Review: Korean Air First Class 787 Incheon To San Francisco

Maybe they do that to have more flexibility and sell the F class as J in case there aren't any bookings? (I know they could sell the nicer F seats as J too, but I assume that's a bigger loss of revenue)

Would you prefer Asiana or Korean Air in First?

When I fly first class, I don’t want a “cozy” seat, I want space!

I had a very similar experience on KE from ICN to IAD in F this February. Granted, it was a 777 with the new seats, so it was great. That said, they are top notch, service wise, and I would fly with them again.

Why don‘t you eat pork?
Because of your religion?

Thanks. Good to see a real long haul flight review.

Yellow label Lipton is the bomb!

I bet if Endre took this flight he would pay cash for it. Cash, not miles.

Can we have an Asian reviewer to review these Asian airlines? Lucky not ordering Asian meals, which really is where these Asian carriers shine, is not helping and I really wanna see what they have for the Asian traditional meal. Order the noodles for breakfast, order the Ginseng chicken soup, order the Korean course. Had enough of stupid boring chicken breast and stupid omelette already. You can make one at home everyday yourself....anyone?

It is disappointing that with all of the high-end Korean teas available, they chose those options. I'm honestly not sure who would pay a $4000 premium simply for first class service, so their seat strategy here confuses me.

@Eddie I agree

@Matt Maybe, but he only flies One World affiliated airlines in first class and paid tickets. He has a need to stress it every time, because of his insecurity. He lacks friends, so he needs to buy them.

I feel that having the Apex suite in first is slightly more acceptable than your previous flight, where it was just the old standard 2-2-2 with no direct aisle access for window seats. First is mostly about the soft product I think, and it seems that KE gets it right here, and if you're going to have a business class seat in First, than the Apex is not a bad one to choose. It still is a bizarre choice though, especially when it comes to the Korean culture where in my experience it seems that they are very conscious of things like that. Maybe, as someone noted above, its for fleet flexibility. It seems like the premium routes get the A380, 748, and 777 with a true first class hard product, while the 787 is sent to smaller markets where the yields are probably lower to begin with.

No rose on this flight? My last KE F had the belle epoque rose.. delish!

FDW

It's very hard to imagine "normals" paying for F over J.

Same hard product, somewhat upgraded privacy/meal? Sure if you have a pile of miles, are indifferent to using them well, are a blogger who is reviewing first! All that is reasonable.

But using $$$ or even slightly scarce miles. Why buy first? It really makes no sense.

Surprised by your point that F and J are identical, I looked up the seat config on seatguru. Same width for F and J seats but more pitches in F (82 vs. 75)?

@ Eddie – He's flown Korean Air a billion times, and orders the Korean meal half the time, so he can mix these reviews up. For example, HKG-ICN he had the bibimbap (and looking at the menu, isn't the Asian option a Chinese dish?).

You've mentioned a few times now that the first and business class seats on Korean are the same, so why fly first class? Seems like a waste of money for the sake of a review and repeating the same thing over and over again about the seats.

@Eddie Agreed. Plus everyone only orders the bibimbap. Order something else, be different. Bibimbap isn't the only native dish that Korea has.

@ Alonzo -- Often I review flights because I find them interesting, and not necessarily because they're always the bet value. I've reviewed Korean Air's Apex Suites on the 747-8 before. But to your point, I actually don't think this was a waste of points. The cost is only an extra 17,500 miles in each direction, which I value at ~$250. I'd say that is probably worth it for the much better soft product. Furthermore, these flights didn't actually have any business class award space, as Korean Air is often better about making first class award seats available than business class award seats.

@ Terence -- In my experience SeatGuru often isn't accurate for that. The seats looked identical to me, so I don't think that's correct.

The reason Korean Air offers First Class, even if the seat is identical to J, is because its targeted to the highest level executives at Korean chaebols (conglomerates) or government officials who per company policy can fly First. Hence KE has the most First Class footprint of any carrier in the world, because companies will actually pay the super high price tag for it.

Their B777-300 first class is very nice, and it is different from the 747-8s and quiet similar to the A380s that they refreshed I think 2 years ago. The suite is enclosed and has tons of space.

Would you choose this over BA A380/787 F?

The points premium required may be worth it if it means more chance of getting open seats.

So do they use the food/presentation carts at all for business class?

Seats are virtually identical but there's a slight difference between the size of the monitors/screen between first and biz class I think. It's ever so slight, maybe just an extra inch or two.

