Review: Korean Air Business Class Boeing 787-10 (YVR-ICN)

Review: Korean Air Business Class Boeing 787-10 (YVR-ICN)

FROM: YVR
TO: ICN
CABIN: Business
DATE: October 2024
REVIEW RATING:
BEN SAYS: Korean Air's 787 business class is a solid product, with comfortable seats, friendly service, pretty good food, and much improved entertainment and Wi-Fi. However, the experience falls short of what you'll find on Asia's top carriers.
12

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).

I was looking forward to this flight, as I hadn’t flown Korean Air’s long haul business class in many years. Not only that, but I was flying on the carrier’s brand new Boeing 787-10, featuring the company’s new business class, marketed as Prestige Suite 2.0.

This was ultimately a solid flight, with a nice and modern seat, pretty tasty food, and well intentioned and friendly service. However, I don’t think Korean Air is quite in the top tier in Asia, and I wouldn’t rank this among the world’s best business class products. Still, if the schedule and price is right, I wouldn’t hesitate to book this — it’s a good experience, just not amazing.

How I booked my Korean Air business class ticket

I booked my Korean Air business class ticket using Korean Air SkyPass miles. Long story short, Korean Air SkyPass used to be a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner back in the day, so at the time, I transfered quite a few miles. However, they’ve become so much less valuable over time, given that Korean Air no longer makes first class award seats available (which was my main intend with acquiring them).

However, I figured this trip was a good opportunity to redeem some of these miles, especially given that SkyPass has access to more Korean Air business class award seats than partner programs.

I booked the following in business class for 62,500 Korean Air SkyPass miles plus $308.10 in taxes & fees:

10/06 KE72 Vancouver to Seoul Incheon departing 2:30PM arriving 5:50PM (+1 day)
10/08 KE769 Seoul Incheon to Sapporo departing 12:35PM arriving 3:20PM

In the next installment, I’ll be reviewing Korean Air’s A321neo business class, which I experienced on the connecting flight.

Korean Air business class lounge & boarding

I had spent the night prior to my flight at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport. Then in the morning I visited the SkyTeam Lounge Vancouver Airport, which is where Korean Air sends its premium passengers.

My flight was departing from gate 71, with boarding scheduled for 1:50PM, 40 minutes ahead of the planned departure time.

Korean Air departure gate Vancouver Airport

At the gate I couldn’t help but admire the brand new Boeing 787-10, which entered service within the past few months. I’m conflicted about Korean Air’s livery — I don’t find it to be particularly attractive, though it sure is distinctive, and there’s something I really like about it.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 Vancouver Airport
Korean Air Boeing 787-10 Vancouver Airport

Boarding ended up starting at 2PM, with business class passengers being invited to board first.

Korean Air 787 business class cabin & seats

I boarded the Korean Air Boeing 787-10 through the second set of doors, where I was pointed left into the business class cabin. The first thing that stood out to me is how Korean Air has clearly been undergoing a rebranding. The interiors of new Korean Air jets no longer look like the (very blue) exteriors, and I’d consider that to be a good thing.

Korean Air business cabin branding Boeing 787-10

Korean Air’s business class cabin on the 787-10 consists of 36 seats, spread across nine rows. Seats are in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, meaning the location of seats varies with each row. Korean Air selected the Collins Aerospace Horizon seat as its new Prestige business class seat. Seats have 46″ of pitch (thanks to the footwell being to the side of the seat in front), plus 21″ of width.

Aeroflot was the launch customer for this product. However, due to trade embargoes, these planes now fly for Turkish Airlines and Air India as well. So Korean Air is only the second airline to purpose-order this product, and it’s the first airline to install this on a Boeing jet.

Korean Air business class cabin Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class cabin Boeing 787-10

Those traveling with a companion might like the pair of “honeymoon seats” in the center section in every other row, which have the letters “E” and “F.” With these seats, you’re very close to a companion, so you can enjoy the flight together. If you’re traveling alone, these seats aren’t bad either, as there’s a partition that can be raised to offer privacy between the seats.

