This series covers a trip to Shanghai, please refer back to Part 1 for the introduction. At the time of this report, KE had resumed 3x daily service PVG-ICN. The competition on this connection of major economic hubs is good with 10 daily flights from PVG to ICN (KE 3x, OZ 3x, MU/FM 4x, and CZ 2x). KE's 3x daily flights are operated by a mix of aircraft (A330, B777, B737), we took the last flight of the day which is operated by an A330-200. In addition to their PVG-ICN services, KE also has a 1x daily SHA-GMP route operated by a B737.
This report will cover the flight from Shanghai-Pudong to Seoul-Incheon and a look at the China Eastern Lounge. As a reminder, the routing for this trip:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3KE898 - Economy - Shanghai ⇒ Seoul - Airbus A330-200
- 4
Pre-flight
We booked a ride to the airport targeting an arrival at PVG ~11:00 allowing some buffer for traffic on a workday. Since we ended our trip in the southwest of Shanghai, we start our drive crossing the Xupu Bridge on the S20.
Arriving at PVG ~10:45 with very little traffic on a Monday morning.
KE along with its ST siblings uses T1, OW is also a minor player here with JL/QF the notable intruders.
As has been the case for years, there are explosives checks to enter the terminal followed by proceeding through a metal detector and having your bags scanned. Inside, we quickly consult the information board to confirm that KE is using Aisle H for check-in.
Check-in opened at 10:40 for our flight and the line was huge for Y.
The SkyPriority line was fortunately empty, so we were quickly helped by an agent. The 3rd party agent tagged all of our bags, then handed us our boarding passes and lounge passes with instructions for the MU #36 Lounge.
Information board next to the check-in area showing KE's flight times. Our flight is the last flight of the day with no evening flight offered from PVG. The SHA-GMP flight departs at 18:25, so clearly geared for business travelers.
After clearing immigration and security, which took ~25 minutes with again slow processing at immigration, we are deposited airside in T1, where there is a significant amount of construction on-going.
China Eastern Lounge
I don't know why the #39 Lounge lists KE as we were directed to the #36 Lounge.
The #36 Lounge (MU's flagship lounge) is located upstairs and is accessed by an escalator or elevator. The agent outside took our passes and let us in directing us towards the left. The right side of the lounge is reserved for MU Platinum elites.
The lounge is spread across 2 floors, the lower level has the buffet with dining areas and the upper level is a quiet area with only drink stations. We stayed on the lower level to grab some lunch and found a large booth off to the side to sit in.
The buffet is located in the back corner.
The cold options.
There were also multiple hot options.
The best part is the noodle bar, which is quite good. There are also some steamed items and soups in this area.
A sample of the drink offerings. There is also a coffee/tea area as well as a small area with wines/liquors.
My offering. Food quality is very good for the Chinese options; the noodles and winter melon soup were particularly satisfying.
The obscure beer offering, even in 500mL cans.
My wife's offering, being a little bit more liberal with the condiments at the noodle station.
My son's offering of carbonara noodles, sandwich, fruit, and dessert.
boarding
We would have stayed in the lounge longer since it was fairly quiet, but our son was getting fidgety so we left ~30 minutes before boarding to let him burn off some energy. We did the long walk (~750m) to our gate under the iconic T1 ceiling.
Finally reaching our gate ~5 minutes before boarding was due to start at 13:10. Note that no one has flooded the area yet.
Lucky us, we will get the ST livery A332.
Some spotting as we wait for boarding to start, but not much to see, only a lonely HO A321 taxies by.
Boarding started punctually at 13:10, the agents were there to enforce SkyPriority as they double checked documents. After taking the escalator down, we get a better look at our plane before heading into the jet bridge.
Right for us as we head into our HSBC plastered jet bridges.
Reaching the threshold of the plane, we have the cart with earphones.
Fuselage shot.
Entering the plane, we are met by several FAs who scan our BPs and direct us down the aisle. A quick look at the galley before heading back.
