ANA Premium Economy (LAX - HND)

Last year, we splurged and ponied up for business class on ANA.  Sure, it was the older product and we didn't get to experience "The Room" on their reconfigured 777 planes.  However, we enjoyed the space, cuisine and top-notch service.  Little did we know, it was necessary as Viv broke her leg and would've never been able to sit in economy.  This time around, we tried to finish our interrupted vacay, but went for Premium Economy on ANA.  Other than the actual seat and elevated cuisine, PE on ANA includes many of the same perks as Business including priority check-in, baggage and boarding.  As mentioned in my previous post, they also include lounge access.  This is actually an outlier as most airlines do not offer lounge access for PE.  Considering that we got to visit the ANA lounge at Haneda for our outbound flight, that was a real treat (we had access to the Star Alliance Lounge at LAX for our inbound flight)  For about half the price of business, PE is great for most people since the seats are spacious and recline quite a bit.  

We decided to book the the 2 back rows of PE, where they only have 3 rows to start with.  My kids sat in the first row when we returned last year and they didn't like the screen being so far away and also that they had to stow their personal item in the overhead storage (while taking off and landing).  As you can see, the leg room is pretty good at seat pitch at 38 inches for our Boeing 777-300ER.  Width measured at 19.3 inches.  There is a footrest available but I always find it uncomfortable, so I never use it.  I do like the leg rest that extends when you recline the seat though.

So PE is served the same food as economy and that isn't a bad thing.  Sure, it isn't the multicourse kaiseki-style meals in business, but remember the price difference.  Viv and I got one each of the lunch offerings.  The first was the Beef & Pork Hamburger Steak with rice and veggies.  Sides were the same for both being a orzo salad with smoked salmon, cold noodle with egg and sauteed greens and a green salad.  The other option was the Grilled Chicken on Rice with veggies and tamago.  Both meals were fine and did the trick.  Nothing amazing, but not terrible either.  I thought the chicken was the better of the two as the meat was tender.

In between meals, we were offered a snack in the form of either an Instant Noodle or Instant Rice Soup.  Of course we got both and despite being instant, these were not incredibly salty.  They were still flavourful though with measured sweetness.  For me, I preferred the soup as it was rather refreshing with bits of chewy rice.  As for the noodles, the veggies on top added crunch while there was a bit of spice.

I didn't end up sleeping much on the flight as it left in the afternoon, so I watched a few movies from the limited selection available.  Two hours before landing, we were served our second meal.  I selected the Beef Keema curry rice gratin-style while Viv had the Sauteed Chicken with noodles and a ginger garlic sauce.  Both came with a mac salad with ham and tomato as well as a small muffin.  We thought the chicken was the better dish here as it was tender and flavourful.  The beef was tasty too but on the drier side.

On our return flight, we were served a snack shortly after takeoff.  It consisted of a half Corned Beef Sandwich with some rice crackers and a bottle of water.  Nothing too interesting but better than their mayonnaise croissant of the past.  If anyone was a bit snackish during the time between this and our meal before landing, there was Pretz, cookies, water and bananas available in the galley.  I did end up eating some bananas.

So about two hours before landing, we were offered a choice of Cheese Omelette with chicken sausage or Crab Meat & Salmon Flakes on steamed rice.  The better of the 2 was definitely the omelette.  It was surprisingly not too overdone being fluffy.  Chicken sausage was like a European wiener.  The rice was okay but the salmon and crab on top was pretty salty.  Probably intentional as our tastebuds can be muted on a plane.  Both came with fruit, green salad and smoked salmon, egg and bean salad.  Overall, the food on ANA in premium economy is no different that in economy.  So in reality, you are paying for the seat, lounge access and priority check-in.  I'm not sure if it is completely worth it since you are paying more than double the cost of an economy ticket.  Also, the seats in economy on ANA are typically more spacious than other carriers (except JAL).  But if you absolutely want an even roomier seat, then premium economy is still wonderful.

