Review of Korean Air flight from Paris to Seoul in Economy

Après une semaine à Paris, le temps commençant à se gâter dans la capitale française, je décide de partir plus tôt à Séoul et aussi pour bénéficier de plus de temps dans en Corée. Vue que je décide de prendre l'avion le dimanche, soit la veille, il ne reste plus de place en Prestige Class dans le quota Air France et l'agent de réservation me mets en classe Eco avec un stand-by en Prestige.
I take the RER from my friends place around 6pm and am off to CDG. I get out at CDG 2E and continue to get upset at the SNCF as I can't get out because my ticket is being rejected because unreadable… Each time it does that, I had that same problem in the metro during the week… go figure…
Small walk to 2E to check myself in.

Departures for 2E

The Air France agent checks me and my bags in, he is typing franticly on his computer and confirms that I am in Economy Class and will get confirmation in Prestige if there are seats available. He indicates that he can't find my ticket either, maybe due to the change of date and that he has to write a FIM that I will need to hand out during boarding. He goes to get my confirmation with Korean Airlines that tells him that the flight is full and that I'll have to wait until boarding for any no-shows. My chances are slim as the flight is over booked.

I get on the LISA and go to the S3.
I go to the gate and can admire my A380-800, HL-7613

The flight as a 30 minute delay.

The flight was late coming in from ICN, hence the delayed departure.

I went to the lounge, no pictures as I was busy on my computer skyping my partner who had to stay in Tahiti due to a hip injury !
The 380 is ready for departure.

So the confirmation of the bad news is in, there are 2 seats left in Prestige but they are both inoperative and KE refuses to allow me on them and I'll have to travel in Economy Class…
I get on and am welcomed on board by 3 cabin attendants that will indicate where my seat is, I go past the stairs, go through First Class towards the first part of Economy, seat 35K

I settle in, the seat pitch is 34, a lot of legroom for my tall frame of 6'2.

The screens are switched on but I must admit that they are very sad looking, only a blue screen with a band on the top and bottom and an indication that we are on an Airbus 380.

On each seat there is a bottle of water, an amenity kit with a pair of sleepers and a toothbrush.

In the seat pocket there is a lot of reading material !

The airplane's safety card.

The sick bag and a duty free order coupon.

The stickers to indicate that you want to woken up for the meals or duty free sales or a Do Not Disturb !

The Airlines entertainment program, Beyond.

The Korean Air Magazine, Morning Calm, in korean and english.

And the japanese one !

and finally the boutique !

The Inflight magazine is half the size of the dutyfree magazine !!!

The Korean Air network.

The domestic network.

The cabin crew is everywhere during boarding.

The cabin is nearly ready for departure.

The inflight magazine shows the SkyTEAM network and Korean Air's other partners. China Airlines has been added to the list.

My 35K window.

The greeting announcement from the Chief Purser, english is not his best asset…

The safety demonstration on this Airbus 380-800 start, in Korean first and then engligh and will be played again in french with japanese subtitles. BEWARE, there are a LOT of pictures !!!

There ! the demonstrations are over in all 3 languages !

Close up of the 380 logo and the motto, Where dreams are made !

Taxi is over and we are now lined up for take off and the 380 is running down the runway and taking flight to Seoul.
After a very quiet take off, we are in the air and the cabin attendants are now handing earphones.

My neighbors are going to the restrooms so I take this opportunity to do the same, I won't have to disturb them later.
Pictures of the restrooms with the black counter, very elegant.

The first Economy class cabin where I am seated.

Back at my seat I will start to navigate through the KE video system, Beyond.

I start to have a look at the many different maps.

The SkyTEAM screen is not up to date, it is missing China Airlines.

The different screens with a lot of choice for the movies and the music.

The cabin attendant will do a first run with refreshing towelettes, a tradition in Korea, they are available and offered everywhere !

I start my first movie, The Green Lantern.

The cabin crew will do another run with a basket containing bags of peanuts and then a tray with orange juice or water.

My empty glass of water !

No menus are offered, the cabin attendants will offer the dinner choices at each row.

The cabin attendants are serving the trays, they are all smiles from the beginning till the end.

I pause my movie to listen to the cabin attendant that is looking after my Korean neighbours and then me. The choice is the same as usual, the western beef choice or the Korean dish, Bibimbap.

I take the Korean dish because I love bibimbap. The choice of drinks is very limited. Water, white or red wine, orange juice, Coke or Sprite…

Details of some of the elements composing the tray.
The seaweed soup.

The rice dish

I open the whole thing and mix the rice with the vegetables.

