Air Japan

Air Japan is ANA's mid-haul low-cost brand, a leisure operation aimed at Asia rather than a full-service carrier in miniature. It flies out of Tokyo Narita on holiday routes across the region, and the proposition is simple: get to the beach or the city for less, on a single-class aircraft, with the extras unbundled the way budget flying works. It sits under the ANA group but is run to a different, leaner playbook.

The aircraft is the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, laid out in a single economy cabin nine seats across. There is no business or premium tier to trade up to here, which keeps the whole cabin one class from the first row to the last. Using a widebody Dreamliner for low-cost leisure flying is the unusual part: passengers get the quieter cabin, the lower cabin altitude and the bigger dimming windows of a long-haul jet on routes a narrowbody would usually cover.

It is one economy cabin the length of the aircraft, so the flight you get comes down to where you sit within it rather than which class you buy. Nine-abreast on a 787 is the standard leisure-economy width, and the ride is quieter and the light more controllable than the narrowbodies flying similar routes. The character shifts front to back: calmer and quicker to leave near the nose, busier by the galleys and toilets towards the tail. Since everything beyond the fare is optional, the seat choice itself is where the comfort decision is made.

With one cabin and no upgrade path, the whole game is picking the right row. The front of the cabin boards near the front and clears fastest on arrival, which counts on a leisure route where the queue for immigration is half the trip. The rows over the wing ride steadiest through any bumps. The back few rows sit closest to the rear galleys and toilets, so they get the noise and the foot traffic, and any extra-legroom or bulkhead rows are worth the add-on fee on the longer sectors where a little more room pays off.