Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lichtarbeiter]

Considering our flights to Korea are paid for and price doesn't need to be a major factor, most us have some choice of airline to fly to Korea with. So I'd like to hear people's experiences on different airlines to get some insight. I'd especially like to know about the presence of personal TVs; for me, it makes the flight go by much faster!

Here are mine:

Singapore Airlines, Vancouver-Incheon
Basically everything it's made out to be. Good personal entertainment system in front of the seats, good service, attractive attendants. Good alcohol flow. The meal was mediocre, can't expect a lot on an airplane. The thing I didn't like was they're 3-3-3 seat alignment. I was in a window seat and would have to wake up 2 people to get out.

Lufthansa, Incheon-Munich/Munich-Incheon
Disappointing. The attendants were decent with the alcohol flow and the food was okay, but the flight was incredibly boring. No personal TVs, just those spread out communal TVs, on which they played the same Discovery channel documentary THREE times on the same flight. I'm not a flight-sleeper, and I can only read for so long, so most of the flight was spent looking out the window down on the dull, barren Siberian landscape.

Air Canada, Incheon-Vancouver
After all the stories I've heard about AC, I was pleasantly surprised by my flight. They have the personal TVs with an entertainment system similar to Singapore Airlines. The attendants were not attractive, but they were helpful and didn't have that bad attitude I've heard about AC attendants having. It should be noted that the flight I was on was the make-up flight of a cancellation two days before, and most of the passengers were probably pissed about having been stranded in Seoul for two days (I wasn't booked on the cancelled flight, but got put on the make-up flight because there was a spot and it was to leave earlier than my scheduled flight the same day). The point is that there might have been an emphasis on customer appeasement for the attendants before the flight. But it was a good flight.

Korean Air, Vancouver-Incheon
Good experience. Personal TVs with entertainment system, good food, good alcohol flow, pretty flight attendants.

Korean Air, Incheon-Vancouver
No personal TV this time. WTF? You can't give us a TV on the departure flight and then take it away on the return flight. To make it worse, they had a Twilight movie playing on the communal TVs. Disappointing. Got an excellent meal that flight though.

[bbb0777]

Singapore Air.

http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/ranking.htm

^ World Airline Rankings.

Literally everyone I've talked to says - and I agree - Singapore Airlines is one of the very best in the world. The ranking service also agrees, and places Singapore as one of the very few 5-star airlines (highest rating).

[oldtactics]

Singapore Airlines - A
San Fran - Incheon
I agree with everyone else - amazing service, great food, room to move around, good seat-back entertainment. I flew on a Wednesday afternoon from SFO and I had an entire row of 3 seats to myself.

Air Canada - B
Vancouver - Incheon - Vancouver
Overall I had a good experience with them - this route is staffed by all the older flight attendants and I found them fairly disinterested but not rude. Food was excellent.

Emirates Air - A
Dubai - Toronto
A380!!!
Best flight I've ever been on. Huge seats, amazing entertainment, great food, great everything.
My only complaint is that the flight attendants let people change seats and sit with their friends/family upon boarding, leaving everyone else to scramble and find a new seat without much help from the attendants. I'm positive that that's some sort of safety violation since I'm sure the flight manifest isn't updated. Very strange.

[neil537]

Asiana (London - Incheon)

Good because its a direct flight, choice of Western or Korean food, in-flight entertainment in seat-back, good flight attendants. Also upon arrival at ICN you are straight into the main terminal and not the satellite one, saving a bit of time.

KLM (Incheon - Glasgow - Incheon)

Plane from ICN-AMS was a pretty old 747 both ways, no personal entertainment, but food was OK. Attendants were mostly older women who knew what they were doing but had lost some....enthusiasm. Transfer at Schipol was easy and I had time to take a shower there before my connecting flight to Glasgow. Useful if you live elsewhere in the UK outside London, but comfort was poor on the long-haul legs.

Qatar (Hong Kong - London Gatwick via Doha)

I believe Qatar are now flying to Incheon too. By far the best airline I have flown on, they deserve their 5 star rating. Great food, great service, new plane (777). Only downside was Doha airport, where I had 2 hours (3am-5am!) between planes, it was small, too bright and too noisy for that time in the morning.

I'm flying Jin Air ICN-BKK next month and then back to the UK with Cathay Pacific/BA, if this thread is still about and I remember I'll update. But there's always Skytrax to look at.....

[DeMayonnaise]

I've only flown across the Pacific on Delta and Korean Air. Korean Air is great...good seats, individual seat monitors, good service. Delta sucks. It's an American airline company, what do you expect?

