Review of Korean Air flight Nagoya Seoul in Business

Airline Korean Air
Flight KE762
Class Business
Seat 8E
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 02:15
Take-off 06 Dec 14, 11:50
Arrival at 06 Dec 14, 14:05
KE   #7 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 136 reviews
NGO85
By SILVER 4176
Published on 21st March 2015
Background:

So this is a report of a flight that happened before I ever considered contributing to FR. When I was going through my memory card, I figured there were enough pictures to make a fairly complete report of a product that is not well-represented on the site: KE’s regional business product. This was the first of a series of flights in December that took me NGO-HNL-NGO via ICN. This report will cover NGO-ICN with some photo bonuses of the other segments at the end. I know it'll be a fairly incomplete report, but something is better than nothing.

KE operates three daily flights NGO-ICN, the aircraft get swapped readily on this route, but it is normally a 77W (morning), 738 (lunchtime), and 772 (evening). The 777s all are with international configuration, so flatbed seats are installed, not bad for a 2 hour flight, but today we settle for the 738.

Pre-flight:

I arrived at Centrair (NGO) by train at 10:00, check-in was done by KE. After a 5 minute wait for another passenger to finish up, check-in was completed and boarding passes were in hand. Security and immigration were finished in 15 minutes and I was airside.

The KAL Lounge is a dark room (no windows) with limited offerings, but decent press (I’ll do a full recap on this lounge in the near future since I have an upcoming ST trip, but Admins should add this lounge to the database since it doesn't exist yet). The food offerings were about on the level of what you’d see in a Delta SkyClub in a domestic terminal, so not good for Asian standards.

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Korean Air, KE762
Equipment: Boeing 737-800
Departure: 11:50am (11:58am)
Arrival: 2:05pm (1:59pm)
Flight time: 2:01

A boarding announcement was made by the KAL Lounge staff 40 minutes prior to departure. Just outside of the lounge, a nice view of the terminal showed an all-Korean lineup (the OZ A321 leaves at the same time and the planes piggyback each other into ICN), my ride for the day will be HL8244 (delivered 02/2012). As you can see, NGO is a ghost town at lunchtime on the international side.

photo 1

Upon arriving at the gate, boarding commenced shortly with a call for Prestige Class, Sky Priority, and Morning Calm members. After heading down the jetbridge, I was welcomed aboard by the purser and business cabin FA. Slippers and low-quality headsets were located in the seatback pocket. After settling in, the FA came through offering newspapers, oshibori, and welcome drinks (orange juice or water). I took an orange juice and the infamous packaged peanuts (gasp!).

The flight was very full, 11/12 in J and >90% in Y; so no cabin shot. The seats were the newer regional business product that has personal IFE and a generous 50-inch pitch (you can see this in the meal photos). The seats also have in seat power. During the taxi, the purser came through and thanked all the J-passengers individually for flying KE, which was a nice touch.

A storm was rolling into Nagoya at take-off, so it was a very cloudy/hazy rise over Ise Bay.

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After rising up above the clouds, we can see our winglet clearly.

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As we approach the Japanese coast near Tottori, we can see the clouds begin to break giving glimpses of the snow-covered ground. Tottori is a small port city, but it does have an airport! TTJ has one daily-scheduled flight operated by NH to HND.

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We then begin the meal service over the Sea of Japan. The FA comes through and delivers oshibori and asks our meal choice; the options were Korean (octopus bibimbap), Japanese (soba noodles), or Western (beef roulade). I went for the Korean option. No tablecloth is a big minus, and the meal was a coursed tray service for lunchtime. The tray was delivered with a salad that was good, but the salad dressing is delivered in a small plastic cup. Drink service was done by cart and I took water and umeshu (plum wine). The croissant was not up to French standards.

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A peek at the Sea of Japan outside of the window.

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The main was delivered pre-mixed, which differs from the bibimbap service you normally receive. I’ll forgive them given the flight-time, but when you aren’t able to control how much gochujang is added to the meal, that’s a little dangerous… I’ve developed a Japanese palate so spicy foods are not really my thing, so this was definitely on the spicy end for me. The FA did apologize in advance and told me to mix the dish well to try and spread out the gochujang to the rice. Presentation of the individual dish was good and it was a very good meal, although octopus is a weird protein choice for bibimbap. Refills were made during meal service. After the main was finished, a simple fruit plate was offered for dessert along with a cup of coffee.

photo 11

Before the fruit plate was delivered, we reached the Korean coastline just north of Pohang.



A coffee refill was offered as I spend the remainder of the flight just enjoying the natural IFE, I didn’t try out the personal IFE so can’t really comment on it’s content. With views like this over central Korea near Woraksan National Park, who needs IFE.



We then get a glimpse of civilization as we reach Chungju.

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The final descent begins when are reaching the outskirts of Suwon.

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An icy approach into Incheon from the southeast, but we get a great view of the harbor and the Incheon Bridge on arrival. As the cabin was prepared for arrival, the purser came through and talked with each passenger in J again.

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Our shadow in the murky waters below.

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Touching down at Incheon was smooth and we had a long taxi to our gate where we get to spot a lot of KE and OZ planes, what diversity!

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We pull into our gate next to this beast, who makes our little 738 look like a toy.

