First things first: There was very little food at this lounge, but I was there from 5:30 am until roughly 6:45am. I may have been the first passenger of the day, but none-the-less, the two desk agents both jumped up to greet me. A Business Class ticket on Singapore Airlines allowed me access, but Star Alliance Gold members also have access. The Lounge is located on the 2nd floor of Terminal A (not the main terminal that Korean Air flies out of).
The entire space is rather dark and there are no windows. It sort of feels like you are in someone’s basement, albeit a very nicely appointed basement.

As mentioned, the food was sparse, but there were a few chefs scurrying around, about to prepare something. There were some instant noodles, bread and a small salad bar set-up. Come to think of it, there were some signs that said hot food would be available shortly.
The shower room looked great, as it was stocked with toiletries. There was also a large business center and rooms to rest and sleep. My experinece at the Cathay Pacific Lounge, opposite this Asiana Lounge, was much better, but again, I was there at a different time of day.
Here are a few pictures of the Asiana Lounge in the main terminal.

i can only assume this plays itself

dining area

It’s that time of year.  The time to think about what happened in 2010, both the planned and the unexpected, and to ponder what might take place in the upcoming 365 days.  I don’t stand a chance of telling you about the latter, but I will share some insight into the former as it relates to Planereality.com

You may have noticed that I am not and expert at writing or photography.   Or blogging for that matter.  I don’t even know what blogging really means.   Anyway, there are 101 statistics that are supposed to help one evaluate whether their blog is doing what it is intended to do.

As a summation of 2010, I thought I would share one of Planereality’s statistics: Which posts are people reading and, of course, which posts are not read very much. Why? Because you may have missed a topic you are interested in. (And to generate more traffic!)

A friend once said to me: “I can’t wait until 2009″
I said: “Why?”
He said: “Odd numbered years are always better for me”

Whatever your strategy or thoughts are today,  I wish you a happy, healthy and properous 2011.  Thank you for coming by Planereality. Happy New Year!
Cheers.

posts that recieved the most traffic in 2010

Delta’s Lie Flat (Not Angled) Seats

The Lufthansa A380 trip to Tokyo

Delta’s Angled Lie Flat Seats

United’s “Old” 777 Business Class

United 747 Business Class Seating

posts not read as much

Asiana Airlines Business Class: Taipei to Seoul

Air France A380 Innagural Back to Paris

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class: Kingston to London

ANA Business Class: Tokyo to JFK

Etihad Economy Class to Manila

The other day I saw a tweet about the “World’s 5 Star Airlines.”  The tweet referenced Skytrax, an outfit that ranks the world’s airlines.  I checked out the Skytrax website and was surprised to learn that I had flown on 5 of the 6 five star airlines.  Now, as I learned in the mutual fund business, stars come and go, but having experienced the airlines firsthand, I am going to have to concur with Skytrax, with maybe the exception of Asiana.  Better still, I have written posts on 5 of 6 and they are posted here for your viewing enjoyment:

• ASIANA
• CATHAY PACIFIC
• MALAYSIA AIRLINES
• QATAR AIRWAYS
• SINGAPORE AIRLINES

• Asiana Airlines (OZ) #204 Seoul to LAX
• Boeing 777 2 class configuration
• Scheduled flying time: 11 hours

This report is from the 2^nd leg of a trip from Taipei to LAX with a connection in Seoul.  The first part of the report is here.  As much as possible, I would like to let the pictures do the talking for this post.  I do want to share a few aspects of my experience that came as a surprise to me when I crossed the Pacific with Asiana Airlines from Seoul to LAX.

I spent about twenty minutes in Asiana’s business class lounge, but did not notice anything terribly impressive.  There was a line to enter the lounge, even though there were 3 agents working the desk.  The lounge is huge with a ton of seating, but empty seats were few and far between.  There was a massive crowd around the hot pot used to boil water for instant noodles.  Available food consisted of pretzels, finger sandwiches, a salad bar, bread and of course, plenty of instant noodles.

Seoul’s Incheon Airport has free shower rooms which are cleaned very regularly.  I recommend utilizing them for bathroom trips or if you just want to freshen up.  They are very private and include a sink, toilet, shower and mirror.  The rooms are large enough for passengers to bring all of their luggage (including a luggage cart) into the actual shower room.

tonight's departures

Our 777 to LAX

After an orderly and on-time boarding, we departed close to schedule.  The first item that caught my attention was that there was no AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) available but rather 6 or 7 streaming movies, of which, only two were bearable.  I watched parts of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” intermittently throughout the flight.

