ANA’s domestic passengers can, depending on their eligibility, visit two types of lounges: ANA Lounge and ANA Suite Lounge. While in the past, I reviewed some of the ANA Lounges, it wasn’t until late last year that I had a chance to visit a domestic ANA Suite Lounge as I was flying with a friend who is an ANA Mileage Club Diamond status holder.
More specifically, I visited the ANA Suite Lounge at Sapporo New Chitose airport prior to catching the last Bear Do Hokkaido Jet flight. Continue reading this review to see what the lounge was like.
Location, Opening Hours & Access
Sapporo New Chitose airport’s ANA Suite Lounge is located after security, one floor above the main departures level. It can be accessed through an entryway located opposite gates 7 and 8. The same entryway can also be accessed from the landside through a dedicated premium check-in and security check area.
Every day, the lounge is open from 6:15AM until the departure of the last ANA flight.
It can be accessed by ANA Mileage Club Diamond status holders, passengers connecting onto an international first class flight, and those holding an ANA Suite Lounge entry ticket (provided as a benefit for frequent flyers, etc.). Lower ANA status holders, non-ANA status holders, and passengers traveling in domestic Premium Class cannot access the lounge.
Lounge Tour
Inside the entryway on the main departures level, some items from ANA’s shopping catalog were displayed. In addition to that, there were escalators to and from the reception area. The reception was shared between the ANA Suite Lounge and the ANA Lounge which is accessible to domestic Premium Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members.
While the entrance to the ANA Lounge was located to the right of the reception desk, the entrance into the ANA Suite Lounge was located to the reception desk’s left.
The lounge itself was fairly simple, consisting of a long, narrow, and (due to the shape of the terminal) slightly arced main section and some facilities along the hallway leading from the reception into the main section.
The hallway connecting the reception to the lounge included a customer service desk, restrooms, a luggage storage rack, phone booths, a printer/copier, and a check-in kiosk where one could change seat, etc.
Entering the main area through the hallway, there was a buffet area with drinks and some light food on the left. That area was also equipped with rows of sofa chairs separated by coffee tables.
Turning right at the entrance instead, there were some more rows of sofa chairs.
Further down, there was also a counter along the windows and a communal table with a dozen or so seats. The latter had something along the lines of a hill mock-up in its center.
There was another set of restrooms and phone booths in the back of the lounge too.
There was also a magazine rack in the lounge, however, there were no magazines. Instead, there was a sign pointing visitors to access ANA’s in-flight magazine and other reading materials through their smartphone.
Food and Drinks
All of the food and drinks in the lounge could be found in the buffet area to the left of the lounge’s entrance. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, there were plastic gloves available.
As for soft drinks, there were pitchers with milk, tomato juice, and vegetable juice in a refrigerator which also housed beer glasses. There was also a soft drinks dispenser that offered soda (Pepsi, ginger ale, etc.), orange and juices, green tea, oolong tea, and water. A separate dispenser with aojiru (green juice) was available too.
Hot drinks included a variety of coffee drinks available from an espresso machine and a selection of tea bags. The latter included green, roasted green, black, camomile, rooibos, and fruit tea.
There was also a selection of alcoholic drinks. Those included Sapporo, Kirin, and Asahi beer from Japan’s well-known automatic dispensers. There were also high ball, red and white wines, sake, shochu, whisky, and gin.
In addition to drinks, there were also some light things to eat.
Those included kombu and salmon rice balls, plain and walnut bread, and steamed cheese bread (something like cheesecake).
There was also a soup dispenser with corn soup, beef consomme, and miso soup.
Lastly, there were packs of rice crackers for those looking to have a snack.
ANA Suite Lounge Sapporo Summary
All in all, the ANA Suite Lounge in Sapporo offers a pleasant environment to spend some time in before a domestic catching ANA flight. It is equipped with seating suitable for both relaxing and working, and a decent selection of soft and alcoholic drinks is offered. Additionally, unlike the neighboring ANA Lounge, rice ball and bread are offered in the lounge in addition to packs of rice crackers.
The only unfortunate thing about the lounge is that passengers traveling in ANA’s domestic Premium Class are not invited. Considering that JAL offers its domestic first class passengers access into the better of its two lounges, it would be nice if ANA offered the same. Especially considering the fact that ANA’s Premium Class is generally more expensive than JAL’s first class.
