For the first long haul segment of my quick trip to Japan & Korea, I flew Korean Air’s Boeing 787-10 business class on the 11hr flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Seoul Incheon (ICN).
Continue reading: Review: Korean Air Business Class Boeing 787-10 (YVR-ICN)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I kind of wonder what the service will be like when Asiana and Korean are blended, I found business class on Asiana to be more warm and service oriented and less "robotic" than Korean. Korean is still good don't get me wrong, but Asiana was always more proactive in my opinion. Will they take the best from both airlines, or will one override the other?
An intellectual by the name of Proximanova suggests that it's better to fly a Copa 737 and "visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)".
Well, I decided to leave those Copa 737s to him so he and some of his apologists can have a reserved terrible experience with Copa, while I'm enjoying Korean Air 787-10 without such people.
Win-win situation.
Happy travels.
The beef rice bowl always just looks so... plain. Both in the concept and how they execute it. Completely plain. Not really befitting a higher class experience that's supposed to tell you that you've gotten something special for the amount you spent.
You would think they could try to communicate some abundance and luxury by putting out like 6-8 small banchan dishes like they do at a restaurant, in beautiful dishes. Wouldn't even cost that much to do.
You would think they could try to communicate some abundance and luxury by putting out like 6-8 small banchan dishes like they do at a restaurant, in beautiful dishes. Wouldn't even cost that much to do.
Can't agree more. Their Japanese competitors are already doing that, so I'd love to see KAL implementing that too and see no reason why not. Hopefully KAL would overhaul their on-board product when the Asiana merger finishes, or sooner... the time to do that came a long time ago.
I meant that Japanese carriers use a bento-style containers to present some side dishes, but that's a thing in Koream culture too, so I guess that would also work.
Now it's the time, KAL should retire their older A333s, B772s and B773s and reconfigure their older B77Ws with those seats. Unfortunately the airline missed the best moment to let those dated jets go, as B78X delivery was significantly delayed and thus they had to fly those jets on some key routes too. That said I think it's really a nice hard product, and only if KAL overhauls their soft product in future I'd imagine them being one of the best in the region.
Great review as always. Thanks Ben.
Well now I wont be ever flying them - that BImBop Bowl looked like Burger King hamburger meat with a few noddles -- nasty -- for that price!
Two beef mains... yikes... as someone who doesn't eat red meat, I would find those choices problematic. I would hope the Western option had at least a chicken dish.
Completely agree with your assessment of Copa....or, as one could say "There are people for that".
Korean version of a bento "dosirak" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosirak
I wish more carriers on their flights to Japan and South Korea would offer an all in one type of boxed meal. Aside from presentation, I'm sure it'd be easier for the cabin crew as they don't have to serve the appetizer/starter separately from the main.
I just can't fly Asian carriers anymore...due to the hot cabins and general lack of air nozzles. There's no point to a lie flat if I can't sleep.
And I've done ANA in F roundtrip 3 times...and a bunch of legs in JAL J. And Korean Air.
The service may lag on US carriers (including on my Delta One TATL flight this morning)...but the cooler cabins and air nozzles mean that I can sleep. Which is what matters.
How would I replicate this booking if I didn’t transfer over SkyPass miles in the Obama administration?
Visually, the cabin is completely bland and generic and does not relate in any way to the KAL livery. (With the old interiors, they simply clashed, with that hideous light green everywhere.). The table setting in no way indicates the the carrier is Asian. The cheap paper napkins look like those of a U.S. airline.
I think Korean Air needs to reinvent its catering. Bibimbap is good and a relatively healthy meal to have on a plane. But Korean food is so diverse, I’m not sure why they limit themselves to just that. Quite frankly, Delta has more interesting meals on ICN flights.
Right now, Korean Air feels like it’s just a means to an end rather than a business class experience you can look forward to and enjoy.
Hey Ben, how exactly do your star rating work for reviews? Is it 5 stars based on a previous experience/expectations or based on how likely you would be to fly them again?
I’m curious because you rated ZipAir the same as Korean, (4/5 stars), with their bare bones reverse herringbone, but I’m sure you’d rank Korean superior so I’m curious. Thanks!
