Review: Asiana First Class A380 Los Angeles to Seoul Incheon

I liked that Korean has - or maybe had - a bar upstairs in front sponsored by Absolut. They had a bunch of flavors out, with all the mixers for most of the flight. Now, no one really used it, but it was nice to sit there for a bit, having a drink, as a change of pace.

Asiana should do something similar. Was pretty low maintenance to set up and use.

So who has the worse entertainment selection in First, Asiana or Lufthansa?

Also, can you mix appetizers and main courses from both menus?

On the ground at LAX, you had a picture of China Eastern A330, I m a little surprise that the plane have the range from lax-pvg.

@ choi -- Yep, the A330 has the range to fly 7,000nm+, so is surprisingly long range.

@ wwk5d -- Hah, I'd say Asiana is even worse. You can mix food all you want, assuming they have enough (and probably have all of both, if you wanted).

@ Neil S. -- Yep, LOVE the Korean Air bar, especially the one at the back of the upper deck. Heck of a setup.

It's pretty impressive that they serve Oscietra Royal! (Considering that Cathay only serves the Venise, which costs about half as much in retail)

Lucky, 2 random questions for you.
1. What would happen if you take the BOSE headsets with you?
2. What is the earliest you have ever arrived compared to the scheduled landing time?

@ Front Office --

1) It would be theft, so I guess it's like asking what happens if you walk out of a 7-11 without paying for something? You might get away with it, but I wouldn't feel good about doing it.
2) I once had a flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles that had REALLY strong tailwinds and landed three hours early.

Did they offer a gift, or does Asiana no longer offer parting "gifts" to first class pax?

@ JFK -- It seems that they've parted with parting gifts. 😉

Wow. Now I'm starving!

The food looks identical to what we had on the 747 in F LAX-ICN in March, however the plane is a HUGE difference. The 747 was very run down in my opinion, but service and food were top notch for us. We will definitely have to try Asiana again on the A380, and we'll have Korean Air A380 in July to compare it with as well. Thanks for the review!

Great report Ben. The two "killers" for me on my flight were the lack of entertainment options (what a waste of such a large screen) and only having 1 bathroom for the 12 of us, especially in the hour just before landing. I won't be seeking out the Asiana 380 again anytime soon (at least not in first class).

Glad to see Icewine on the menu. They also served it in business class on my two-class ICN-LAX flight, even though it was not on the menu. Icewine is as much a highlight of flight catering for me as caviar. Too bad Air Canada doesn't serve this Canadian delicacy.

flew F on asiana in seat 2k three weeks ago. found your review to be nearly identical to my experience. i haven't flown F too many times in general, so it was just a magnificent experience all around. sounds like service in general on my flight was a bit better than yours. i still think about how nice they were (the handwritten list of stuff to do in seoul was probably my favorite part). and funny about your experience with the bland soup-- i thought the same thing, and therefore asked what was up, and i was told that it was expected that you add salt and chili to taste. after emptying most of both, i found it to be quite nice. also, i found your assertion that asiana really didn't take advantage of the A380 to do anything spectacular with the extra space to be especially true. i also didnt think the IFE was anything overly special.

It's good to know that Asiana's A380 First Class IFE isn't any better than that on their 777s, which we took LAX-ICN in January to get to Myanmar (using UA pre-devaluation miles). Asiana has unquestionably the WORST IFE I'd ever seen in international First on any airline--the selection being absolutely tragic, as noted in this review. We wondered if it would improve when they started using the A380. Apparently not. Pretty disappointing, especially since I rely on the IFE quite a bit when I fly longhaul.

I concur that Asiana's Western dining menus and food are fantastic, and that they pale a bit compared with Korean with their Korean menus and food. Still, it is quite a good dining experience overall, regardless.

Thus far, I'm not blown away by the A380 First options on most carriers when compared with their 777-747 options.

