travel

ANA Travel Wellness Initiative to help passengers recharge while in-flight

6 Comments

ANA Holdings Inc, the parent company of ANA, is introducing a new program to help travelers "recharge" while in-flight. The program, ANA Travel Wellness, aims to create a more comfortable atmosphere for travelers in-flight.

"ANA HD realizes that many travelers fear long flights due to potential side effects such as jetlag, fatigue or lack of sleep," said Yoshiaki Tsuda, vice president, ANA Digital Design Lab. "These negative notions deter some passengers from taking longer flights. To address these issues, ANA HD has been working to create the ANA Travel Wellness initiative."

ANA HD has been working with a research team led by Professor Ichiro Kawachi, chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to review state-of-the-art evidence and investigate perceptions and determinants of jetlag among U.S. and Japanese passengers traveling in business class. ANA HD has also conducted various surveys about jetlag to gather additional information and plans to publish the results in academic journals.

To resolve the negative connotations that passengers have with flying, ANA HD will begin initiatives to help passengers be at their best physical and mental states during flights and potentially be in even better shape than they were before boarding the flight. The initiatives will first focus on athletes since they are often required to be in their best condition upon arrival.

The first initiative will create a mobile app to relieve the feeling of jetlag, which will be made in conjunction with NeuroSpace, a start-up company that creates measures to advance the quality of sleep. ANA HD and NeuroSpace are looking into the scientific cause of jetlag in order to help alleviate the symptoms or prevent them from occurring altogether. Test trials of the app will be conducted on certain ANA HD employees and passengers traveling internationally. ANA HD aims to officially start offering this service in April 2019.

Through multiple initiatives, including the jetlag relieving app, ANA HD's goal is to increase the affinity for air travel and challenge ourselves daily in an endeavor to capture latent customer needs.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

6 Comments
Login to comment

I think the window seats are noisiest, but still like to sit there for the chance of taking photos. My idea of hell though is the passenger in front deciding to fully recline.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

However recently, I noticed that planes are just noisy. 

I've noticed that too. In the 90s, I used to have normal conversations with passengers beside me. Now, I almost need to shout. Maybe because they were 747s in the old days, which put the engines farther away from the cabin, or my habit now of sitting near the front of the cabin.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Earplugs do work, Chico3. If you fly often (or if you are a light sleeper at the best of times) investing in a custom made pair is well worth it as they dial down engine noise as well as crying/shrieking babies.

If you are in flight 10 hours or more, it's possible to use a low-dose sleeping pill to insure that you get 4 or 5 hours of decent sleep before landing. I like 3.25 mg of Zopiclone as it does not leave you drowsy on waking. In addition, you can use it the first couple of days when you need to kick yourself over to the new time zone at bedtime.

Also helpful is a herbal product called No-Jet-Lag http://www.nojetlag.com/. Taken before and during the flight it works wonderfully to ease jet lag. I've sworn by it since 1998.

Adequate hydration and dialing back the alcohol (especially if using Zopiclone) is common sense advice that's not new. As well, information on in-seat exercises and chair yoga has been readily available for years.

Though you can't lie down, all of these strategies also work in cattle class. Not as well for people who are taller than 160 cm or heavy-set for whom the squish-factor in economy is awful, but they can provide some relief. Any is better than none.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Long haul flights in cattle class are always going to be hell. Unavoidable. I always fly in business class whenever possible, I still feel vaguely human when I arrive at my destination. Can be pricey thought when it's not a business trip. But worth it I think.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Reads like ANA PR and I'm a mileage club member. "The effects on business class passengers," those long suffering souls. Let us all take a moment to contemplate their struggles in their horizontal booths, sipping champagne. Meanwhile, those of us in steerage will need more than an app to ease our agony.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

My biggest challenge when flying long distances is trying to sleep. My first thought was because of the sometimes cramped seats. However recently, I noticed that planes are just noisy. Yes, ear plugs might work, but they can sometimes be uncomfortable.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites