Flying the ANA Couchii from Honolulu to Tokyo — is it price it?

What is the ANA Couchii?

You may well be wondering, what in the world is a Couchii?

The ANA Couchii is a row of three or four economy seats that can be booked together. Each Couchii seat’s legrest rises to be flush with the bottom cushion to create a couch of sorts when all the seats in that Couchii are adjusted. These specialty seats are only available on ANA’s Airbus A380 aircraft (lovingly known as the Flying Honu), which operates between Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) and features a special sea turtle livery as an homage to the animal Native Hawaiians believe symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

You can book an entire row of three or four seats as the Couchii for one person or up to the usual number of passengers for those seats.

Obviously, you’ll have more room to lie down with fewer people sharing the Couchii. For our flight, I booked a row of three seats for me and a row of four for my two kids to share.

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While Couchii seats are, in many ways, normal economy seats located in the aftmost cabin in rows 71 to 76, they have a special trick that allows them to transform into lie-flat surfaces, plus some extra amenities that make them interesting and more comfortable.

Once you are at cruising altitude, you can pull up the raisable legrests on the row of three or four seats you’ve reserved for yourself or your group and then extend the base of the seats all the way to the seatback in front of you to create a little bed.

When you book the ANA Couchii, you’ll also receive some amenities to make your bed more comfortable. On our flight, we found a package with two full-size pillows and a duvet waiting for us that we supplemented with the standard small pillows and blankets available throughout the economy cabin to make an extra-cozy space.

The flight attendants will also supply you with special seat belts and extenders so you can stay safely buckled while reclined.

How much does the ANA Couchii cost?

The most common question I get about the ANA Couchii is whether you can book a whole row for just one person at a reasonable price, and the answer is … potentially yes.

Naturally, you pay more per person when you have fewer people in the row sharing the Couchii. But the price isn’t necessarily high, depending on when you want to fly.

The cost to book the ANA Couchii is a supplemental fee charged on top of your economy seat booking. That fee varies based on whether you are flying during the defined low or high season and how many people will be sharing the Couchii row of three or four seats.

To reserve the Couchii, you must book economy seats in one of these fare classes: Y, B, M, U, H, Q, V, W, S, L, K or X.

From there, the add-on fee to secure the Couchii currently ranges from $96 to $2,580, as indicated in the chart below. Note that the added fee isn’t per person; it’s per Couchii. So, for example, a party of two sharing the Couchii for four seats in the low season would pay an extra $560, whereas just one person would pay a whopping $980 for that same four-seat Couchii during the low season. That makes sense since this is a supplemental charge on top of your airfare, so two people are presumably paying more for tickets plus the upgrade to Couchii than a single passenger.

The seasons are published in advance to help customers price their flights out. For example, here are the low season dates for 2024. Our dates fell during our mid-March spring break, which worked fantastically for us, as it placed us in the low season end of the scale. (just $560 for my two kids to share a four-seater rather than, wait for it, $1,760!).

• Jan. 7 to March 25
• April 1 to 30
• May 7 to July 16
• Sept. 1 to Dec. 10
• Dec. 14 to 31

To put real numbers to it, our economy seats from Honolulu to Tokyo cost $671 per person in the S economy fare class. We were charged an additional $620 for me to have a Couchii row of three to myself and an extra $560 for the kids to occupy a Couchii row of four seats. That put the all-in total for three seats at an average of $1,064 per person.

Given we were flying roughly nine hours across the Pacific in lie-flat seats, I found that price to be more than fair. It’s a deal I’ll gladly take (almost) any time.

How to book the ANA Couchii

You can reserve the ANA Couchii when you book your economy seats, though you have up until 48 hours before departure to book should you need more time to decide.

To add the Couchii upgrade, pull up your reservation, click on the advanced seat selection option and check off the travelers who will share the Couchii. Then, scroll all the way to the back of the plane to rows 71 to 76 to choose a Couchii row.

Once you make your seat selection, check out and finalize payment.

What other perks do you get when booking the ANA Couchii?

When you book first class, business class or sometimes even premium economy, there are some upgraded perks that you get along with the better seat. You can typically expect benefits like early boarding, priority baggage services and/or lounge access.

The Couchii doesn’t come with any of that, unfortunately. After all, this is still an economy ticket (albeit with some better onboard functions and bedding).

How was it flying in the ANA Couchii?

First, let’s talk briefly about how fun it is to fly ANA’s A380, the aircraft you will be on when booking the Couchii.

The A380 is a large, comfortable plane, no matter where you sit. But ANA makes its version extra special with details like rainbow-patterned lighting, which the crew turned on as we exited the plane in Japan.

As is often the case with this type of plane, the takeoff was mesmerizing, especially with views of Oahu below. It’s amazing to be on a plane that feels so smooth when taking off, even with two levels and a staggering 520 seats.

