ANA's New Honolulu Lounge Includes A VIP Perk for Premium Passengers

Japan's largest airline just announced the details of its newest lounge, launching at Honolulu International Airport (HNL) in the spring of 2019. ANA's renderings of the lounge space depict a stylish environment inspired by both Japanese and Hawaiian elements of design, such as a traditional Japanese coffered ceiling made with Hawaiian wood.

ANA's new fleet of three custom-livery Airbus A380s begins service in early 2019, and one of those A380s will take over the Tokyo (NRT) to Honolulu (HNL) route. Since ANA currently doesn't have a lounge of its own at Honolulu, the lounge opening will coincide with the A380's debut on the NRT-HNL circuit. The unique "ANA Hawaii" investment will be a huge upgrade over the current ANA experience in Honolulu, where passengers only have the lackluster option of visiting the Star Alliance partner United Club lounge over Gate 10.

The lounge will be located above what's currently known as Gate 29 in the main terminal, but which will be renamed to Gate C4 in Honolulu's new Terminal 2. For premium-class passengers, the most exciting feature will be the ability to board directly from the first-class ANA Suite lounge onto the upper deck of the A380, completely bypassing the common herd at the boarding gate one floor below, as seen in this diagram:

Because Hawaii is such a popular family vacation destination, the new ANA lounge will also feature a family area for passengers traveling with children. The kid-friendly section will have toys and features a stylized tide pool design.

The ANA Suite lounge is available for first-class passengers and Diamond Service members, who can each bring one additional guest. First-class passengers can also bring one additional guest into the ANA lounge. The same guest privileges also extend to Diamond Service, Platinum Service, Super Flyers and Star Alliance Gold members. Business class and premium economy passengers will have access to the ANA lounge, but they will not be able to bring in additional guests unless they hold one of the above memberships.

The view from the lounge presumably will offer ANA passengers an up-close opportunity to enjoy the special "Flying Honu" livery of the A380s, which depict a family of Hawaiian Green sea turtles painted in colorful pastel shades.

All images courtesy of Air Nippon Airways/ANA.