In July 2023, the international part of Tokyo Haneda’s Terminal 2 and, with that, the international ANA Lounge in the terminal were reopened for the first time since the pandemic. In fact, having only been used for less than two weeks before the pandemic brought travel to a halt, the facilities were essentially brand new when the terminal reopened.
I finally got a chance to visit the lounge earlier this month since the first flight of my trip to Africa, NH861 to Seoul Gimpo is one of those that ANA moved from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2.
Continue reading this review to see what the lounge was like.
Location & Opening Hours
The international ANA Lounge in Terminal 2 is airside. To access it, you can take the escalator or elevator you will see on your right as soon as you get through the security check and immigration. The lounge is a few minutes walk away from the main area of the terminal with gates.
ANA’s international lounge in Haneda’s Terminal 2 is open daily from 5AM until the last international departure from the terminal. There are separate lounges for passengers departing on domestic flights from Terminal 2 and international flights from Terminal 3.
Entry Requirements
Haneda Airport Terminal 2’s international ANA Lounge can be accessed by ANA business and first class passengers departing on an international flight from the terminal. The latter can also bring in one guest traveling on a Star Alliance flight not necessarily the same as that of the first class passenger. Additionally, unlike with most other airlines, ANA’s premium economy class passengers can also use the lounge free of charge.
With the lounge following the standard Star Alliance lounge access policy, Star Alliance Gold members departing on the alliance members’ flights can also use the lounge and bring in one guest traveling on the same flight.
In theory, business and first class passengers traveling on Star Alliance airlines other than ANA can access the lounge too. However, currently, the terminal is only used by ANA. All non-Japanese airlines use Terminal 3 instead.
Lastly, the lounge can also be accessed together with one guest traveling on the same flight by those holding “Lounge Access Card” provided to select ANA Million Miler Program members and by those ANA passengers that would otherwise be ineligible but are willing to pay 8,000 yen (50 USD) in advance or 12,000 yen (76 USD) walk-in rate.
Infants under the age of two do not count as guests.
Layout, Seating & Other Facilities
Going past the reception, the hallway split in two directions.
Turning right, there was a baggage storage area with smaller lockers and larger open spaces with locks for suitcases. Turning left, the hallway led to the lounge itself, which mostly consisted of a large open space with a variety of seating and a couple of couple of smaller areas partitioned-off to one extent or another.
Entering the main part of the lounge, there were a customer service desk on the left side and a fairly open seating area (which could not be said about the rest of the lounge which had seats packed next to each other) with large sofas and some lounge chairs. Thanks to the spacious layout, I found this area to be nicer than any other seating area of this or other ANA Lounges I visited.
While the customer service desk was not staffed when I got to the lounge around 6:50AM, it opened later in the morning around the same time the lounge started to fill up.
Behind the area above was the lounge’s main seating area, which consisted of rows and rows of sofa chairs followed by rows and rows of lounge chairs followed by rows and rows of sofas. Each seat in this area came with a small side table with a power outlet and a USB-A charging port.
While the furniture itself was fine and in good condition given how new the lounge is, the lack of any significant partitions, the uniformity of seat types, and the seating density made the area feel anything like cozy. In fact, the area looked like a (nice and very large) train or bus station waiting room.
At the very back of the lounge was an area with 20 or so semi-private pods, each with a sofa that could sit two people, a sidetable, and charging options.
While the pods looked nice, the sidetable was quite small and only on one side of the pod.
The windows behind this area offered a limited view of the domestic side of Haneda’s Terminal 2, as well as of runway 16L/34R.
Along the windows to the left side of the main seating area was a raised area with seating in the form of counters and a few lounge chairs with small tables.
Toward the back of the raised area was also a staffed bar with about a dozen seats along the counter and a few sofa chairs arranged in pairs. The bar area was, however, closed and roped off at the time of my visit. It appears to be open daily between 6PM and 12:30AM.
The windows on this side of the lounge offered very limited views of some remote parking spots at the airport, runway 34R, and, in the distance, runway 05/23.
The last part of the main large and open part of the lounge was a dining area located to the left of the main seating area.