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Immigration was quick to get back onto the departure level of the terminal, where I had a couple of hours to kill before my flight to Honolulu. I stopped in the Prestige Lounge to shower/snack then did a little bit of plane spotting. Here is the last shot of the 738 that took my to ICN before it heads off on its next journey. Some diversity at ICN with this LH 744 and SC 738 taxing. I also caught a KE A380 taking off over the sea of KE wide-bodies occupying ICN.

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Walking around, I also saw the arrivals of QR and EK.







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BONUS – Hodgepodge of photos from the remaining flights I did in this series.

Reaching Oahu on KE001. Open up the window and see this, what more can you ask for? The lagoons you see belong to Ko Olina with the Disney Aulani Resort and the soon to be extinct JW Marriott Ihilani Resort.



Final approach is done over Pearl Harbor with a somber reminder of the past (I landed on Dec. 6, a day before the actual anniversary). USS Arizona Memorial is prominently visible along with some USAF spotting.



Instead of plane spotting, let’s do some ship spotting. You can barely make out this submarine heading out of Pearl Harbor as well as this carrier being escorted.

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Landing at HNL, we then taxied by some old friends and park ironically next to the direct flight from NGO-HNL that JL operates (I opted for the more scenic routing).

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I got food poisoning in Hawaii, so the trip HNL-ICN-NGO was definitely not a very pleasant one… but I did manage to find the strength to take these pictures of the glorious maiden that would take me back to ICN (HL7461, delivered 12/1997). If only she was that beautiful on the inside… I really think this is one of the best photos I’ve ever taken, she is really beautiful.

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And last, but not least, we were gifted with a departure over Waikiki and Diamond Head on a clear, sunny day.



To finish a comparison of the weather in Hawaii (sunset in Kona) and Japan (heavy snowfall the day I returned).

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Thank you for stopping by on this rather incomplete report, but at least it provides a brief glimpse of KE’s regional business product. I know it's incomplete, but something is better than nothing!
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Verdict

Korean Air

7.1/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Meal/catering6.0

Nagoya - NGO

9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Seoul - ICN

9.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

This was my first experience with KE on a narrow-body.

Cabin comfort: The cabin had BSI and was a new plane that was clean. The pitch at 50 inches is extremely generous, although unbuckling your seatbelt to get something from the seatback pocket is annoying. For a two-hour flight, recliners aren’t terrible, but the Prestige Sleeper seats on the other flights out of NGO would be better. Almost full cabin, so a little crowded feeling.

Crew: Purser was very present at take-off and landing, but nowhere to be seen in-flight. The FA working the business cabin was overwhelmed by the full load and service definitely suffered. English was not a problem. Interactions of the FA with passengers was strictly “professional” as is common with KE. Only a small amount of personal touch when the FA apologized for the spiciness of the meal.

Meal and catering: A good portion size for a lunch service on a 2-hour flight. No tablecloth was laid, big minus in service. The paper napkin with metal cutlery is tacky. Linen was completely absent in this service. The salad was good, the bread wasn’t. The octopus was very good, but a little too spicy for my taste. Fruit plate for dessert is a little weak, but common for lunch time meals.

Entertainment: Personal IFE. I didn't check out any of the programs available since I was enjoying the scenery instead. Newspapers in English, Korean, and Japanese offered.

On-time performance: Boarding started early, we left on-time, and we arrived into ICN early. Enough said.

Information on the route Nagoya (NGO) Seoul (ICN)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Nagoya (NGO) → Seoul (ICN).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Korean Air avec 8.0/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 0 minutes.

  More information

7 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 132111 by
    Mathieu 2067 Comments
    Hello,

    Thanks for sharing this report !

    I really like your pictures ! What kind of camera did you use ? Filters ? Your bonus & spotting are really beautiful.

    I've got a question : Where are the nuts ?? Ahaha

    Apparently the catering is not good...

    How was the seat ?

    See you,
    • Comment 312642 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1963 Comments
      Thank you for your comments Mathieu!

      No filters, I just let the camera do the work :) it's a Nikon D3300.

      The nut reference refers to the scandal last year when the daughter of KE's chairman exploded on an airplane in NY when she was served nuts in a package instead of ramekin and started attacking an FA. You didn't know about this?

      The catering on KE is okay, but nothing great. I've never had a wow meal with them, but I've also never had something inedible.

      The seats are 2x2 in 3 rows. They are your typical recliners you see in U.S. domestic F. Moderate comfort, but nothing you'd want to spend more than 3 hours siting in.
    • Comment 312652 by
      Mathieu 2067 Comments
      Hi !

      Great answer ! Yes, i do know about the nuts scandal ! I was just kidding :)

      Well, your Nikon is really good.

      2x2 is comfortable. In Europe, most of the business classes en medium haul flights are 3x3, middle seats are blocked.

      See you,

      Mathieu
    • Comment 313424 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1963 Comments
      Sorry about that, I misread your original comment about the nuts. I read what and not where. I'll blame it on jetlag.
    • Comment 312814 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1963 Comments
      Thanks for the comments Kevin!

      KE has two types of J on the 738s, the older version has no IFE and has a shorter pitch. This is the same cabin as on the 739ERs they have. The seat is a traditional recliner, so just like domestic US F. The extra pitch infortunately foesnt equate to more recline. Here's a corporate shot of their regional seats: https://kr.koreanair.com/content/koreanair-admin/cross-region/en/seat-administration/_jcr_content/par/seats_6/image.img.jpg

      I don't think these planes operate on anything more than 3 h so it's probably not a big deal. I'm just interested to see the new KE long-haul J product.

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