Korean Air business class seats Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class seats Boeing 787-10

Then every other row of the center section has seats that are further apart from one another, and closer to the aisle, with letters “D” and “G.” These would be my last pick seats in this configuration, since they’re not ideal if traveling together or alone.

Korean Air business class seats Boeing 787-10

Then along the windows, seats also alternate between being closer to the windows and being closer to the aisle.

Korean Air business class seats Boeing 787-10

The seats that are closer to the aisle have the letters “B” and “H.” If traveling alone, I’d prefer these to the center seats, but they’re still not my first pick, since it’s hard to look out the window, and you’re also closer to the aisle and door.

Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10

My top pick in this configuration would be the seats that are closest to the windows, which have the letters “A” and “J.” I selected seat 15A, the “true” window seat on the left side in the second to last row.

Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10

In terms of hard product, I’m a fan of Korean Air’s new Prestige Suite, as the seats are functionally designed, and I also quite like the finishes. As you can see, there’s a huge console area to the side of the seat next to the door and aisle.

This includes an enclosed storage compartment with a mirror, an entertainment controller, and a panel with seat controls.

Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class seat storage

Underneath the seat controls are a cupholder and another small, exposed storage area.

Korean Air business class seat controls

There’s also an impressive array of charging options, including wireless charging, two USB-C charging outlets (one is 45W, while the other is 60W), and an AC power outlet.

Korean Air business class seat charging
Korean Air business class seat charging

Each seat has a 24″ 4K high definition TV, which is very high quality, though the screen also has quite a bit of glare.

Korean Air business class seat Boeing 787-10

The tray table folds out from underneath the entertainment monitor, and the setup is a bit different than you’ll find with most other seats. The tray table is essentially stored at an angle, and can then be slid out, to be extended the full length.

Korean Air business class seat tray table

One point of frustration I had with this product is that Korean Air doesn’t have individual air nozzles on most of its wide body jets, including the 787-10s. Since the airline tends to keep cabins warm, that’s something to be aware of if you’re temperature sensitive.

Korean Air overhead console Boeing 787-10

Here’s another quirk — while Korean Air’s 787-10 business class suites have doors (which are supposed to be 52″ high), they’re not actually allowed to be used yet. I guess they haven’t been certified yet by regulators in Korea, so for now the airline isn’t actually offering business class suites (at least based on how I’d define them).

Korean Air (lack of) business class doors Boeing 787-10

Anyway, all-in-all I was impressed by the hard product, and by Korean Air’s general rebranding. However, the lack of air nozzles was less than ideal, and I found it strange how doors couldn’t be used.

Korean Air 787 business class amenities

What were the amenities like in Korean Air business class? In terms of bedding, the airline has a pretty substantial pillow, plus a thick, almost wool-like blanket. This is pretty underwhelming for a long haul flight — there were no mattress pads, and I felt like the blanket was kind of scratchy and overly warm, which isn’t great when there are already no individual air nozzles.

Korean Air business class pillow & blanket

There were also a pair of noise canceling headphones at each seat, which were decent quality. However, thanks to the existence of bluetooth audio with the entertainment, these weren’t even needed.

Korean Air business class headphones

There were also some flimsy slippers, ideal for visiting the lavatory without putting on shoes, but hardly ones that you’ll want to take home as a memory of your flight.

Korean Air business class slippers

Then there was also an amenity kit, which I thought was on the basic side. It had eyeshades, a dental kit, a shoe horn, a brush, and some products from Atelier Cologne (hand cream, body lotion, and lip balm). The kit itself didn’t exactly have an inspiring design either.

Korean Air business class amenity kit

Toward the end of the boarding process, pre-departure drinks were served, with the choice of orange juice, guava juice, or water (the airline doesn’t serve alcohol pre-departure). I selected the guava juice, and that was served with a package of snack mix.

Korean Air business class pre-departure drink & snack

Menus for the flight were also distributed, with all orders still being taken on the ground (including for the first and second meals).