In addition to plenty of dining tables, the area also offered seating space in the form of counters and communal tables. While there was a live cooking station, the food prepared there was then placed on one of the buffet counters rather than offered directly.
A feature that I found interesting was a counter displaying some of the Japanese sake offering from the lounge, the first class ANA Suite lounge, as well as from business, first, and Premium class onboard service.
Separately from the main seating area and in a small room along its left-side wall, a business center with two counters and over a dozen office chairs could be found, as well as a printer/copier. Each of the seating spaces was partitioned off from each other and had a power outlet and a USB-A charging port.
I spent all of my time in the lounge here since the area was empty and offered the nicest conditions for getting some work done.
For those preferring to relax in silence rather than work or lounge in the main area, there was a relaxation area with a couple of semi-private rooms, each with a lounge chair, an ottoman, and a small coffee table, as well as a pair of power outlets.
Lastly, there was a kids room. To equip it, ANA partnered with Mattel, meaning there was plenty of toys for children of all ages.
When I visited the lounge, it was occupied by one family of four most of the time, which was about as many people as could fit in comfortably.
Like essentially all other airport lounges in Japan, the international ANA Lounge in Haneda Airport’s Terminal 2 also had a number of phone booths that guests could use to take phone calls without disturbing other guests.
The lounge’s restrooms and showers were located in the near-left corner of the lounge.
The restrooms were clean and, in addition to soap, also offered additional Sekkisei amenities.
Drinks
Most of the drinks in the lounge could be found in the main buffet area. There was also a separate counter with a coffee machine, however, that was out of operation when I visited. Lastly, there was a staffed bar but, as mentioned above, it was only open between 6PM and 12:30AM.
Starting with soft drinks, there was a dispenser with a variety of options ranging from Pepsi through ginger ale all the way to orange juice and cold green tea. There were also pitchers with tomato juice and milk, as well as a water dispenser.
There were also a regular coffee machine and an espresso machine.
Hot drinks also included regular green tea, roasted green tea (hojicha), a selection of George Steuart teas, and Nescafe decaffeinated coffee.
Beer was available from automated dispensers that Japanese lounges are well-known for. All four of the country’s main brands – Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory – were available.
Other alcoholic drinks included a selection of wine (one red, one white, and one sparkling), Choya umeshu (plum wine), two kinds of sake, four kinds of shochu, and a variety of other liquor.
Food
Most of the food in the lounge could be found spread across a couple of counters in the buffet area.
That said, like other international ANA Lounges, the lounge also had a staffed noodle bar, where a variety of soba and udon noodles, pork broth ramen noodles, as well as vegetable curry rice were offered.
Lighter bites to eat available from the buffet included salad, sandwiches, bread and croissants, and rice balls. While the croissants were only available until 11AM, the variety of rice balls available changed each month. The selection in June included bonito flakes and pearl barley and wakame seaweed riceballs. Kombu kelp and festive red rice rice balls will be offered in July.
Additionally, there were also whole fruits (apples and oranges), cornflakes, almond jelly, and strawberry, custard, and chocolate puffs.
Hot dishes available during breakfast time (I visited the lounge for about an hour starting just before 7AM) included steamed vegetables (corn, carrots, and sweet potatoes), scrambled eggs, stir-fried noodles, and pork sausage and bacon teppanyaki with roasted potatoes. The last dish was prepared in the live kitchen while the rest was brought from the main kitchen.
ANA’s obligatory chicken curry rice was available too.
Lastly, packaged rice crackers were available for those looking to have some salty snack with their drink.
Summary
The (relatively) new international ANA Lounge found in Tokyo Haneda Airport’s Terminal 2 is, without a doubt, the nicest ANA business class lounge. The lounge offers a good variety of seating and a nice selection of food and drinks including ANA’s signature noodle bar. Given the fact that a relatively limited number of international flights use Terminal 2, there are also more than enough seats for everyone.
That said, the one thing that I think ANA could have done better when planning the lounge is its layout. While the spacious area next to the entrance, the business center, the semi-private areas, and the dining areas are fine, the main lounging area could use a bit of partitioning. In the current setup, the space is simply too large and too filled with rows of seats to look more inviting and cozier than a bus station waiting room.