I just flew BA's A380 First from LHR-LAX a few weeks ago, and while the seat was nice and new, and its IFE was spectacular, it didn't feel considerably better or more spacious than even the UA GlobalFirst, and the BA food (prefixe menu and snack options) was ATROCIOUS. Even Aeroflot Business had better food quality and preparation, shockingly. We flew AF's A380 LAX-CDG in Business, and we were overall pleased, except that the seat was angle flat and not true lay flat--even UA has proper lay flat Business/BusinessFirst across its longhaul fleet, after all. Asiana's A380 First doesn't feel like that much of a serious upgrade from its previous First, either.

We fly Emirates 777 First CPT-DXB and A380 First DXB-LAX in January, so we're really looking forward to seeing if their Suite version on the 777/A380 is truly one of the top products as has been discussed so often--and to experience their A380 First shower, of course!

I flew the OZ A380 HKG-ICN right after they got the 1st one. nice and all, but the windows on the A380 are small and in the 1st class suite far from the seat. Of course maybe I'm still basking in my SYD-DXB-JFK EK A380 1st Class flights last week 🙂

That may be OBE for San Francisco residents as even if they wanted to fly Asiana the sanctions may close the routing out of SFO as sanctions for the crash...........we heard the details of incompetence for days on the nightly news.............

@ Bill -- Woah, BA has a spectacular entertainment selection?! 😀

I'm afraid you've probably flown the least awesome A380s so far. Check out the Korean Air, Emirates, and Qatar ones, all of which at least have some pretty cool features.

How bad actually are the entertainment options? You say "crap." Does that mean there's nothing but crap to watch or there isn't crap to choose from. I've seen lots of complaints but can't actually find a list of options. Just curious before we take this flight next month.

Thanks.

@ Matthew -- Both. A limited selection of crappy movies.

I heard a lot of people complaining about IFE, but I thought it was ok. Entertainment controller is a little twitchy though.

Ben, in regards to the Gomtang being tasteless, you have to add salt/other ingredients to taste. I had the same problem when I first had Seolleongtang (which is pretty much the same thing).

Ben - do you happen to know if they allow passengers to connect their own devices via usb to play on the screen? I've heard mixed reports of this

I flew this route in early September ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1617143-beer-bikes-belgium-flyertalk-style-oz-tg-lh-f-oz-ac-j-ua-y-trains-etc.html#post23611257) and my experience was very similar to yours.

Though I didn't have any issues with IFE selection; I found there to be more movies and TV shows that I'd be interested in watching than the flight time would possibly allow for.

@ Max -- Sorry, didn't try that out, so not sure. Didn't see a USB port, so not even sure it's possible.

Lucky,

I think you forgot to add the salt to the soup...that's why it was flavorless..lol

I love a good bibambap, especially when I'm traveling in space (read the descriptions - they are pretty entertaining).

We flew OZ 201 and 202 in business class in January/February on the 747. Had the same Korean cookies and I thought they were very tasty! I also enjoyed the soup. The bibimbap was also good for airplane food.

that heidsieck champagne is fantastic. mouth is watering just reading this.

We were on OZ201 Sept 30, excellent in all aspects, I commented on how nice the rooibos tea was ( I'd not seen it since leaving Rhodesia) the "air hostess" was kind enough to clean out the selection in the case and send it with me as I left the plane.

My daughter were 2 of the 3 passengers in first that day.

Love the long report. Did you catch a glimpse of the biz class seats? If so, how do you think they compare to others in Asiana's class?

@ Ben -- I did take a look, looked virtually identical to the new seats on their 777s. Really solid product, though did look crowded after coming from the spacious first suite...

Ben,
I gotta say, the washed out grey really doesn't seem all that bad. Besides, if you're barfing that color, you're doing it all wrong.

The location of the power outlet seems really strange. Guess you'd better hope you can charge your gadget via an USB plug. Still, all things considered this is still a pretty nice F product.

@ Lucky -- was this the flight with the tiny pillows? I recall your mentioning that in one of the previews but I'm not sure if it's this one or not -- you fly too much for us to keep up! 😀

@ Ivan Y -- Hah, you have good memory. Yes it was!