I totally agree with the comments about the bimbimbap. It looks awful in terms of presentation and quantity and they really think it is worth serving it in business class on a long haul international flight. I had much better bimbimbap in Korean restaurants in Korea and New York where presentation of the dish actually does matter. Also, it would be nice if they change it up with the Korean option. They served this back in 2006 and I guess even longer than that. The person or department in charge needs to be more creative then.
Or transfer over amex points in the Bush administration? Lol. Seriously though you could get a USBank KE Skypass card for $95. SUB is either 40k KE for 4k spend on personal or 50k KE for 5k spend on biz. It's 60k one way from US(not including HNL) to Korea or 75k to SE Asia. IIRC YVR-ICN- Japan is 60k I think. Then credit a skyteam flight or two to KE. Or Citi->accor->KE for the remaining few thousand, it's a bad rate so just for a top up. Korean opens little to no premium award space to partners, at least on the east coast.
What's even worse is that they serve the exactly same bibimbap in economy class as well. Both EC and BC share the same food. The only difference is that it's served in ceramic in BC.
KE has the best economy class in the world, but their business class service is just "economy plus" for them.
Their first class is great, so they do know how to do a great service. They just don't put much effort in business class.
They'd better downgrade the economy class and invest more on business class service.
"it’s a good experience, just not amazing."
That pretty much sums up flying on Korean in general.
Depending on the flight, there are other options besides bibimbap served on flights sometimes.
On these long haul flights, the Western option (or options) in the first meal service is almost always beef.
Starlux Has the best economy in the world. Heck, it's better than many economy+ and most intra europe business class.
The A and J seats are probably the best but it should be mentioned that seats 10A and 10J seem to be missing windows. Just FYI for people if booking a flight with this plane.
Starlux has 31" pitch in economy whereas Korean Air has 33"-34" pitch just like JAL. KE's EC food is basically the same as their BC.
Even if Starlux EC has better food than KE, the 2"-3" difference is huuuuge.
@Aaron - if you're departing from Korea then you'll find some other Korean menu. But on Korea-bound flight it's almost always bibimbap. At this point it's too iconic, and I'm sure that some Koreans (especially those living outside Korea) would fly KAL just to have that bibimbap on board, so the airline might be hesitant to change that.
@S_LEE - while I'm not sure are they really have the "best economy class in the world", I agree with how great their economy meals are. Especially the "chilled acorn jelly rice", if I remember correctly - impressive in terms of both the quality and the size.
Speak again. after you fly Starlux.
Sadly I can say i flew 100+ economy and some business in KE
and 10~ in Starlux.
Hands down, even better than Singapore airlines.
For what it's worth, the lack of award ticket availability in F is no great loss; it's a waste of money or points on KE. Unless you're that into macadamia nuts...
But, yeah, the food is quite frustrating. Feels like with minimal effort they could turn it into a much more competitive product. I know people who really look forward to their bibimbap on KE, but goodness, there is so much more amazing Korean food that they can and should offer. Also, they are the flag carrier of Korea and there is no soju or makgeolli?
Why in the world would you want them to downgrade their Economy Class service???
As mentioned in the article business was 75% full and coach was nearly 100% full. Why?
It’s a misconception that bathroom was kept clean in asian carriers….
It’s more like there are more east asian users of lavatories who are more cognizant and considerate about cleanliness. Plain and simple…
Also funny that the snack mix is like the same United serves in domestic economy
That bibimbap hasn’t changed since my last KAL bizzo LHR-Incheon round trip some years and about three seat and cabin configurations (the blue upholstery and Emirates-style middle seat) ago.
Seat looks heaps better but the lack of air vents, food choice and polite but somewhat robotic cabin crew service doesn’t appear to have changed at all.
Having flown this product on a short, 1 hour, flight yesterday, I'd add the following:
1) The partition walls seemed noticeably higher than with seats on other aircraft - usually, whilst seated, the tops of the heads of other passengers can be seen but I found this not to be the case with this seat
2) Whether because of the height of the partition walls, the width of the seats or both, it's impossible to reach the center overhead bins from the aisle without stepping into the area of the seat enclosed by the doors