My first oversea trip of the year 2015. Seoul is the first stop, then continue my trip to Honolulu with a stopover in Narita airport on next day. On my return, I visit Seoul again, and fly back to Taipei the following day.
2015/1/09 KE 692 Taipei/TPE - Seoul/ICN (A330-300 Business) reporting this segment now.
2015/1/10 KE 703 Seoul/ICN - Tokyo/NRT (B747-400 Business) coming soon.
2015/1/10 KE 001 Tokyo/NRT - Honolulu/HNL (A330-300 Business) coming soon.
2015/1/14 KE 002 Honolulu/HNL - Seoul/ICN (A330-300 Business) http://flight-report.com/en/report-9089.html
2015/1/16 KE 693 Seoul/ICN - Taipei/TPE (B737-800 Winglets Business) coming soon.
I was going to take Evegreen airport bus, but I ended up in a taxi ride, not that I was in a hurry, the taxi driver showed a sign of one way fare to airport NT$ 800 (US$ 26) at the bus station, I couldn't resist it, it was really cheap.
On the highway, the Eve air headquarter and its training center - green color buildings are easily recognized.
I alway have a problem with the signage of Terminal information, I wonder who can read in 2-3 seconds and figure out what airlines in what terminal.
On left hand side is the Terminal 1
Here we are, the terminal 1 for Korean air.
KOREAN AIR uses the counter 11, already a large crowd waiting for check-in.
The time I arrived, no pax seen at sky priority zone, neither the agents. I spotted the agents were all meeting together at the end of counter. At 9:50 am, they walked to their respective seat, before check-in started, they bowed all together toward the passengers. That was something I never seen before.
The process of check-in was smooth, the agent was extremely nice, she even gave me tomorrow's 2 segments boarding passes for my convenience. Korean Air has its own baggage tag where they stick our bag receipt on it. I was also given a lounge map that also serves as pass to the lounge. Another thing I like is that they have seat map on the counter, and the agent showed me where the seat is, make sure I was OK,.
After check-in, I went upstair for security check and immigration. No FAST tract service at this terminal, but it was slow hour , the security check and immigration were quick and done in 10 minutes all together.
Heading to the lounge.
Korean air uses China airlines lounge at this airport
This lounge was recently completely renovated and redesigned. The decor and style is so different from its previous version. It has a modern low-profile luxury ambience. The lighting is dark with spotlights on key areas. The agent at the door kindly asked me if this is the first time visit to this lounge, I said yes, and she offered me a quick tour to this place.
First, you have to go through a long hallway, the left side has a bookshelf is where all magazines and newspapers located. There are also computer room and sleep rooms and lockers. The right side has the entrance for toilet and shower rooms.
Here are the computer room and sleep rooms. I had to stop by the computer room to get some business done, I printed out several sheets and they were free of charges.
Nice looking washbasin in the restroom, and shower room is somehow small but functional.
The lounge is spacious with an open kitchen at dining section at the other end of lounge. What I really care about the seating area is the availability of power plug. I notice all sofa area has its own ground plugs jus underneath the table. Very well thoughtful design for passengers.
Do you see the ground plugs?
The beverage area offers good selection of tea, also coffee machine, but very sorry for hard drinks.
CI heard from their pax and improved significantly lounge meal service. They offers more than 5 hot foods to choose from, in addition to the steamed dumplings, buns, and the popular a la cart noodle soups.
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Dining area has a two long tables and individual areas.
Here is my all time favorite beef noodle soup from CI lounge.
Heading to gate A5.
Boarding was as usual starting with elderly needed assistance and family with infants, then the first class, business class pax.
This is my first time to fly with Korean air, I like their signature blue color, it is smoothing and fresh.
The menu and earphones are always placed inside the packet.
I peek in first class cabin and I notice the only differences are more leg room and large pillow, the seat itself is exactly the same like in business class.