Korean Air business class menu

While Korean Air’s new business class hard product is quite good, I’d say there’s still some room for improvement with the soft product.

Korean Air 787 business class entertainment

Korean Air’s 787-10 business class has 24″ high definition, touchscreen monitors, so that’s great.

Korean Air business class entertainment system

The airline also offers bluetooth audio, so you can pair your own headphones to the entertainment system (a trend I’m happy to increasingly see).

Korean Air business class entertainment system

The entertainment selection itself was much better than I recall on past Korean Air flights, so clearly the library has been expanded significantly. There was a pretty decent selection of movies, TV shows, kids programming, and music, though it’s still a far cry from the airlines with the best entertainment.

Korean Air business class entertainment system
Korean Air business class entertainment system
Korean Air business class entertainment system
Korean Air business class entertainment system
Korean Air business class entertainment system

I ended up watching some episodes of “Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby,” which I always enjoy. In particular, I was fascinated by Nusfjord Arctic Resort, and have added that to my bucket list.

Korean Air business class entertainment system

Another exciting development with the 787-10 is that Korean Air offers Wi-Fi, as it’s an area where the airline historically hasn’t invested. On this flight, there were three packages available:

  • You could purchase an unlimited messaging pass for $5.95
  • You could purchase a two-hour internet pass for $10.95
  • You could purchase a full-flight pass for $20.95

Regardless of which plan you picked, you could switch between devices, and there were no data caps.

Korean Air business class Wi-Fi pricing

Korean Air offers Viasat Wi-Fi on its 787-10s. Ordinarily that’s among the best inflight Wi-Fi providers you’ll find. The catch is that Viasat doesn’t yet have Ku-band Wi-Fi over the Pacific, so speeds were excruciatingly slow, to the point that I think it’s pretty misleading for the airline to market this as Wi-Fi that’s fast enough for watching videos, when that’s definitely not the case. That should change eventually, but for the time being, expect slow Wi-Fi.

Korean Air 787 departure from Vancouver

The boarding process was pretty efficient. Business class was around 75% full, while economy was near capacity. Boarding wrapped up by 2:30PM, at which point the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time and anticipated smooth ride.

At 2:35PM we began our pushback, at which point Korean Air’s (strange) safety video with “virtual humans” was screened.

At 2:40PM we started our taxi to runway 26L, and I enjoyed the views, as it was a gorgeous afternoon in Vancouver.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 taxiing Vancouver Airport

We passed a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400… swoon! We won’t see these flying for that much longer, so you’ve gotta appreciate these kinds of sights while we still have them.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 Vancouver Airport
Korean Air Boeing 787-10 taxiing Vancouver Airport

We made it to the departure runway at 2:55PM, and were immediately cleared for takeoff. We had a smooth and gradual climb out.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 taking off Vancouver Airport

The views departing Vancouver sure are pretty!

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 after takeoff Vancouver Airport
Korean Air Boeing 787-10 after takeoff Vancouver Airport

About 10 minutes after takeoff, the captain turned off the seatbelt sign, at which point the crew closed curtains between cabins, and began the inflight service.

Korean Air business class lunch

On this Korean Air flight, lunch was served after takeoff. You can find the menu and drink list below.

Korean Air business class menu
Korean Air business class drink list

Around 35 minutes after takeoff, the crew distributed tablecloths, and then around 10 minutes later, they served drinks. I ordered a glass of champagne and sparkling water. Korean Air serves Duval Leroy Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru, which is pretty decent — however, the pour definitely left something to be desired.

The drinks were served with a canapé comprised of cream cheese rolled with roasted zucchini and eggplant.

Korean Air business class pre-meal drink & snack

Around 60 minutes after takeoff, the starter was served. There’s no choice of appetizers, so I was offered the seared tuna with sesame dressing, which was quite good.

Korean Air business class appetizer

While there’s a bread selection and a soup course, that’s only offered if you select the Western main, while I decided to go with the Korean option, which was served around 80 minutes after takeoff.