[drama_addict]

Qantas (Tokyo - Sydney) A

Economy class seats are more spacious than those on US Carriers, and the free drinks definitely helped the journey go faster Also, the flights I've been on have never been fully booked, so each time I've flown with them everyone has been able to sprawl out with at least two seats for each individual. One time, I had a whole row to myself and got to lay down and sleep the entire flight.

Korean Air (US - Korea) A

This has been the airline I always use when flying between home and Korea. I usually fly their Incheon - Las Vegas route and then connect in Las Vegas on a domestic US carrier. I like Korean Air simply for their cleanliness. I've never been on Korean Air flight that left me feeling dirty. It also helps that on more than one occassion they overbooked the flight and I got bumped to Business Class.

NorthWest (Detroit - Tokyo) D

NorthWest was one of two Airlines I always flew between Japan and the States when I worked in the JET Programme. It's horrid. I agree with the common nickname, "NorthWorst". Economy seats are small as hell, the plan always seems filthy, and the planes are usually older models without individual entertainment screens on the back of each seat. Everyone has to content themselves with watching whatever film they choose to show on the big screen in the front of the cabin.

Japan Airlines (Detroit - Tokyo) B

I always breathed a sigh of relief when I got a flight on JAL rather than NorthWest when I flew across the Pacific. Their economy seats are wider, the cabin is cleaner, and their in-flight entertainment is vastly superior to US Carriers'. I'm actually somewhat disappointed that they filed for bankruptcy. At least I have Korean Air to rely on...

[curiousaboutkorea]

Qantas- Frankfurt to Singapore. It was ok. Nothing memorable about it, but No complaints. I was pretty exhausted before I got on the plane (due to Lufthansa) and just slept most of the time.

Singapore Airlines- Singapore to Frankfurt and San Francisco to ICN. Great. Food was better than other airlines. In-flight entertainment system was awesome and had tons of options. Attendants were nice. They did run out of meal choices both times with them. However, One of my flights with them they saved me the last meal that they later ran out of because of an issue with my entertainment system (which they fixed).

Delta- ICN to Minneapolis (and reverse)- So-so. I think it was better than other American carriers. It was shortly after the merger with Northwest (on a Northwest route I believe). No in flight entertainment other than a shared tv showing bad movies. Food was ok. Service was ok.

[b-class rambler]

[jvalmer]

Korean Air - ICN-Vancouver-ICN - A
Great service, entertainment top notch.

Asiana - LAX-ICN-LAX - A
Great service. Even lost my passport in the security area, and a steward had it in his had when I was getting to my seat. I was freaking out and asked the security guys if they saw the passport, but in the end the ladies at the boarding gate said one of their guys had it on the plane already.

Air Canada - ICN-Vancouver-ICN - C
Would give them an A based on their international service. But every single time I get onto those domestic flights it just sours me on AC and pulls down that A to a C. It's strange, on most of the international flights the ladies are pretty old, but on the domestic ones most are pretty good looking, but service is so horrendous that looks just can't cover it.

[magnolialove]

My long-haul experiences are mostly with Japan, but the reviews might come in handy for those of you who might find yourselves in the land o' the rising sun in the future


JAL (Vancouver-Tokyo; Chicago-Tokyo) B+
JAL used to be great, but the last few times I've flown with them I haven't been as impressed. At least they have free alcohol!

Continental (Tokyo-Houston) C-
Unfriendly flight attendants, the smallest seats I've ever had on a long-haul (and mind you I'm a fairly thin 5'6" woman), bland food.

Northwest (Detroit-Tokyo) B-
Not really memorable. Average seats, average food, pretty limited entertainment options. But it's been several years since I flew this route so it may have changed.

American (Tokyo-Washington DC) D
As far as service goes, the WORST flight I've been on hands down. Downright NASTY flight attendant who butted into a row of 3 people and leaned over two of them while standing in front of the one by the aisle to close a window. She got nasty with several passengers for no good reason. I talked to a group of businessmen who were stretching their legs in the back who said they were scared to go back to their seats because they were afraid that b*tch would yell at them for being up. Also, American screwed up my husband's and my meals (all 3)- they told us we had requested vegetarian meals and argued with us about it and made us eat this nasty vegan curry stuff-- twice. I was starving by the time we landed.

ANA (Tokyo-Chicago, Tokyo-Miyakojima) A
ANA is my favorite for the long-haul flights. They have bumped me to business not once, not twice, but three times! Super friendly and attentive service and great entertainment options. They've been wonderful every time I've flown with them.