The seats were almost identical to the ones on Asiana’s regional 767 service: business class seats that don’t even come close to 180 degree recline but do recline  further than old style business recliner seats.  My foot rest was not secured and was jarred out of place a few times.  Only half my seat controls were functional.  There were preset seat positions (landing, reading, sleeping) and those worked, but I could not tweak the seat position from there, although there were controls to do so.  I did manage about 2 hours sleep.

Seats 1H&K Bulkhead

forward galley

The tray table at the seat next to mine was broken and unsturdy, making for precarious eating for the guy next to me.  We were flying for 1 hour before passengers were served drinks, as Asiana serves drinks while  simultaneously serving meals.  Not an uncommon practice on international flights, but I would prefer separate services.

This all sounds pretty lousy right? Well, it actually wasn’t because Asina’s impeccable service and gourmet food made up for all of the cabin’s shortcomings.  See below.

My first meal consisted of surf and turf, which, admitantdly, I was too exhausted to get through.  My eyes were closing as I was attempting to savor the tender lobster tail.  Embarrassing, I know.

dinner appetizer

Incredible Surf & Turf

southerly routing

amenities in bathroom

Well before breakfast, I asked one of the flight attendants for something to eat.  Within minutes, she was back with a hot roast beef sandwich on a roll with fresh tomatoes and fruit on the side.  Above and beyond my expectations.  This is the second meal service:

delicious pumpkin cream soup

ahh...breakfast, spicy stir fried chicken

fruit and coffee to finish

business class cabin after arrival at LAX

amenity kit

The entire crew smiled the whole flight and if the service was not perfect, it was damn near close.  There was no request that was an inconvienice regardless of the hour.  I would, without hesitation, fly Asiana again, but I would be sure to look at this chart to determine which planes have on-demand entertainment.

Asiana: Awarded Airline of the Year 2009 by Air Transport World

There were a few restaurants on the second floor of the terminal, before security, and I was able to grab a late breakfast consisting of egg & beef in sauce over rice.  I was at the Asiana check-in counter when it opened, roughly 3 hours before departure.  A few shots of the terminal:

Just before the staff began checking in passengers, they all came out from behind the desk, lined up and sang a song in Chinese and then bowed.  You know, just like they do in the United States….

I was checked in through to Los Angeles and given lounge passes for Taipei and Seoul.  There was a long line at security and I did not see a first or business class dedicated check in line, but the line moved quickly, as passengers were not required to remove laptops or shoes nor were they required to show their toiletries in plastic bags.  Here is a write up about the Eva Airways Lounge, where I spent about an hour.

Asiana flies once daily from Taipei to Seoul using an Airbus A330-300 with the exception of Thursdays when a Boeing 767-300ER is used for the service.Because I was flying on a Thursday, the Boeing 767 was used for the short 1 hour 55 minute flight.  Our ride to Seoul:

 The 2-1-2  business class cabin configuration was 80% full.  After being seated, water and juice were offered, but I did notice that champagne was offered to the other aisle in business class.

I used the bathroom just before the meal service began and when I returned to my seat, I noticed that hot towels had been distributed.  I was sure they would give me one when I returned to my seat, but they didn’t and I had to ask.  Now, you might say, “gee, what kind of high maintenance passenger are you?”

In my defense, this is Asiana, known world-wide for spectacular service and I had very lofty expectitions for them.  It’s like when the Yankees don’t win a World Series, there are 29 teams that don’t win the World Series and their fans are not overly dissapointed, but for Yankee fans, the bar is set higher.  The Yankees are not evaluated on a relative basis (against other teams) rather on an absolute basis: themselves.  Between the champagne (or lack thereof) and the hot towel, Asiana, already had 2 strikes against them…pun intended.

Anyway, what a treat to be served a full hot meal on what amounted to be less than a 2 hour flight.  The beef was delicious and even the bread was soft.  Menu:

Post dinner drinks were refilled often and accompanied by a gourmet bag of nuts each time.  While the seats have plenty of legroom, I found them somewhat uncomfortable.  They recline more than typical domestic first class seats but do not go fully flat or even almost fully flat.  The seats are indeed comfortable but I just found them to be a bit awkward in the full recline position.  This is the seat in “full” recline:

All of the on-demand movies were in Korean, which is a problem if you do not speak Korean.  Luckily, the music selection was vast and I did enjoy flipping through a bunch of songs I had not heard in a while.  Slippers and headphones were placed at each business class seat before we had boarded.

The flight attendants were friendly as could be and very attentive, despite a few minor oversights.  What impressed me the most about Asiana was that, even on a short flight, they bring all the amenities to the table.  It seems they have one service mode: do everything in their power to please passengers, REGARDLESS of the length of flight. Well done Asiana!