@Eddie- you do realise you don’t have yo be an “Asian reviewer” to order the asian food, right?
While I don’t disagree with what you say, you probably know by now that Lucky is, ahem, pretty conservative and definitely a man of habit when it comes to catering.
You don’t really get much information about wine either. It’s usually champagne and cappuccinos all the way, which is just fine and makes him who he is. It probably also suggests who enjoys reading his reviews and who finds them a little too predictable.

"Let’s start with the negative. It’s underwhelming (and lazy) that Korean Air uses a business class seat for their first class cabin".

How many times do we have to read about this?? It's not a negative, since you did not need to fly on that flight/aircraft. It's also not lazy on KE's part either and its wrong to say that!.

There is a very obvious and valid reason why KE has this configuration. This route or at least flight (if a second frequency) probably cannot support a larger aircraft so this is a compromise to offer FIRST CLASS SERVICE!...and the aircraft can also be operated on non FC routes where that cabin can be offered to either Highest FF's or Highest fare paid. OR perhaps they cannot sell FC in $, but can in FFP's.

Sometimes the "first world" whining becomes too much, instead of being grateful that the carrier offers a FC Service....otherwise why did you just not book J and call it a day?.

I really want to know what Endre thinks. He pays for his numerous first class flights.

-no one, ever

@Jordan-
Lucky writes it because that’s his job, and that’s a detail his readership is interested in. For some people it will be the deciding factor of whether to fly Korean or use a different airline.
A critical statement in a review piece is not “whining”. It’s just providing the full picture.

It is absolutely astounding that KE would install the exact same seat in F as they do in J. No matter the soft product, it's shameful to be rorted like that. People joke about BA's F seat being the world's best J but this literally is next level.

Shappling, why you never eat pork man, because of your religion? It doesn't not matter, GREAT review !
KAL, offers an excellent Inflight product, service is always impeccable. Onboard You only drink champagne and cappuccino, but I always see the wine menu on the reviews, Excellent! !!!

If only they would bring apex to LAX...

I get the sense that the next gen First will be categorized by SQ/EK on their A380’s and then this type of arrangement on 787/A350/777X. Less emphasis on space but more on soft product, which also allows the cabin to be sold as Business if First demand isn’t there or required.

Great use of points to get the extra First class service but not sure anyone would pay real $$ for the same seat and a nice serving of caviar ( even if they do give you a mother of pearl spoon )

Text + photo reviews are pretty old-fashioned these days. Increasingly, I use YouTube if I want a review for a specific airline or hotel.

How can the old-fashioned text + photo format remain relevant and interesting? That's where @Eddie and others are saying something important in their comments, I think about the repetitive food and drink choices.

If @Lucky is travelling for pleasure by all means keep ordering the champagne, chicken and omlette for breakfast. But if this is a job, then there ought to be wine reviews. The champagne will be opened fresh and in good condition, but is the wine fresh? If ordering a Western dinner, then surely it should be an Asian breakfast - or vice versa.

It is up to you, Lucky, but the reduction in trip reports is already noticeable and IMO the site starting to look a bit dull.

Dumbest first class ever. How entitled do you have to feel to fly this and feel special for yourself and yet you get the same exact seat.

Are we going to see a Kosmo 2.0 Suite review soon? I think they're only on certain 777 flights, though. Would be curious as to the thoughts/opinions on those vs. the old Kosmo seats on say, the A380

@ Ben -- SQ basically uses the same seat for J and F as well. All you really get in F over J is better service, PJs, amenity kit, caviar, better champagne, and less passengers per lav. Those things are nice I suppose, but not really not worth the price difference, especially when SQ J is so awesome already. I have never flown Korean, so I can't say if the difference between J and F is minor, but I am guessing that ultimately it isn't worth the higher price without a better seat.

@Junse
You experienced the old 777 first class. There are 777s with the new first class (Kosmo Suite 2)

@mjonis
He did a Kosmo Suite 2 review already, on the 747-8
https://onemileatatime.com/korean-air-747-8-first-class-review/

@chub
Thank you very much. I guess I didn't find/see it because I kept searching for: kosmo 2.0 suite and I don't think that was ever used anywhere in the review. In fact "kosmo" isn't used at all. But again, thank you for the link, it was very useful.

No matter what the product is soft, it’s shameful to be rorted like that.