Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Houston.

The Star Wars theme isn’t just on the outside of the BB-8 plane. Inside passengers will find special BB-8 paper cups and headrest covers and find cabin attendants wearing BB-8 aprons.

Want to get on board?

ANA is having a contest to give away a pair of round-trip economy class tickets from Los Angeles to Tokyo for the first outbound flight. If you don’t win the first prize, you may win one of the 50 second prizes: a special BB-8™ ANA JET model plane.

Enter the BB-8 ANA Jet Sweepstakes here.

Sneak peek at ANA’s Star Wars plane

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Courtesy Boeing

With R2-D2, C-3PO and the Star Wars Stormtroopers on hand, on Saturday Boeing and Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) showed off the carrier’s R2-D2-themed jet at the Boeing Everett Factory north of Seattle.

Courtesy Boeing

Courtesy Boeing.

courtesy Boeing

Courtesy Boeing

The cool design features aren’t just on the outside. Inside the plane there will be Star Wars-themed service items as well, including paper cups and headrest covers.

ANA Star Wars paper cup

ANA Headrest cover

ANA introduces two new Star Wars planes

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What fun!

Japan’s ANA airlines will soon have two new Star Wars planes, decorated with BB-8, a brand new character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and with our old friend, R2-D2. The new designs are part of an agreement with The Walt Disney Company (Japan) and will be in addition to the previously announced R2-D2 ANA Jet, which is scheduled to go into service on October 18, 2015.

The new BB-8 ANA Jet, will be a Boeing 777-300ER. The new Star Wars ANA Jet, which will be decorated with both BB-8 and R2-D2 on the outside, is a Boeing 767-300. The previously announced R2-D2 jet is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

The decorations won’t just be on the outside. Like EVA Air’s Hello Kitty jets, ANA’s Star War-themed jets will have headrest covers, paper napkins and cups, and no doubt other in-flight service item (Star Wars toilet paper, please…) featuring Star Wars characters.

ANA Star War image

The airline also announcing that it will now offer all six of the currently released Star Wars films as part of the in-flight entertainment options on international routes.

All three Star Wars Jets will fly international and domestic routes. The R2-D2 ANA Jet is scheduled to go into service on international routes on October 18, starting as flight NH116 between Tokyo and Vancouver, and then fly between Japan and other cities, including Seattle and San Jose, Munich, Paris and Brussels, Sydney, Beijing and Jakarta.

In November, the Star Wars ANA Jet will begin flying domestic Japanese routes, with the BB-8 jet starting international routes, between Japan and North America in March 2016.

Here’s a link to ANA’s fun website site with all things Star Wars and a video of the jets “in action”:

Star Wars fave R2-D2 will become Dreamliner livery

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ANA Star War image

Move over Hello Kitty, R2-D2 is coming to the skies.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced that the adorable rolling Star Wars robot character will be painted on a new 787-9 Dreamliner as part of a five year agreement with the Walt Disney Company. You’ll need to wait until next fall to see the livery flying on international flights, but here’s a short video of what it should look like.

Can’t wait for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to hit the theaters? There’s a preview here.