After my United Polaris flight from LAX, I had a few hours to kill in transit at Tokyo Narita before my connecting flight onwards home to Singapore. While I was not flying in a premium cabin for my Singapore Airlines flight, I had access to the ANA lounges courtesy of my KrisFlyer Elite Gold status.
While ANA previously had lounges in Satellite No.4 and No.5 of NRT, they had closed the no.4 lounge during the pandemic. The No.4 lounge used to be the most convenient lounge for SQ flights in my experience. During the pandemic, only the No.5 lounge remained open. However on 1 July 2022, ANA opened a brand new ANA Lounge in No.2 Satellite. This was still not particularly convenient for my SQ departure, however with 4h to kill before my connecting flight, I had plenty of time to check out this brand new lounge.
ANA lounges have never been particularly impressive, and the No.2 Satellite was in the same vein as their other lounges I’ve been to in Narita and Haneda, albeit with a brighter and updated ambience. It lacks window views and natural light however. It’s a perfectly acceptable place to spend a bit of time before a flight, but not one I’d specifically seek out.
Lounge access & location
As with all ANA lounges, the No.2 lounge is open to First, Business class and Star Alliance Gold passengers on ANA or Star Alliance-operated flights, Premium Economy passengers on ANA-operated flights only. Of course, First class passengers are entitled to, and should, use the ANA Suite Lounge instead. First class and Star Alliance Gold passengers can bring in one guest travelling on the same flight. ANA Mileage Club Diamond and Platinum members, Super Flyers members and Million Miller Program Lounge Access Card holders also get access, together with one guest on the same flight.
As its name states, the lounge is located at the No.2 Satellite of Narita Airport. To be precise, it’s at the circular concourse area where gates 22 to 25 are located. The lounge is one level down from the gate area. To get to the lounge, follow the signs for gates 22-25, and once at the gate area the signage for the lounge and the escalators leading down to it should be pretty obvious.
At time of writing, the lounge’s opening hours are 1pm to 6.55pm. These hours basically to the peak period of transit passengers arriving, and for the peak late afternoon/ early evening departures to North America and Southeast Asia.
The space
Being below gate level, it’s immediately obvious the lounge has no windows for natural light. Despite that, ANA have done their best to make the lounge as bright as possible, with loads of lighting and brighter colour tones. This is in contrast to the décor of most of their other lounges, which tend to have darker furniture and feel gloomier.
From the entrance, a short corridor leads to the lounge itself, passing the washrooms, shower rooms and a place for phone calls along the way. To my surprise, the phone “booths” were not enclosed, just a standing area with shelves and power outlets (Type-B plug and USB-A).
Entering the main lounge area, the area on the left is long tables designed more for working. These tables resemble open office style of desks. There are Type-A power outlets and USB-A ports for each seat, just beneath the table surface.
Across from this area, on the other side of the main corridor that forms the spine of the lounge, is the dining area. These were proper dining tables for pairs of passengers, although I suppose the tables could be pushed together for bigger groups to dine together. Of course, passengers are free to dine in any area of the lounge.
The rest of the seating areas were a mix of seating. There were long sofas with movable tables facing the sofa, and rows of armchairs with side tables in between each seat. The sofas had power outlets at their base, while the side tables had the outlets built in. The sofas and movable tables were probably most suited to dining and working, if the dining and communal work desks were full.
I’m not sure if it’s a feature because of the pandemic or if it was designed on purpose, but the side tables had dividers. I guess this served a few purposes, including demarcating which table “belonged” to which seat, and also for some privacy, with the added bonus of serving as a pandemic-era protective screen.
The communal work desks and dining area were the most crowded areas during my visit, with the sofa area also quite popular. I guess that’s because these areas were clearly most conducive for well, dining and working. The lounge was pretty packed for most of my stay there, but started emptying out around 5pm onwards as many of the North American departures left. My SQ flight was departing at 7pm, and by the time I left the lounge around 6.20pm, it was almost empty. I did notice some SQ passengers managed to make it to this lounge for a quick visit, despite the distance from the low-30 something gates SQ used. That said, the No.5 Satellite is possibly as far, if not farther.
Food & beverage
The F&B on offer were standard ANA lounge offerings, in a buffet. There was a noodle bar of course, but I miss the evening sushi counter at the No.4 lounge, now sadly closed. Because the lounge isn’t too big, the buffet area was proportionately small as well. This resulted in queues and an overall cramped feeling if the crowd around it built up.
Besides the noodle bar – where my standard order is a bowl of kitsune udon – there were the usual onigiri, inari sushi, ANA Japanese curry, karaage, assortment of breads and some cold items. I’m a sucker for ANA’s karaage even though it’s just frozen food, so I was happy to see that on offer.
In terms of beverages, there was of course the standard-for-Japan-airline-lounges beer machines. There were soft drink dispensers and other alcohol available too.
There was nothing too interesting about the F&B, but I was expecting that having visited ANA lounges several times before. In my opinion it’s sufficient for a quick bite before or between flights, but doesn’t pass for pre-flight dining enabling one to skip the onboard meal.
Lounge facilities
In terms of facilities, well there isn’t really much to write about. The work area has a printer/photocopier, and the lounge has showers. That’s about it. The No.5 Satellite lounge has a relaxation zone with massage chairs, so it’s a better option if you need that sort of lounging.
Having not showered for a good 16h and fearing a long wait, I immediately tried joining the shower queue when I got to the lounge. To my surprise, the attendant informed me there was no queue and I could use the shower immediately.
In keeping with the overall style of the lounge, the colour scheme in the shower room was a little brighter than the Haneda lounge shower rooms I’d used before. The lighting was also warmer. I did notice that the bathroom amenities were no longer from THANN though. At least the hairdryer was still a Dyson. The shower was multi-function; there was an overhead rain shower, handheld showerhead and massage jets. I always thought those sort of jets were gimmicks, but I actually found them quite nice after the long trans-Pacific flight.
Conclusion
The ANA Lounge No.2 Satellite in Narita is pleasant, if unspectacular place to kill time before a flight. It’s got all the basics required for a lounge and not much else. I like the brighter décor ANA has gone for with, a contrast to the dark tones of their other lounges. ANA lounges have never been the most impressive, so this offering is about par for course.
Previous posts in this series:
- Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Business Class (CGK-TPE)
- Review: EVA Air ‘The Infinity’ Lounge
- Review: EVA Air 787-9 Business Class (TPE-SEA)
- Review: Hilton Seattle
- Review: Sheraton Grand Los Angeles (King Guest Room)
- Review: Conrad Los Angeles (Premium View King)
- Review: United Polaris Lounge LAX
- Review: United 787-9 Polaris (LAX-NRT)