I mix everything and then add a little chili to give the dish a little bit of a kick !

The chili paste !

My bibimbap is ready to be eaten.

My tray one last time before I start eating.

The starter with the pickled cucumber.

And for dessert on this Paris-Seoul, a Paris-Brest !

If you move the trays dishes this is what you can read.

The cabin crew will serve coffee or tea and will then collect all the trays.
As soon as the whole cabin will be cleared of everything, the aisles are free from carts, I will walk around the aircraft, particularly to see the boutique at the back of the airplane.

Door 5 right on the main deck.

last sight of the rear cabin.

I go back to my seat with a small stop at the galley for a picture.

Where are we now ?

I am starting to get tired, I close my eyes and fall asleep for a few hours, only 7h03 before arrival.
I wake up, put the airshow on, another 3h35 and we have just gone past Krasnoyarsk.

Let's have a look at the tail camera.

A few infos about Incheon Airport.

I continue to navigate the entertainment program with the many different games.

The music with a big selection of classical music but also original music from movies of TV shows like Glee.

You can also learn Korean during the flight.

Korean Air really wants to sell duty free articles because not only do they have a full encyclopedia for a catalog, a boutique at the back of the plane but they also have a full channel on the entertainment system…

Video is over !

Many different types of articles, here, the Spirits.

I'll check the kids program and decide to watch Kung Fu Panda 2.

There are also children's stories.

Korean Air News, nothing happened since the launch of the 380 to JFK… well they should have added the 380 launch to Paris !

There are also pictures from a photography contest with the winners of 2008, 2099 and 2010.

Documentaries are available, most notably about the 380.

US and British sitcoms, not that many to my taste !

The mood-lighting is on, it will go from orange to pink, then blue and finally full blast ! All this 2 hours before arrival in Seoul.

The cabin attendants will serve oshiboris to each passengers. They will then come through the cabin with trays of orange or pineapple juice or water before coming back with a cart for the breakfast service.

I start to watch 2 and a half men.

I start my second movie, Kung Fu Panda 2.

Still a lot of people asleep in the cabin.

Outside the sun is shinning !

There are 2 choices for breakfast, western with an omelet or Korean.

Mention of the 380n on this tray too.

And on the cups too !

We are nearly there !

Another glance at the tail camera.

Everyone is up and starts to get ready for arrival in Incheon.

I continue my movie but the cabin crew will collect the headphones, I'll use the one from my phone.

We are now flying over South Korea.

The descent has started and the crew is in the cabin checking that seatbacks are up, tables too and ask to open the window blinds.

Arrival soon… Finally…

Getting closer to landing

Cabin is ready !

And here in front of us the runway !

We arrive over the island where the airport of Incheon is located.

Getting even closer…

The terminal and its futuristic building.

Touchdown in a few minutes…

We've landed firmly and the plane ends its run and get of the runway to go to gate 17. Some connecting flights are announced on the screen like Auckland, Brisbane and Narita. I guess that the flight will be on an A380 too as the flight is scheduled to depart from gate 17 !

Seoul is mostly Korean Air territory but also Asiana Airlines.

Last glance to the floor where the cabin crew laid blankets during the dinner service as the 2 drunk new-zealanders seated in the front row will break 2 glasses and the crew will decide to cover the floor with blanket so no one gets hurt. The glass shards will injure the passenger seated near the 2 drinks and the cabin crew will look after the injured passenger and will tend to her every need. 4 of the crew will take care of the incident. Forgot to say that the 2 drinks will put their music from their iphone on full blast for everyone to enjoy. The cabin crew will ask them to switch it off for the other customers convenience. They will also spill red wine of the passenger's seat next to them etc… a pure nightmare those 2 kiwis !

We continue to taxi towards our parking stand.

An Asiana B777 ready to depart.

A small part of the Korean Air fleet, bubble-gum blue everywhere !

Another Korean Air 380 departing.

We are nearly there !

Couple mire inches…

A Delta Airlines 777, Korean Air's Skyteam partner.

The signs are off, everybody starts to get up !

The signs and all on the ceiling.

We are all up and we're waiting for First Class to disembark before they release us.

Last pictures of the Economy Class cabin.

Picture of the First Class seat.

The nose of our 380, Thanks HL-7613

Disembarking through the jetway.

Welcome to Korea !

The way to immigration.

Pictures of Korean sceneries and traditions !

The bags will be delivered on carousel 6

Carousel 6 from above.

We are sharing the carousel with the flight from Chicago.

To get to my hotel I have to jump on a bus and then a taxi.

Welcome to Séoul !