Review: Korean Air Business Class Lounge Seoul Incheon Airport ICN

After an all too short night I took the hotel shuttle back to the airport shortly after 10AM.

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Incheon Airport check-in hall

Etihad changed their check-in counters compared to the night before, so this time around check-in was at counters G30-36. Even though I arrived at them shortly before 10:30AM, there was already a long queue.

Etihad check-in Incheon Airport

The premium counters were on the left, and there was both a first and business class line. People seemed to treat it as a single line, though. When I asked the people waiting whether they were in the first or business class line, they said “one line.” Obviously not the case, though they were trying to work that in their favor.

Check-in opened at 10:30AM sharp, and I ended up being number two in the first class line. The person in front of me took 45 minutes to be processed, so it was 11:15AM before I was checked in. Much to my surprise my boarding pass was issued within 30 seconds, including on the later flight from Abu Dhabi to Cairo that I had proactively been rebooked on.

Etihad check-in Incheon Airport

After checking in I headed for departure security, which was an absolute $hit show. There are no priority queues at Incheon Airport, and the security line was backed up all the way to the ID checkpoint. Security took about 45 minutes.

I’m not going to lie, at this point I was getting a bit impatient. I don’t mind waiting in line, though I’m not as accustomed to it as I used to be. And over the past 15 hours I had collectively done more queuing than I’d otherwise do in a month.

After queuing for 45 minutes at security I queued for another 15 minutes at immigration.

Incheon Airport is rated as one of the top airports in the world, though architecturally it’s not all that remarkable. The departures hall isn’t as “grand” as those in Beijing. Hong Kong, or Singapore. That being said, once you clear immigration it is very well designed, with good shopping and lots of amenities.

Incheon Airport terminal

I followed the signage towards gates 101-132, which is where I’d be departing from.

Escalators to train Incheon Airport

I took the escalator down to the train, which is the only way to get between concourses.

Escalators to train Incheon Airport

The trains run frequently though tend to get really crowded, so sometimes you don’t have an “American” amount of personal space in them.

Train at Incheon Airport

On the other end I took the escalator up to the concourse and followed the signage towards the Korean Air Lounge.

Incheon Airport satellite concourse

It was located to the left and up a level from the main concourse.

Incheon Airport satellite concourse

Escalators to Korean Air Lounge at Incheon Airport satellite concourse

For what it’s worth, Etihad uses the Korean Air Business Lounge in the satellite terminal as their contract lounge for both first and business class passengers. It’s kind of disappointing that they don’t make special lounge arrangements for first class passengers, but I at least had fairly high hopes of the business class lounge.

I did lower my expectations somewhat when I also saw a Priority Pass sign at the entrance, so a credit card with lounge access could come in handy.

Korean Air Lounge entrance Incheon Airport

At the entrance I was welcomed in upon handing the friendly receptionist my invitation.

To the right of the reception desk was a Korean Air 787 on display — I do love airplane models!

Korean Air Lounge model airplane Incheon Airport

Boy, was the lounge underwhelming. The furniture not only felt cheap, but had a horrible color pattern and was incredibly uncomfortable, in my opinion.

Near the entrance were some tables with bar stool-style seating.

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Then further into the lounge were the most uncomfortable couches I’ve ever sat on. I’m pretty sure they were made of bricks.

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

On the plus side, the lounge wasn’t very crowded. There was tons of seating. Just none of it was comfortable, unfortunately.

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

At the far end of the lounge was a partitioned off area with dining tables, along with chairs facing a counter top.

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

Then there was a small TV room.

Korean Air Business Lounge media room Incheon Airport

Next to that were the restrooms and shower rooms.

Korean Air Business Lounge seating Incheon Airport

I took a quick look at the shower rooms, and they didn’t look especially nice.

Korean Air Business Lounge showers Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge showers Incheon Airport

The buffet was near the entrance, and there was prominent signage indicating that the lounge was catered by the Grand Hyatt Incheon Airport. Okay, you’d think that would mean they’d take some pride in the selection, since they’re putting their name on it.

Korean Air Business Lounge catered by Grand Hyatt Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Unfortunately not. It was an incredibly lackluster buffet.

First there were three bottles of liquor and then two bottles of wine (one red and one white) on display.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge booze Incheon Airport

There were chips, pretzels, and snack mix next to the wine.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Next to that were cups of instant ramen.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

In terms of the beverage selection, there was an espresso machine.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Then there was a fridge with milk and ration-style water.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Seriously, why on earth?

Korean Air Business Lounge water Incheon Airport

Then there were beer machines.

Korean Air Business Lounge beer Incheon Airport

And a soda machine, which had cups that I’m pretty sure were intended for mouthwash based on how small and cheap they were.

Korean Air Business Lounge soda fountain Incheon Airport

Then there juice machines, as if this were a middle school cafeteria.

Korean Air Business Lounge juice machine Incheon Airport

The food selection wasn’t much better, unfortunately.

There was cheese and crackers.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Then there were three types of cereals.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Then some disgusting looking sandwiches, kiwi, and milk (the display combination just seemed odd).

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

And then they had a few kinds of muffins, croissants, and danishes.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

Then they had a few cold dishes, which really didn’t look very appealing.

Korean Air Business Lounge buffet Incheon Airport

And then lastly some soup and three hot dishes. The hot dishes just all looked gross beyond words.

Korean Air Business Lounge soup Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge hot dishes Incheon Airport

Boarding was scheduled to begin at 12:40PM, for a 1:30PM departure.

I left the lounge at 12:40PM, knowing that boarding 50 minutes before departure seemed optimistic. That’s especially true since the plane just landed at noon, since we were taking the plane that was just arriving from Abu Dhabi (while the plane we were supposed to fly on the previous night was at a remote stand waiting for a replacement part).

Incheon Airport satellite concourse

The flight was departing from gate 110, so it was about a five minute walk from the lounge. I walked past a China Southern A321 with winglets, similar to what American has on their transcon A321s.

China Southern A321 Incheon Airport

When I arrived at the gate I was a bit surprised to see the entire crew — including the pilots — still sitting at the gate. That doesn’t bode well for an on-time (well, 14 hour late) departure.

Etihad A340-600 Incheon Airport

I went up to the gate agent to asked what the situation was, and she stared at me blankly. I asked if the flight would be delayed further. She said “mmmm… yes, further delay.” I asked her how much further the delay would be. She said “mmmm… I do not know.” I explained I wasn’t asking for an exact number, but was wondering whether we were talking five minutes, five hours, etc. Again, she said she’s not sure, but suggested I go back to the lounge.

Given how crappy the lounge was and the fact that there was Wi-Fi in the terminal, I decided just to sit down in the fairly empty gate area and get some work done.

Etihad A340-600 Incheon Airport

It ended up being a further 40 minute delay, and at 1:20PM boarding finally began, starting with first and business class. A collective cheer was let out as we were finally bound for Abu Dhabi.

Etihad departure gate Incheon Airport

Etihad departure gate Incheon Airport

Korean Air Business Lounge Incheon Airport

I’m not sure what was more disappointing — the fact that Etihad uses a Priority Pass lounge for their first class passengers or just how bad the lounge was. The seating in the terminal is more comfortable than in the lounge, so in the future I’d be sure not to arrive too early, or instead spend that time wandering around the terminal.