Flight
The A332s still have the old Prestige Sleepers in 2-2-2 configuration. An old product, but I would consider it to still be a very good offering for regional flights since they are spacious flat beds for lounging.
Reaching our seats at the front of the first Y cabin. We selected these seats in the “Preferred” section (rows 28-31) which they try and charge ~$15-20 for, but were complimentary with our SkyTeam Elite Plus statuses. There are no differences in the seat, they are just in the front of the plane to deplane quicker.
Pre-placed on all seats were pillows. The KE A332 has the expected 2-4-2 seating configuration with 33" seat pitch and 18" seat width, making them very comfortable for a regional flight.
The pitch feels a little more like 32" with a pillow behind your back and is clearly not as good as the B77Ws, but still better than the B737s and more than comfortable enough for a <2h flight.
The big cushy pillow, but with a disposable cover.
The seat back has the middle generation 11" IFE screens that are being retrofitted on the B77Ws. There is also a coat hook and USB-A port. There is no Wi-Fi on the A330s yet.
There are no individual air vents.
Universal charging ports are located between the seats.
The expected seat back contents: safety card, barf bag, SkyShop order form, Morning Calm, and SkyShop catalog.
The IFE is available gate to gate and this plane still has the old interface, which is not the easiest to navigate, but the content is quite good, you can find the content here (https://www.koreanair.com/in-flight/entertainment?hl=en) so I won’t bore you. Despite the age, the responsiveness to touch was not an issue and the screen has good resolution.
Immediately after sitting down, a FA brought the kid's toy set, which was the same as SFO-ICN, but still entertained our son through boarding and take off. Another FA then came to confirm our CHML for our son and took drink orders. This was the only flight in the series that this pre-ordered drink was taken for special meals. Finally, the purser came back and said hi to each of the ST Elites in the cabin.
Our view down T1 shows the complete lack of international traffic mid-day at PVG, which is yet to recover post-pandemic. Only some planes way down at the domestic end of the terminal.
After the front doors closed, the safety video played as we awaited push back.
Push back started at 13:42, nothing but MU/FM tails.
After our turbines start up, we get a wave from the ground crew as we head out on our long taxi around PVG.
HO's corner of T2.
As we approach the main taxi way, we can see a CZ A321 being tailed by a HO A320.
We get to catch the AC B789 arriving from YVR.
Not exotic in China, but still fun to see 9Cs milling about.
We are 2nd in line behind this CZ B738.
Then our turn to align on runway 34L.
A HU A333 behind us in line.
We take off at 14:02, about 20 minutes behind schedule, offering great views over PVG T1/T2.
We bank to the right as we cross the mouth of the Huangpu River, which is filled with ships waiting to port.
Our sharp u-turn to leave PVG.
At 14:13, right after the seat belt sign was turned off, the crew came down the aisle offering earphones for anyone who didn’t grab one. The CHML was then delivered along with our pre-requested drinks (pineapple juice and milk). As discussed previously, there are 3 options for CHMLs on flights originating outside of Korea (pizza, hot dog, and spaghetti). For this sector, we pre-ordered him a pizza.
The meal uncovered, an abundance of food for such a short flight. Not sure why, but they had plastic cutlery this time for CHML versus the bamboo we had on every other flight.
So, the starter kind of misses the marks for a CHML, but it was actually quite good with salmon, potato salad, corn, and ham. The fruit were all fresh.
The pizza is definitely better than what we had ex-SFO. Instead of a plain cheese pizza, we had a flat bread with grilled vegetables and herbs. PVG/SHA catering is usually good.
KE publishes their menus in all classes online (https://www.koreanair.com/us/en/in-flight/onboard-service/dining/first) and a couple of days before departure they even provide pictures of the dishes so if you do your homework, there should be no surprises in-flight. The menus are also available in the KE app if you want to check it in-flight. Similar to the ICN-PVG sector, the online menu was wrong (stir fried tilapia with oyster garlic sauce), but the picture provided in the app was correct (deep fried seafood with black bean sauce). There are no meal options on this flight in Y so everyone is handed the same tray along with a full drink selection, they likely use seafood meals to have the least amount of conflict with dietary restrictions. If you don't like what they have, then you should pre-order a special meal.
