Review of Asiana Airlines flight from Shanghai to Seoul in Economy

AAR

OZ - Asiana Airlines

Flight taken on 01 January 2025
OZ362
11:35 01h 55m 14:30
Class Economy
Seat -
NGO85
515 · 93 · 6 · 16

Background



Pre-Flight


After 2 weeks in Shanghai, it was time to head home.


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After breakfast at the hotel, we booked a ride to the airport and were quickly arriving at PVG T2.


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After loading up our bags, we went into the terminal with the mandatory explosives checks and bag screening.


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Inside, the FIDS showed that OZ was employing Aisle K for check-in.


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We entered on the other side of the check-in hall, so had to walk all the way across.


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There were no lines, and we were immediately helped at one of the 3 business class counters.


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The agent confirmed that we would have empty middle seats on both flights, handed us our boarding passes, provided lounge invitation cards at PVG for the CA Lounge, and checked our bags through to SFO.


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No idea why we needed the lounge invitation cards for the CA Lounge, but they of course include the map denoting the lounge location on the back, which also provides you with a visual of the flow through customs, immigration, and security at PVG T2.


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Immigration was quick, but security was the typical slow process at PVG with ~50 passengers queued per lane since each passenger has to undergo a manual screening after the metal detector and they like to scan bags twice. Our son's toys had to be removed from his suitcase for manual inspection.


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We do not like the CA Lounge, so went to the MU Lounge instead since we can access it with Priority Pass. This is also the same lounge that BR sends its passengers instead of the CA Lounge.


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China Eastern Lounge (#77)


It's not the easiest to find, but it was also really close to our gate since we would depart from 75.


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New Year's decorations were up at the entrance.


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The lounge was split in half with food located in both directions.


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The lounge has different seating zones stretched above the gate areas.


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The views are of the seating areas below, but the large windows of PVG allow some plane spotting as well.


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Our plane was clearly visible having already arrived from ICN.


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The food areas were busy, but here is the sampling my son picked out.


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My wife opted for the noodle bar, which is the best aspect of MU's lounges.


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Boarding


We left the lounge as we saw the queues forming below. By the time we reached the gate, we joined the back of the business line and were quickly on our way down to the plane.


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Our flight today would be operated by HL7756, a 17-year old B772.


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We were welcomed on board by a rare male FA on OZ and shown through the galley to our aisle.


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Fuselage shot.


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The Y cabin in its standard 3-3-3 configuration.


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Our row for this flight.


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These seats are definitely vintage. This plane had just completed ICN-BCN and ICN-FCO rotations the week prior, which is not surprising since I had taken the sister plane HL7755 on the old VCE-ICN route. The seats are very comfortable and padded, but the IFE would be a large let down for long-haul routes not to mention the complete lack of charging ports.


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Pitch does not look the greatest despite being 32", but that is mainly due to the large amount of padding on these seats that make them very comfortable.


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The tiny IFEs, which of course are not touch screen.


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The IFE is controlled by the remote located in the side arm rest, which also has the audio jacks in the end.


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The standard seat back contents: duty free catalog, airsickness bag, safety card, and headphones.


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PSU with no individual air vents.


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The view from our seat with a UA B77W that we would be racing to SFO later on today.


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After settling in, the FA serving our zone came to introduce herself and confirm our son's CHML and handed him a kid's pack that contained a different set of origami from SFO-ICN and included a board for playing.


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We made it through 3 before my son lost interest.


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The pilots came on and announced a flight time of 1:35 today and we initiated our pushback at 11:33 over a good look at all of the *A visitors to PVG this afternoon.


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The safety video played as push back was conducted.


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A wave goodbye from the ground crew as we start our taxi.


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SU B77W.


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HO B789.


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Some narrow bodies at the domestic end of the terminal.


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CX A333 heading back to HKG. Clearly ex-KA since it has maroon paint around the horizontal stabilizer.


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Reaching the runway, we hold for a GS A321 to take off ahead of us.


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A look back as we turn to align onto the runway.


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We take off at 11:49 on runway 16R as we cross a HO A321.


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Goodbye PVG.


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Crossing S2.


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Then S1.


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We continue our run south, before making our u-turn to head north to Seoul.


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The CHML was handed out quickly. Unlike the other flights, the snack box had fresh items and the labelling confirms it was catered at PVG.


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Everything presented. Our son actually finished the entire pasta dish, which is rare so the food quality must have been better ex-PVG than the pasta ex-SFO. The starter was a chicken, cucumber, pineapple salad that he didn't touch and I found to be a very strange combination on the palette. There was also a small fruit cup.


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Being at the front of the cabin, we received food early in the flight.


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The basic slab tray table.


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No options on short regional flights so I'm handed my snack box and main. Drinks are offered, but are limited to water, coffee, tea, juices, and soft drinks. No alcohol is offered on short regional flights anymore.


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The meal unpackaged. The snack box contained an apple/potato salad starter, a tiramisu-type cake, and a water cup. There is no metal cutlery on these regional flights anymore in favor of a plastic spork and small spoon, but refreshing towel and condiments are still included.


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The main was chicken in a black bean sauce, bok choy, and rice. A good dish despite its basic appearance.


