Review of Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul to Shanghai in Economy

AAR

OZ - Asiana Airlines

Flight taken on 19 December 2024
OZ367
20:00 02h 05m 21:05
Model Airbus A321
Class Economy
Seat -
NGO85
362 · 28 · 2 · 12

Routing



Pre-Flight


We will start this report exiting transit security and re-circulating into T1. We had ~1.5h to kill before boarding so used the OZ Business Lounge East since it was right next to our gate. I didn't take any pictures in the lounge during this visit, but will include a review of this lounge on the return.


photo 1-13438

After visiting the lounge to freshen up, we walked down to our gate, which was luckily next to one of the many kids play areas at ICN T1. Our son could burn some energy while we waited for boarding to start.


photo 2

Boarding


At 19:30, people were starting to line up so we joined the business class line. Boarding started at 19:33, just a couple of minutes later after document checks were performed.


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Down we go to our plane, which will be HL8060, an 8-year old A321ceo.


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A look at L1 on boarding.


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The J cabin, featuring 3 rows of 2-2 seating.


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The Y cabin featuring 167 seats.


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Pitch is a respectable ~31".


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The legroom would be better without the abundance of seat back contents: duty free catalog, airsickness bag, safety card, and headsets.


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The seat back features an IFE screen, USB-A plug, coat hook, cup holder, and IFE remote.


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Headphone jack is at the end of the arm rest.


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110V universal outlets were located under the seat.


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Flight


The front door and the crew prepared the cabin for departure as the safety video played.


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We sat there and eventually the captain came on and announced that we would wait at the gate since there was a ~20 minute delay due to ICN ATC. Eventually, we pushed back at 20:33 to start our taxi out. We had the long taxi over to runway 34R and took off at 20:56 almost an hour late.


I fell asleep so missed the CHML delivery and only awoke as the cart was arriving for the meal. The tray table is bifold in design, but lacks an indention for cups.


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Food arrived as we were approaching Jeju.


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There are no options for short regional flights and everyone is handed a snack box and main. Drinks are then offered, but are limited to water, juices, coffee, tea, and soft drinks. No alcoholic drinks are available anymore.


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The main is Stir-fried Yuxiang Wagyu Beef with Fried Rice. The snack box contained a packet (plastic cutlery, refreshing towel, napkin, and condiments), orange jelly, water, and a Madeleine. I took a cup of green tea.


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The snack box makes for easy clean-up for the crew since all trash can be placed back inside for disposal.


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The IFE is touch screen and features the middle-generation interface. Content is the same as long-haul.


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A kid's activity kit was handed out after the meal.


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I fell asleep again and woke up as we were arriving into Pudong. We landed at 21:26, ~30 minutes late, before the long taxi around PVG T2 and eventually took our slot at 21:43.


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Goodbye OZ.


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The long walk to immigration.


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Immigration was understaffed at this hour and we got stuck behind the remnants of an EK flight. It took 30 minutes to clear immigration, fortunately bags were already done being delivered so we were quickly out through customs to find our driver.


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I'll leave off this series here as we begin our stay in Shanghai, thanks for stopping by!


Flight Information


Asiana Airlines, OZ367
Equipment: Airbus A321 [HL8060, delivered May 2016]
Departure: 20:00 (ATD: 20:56)
Arrival: 21:05 (ATA: 21:26)
Flight time: 1:30


photo 28
Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Asiana Airlines 7.3

  • Cabin7.5 / 10
  • Cabin crew7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.5 / 10
Departure airport

Seoul - ICN8.0

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access7.0 / 10
  • Services9.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness10.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Shanghai - PVG7.3

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access7.0 / 10
  • Services8.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.0 / 10

Conclusion

OZ's regional network is strong into mainland China and Japan, but it appears there have been a lot of "reductions" in in-flight services recently (similar to KE). The OZ A321s offer a decent in-flight experience with respectable pitch and in-seat PTVs. The cabin crew was okay on this flight. PTVs on a 90-min flight, plenty of charging options, only lacking Wi-Fi, which is a minor critique. The catering has regressed to snack boxes, which means more processed/packaged items, and alcohol has been cut. The main was good in terms of both quality and taste.

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Comments (2)

  • Nice trip report on the asiana a321 to shanghai PVG with only one choice meal and limited drinks selection for a short flight to shanghai even the snack box presentation unlike my 4 hour flight to changsha with china eastern A320Neo with dropdown screen and one meal choice for breakfast .Although there should be enough manpower at the pvg immigration compare to other airport like PEK or changsha .Hope you enjoy your trip to shanghai since i been to shanghai alot of times when taking china eastern and singapore airlines A380

    • Thanks for stopping by, OZ is a solid option for full-service regional flights, but certainly not the best with their aging fleet. PVG is always slow, we have often looked at flying out of SHA to avoid these issues since they have much better fluidity, but only JL/NH via HND present viable options since GMP/TSA require airport changes for TPAC connections.

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