In my experience Korean Air is one of the most consistent airlines when it comes to their onboard soft product, both in terms of service and food. However, the quality of their seats varies greatly.
Continue reading: Review: Korean Air First Class A330 Hong Kong To Incheon
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I got lucky (no pun intended), my aircraft got switched to a 748 when I flew that route in April.
@Lucky, the cloud-filled approach photos in this and the Air Belgium Business Class A340 Charleroi To Hong Kong reviews are really great!
When I flew KE F HND-GMP/ICN-LAX earlier this year, the HND-GMP leg was similarly catered with a peculiar assortment of beverages; we had no rose champagne at all and only red wines. The FAs were super apologetic but offered no reason why all the choices on the wine menu weren't available.
Crazy that they use those seats in First. Those look exactly the same as their J seats on their A380. My biggest issue with Korean beside the hard product, is I feel they do the second meal service on the ICN-JFK route WAY too early. Korean’s service is so robotic you know eactly what to expect every time. There’s pros and cons to this. I much prefer Asiana in every regard. I love having the onboard bar with Korean, I’ve met some interesting people while mingling there. But it doesn’t make up for the robotic service, early second meal, and subpar hard product for me.
“Yes, the below picture is of their business class seats.”
The pic immediately below that is of first class (note oversized pillows).
LH First Class passengers, conneting in Frankfurt to Cairo or TLV (same duration) would be really happy to have this hard product.
I transfered 80k UR to book ATL -> HKG in the winter. You get 16 hours of 747-8 first class suite then 5 hours A380 to HKG. I think it's a seasonal destination for the A380.
What a joke! As a First Class expert, I must say Korean Air is clueless on what First Class class service means. Better stick to Japan Airlines or Cathay if you want to pay for real luxury and genuine professionalism.
What’m are the options to book KE now that UR transfers are not an option? Thank you
You clearly haven't flown all of Korean Air's first class products to say something like that. I guess they must be out of your price range.
@Lucky
"It’s odd to me how they have the same seat in first and business class." Why are you surprised? KE did the same thing on their new 787s missing the opportunity to launch a fantastic F hard product. They seem to operate like an entitled family and I don't think they do a lot research when deciding their cabins. Even their A380 F hard product is pretty poor by today's standards.
So what can one actually expect to differ from the soft product if taking business class Vs. first class on this plane? The champagne choice and may be more courses during meal time? But I think they also serve bibambap in business.
@Michelle KE also do bibimbap in economy, it’s a signature thing in all classes. It’s been a long time but I remember the KE economy bibimbap being one of the best economy meals ever. One of the differentiators is that KE have their own organic farm to supply meat and vegetables for first and business class meals. Cranky Flyer did an article on it.
Bibamfrickinbap. Every KAL flight. Like Malaysian’s long-ago ‘signature satay’ chicken skewers, novelty wears off by about segment three of a long-haul slog. A little more variety would kill the consultant celebrity chefs?
That F hard product looks little better than the dated 2-3-2 biz seats on the A380 top deck though I always get good kip on the angled lie-flat bed. F is superb though the 748 F and J all aisle access layout has the so-private window seats.
The bar I found soulless and it was hard to get service, or a seat after two drunks gave up on a loudly snoring companion and decamped to the back, sprawling over almost all the available sofa seating. Subsequent flights I’ve stayed in the seat.
Oh my if you were alive in the golden age of flying. No private suites, no laptops. What would you do? Its amazing anyone survived flying first class because you had someone sitting next to you.
"Even as someone who is generally sensitive to seat angles, I didn’t find this to be an issue at all"
I've read this on nearly all your recent reviews of an angled seat - but I don't recall you ever mentioning about a poor sleep due to the angled seat and your sensitivity to it. Perhaps you're not as sensitive to angled beds as you once thought!
To think that A332 with same F-class seat served ICN-LAX-GRU back in 2014... and it still serves some of European/Australian destinations
I think it is a great service for a regional flight. All you can have in a European flight is an economy seat with a smoked salmon salad...
interestingly, that's the exact same bibimbap they served me in Y about 5 years ago.
@Marco Dupre
Note that this is First class as opposed to Business Class. Still better though.