I was really impressed by Korean Air’s short-haul service. The crew was spectacularly friendly, attentive, and professional, and the food was perfect for a two hour flight. While I had always heard that Korean Air is “stylish,” I never heard amazing things about their service, so was very pleasantly surprised.
Continue reading: Review: Korean Air 777 First Class Tokyo Narita to Seoul Incheon
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Is it still difficult to book their awards, i seem to recall Gary having to use a fax machine and other difficulties when booking?
@lucky For those of us that will likely never have the opportunity to fly first or business class on these flights, would you consider snapping a pic of the economy cabin? Thanks!
I flew in business from ICN to BKK and back last year. The seats were coney enough for a shorter flight. And the service was outstanding in every way.
Great service as expected from them, but that decor looks like it was intended for a "Hello Kitty" flight.
Lucky, since I'm sure many people are expecting you to compare them...who has the worse color scheme, Korean or Asiana? 😉
Next time you find yourself visit your parents in TPA, let me know, as that area has some of the best bibimbops in FL!
According to this article, you can book online. Why they make it so difficult is beyond me:
http://travelsort.com/blog/book-korean-air-awards-online
I just transferred 80k miles into my SkyPass account (and a friend's) and booked one-way first class HKG-ICN (stop) ICN-JFK. Flights are actually on hold until two days before departure in Jan 2015. All done very easily and quickly on their website. If you can create individual SkyPass accounts and are traveling on Korean Air, you can avoid all of the faxing, etc. and book everything online in minutes.
"Hideous" is in the eye of the beholder. These color schemes, as well as similar hues of pink, blue and red, are extremely popular in Korea (and some other parts of Asia).
Shanghai9:
What do you mean by your flights are on hold (2) days before departure? Are you saying they aren't confirmed?
mileswhore:
There was an option to reserve flights until two days before departure. I emailed Korean Airlines to confirm, which they did. The corresponding award space is also gone on their website (and expertflyer), so I feel confident that it's being held. No miles were deducted and no payment info required.
About the reclining, I never recline non lie flat seats... I've done economy JFK to SFO and JFK to HGK many times and slept many hours in the upright positions. As long as I have a window seat where I can rest my head against the side of the aircraft, I am fine.
Interesting that the glasses appear to be basically normal sized. The most annoying thing about flying business class on KE was that all of the glassware was tiny; you basically got one gulp anytime you asked for a drink.
I move that "bow-to-passenger ratio" be introduced as a new metric in the beginning part of TRs, right after "flight duration" 😛
I'm a bit in a quandary over a future flight to South Africa. Would you do SFO-LAX-HKG-JNB on Cathay, or SFO-LAX-ICN-NBO on Korean? The flight to JNB on the latter itinerary would be issued separately, but we'd have 2 longhaul legs in first. The flight to JNB on CX would be in business, but to HKG would be in first.
Thanks, Lucky.
The people probably wanted to sleep longer (since your chair needs to be upright when landing)
Korean Air is fantastic. Those are the slightly older seats, but still very comfortable.
It is easy to book KE awards using Skypass miles for your own ticket. The issue is that Skypass only allows one to book awards for oneself or their family. They enforce this by asking one to submit family verification if you want to book a KE award for someone in your family. I haven't had to do this because I have only booked awards for myself, but I would imagine and hope that the documentation would only need to be submitted once, then that family member would be added to the passenger drop down list within the online Skypass award booking engine.
Lucky, did the bibimbap include an extra plate of grilled beef? I didn't see it in the picture. When I ordered bibimbap in F ORD-ICN, they included an extra plate with grilled beef...just wondering if that is one of the differentiators for Bibimbap in F on short haul vs long haul.
@ Carl -- Here's a post where I explained the booking process:
https://onemileatatime.com/how-to-redeem-korean-air-skypass-miles/
It's not as easy as with US airlines, but also not *that* bad. The major restriction is just that you can only book travel for family members.
@ Sheena -- Going forward I'll do what I can to snap pictures of economy cabins. On short flights it can get a bit tricky since the cart is blocking the aisle for most of the flight, though I'll do what I can!
@ svhennig -- Heh, yep, with the colors and everything that doesn't sound too far off.
@ fred -- Korean, Asiana, and ANA are all absolutely top notch airlines. The one thing worth noting about ANA is that for the most part they have a pretty crappy regional product. They don't offer a first class product for intra-Asia flights, and a majority of their regional flights are operated by 767s with uncomfortable recliner seats.
So it all depends on the route, but you can't go wrong with any of them.
@ Holly -- While ICN-NBO would be in first class, it's operated by an A330, where first class is in a 2-2-2 configuration. For that sector I would say that business class on Cathay Pacific is actually better than first class on Korean Air. So I'd go with Cathay Pacific in that case.
@ Andy -- In this case there was no extra plate with grilled beef... maybe because it was a shorthaul flight?
Lucky - Nice to see such a gorgeous champagne being served. Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque is my favorite.
Slight difference to the "champagne you were served on China Southen.
Korean Air $500 champagne, China Southern $5!
@ john -- Amazing champagne no doubt, though sadly it's only available on their routes to New York and Paris. 🙁
Sorry Lucky i did not notice that. Hopefully you got to have Perrier Jouet Bella Epoque. That is still about $200 and a light champagne, handpainted bottle.
@ John -- I did indeed, though unfortunately only on the flight from Seoul to Los Angeles. They didn't have any champagne on this flight, sadly.
That's terrible Lucky and you are getting a taste for it! p.s your friend was so spot on with his champagne list which you published a little while ago. I always have at least a couple of rows of champagne in the fridge and most of the list is in there.
and I have spotted a mistake with my first post, sorry Lucky, sorry all. I meant Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque Blanc de Blanc 2002 is $500 and "normal" Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque is $200. Either way they are both lovely and the in the UK still pricey but worth it.
@ Lucky - would you say that an under-appreciated part of your job is that you can't just board a plane and go to sleep but must stay awake for the meal service(s) and document everything else?
I've tried to imitate you and document my last trip (at friends & family's request) but it wasn't easy, especially on flights after crossing the Atlantic. Ended up falling asleep while waiting for food on ORD-IAH (UA F) and FAs didn't wake me up even though I placed my order. Woke up with 40-45 minutes to go & it was too late to get anything, so had a bag peanuts/crackers/whatever to show for my UA flight which didn't significantly improve my outlook on them (DirecTV was nice thou).
Great report. I am kind of appalled at the fact that they serve Lipton tea (which is hideous). I wonder if they had any Korean tea or Korean green teas from Boseung.
Thank you for your posting. Here i my country anyway.
As you know, Skypass miles will be better for multiful routing.
For example, NRT-ICN-KMG or NRT-ICN-DPS better than NRT-ICN or DPS-ICN etc, because of stopover permited each way and less seperated miles. Also. no penality for refundable and free change within 1 year.