It’s also probably worth mentioning that the plane was nowhere near full on our flight. In fact, it was less than one-third full in the section we were in at the back of the plane. If this is at all normal for the low season on this route, it makes sense why the Couchii upgrade price is so much less when the plane has the extra space to spare.

There were plenty of things to watch on the large 13.3-inch screens at the seatbacks — including this instructional video on how to use the Couchii seats that the flight attendants play for you as you settle into your seats after boarding.

My 8-year-old had selected the children’s meal in advance, and it was a pretty full tray served about 50 minutes into the flight. Her meal included chicken strips, macaroni, broccoli, Ritz Bits with cheese, Kit Kat bars, fruit, a bread roll and some additional finger foods. She’s a hard-to-please eater — as many children tend to be — but this easily hit the spot and was kid-approved.

Our regular meals came out about 20 minutes later, which is common with many international airlines that serve specialty meals, including those for kids.

The standard adult meal was simple but tasty enough with rice, a corn medley, beef in a savory sauce, noodles, a side salad and some additional small bites, along with a small carton of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

For simplicity’s sake, I recommend not transitioning your seat to the Couchii until after the meal service is concluded and you’ve enjoyed your beverages, such as the tea the flight attendants served, so that you don’t have to maneuver too much to deploy your tray table or get out to use the lavatory. For us, that meant we left the seats in their normal mode for the first couple of hours while we had the lunch service and watched some TV. This was a midday departure from Hawaii to Japan, so it was quite easy to stay upright and entertained at the start of our journey.

After lunch, the cabin got quieter and flight attendants dimmed the lights, so we decided to put the Couchii into resting mode by pulling up the legrest extensions and utilizing the bedding provided to make a comfortable place to rest. Then, we drifted off to nap land.

As you can see, my three-seater would be a tight fit for two passengers, but the four-seater worked fine for my 8- and 14-year-olds to share. Looking at the seat dimensions, the resting surface of a three-seat Couchii is about 51 inches long and 32 inches wide, while the four-seat ones are about 68 inches long and 32 inches wide.

My oldest is about 5 feet, 8 inches and needed most of the available space to fully extend. I’d imagine if you are more than a couple of inches taller than that, you potentially could not completely stretch out in a row of four. Of course, if you had the row to yourself and could extend your legs at a little bit of an angle, you may pick up slightly more wiggle room that way.

At 5 feet, 7 inches, I had to stay slightly curled up in my row of three seats so as not to spill out into the aisle.

For well over half the flight to Japan, this is what my view was like — the kids asleep across the aisle and me napping on and off and being plenty comfortable for a fraction of the price of a normal lie-flat seat.

Who should book the ANA Couchii?

I think our group of three was the perfect candidate for the Couchii in that we were a family that didn’t mind snuggling together for the flight and could share one Couchii row between two people to keep our out-of-pocket costs down.

Ideal customers for the Couchii are likely young families (or, at least, ones that have children small enough that you can have two share a Couchii) or adults like me who are happy to book a row of three seats to create a more affordable version of a lie-flat business-class seat. Personally, I would not want to share my Couchii with another adult, but they are also marketed to couples. If both parties are on the smaller side and like to stay close, then that could work — though I’d absolutely book the row of four seats, in that case, just to have some more space.

Even if you don’t plan to sleep, having the extra space and the ability to make a flat couchlike surface to put up your feet and watch some shows without bumping elbows with a stranger for half a day isn’t the worst plan.

However, do note that after purchase, it is not possible to switch to a different Couchii type, change users or change the number of users, so you need to be pretty sure of your plans. Refunds are available for the Couchii if you cancel your flight, but you’ll only receive up to 50% of the total amount paid. So again, this is for trips you are pretty darn sure you’ll take.

Is the ANA Couchii worth it?

The best proof I have that the Couchii was worth it for us is this photo taken the night we arrived in Japan.

While it was technically the next evening according to the calendar thanks to crossing the international date line, everyone was still all smiles and ready for the next part of the journey. I attribute that largely to the several hours of solid sleep we all comfortably got while lying down on the flight in our Couchii seats.

If you’re still on the fence about whether it’s worth booking, consider this: Both for our flight and while testing pricing for next March (the same time of year we traveled), the Couchii comes in a little cheaper per person when you purchase a row of three and a row of four for three people to use than booking three premium economy seats. While the latter do recline, they don’t move to a completely lie-flat position, making them less comfortable for sleeping.

Of course, business class is also an option on this plane, though it generally costs more than double the price of economy (including the Couchii surcharge) based on my test searches. While it’s a worthwhile option if it fits in your budget, when you start adding up the cost of booking multiple business-class seats for a family, it quickly makes it hard to justify paying if all you want is to lie down and take a nap.

I am absolutely in love with these couches-in-the-sky products, including the ANA Couchii, as they’re a great solution for families like my own who want to get much-needed rest in the air when doing long-haul travel on a budget. My only wish is that more airlines offered something similar.

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