United (Washington D.C.-Paris) B-
Borderline nasty service from a couple of flight attendants, but others were OK. Food was weird- cheeseburgers and ice cream for a "snack." However, entertainment was good, seats were OK as far as coach goes, and they came around with free wine TWICE because they had "too much for first class." Hey, I'll take it! Also extra ice cream later in the flight because of too much again.

[tjmauermann]

Asiana Airlines (Seattle-Seoul) A
Great seats and service. Inflight meal was so-so but I have never had a outstanding meal. But Asiana was at the top.

US MILITARY (US-Iraq) (US-Afghanistan) F
Loud, terrible seats. Had to make my own inflight meal. Not recommended if you can avoid it.

[thrylos]

JAL- Incheon-Osaka-JFK Nice service, nice seats. Food sucked, though. Only had the Japanese menu option. B/B+

Korean Air/Delta- Incheon-LA-JFK. The Korean Air leg was great. Needless to say, their US partner was the pits. A for Korean, D/F for Delta. Never again. Worth paying extra to fly direct.

Thai Air-- Incheon-BKK-Athens Great service, great food, great entertainment. Every 3 hours or so, they cleaned/deodorized the WC's. BIG difference. Attendants got a bit moody/grumpy towards the end. Probably 'cuz of all the (loud) Greeks fiending for a smoke after 10-11 hours. Also, many cudos for being able to stay in BKK up to 10 days for no extra charge either inbound or outbound, but not both ways. Great way to beat jet lag at the end of the long trip, too. A

KLM-- Incheon-Amsterdam-Athens + HKG-Amsterdam. As others have mentioned, it's not the best option for this or any other trans-Asian route, though KLM for trans-Atlantic flights are MUCH better. Keep in mind that most of the 747's they fly with to/from Asia are designed primarily as cargo/freight birds, with passenger comfort being of second importance. (Not so on many Europe-Americas flights). That's also why they have such cheap deals on their website for flights to Europe. Really friendly attendants willing to give you as much beer/wine/spirits as you can handle!! B/B+.

Cathay Pacific- ICN-HKG-LON. Not bad service, but listening to Cantonese and drunk Brits all around me for wayyyy too long was like listening to nails scratching a chalkboard. It's OK for travel in Asia, but you can only wear earplugs for so long!! D+

Emirates-- ICN-Dubai-Athens. Possibly only Qatar can beat them (haven't tried yet). They make you feel like a true sheikh. Great food, great service, great seats, great everything. Cannot ask for more. A+

[conbon78]

I have only done long haul flights with Korean Air and one with United. Korean Air definitely gets an A. I find I'm entertained most of the flight - time really flies with or without the tv in the seats. Whether or not you get a tv depends on the time of year you are flying and the destination. Like almost all US destinations get the tv's - with NY getting the newest aircraft, with the exception LA and Seattle - who only get them sometimes. To and from Sydney recently we didn't have the tv's, but that is because its their down season.

I actually flew business class on United and just thought it was ok. Wasn't nearly as entertained as I am with Korean Air. I think its how they break up the flight that takes up so much time that things are constantly going on (except during sleep time).

My favorite airline still though is Cathay Pacific.

[bucheon bum]

Singapore Air: SFO-ICN & ICN-SIN. 3 of the 4 times I flew between the States and Korea. One of those flights sucked, but it was due to the person around me (a fat ass Indian dude whose young kid and wife were seated directly behind us). Service always good, food decent, and plenty of entertainment options. A

Air Canada: SFO-ICN (via Vancouver). After hearing all the horror stories on this board about AC, I was expecting the worst. Wasn't that bad. Pretty average. Lousy entertainment options (old school tv hanging from above), but other than that, eh, was ok. B

Qatar Air: LHR-Doha-Sanaa. Stellar airline. Clean planes, lots of entertainment options, friendly flight attendants. Due to long layover in Doha on return to LHR, they put me up in a nice hotel in central Doha. No complaints whatsoever. A

United: SFO-Tokyo-Bangkok-SFO. Like AC, I was expecting the worst. I have had some rather miserable experiences domestically, but my first international flights on United went well. 90% of the flight attendents were foreign, so maybe that helped? I was surprised at the lack of American flight attendents. Beer selection blew though, and entertainment options were like AC. Overall I'd give it a B-.

British Airways: SFO-LHR-Cairo. Eh, a dissapointment. Flight attendents were more of what I expected to experience on AC and United. Food was blah. Entertainment options were decent. B+

[hochhasd]