OMG you chose 'GOMTANG'
Many Korean native guys also don't like 'GOMTANG' because it's little bit bland. It's a soup that boils water with cow's bone, so it's very healthy and expensive food anyway. As a Korean, I cant understand why they serve GOMTANG. There are much better Korean food for sure. Anyway, good experience:)

How do you pronounce your last name? Just curious!

So, who are you up for for colour schemes? KE or OZ?

@ Alvin -- Don't love either, but I'd give Korean Air the edge.

Ben - My wife and I just flew Asiana business class from ICN - JFK. The first class food (other than caviar) looks almost identical to the business class meals. We did both agree that this was some of the better food we have eaten on a plane though, especially for business class.

''you basically had to get down on all fours, which requires putting the seat into (at least) a near upright position.''

I hear you do that a lot, given your alternative lifestyle.

After this lackluster review, would you take Singapore SFO-ICN in business class over Asiana LAX-ICN in first?

I love gomtang! I'm surprised they serve that on the flight or seolluntang too! It's a Korean soul food dish I loved eating, mostly when my grand mama would be so kind to cook it for 8 hours for us. Definitely have to add the chopped green onions, chili paste, and salt to it to taste. I always thought Korean Air Korean food was better too so interesting to see that it appears to be consensus. I will be sure to order mostly Western dishes on my future Asiana flights. 🙂 One thing I notice Americans usually forget or not know with bibimbap is to also mix in the sesame oil too, not only just the hot chili paste. Makes a big difference!

@ Lucky - There is a USB port for charging devices, its shown in the first picture showing the stowage space located to window-side (if you sit in a window seat) of the suite.

Thanks for that fantastic report. I have to choose between OZ F (Suites) (JFK-ICN) or NH F (Square) (JFK-NRT). I know, first world problems, but which one would you prefer in terms of hard and soft product? I dont care about the entertainment that much but I love classy food, privacy and seat/bed comfort... Would be more than happy to hear your opinion on it. Thanks a lot!

I am flying Asiana every month from FRA to ICN in BizClass . The movies suck. They change the titles once every second month.

What I really like about the airline is the friendly staff, on the ground and onboard. Service is always excellent, people smile and make you feel welcome.

I never made it to first class yet, but it is funny to see that the serve the same meals in all three cabins. Of course, pimped versions....

As western guy, some korean dishes are strange, e.g. I am not in favour of fishy things for breakfast.

And yes, everything is small for a european 🙂 Slippers, blankets etc.

I will tell you soon, I have my Asiana flight from ICN to LAX in First in the A380-800 this Wednesday the 17th, I will get you posted.
From the pics it looks similar to ANA's square suite, let's see:)

Your report is spot on. Just flew Asiana JFK - ICN and it was exactly what you'd reported. I dreaded the lack luster list choice of entertainment on such a long flight. I'm not sure why there's such a limited choice. On a separate note, when sleeping, instead of lying completely flat on the bed, I found that I got a better sleep, when my feet were a tad lower than my head.

Hi, Lucky,
After reading your review about Korean 747-8 first class, I wonder which one's first class product between Korean's and Asiana's do you consider better .

YOu are correct that there is a 2nd lavatory. It's located forward, up 4 steps on the left, as you're heading in the direction of the cockpit. FA responded a couple days ago that I could use it as needed. Changed into my OZ PJ's in there...plenty of space, although not as big as the lavatory on the other side of first.

We arrived in ICN yesterday from FRA in First on the A380. We chose this flight and destination as part of our round-the-world holiday to try OZ’s F service before they quit offering it......and we are so glad we did AND so sad that we’re losing it. Contrary to your now-old review, we found the decor very subtle and calming with light woods and creamy earth tones. The seat was very comfortable and the bedding was wonderful. The crew were amazing, in their service AND their ability to know what we would like before we knew. We did not try the Korean food offerings but the quality of the western options was some of the best that we have ever had inflight. My husband waived the first few courses and instead had two of the main course offerings, the request for which was met with an almost delighted response from the attendants.

Frankly, the Asiana experience outshone the excellent F-class experince we just had on LH and we are definitely sad to hear that we will soon no longer have it to chose from in our travels. It’s getting harder and harder to find F-class service!