Seoul, South Korea to Los Angeles, CA
Korean Air #17
Boeing 747-400
Prestige Class (Business)

No, this is not the plane I flew, but thought it was a cool picture/drawing/postcard.

The caption in the picture above really says it all. Here are the pictures to prove it.
I am not sure if Incheon Airport is so huge that it seems empty, is huge and really is not very busy or some combination of the two. This is what most of the gate areas looked like:

Incheon Airport includes many ultra high end shops.

International Departures:

Here is our ride to LAX. Boarding was organized, minus the security screening of carry on baggage just before entering the plane. The security personnel were off to the side, kind of waving and yelling (politely) for people to bring their bags over, while more people were trying to board, creating a bottleneck at the jet way entrance.

my seat, upper deck, exit row, window:

Surprisingly, no amenity kits were given to Prestige class passengers; only slippers were available.

far eastern part of Russia?:

Once we leveled off, dinner service began. The menus were not passed out, they were already in bins at our seats when we boarded. There was dinner and breakfast service on this flight.

I had the opportunity to try something new for dinner: “Bibimbap” – a bowl with rice, vegetables and minced beef. It was similar to a stir fry, but I believe the vegetables were steamed. Quite tasty indeed.

Appetizer: best smoke salmon I have ever had. The small dishes in the upper left hand side are condiments for my main dish.

Instructions on assembling the Bibimbap:

Bimimbap (the red stuff is hot pepper paste):

I was served the soup as well, but I had the FA take it away as it was bumpy and I almost wound up wearing it.

post dinner cheese plate:

breakfast menu:

For the exit row, a personal television came out of the armrest. Here is a sample of the movies, many had not yet been released on DVD. The breadth and depth of music selection was also impressive.

flight path:

mid flight, looking forward in the upper cabin:

sunrise:

think there enough leg room in the exit row?

tasty breakfast:

The seats were comfortable but not flawless. I managed a few hours of sleep, but did wake up once with the lower portion of my legs on the floor. I had slid down the seat.

seat in full recline:

Service on this flight was smiles all around. Korean Air flight attendants make you feel like you are the only one on the plane. Fly Korean Air to experience “Excellence in Flight” from food to entertainment to service.

A380:

El-AL 777:
China Eastern:

Alaska Airlines:

more Qantas:

V Australia:

“foreign” airline:

Asiana:

Boeing 737:

ready for push back to JFK:

shortly after push back for Dubai:

More spotting from LAX coming soon.

I had a few hours to kill at Korean Air’s Prestige (Business) Class Lounge above gate 25 at Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Eating and plane spotting, among other things, were two activities that took up the bulk of the time. I estimate the lounge can hold at least 250 people at any given time and it’s a good thing because it was pretty busy the hours I was there. I found that certain parts of the lounge looked brand new while others were worn out and old. It was not difficult to find a spot to plug in my laptop to us the free Wifi, but it took several attempts to find an outlet that worked properly. It was not until my 3rd try that I found a working power outlet.

After I was settled, I asked at the front desk of the lounge if I could have my seat changed for my upcoming flight. Not one of the three attendants were able to help me and sent me outside the lounge to the transfer desk down the hall, where the agent had it changed within a few minutes.
Food and drink were plentiful throughout late breakfast and lunch hours. Water, Budweiser, Hite, fruit juices and a limited liquor selection rounded out the beverage offerings. For food, dumplings (awesome soaked in shark fin soy sauce) rice porridge, cold cuts, pastries and breads were offered.

The business center was empty and appeared well equipped. There is no food or drink allowed in the business center, hence the minimal draw, but it has a great view of the apron and runway.
During lunch hours, a salad bar was set up in addition to different food offering than breakfast: delicious chicken cutlet finger sandwiches, fried prawns, cheeses, cakes and chicken balls (meaning the shape not the origin-hey, that’s what they called it) were served.

Although the lounge was bustling in the morning, the crowds subsided considerable by the early afternoon.
Across from the lounge is a separate, full service spa, available to all passengers transiting Icheon Airport. I utilized the shower rooms in the spa and they were much cleaner than you would expect (there are also showers in the Business Class Lounge). The shower rooms are free to use, but a “shower kit” is available for $6 USD. The kit consists of a towel (potentially helpful, even though it’s the size of a hand towel), shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap. No sandals or flip-flops were available.

I find dedicated attendants/agents to be a significant benefit in any airline lounge. The fact that they could not change my seat assignment was annoying. Beyond that, the comfort, ambiance and food were great at Korean Air’s Prestige Lounge-Incheon.

Although tickets are free, visitors must obtain a ticket for the Skybridge Tour. I waited in line 1 hour for a ticket and another 15 minutes for my tour to start. It is well organized and worth the wait.

Korean Air #672: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-Seoul, South Korea
Airbus A330-300; duration: 6 hr 5min
Prestige Class – 11:45pm departure

outside KUL airport:

a few other departures tonight:

Asia’s “low-cost” carrier-how ’bout the slogan?

I had read, on a few different blogs, that red eyes from Southeast Asia to East Asia were a “nightmare” and therefore had low expectations. Based upon my experience, what I read was completely wrong because this was one of the most pleasant, relaxing flights I have ever taken. To my amazement, there was only 1 passenger in First Class, 3 in Business Class (including me) and a very light load in Coach.
The First Class seats looked identical to that of the Business Class section except there appears to be more width and leg room.

looking forward into the first class cabin:

empty business class cabin:

On this Airbus, Korean Air still uses the “old” style business class seats as opposed to the more modern lie flat seats that so many are accustomed to these days. I love these seats. Yes, there is limited recline and limited space for your legs, BUT the seats are quite wide, very soft and just plain comfortable.
 

business class seats:

seat controls:

leg room:

As soon as I was seated, the Purser came to my seat and introduced herself, let me know the flying time and offered her assistance if there was anything I needed. If you are on local time, this is a red eye. I am somewhere in between local time and EST time, no sleep for me on this hop.
Drink orders were taken (as opposed to passing a tray of pre-poured drinks) while on the ground: “Champagne perhaps?”

Entertainment on this regional route consists of streaming movies in several different languages shown on personal televisions which pull out from the center arm rest. Streaming, meaning no pause or rewind, no watch as you please…10 movies being show all at once, you decide what you want to watch and when the movies are over, they start again and you can change the channel to watch something else.

Breakfast menus were passed out and orders taken within first 30 minutes of flight.

A hot towel service commenced and water and peanuts were passed out. A few minutes later “fish cakes” with a chili dipping sauce were served.

They were quite tasty, particularly the sauce, although I could not identify what they consisted of; I’m guessing some type of fish, possibly. More drinks were offered after our snack, but no amenity kits were distributed. Slippers were placed (pre-flight) at each seat, and even though they were quite small, I wore them anyway.

in-flight magazine:

flight distance page in the magazine:

After service, the cabin was darkened. I played solitaire for an hour and thought about what I would do when I got to Seoul.

….

As the sun was rising, breakfast service began. I did no justice to the picture of breakfast. Those are mushrooms on top of the eggs.

What I found truly amazing on Korean Air is that anytime I had a question like, where the headset plugged in, how to make the TV play in English, an FA appeared to assist before I could even ask, anticipating every need, almost like they were standing right behind me. And maybe they were because there were so few passengers on this flight, but my sense is that this is standard service on Korean Air.