The Korean option on Korean Air is basically always the same — bibimbap with minced beef and seasonal vegetables, accompanied by sesame oil and hot pepper paste.

I do always enjoy this, though in the years I’ve been flying Korean Air, I don’t think a single thing has changed about this, so it sure would be nice if there were a bit more variety of Korean options.

Korean Air business class main course
Korean Air business class main course

Once main courses were cleared, a dessert trolley was rolled through the cabin, and I was offered both fruit and cheese. I appreciated that the cheese selection was a bit higher quality than you often find on airlines.

Korean Air business class cheese & fruit

Lastly, I was offered ice cream, with the only choice being a vanilla flavor from Mario’s Gelati. I also had a tea to go along with this.

Korean Air business class dessert & tea

I thought the meal was quite good, though it wasn’t anything amazing. Like I said, I enjoy Korean Air’s bibimbap, but nothing about the dish has changed over the past decade, so it would be nice to have a bit more variety, as there’s Korean cuisine beyond that.

Korean Air 787 business class lavatories

After the meal, I decided to check out the onboard lavatories. Business class passengers have access to three lavatories — there’s one in front of the cabin in the center, and one behind the cabin on each side. There’s an additional lavatory right by the cockpit, but that seems to be reserved for the crew, since a curtain is pulled in front of it.

Korean Air business class cabin Boeing 787-10

The forward lavatory that passengers have access to is huge, so that’s probably the nicest one to visit (it reminded me of the one in Etihad’s 787 first class).

Korean Air business class lavatory Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class lavatory Boeing 787-10

The lavatory even has a little seat that folds down that’s next to the toilet, so that’s how spacious it is.

Korean Air business class lavatory Boeing 787-10

The forward lavatory also contained some extra amenities, like mouthwash and shaving kits.

Korean Air business class lavatory amenities

Then the two lavatories behind the cabin have a similar design, except they’re smaller, more in line with what you’d expect.

Korean Air business class lavatory Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class lavatory Boeing 787-10

All the lavatories were kept clean throughout the flight, which is such a major advantage of flying with an Asian carrier over a US carrier.

Korean Air 787 business class bed

After lunch I decided to try to get some rest, given that it was basically my bedtime back home. I reclined my seat into bed mode, as the seat converts into a 78″ bed.

Korean Air business class bed Boeing 787-10
Korean Air business class bed Boeing 787-10

There were things I really liked about the bed, and things that didn’t impress as much. On the plus side, the footwell is a good size, so I didn’t find that to be restrictive. However, in bed mode I did find the seat to be quite narrow, especially since the aisle-side armrest can’t be moved around, to create a wider sleeping surface.

Korean Air business class footwell Boeing 787-10

My biggest issue with trying to get some rest was that the cabin was quite warm, and without an individual air nozzle, I had little control over how warm I felt. Another thing that didn’t help on that front is that I was seated on the same side of the plane as the sun.

The 787 Dreamliner has dimmable windows, and even when fully dimmed, I don’t find them to do a great job blocking out light. For example, below is what it looked like through my window when the shade was supposed to be made as dark as possible.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 dimmable windows

By my standards, I actually got a decent amount of rest. I fell asleep a little under 8hr30min from Seoul Incheon, while over Alaska…

Korean Air 787-10 map enroute to Seoul Incheon

…and I ended up getting up around five hours later, a bit over three hours before arrival, while approaching Japan.

Korean Air 787-10 map enroute to Seoul Incheon

I didn’t necessarily get the best sleep for those five hours, as there was lots of tossing and turning and a bit of being awake, but at least I got some rest.

Korean Air business class snack & dinner

Upon waking up, I had a look at the refreshment menu.

Korean Air business class menu

I knew that I wanted to order a cup of coffee, though from looking at the refreshment menu, I recalled having some really delicious cookies on Korean Air flights many years ago. I’m not usually someone who orders cookies (as much as I’d like to be!), but I couldn’t help but see if they were as good as I remember. Well, I can indeed confirm that they are still delicious!