I don't remember if the purser came to introduce and welcome me in person, Pre-flight drink, water or juice was offered, with a pack of nut. At that time, all I was thinking the nut rage incident, why the nut is such a trouble maker that caused KE CEO's daughter lose her job?
The menu and slippers.
Taking off.
More the cabin hardware. There are stickers and free postcards inside the packet. The inflight-magazine also comes a Japanese language edition.
Hot tower offered after take-off, lunch service started once we reached the altitude.
IEF has nice selection of movies, but the earphones are average quality, and it looks cheap in the business class.
Toilet view. The toilet space is the same as economy cabin, toothbrush kits and razor are available.
Descending to Incheon airport.
Arrived at Incheon, immigration and customs were easy and fast, I particularly like the monitor showing the origin and destination countries of the flight on gate door.
I took a airport bus that takes me directly to my hotel.
End of my report.
This NT$800 taxi fare is incredibly cheap. That driver must have been pressured for cash !
I never could scan that airline list sign on the highway fast enough either.
Check-in starting at 9h50, i.e. at ETD-2h20 is kind of late, and precludes spending an extended amount of time in the lounge.
The seat map display is an advantage, but could you select you seat on the web ? That was one of my frustrations with KE: only if you had bought the ticket directly from KE, or if you were a Morning Calm FF could you do it.
The lounge changed a lot indeed, for the better, but the lack of natural lighting is an original design flaw. Agreed that the catering is a lot better than it used to be.
You were not flying First class, so you can't really understand the outrage at being served unrequested nuts in their wrapping :)
These KE stickers (Wake me up for meal service, etc...) were favorites on the doors in my office at the time when we had office doors (working now in an open space is like being downgraded to flying Y long haul for business ;)
Thanks for this comprehensive report and excellent pictures !
Marathon, agree with your web seat selection issue, I can't select my seat on the web, my ticket is issued by Delta. I love those KE inflight stickers too, I think they are very handy for long haul flight pax, and easier for FAs to know who wants meals. CI new lounge in terminal 1 gets very good reviews in general locally, and you point out the most arguable issue, the lighting design , someone argues it is dark that may be too risky for children and senior pax, and no enough natural light. Personally I think it is a matter of decor and ambience preference, and this lounge location also has a physical limitation with natural light source only in dining area. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for sharing.
You were lucky to have such a cheap taxi ride to TPE : On 30th December the taxi driver asked me NT$ 1200 fot that. lol
Be careful : your name appears on the boarding passes...
There's no fast track service at the Terminal 2 as well.
The lounge looks indeed pretty nice and offers plenty of food.
It is definitely better than the BR Star Lounge at T2, which I've visited few weeks ago.
In my opinion the cabin design isn't very friendly with white panels and electric blue seats.
The seats seem to be the same as the old TG Business class ones.
How many co-pax was there in the J cabin ?
The meal service as well as the headphones are cheap...
See you for the next leg.
Numero_2, thank you for reminding me of name appearance on my photos, I took care of that already. NT$1200 is the standard fare for ride between Taoyuan airport and Taipei city, I was just so lucky to ride with a deep discount rate. I think the co-pax is probably 3 out of 5, judging by the laptop use and suit outfit during the flight. Thanks again for your comment.
Thanks for the report, there does seem to be some consistency issues with KE. When I flew NGO-ICN (~90min flight time) on a B738 at the same time (12ish departure); we had three meal options, linens were laid, and the portions seemed larger.
Three measly pieces of fruit and no dessert?
I also took the same KE1/2 routing to HNL out of ICN so it will be interesting to see how your experience compared on that route. The NRT stopover is easy, but there is no reason why it should take so long. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
Thanks for this very detailed report with a thorough visit of the lounge in TPE and very nice pictures. How nice that the check-in agents bowed to the customers upon opening the counter. The lounge looks really good overall, certainly by US lounge standards. Catering does look disappointing, but for a shorter flight is ok. Nice to have a quiet cabin with few passengers. Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to the next flight!
KevinDC, thanks for your positive feedback.