The Good:

- Lounge access and priority check-in

- Spacious and comfortable seating

- Slightly more attentive service

The Bad:

- Can be 2.5x the cost of economy

- Food served is no different than economy

Porter Reserve

Ever since I spotted Porter Air as one of my options when I visited Quebec City/Montreal/Ottawa in 2023, I was uniquely curious about them. Their pricing was reasonable and they operated out of the major airports. However, we ultimately went with Air Canada to keep things simple. Since then, I've heard much more about Porter and usually positive things. So I finally decided to try them out on my recent 2nd visit to Toronto this year. In fact, I went with Porter Reserve, which only costs a bit more but offers up many perks. I saved a bit more money by obtaining some gift cards from Costco. Essentially, it gives you 10% off your fare.

With Porter Reserve, it is basically premium economy on any other airline.  First of all, there are no middle seats on Porter since they do a 2-2 configuration on their Embraer E195-E2 aircraft.  There is 30 inches of legroom with their Porter Classic seats, which is similar to Air Canada.  With Porter Reserve, we had a whopping 36 inches of legroom which was welcomed for my 6'1 frame.  Not only was I able to put my personal item under the seat in front of me, my legs didn't reach that far, hence, I was comfortable for my entire flight.  The width of the seat is 18.3 inches, which is wider than most Air Canada offerings.

Other perks with Porter Reserve include dedicated check-in, much like business class for any other airline.  However, there was minimal lineup at the regular check-in though.  In fact, with all the self-service check-in kiosks at Pearson, people were on their way quickly.  I did enjoy the Expedited Screening as it was similar to Nexus where you could bypass the line.  Of course there is also early boarding, but since the plane isn't very big, there wasn't much of a need for it.  All passengers enjoy free wifi on the flight and I found it to be fairly decent, but it cutout a few times.  You also get 2 free checked-in bags in addition to a carry-on and personal item.  Be aware that even with Porter Reserve, there is no lounge access included.

For me, to make this relevant, I must talk about the included food options.  On our way from YVR to YYZ, it was a morning flight, so were served breakfast.  Before I discuss what I had, it is important to note that all of the food served on Porter is cold.  There are no hot options.  As an appetizer of sorts, we had the Poached Mango with lemon and lime (also some fresh blueberries too).  Nothing particularly amiss with this as the pieces of mango were tangy with only a mild sweetness.  Right beside, there was an Apple & Cinnamon Round Mini-Loaf.  Didn't mind this as it was pretty moist and they didn't overdo it with the cinnamon.  However, it was pretty sweet.

Onto the main course, we had two options including the Overnight Oats & Greek Yogurt Fruit Bowl as well as the Butter Croissant Duo.  Super thick and dense enough to plaster a wall, the oats and yogurt actually tasted great.  It wasn't too sweet and had the nice tang of the yogurt and sweetness of the fruit.  But ya, the texture was far too thick and gummy.  As for my croissant, they were pretty basic, but also had good flavour.  Inside, we found smoked turkey, cream cheese & chives spread, sundried tomato and baby arugula.  Nice combination of tangy, salty, smoky and creamy.

On our flight back from TO, we had dinner service and started with the Green Goddess Lentil Salad and Pumpkin Seed & Turmeric Mini Loaf Slices.  Salad wasn't bad with firm lentils with green & red peppers, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives and pickled carrot.  Lots of textures and flavours here including the creamy dressing.  The mini loaf slices were quite earthy due to the turmeric, but did have some sweetness.  They were moist and a bit crumbly.  Not my favourite, but not overly offensive.

For the mains, the two options were Riviera Deli Sandwich and the Asian Grilled Tofu Bowl.  For me, the sandwich was the better of the two since it had more flavour and the bread was surprisingly soft for being refrigerated.  Nice balance of sweet, salty and zesty.  As for the bowl, it wasn't bad per se because the dressing made everything taste good with a nice saltiness that was muted by some sweetness and acidity.  The tofu was medium-firm and wasn't offensive.

Other than the food, there was also a selection of drinks, which included alcohol.  Also, there was full-sized snacks sourced from Canadian companies.  Yep, we could take as many as we wanted, but I only took one as I was already quite full from my meal.  I didn't end up drinking any of the bottled cocktails, beer or wine.  I did get my fill of Diet Coke though.  Overall, we really enjoyed Porter, from the check-in, seats and service.  Food is a bit hit and miss, but appreciated nonetheless.  Next time, I'll try the Porter Classic and see how that will go.

The Good:

- No middle seats

- Good service

- Free wifi

The Bad:

- No lounge access with Porter Reserve

- Wish they had hot food, but I guess there are limitations