Korean Air business class coffee & cookies

Shortly thereafter, around 2hr30min from our arrival in Seoul Incheon, the cabin lights were turned on in preparation for the pre-landing meal. You can find the pre-landing menu below.

Korean Air business class menu

This time I mixed things up, and had the Western option. Regardless of which option people chose, the only appetizer choice was a salad with sliced apples, blue cheese, and pecans. There was also a side of bread, and I had a Coke Zero to drink.

Korean Air business class salad

For the main course, I tried to order the seafood dish, but they had run out. So I instead ordered the beef stew with creamy polenta and vegetables, which was fine. It was edible, but wasn’t anything great or memorable.

Korean Air business class main course

The meal finished off with some fruit, and I had another cup of coffee to drink.

Korean Air business class fruit plate

Korean Air business class service

The crew working business class on this Korean Air flight was friendly and well intentioned, so I can’t say anything negative about the individual crew.

However, I feel like Korean Air’s service protocol just feels so assembly line-esque and reactive, and it detracts from the experience. Basically, the crew has a specific task every time they walk through the cabin, and if what you want doesn’t match up with that, then you’ll have to specifically ask.

On most world class airlines, if a flight attendant sees an empty glass in business class, they’ll ask a passenger if they want something else to drink. In the case of Korean Air, they just ignore it — they don’t offer a refill without the passenger explicitly asking, and they’ll just remove the glass once they’re in the part of the service flow where they’re removing glasses.

This really is such a contrast to so many other airlines in the region, as Asia is known for amazing inflight service.

Korean Air 787 arrival in Seoul Incheon

At 5:10PM local time, the captain was back on the PA to announce that we’d be landing in around 40 minutes, putting us in behind schedule due to a little longer than usual flight time.

Korean Air 787-10 map enroute to Seoul Incheon

As we began our descent, the crew distributed landing cards for Korea, and started preparing the cabin for arrival. The seatbelt sign was turned on at 5:40PM, around 15 minutes before landing.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 approaching Seoul Incheon Airport

We ended up landing at 5:55PM.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 approaching Seoul Incheon Airport

From there we had a roughly 10-minute taxi to our arrival gate at Terminal 2, where we pulled in at around 6:05PM, parking next to a Korean Air Boeing 787-9.

Korean Air Boeing 787-10 taxiing Seoul Incheon Airport
Korean Air Boeing 787-10 view at arrival gate Seoul Incheon Airport

Upon exiting the plane I had to wait nearly an hour to get through immigration, and then headed to the Grand Hyatt Incheon Airport, where I’d be spending the night.

Bottom line

Korean Air’s new Boeing 787-10 business class is good, but not amazing. The airline has a solid hard product, and there are tons of improvements over Korean Air’s other jets, from the existence of Wi-Fi, to the improved entertainment.

However, if you ask me, the soft product is just a little short of what you’ll find on other top carriers, from the food, to the drinks, to the service, to the amenities. The lack of individual air nozzles also isn’t ideal, at least for those of us who easily get warm.

So I wouldn’t recommend seeking out Korean Air’s 787 business class, but if it’s the best option for a flight, I also wouldn’t hesitate to fly it.

What do you make of Korean Air’s Boeing 787-10 business class?

Conversations (12)
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  1. Justin Dev Guest

    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.

  2. Ben Guest

    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!

  3. Abidjan Diamond

    I like the KAL livery. The blue is distinctive.

  4. NS Diamond

    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...

    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.

  5. Eric Schmidt Guest

    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.

    1. NS Diamond

      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...

      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.

    2. NS Diamond

      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.

  6. Mason Guest

    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.

  7. Bguy Guest

    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?

  8. Jason Guest

    You wrote "Shat were the amenities like?"

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Jason -- I did indeed, thank you. Fixed!

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Justin Dev Guest

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.

0
Ben Guest

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!

0
Abidjan Diamond

I like the KAL livery. The blue is distinctive.

0
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