At 14:16, the carts came through the front curtains. It's amazing that the KE crews are in the aisles with meals in less than 15 minutes after take off. I requested a KAL's Lager to go with my meal. The meal uncovered.
The CHML starter was better than this small, sad salad with a couple pieces of ham and we get the same small fruit cup for dessert with 3 little slivers.
The main was quite good with two pieces of fish and a couple of shrimp along with egg fried rice and snow peas.
Metal cutlery of course on KE along with a refreshing towel.
Our swervy exit from Chinese airspace during meal service.
After the trays were cleared, I went back to the lavatories between the 2 Y cabins. The lavatory was clean and had a lotion as well as their Jeju Tangerine hand soap.
The cabin mid-flight as the duty free sales are on-going.
I rested for the duration of the flight until the cabin was prepared for landing as we turned towards the Korean coast on a cloudy day in the region.
KE does have transit information in their IFE so you can check the terminal map and connecting gate information. Our flight to SFO is showing on-time departing from Gate 255.
Dropping into ICN on a cloudy day with some light showers in the area.
We landed on the newest runway, 34L. We touched down at 16:41, just ahead of schedule and start our taxi back to the terminals.
An OZ A359 follows us as we start our taxi back to T2.
Our taxi takes us past the OZ/KE A380 graveyard.
Beautiful KE B748 pushing back.
And our fate is sealed as we swerve to the right and pull into a remote stand next to this LJ B772 at 16:50.
The stairs are ready to go, but the purser comes on and tells us that the buses are not here and we need to wait 5-10 minutes for them to arrive.
The buses finally show up at 17:00 and we get on the first bus along with J. Always a treat to get tarmac views.
One last look at HL8212 as we zip off back to T2.
We cross a rare KE A220 enroute.
After the short ~5 minute ride, the bus drops us off and we head upstairs towards transfer security to recirculate back into ICN.
This is where I will leave off this series as we start our transit in ICN T2, thanks for stopping by!
flight information
Korean Air, KE898
Equipment: Airbus A330-200 [HL8212, delivered September 2010]
Departure: 13:40 (ATD: 14:02)
Arrival: 16:45 (ATA: 16:41)
Flight time: 1:39
Looks like great service for 2 hours flight.
Flying on a wide body aircraft, the legroom seems pretty good for economy, personal IFE, the food also looks good.
Thanks for stopping by, KE has very little to fault on their short-haul product. Wi-Fi is the only thing missing, but an excusable absence on a <2h flight.
33" pitch, IFE, pillows, and a hot meal in Economy...that's downright luxurious for a 2h flight! Heck, 33" pitch is what AA have as extra legroom MCE seats on 737s.
Lounge names in Chinese airports are just not sexy haha...thankfully much nicer than they sound
That's a waste for a kid. I love salmon, but it would be lost of most kids who would probably not like the texture.
Now that's something most kids would love!
It's crazy because that happens Sooooooo often. I get jealous of my son's meals being better than mine half the time hahahaha
The IFE interface looks exactly like JAL's IFE interface, it must be the same generation. Definitely old school and clunky.
Ah remote stand parking....only good for the views and always a pain when you're in a hurry.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kevin, thanks for stopping by!
Exactly, why pay for Y+ on a US carrier when you can get the same legroom standard on an Asian carrier?
Magic-V? I thought JL updated their interface with Magic-VI.
ICN T2 is very long, the 5 minute bus ride is probably an advantage over a 15-20min trek from the far corner to the transfer security. The main disadvantage with kids is navigating the stairs with them and cabin luggage.
Magic-VI, but it looks exactly the same...not sure how much of an upgrade it was since it still looked old and felt clunky to navigate. But yeah Magic-VI on the JAL 789s I took last year.