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The lavatory I used was the handicap one near R2, so was extremely spacious. The polished stainless steel shows the age of the plane, but the lavatory was very clean and well maintained.


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The IFE is tiny, low resolution, but surprisingly not that laggy in navigation using the remote. The content is the same as all other aircraft, but the moving map is very basic and non-interactive.




Reaching the coast of Korea.


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As we started our descent, arrival information was displayed.


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As well as connecting flight information, surprisingly only 3 flights listed including ours to SFO.


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Same as our arrival two weeks earlier, the smog is bad in Seoul on approach.


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Barely can make out the Incheon Bridge so arrival is imminent.


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Clear skies at the airport though as we clear the sea wall.


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We had a smooth landing on runway 34L at 14:09, ~20 minutes ahead of schedule.


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KE A321neo.


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We hold to let a CZ A320 take off on 34R.


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Reaching T1.


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CA A321 in Beautiful Sichuan special livery.


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AY A359 starting a long detour back to HEL.


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Deja vu as we arrive at a familiar gate.


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Deplaning was quick and we were quickly out and on our way to transit security.


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Exiting our gate, we have a short walk to the transfer zone. This time, there will be only ~20 people in line for transit security, but only 1 lane open so it will take ~30 minutes to recirculate back into the terminal. Not sure what ICN's issue is, but transits were not very fluid this trip.


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I'll leave off this series here as we transit in Incheon, thanks for stopping by!


Flight Information


Asiana Airlines, OZ362
Equipment: Boeing B777-200ER [HL7756, delivered August 2007]
Departure: 11:35 (ATD: 11:49)
Arrival: 14:30 (ATA: 14:09)
Flight time: 1:21


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Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Asiana Airlines 6.5

  • Cabin7.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew8.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi4.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.0 / 10
Lounge

Lounge #775.8

  • Comfort7.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi4.0 / 10
  • Services5.0 / 10
Departure airport

Shanghai - PVG7.0

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access6.0 / 10
  • Services8.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Seoul - ICN7.8

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access7.0 / 10
  • Services9.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness9.0 / 10

Conclusion

OZ's regional product to mainland China and Japan is average and non-distinguishing. OZ's B772s are old, but still look a lot better than UA's. The seats are very padded, which takes away some legroom, but a non-issue for a short flight like this. The cabin crew was warmer on this leg than ICN-PVG. These old B772s have small screens that can only be controlled by the remote making them difficult to use. There is no Wi-Fi and no charging ports of any type on-board. The catering has regressed to snack boxes, but at least there were fresh options offered inside ex-PVG. Decent drink offering, but no alcohol offered anymore. The main was good in terms of both quality and taste.

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Comments (6)

  • I've quite enjoyed this OZ series and am looking forward to reading the final leg. There seems to be quite a significant variation in the hard product offered on each aircraft and you certainly wouldn't want to get stuck on their B772 on a long haul flight. Never the less it will be a shame to see OZ disappear from the aviation market when the merger finally does go through.

    • Thanks for stopping by!

      There seems to be quite a significant variation in the hard product offered on each aircraft and you certainly wouldn't want to get stuck on their B772 on a long haul flight.

      To be fair, they are quite comfortable seats. I find the lack of power supplies to be the bigger issue. Everything into the US (other than HNL) and FRA/CDG/LHR gets A350 or A380 nowadays so you aren't likely to stumble across a B772 long-haul outside of the leisure routes.

  • nice ride on the B777 200 on a short flight to seoul with a long security check which took 20 minutes unlike immigration was about 1 minute with no queue and stamp out of china fast .Didnt know there an MU lounge at PVG terminal 2 since MU mainly depart from terminal 1 .The seats were quite old despite a short flight to seoul even one option meal with no metal utensils and punctual arrival. Hope these seats can be refurbished soon with modern ife system .

    • Thanks for the comments!

      Didnt know there an MU lounge at PVG terminal 2 since MU mainly depart from terminal 1

      I can't think of any active SkyTeam member that uses T2 so it is likely a legacy lounge that only handles 3rd party contracts.

      Hope these seats can be refurbished soon with modern ife system .

      At this point, their fate will be in the hands of KE and likely end up in the hands of a LCC-subsidiary like LJ.

  • There seems to be a lot of different versions of the 777 on Asiana. There is at least 1 with refitted interiors that use the same seats as the A350 do. However from my research there seems only to be 1 plane with the refitted interior, as videos are hard to come by on youtube. There are also a few 777s that have the same seats seen on the A321. Lastly, there are the old seats that you flew on. But even these seats have a difference. When I flew on HL7755 in August 2023, the plane did not have AVOD. Instead, there was a few movies and television channels you could cycle through like a tv. The soft product on OZ is pretty consistent, but the hard product varies a lot between planes.

    • Thanks for stopping by!

      There is at least 1 with refitted interiors that use the same seats as the A350 do.

      I find this surprising, but would suspect it might be HL7775 or a similar B772 that had been fitted with a F cabin. I've flown on 6 of the 9 B772 frames left and 3 had the A321-generation cabins (HL7700, HL7732, and HL7739) and 3 had the older cabins (HL7755, HL7756, and HL7775). I suspect KE will likely transfer all of these to LJ to operate high-density regional routes.

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