... My flight between Tokyo and Seoul was with Korean Air....
About Korean Airlines
------------------------------
Korean Air have a mix of around 120 aircraft, comprising of 747, 777, 737, A330 and A300 aircraft and mainly serve SE Asia, although serve many European capitals, such as London, ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Advantages: Erm........ Disadvantages: Old planes, dull food.....
...Tokyo and Seoul was with Korean Air....
About Korean Airlines
------------------------------
Korean Air have a mix of around 120 aircraft, comprising of 747, 777, 737, A330 and A300 aircraft and mainly serve SE Asia, although serve many European capitals, such as London, Paris, Rome, etc. They don't fly to Africa or South America.
Partnerships:
-----------------
Korean Airlines are a member ... ...Most of the long haul Korean Air planes have a mix of three different classes:
- Economy
- Presitige (or business class)
- First class
My experience:
--------------------
Well, I booked my flight through American Express travel in the UK and was issued with an E-Ticket. This was taken with me when checking in at Narita. There was no one around other for the checkin staff, and despite being ... more
I travel a fair bit.... So much so, that even Simon Calder (Travel Correspondent for the Times and BBC) might even be envious! I tend to stick with the airlines that I know, but, occasionally, have to fly with other unknown airlines when I don't have any other choice.
So, I'm in Korea at the moment, having got here via Tokyo. My flight between Tokyo and Seoul was with Korean Air....
About Korean Airlines ------------------------------ Korean Air have a mix of around 120 aircraft, comprising of 747, 777, 737, A330 and A300 aircraft and mainly serve SE Asia, although serve many European capitals, such as London, Paris, Rome, etc. They don't fly to Africa or South America.
Partnerships: ----------------- Korean Airlines are a member of the Sky Team alliance, comprising of KLM, Ai France, Continental, Delta, Alitalia, Czech Airlines and North West.
Travel Classes: --------------------- Most of the long haul Korean Air planes have a mix of three different classes: - Economy - Presitige (or business class) - First class
My experience: --------------------
Well, I booked my flight through American Express travel in the UK and was issued with an E-Ticket. This was taken with me when checking in at Narita. There was no one around other for the checkin staff, and despite being in a Japanese airport flying on a Korean airline, the staff were courteous, had a good comprehension of English, and put me in an extra leg room seat right at the front of Economy. I wasn't asked for my Sky Team membership number, which may be a small hassle when I get back to the UK when trying to claim my airmiles, but this should affect most people.
The Lounge: Well, dull is the only word I could use. It had a small selection of soft and alcoholic drinks, some biscuits and a couple of newspapers. The seats weren't designed for those spending longer than an hour in there, and there wasn't exactly a great number of sockets for charging my laptop. The staff, however, seemed curteous and polite.
Boarding: No real issues. Despite this being a 747 I was flying on (I suspect it was going onwards from Seoul after we landed), we boarded pretty quickly, and there wasn't the scrum you normally see at London airports.
Cabin Design: On the 747 I flew on, you either boarded at the front for First class, or from the middle for business and economy classes. Boarding at the middle as I did landed me directly at my seat which was handy. So, first impressions..... OLD! The cabin looked quite dreary, with small monitors attached in the roof for the inflight entertainment (more of that later). The plastics used in the cabin looked well used, and the lighting had a lovely yellow tinge to it, making things look even worse than they did!
The seat: Well, it was comfortable for the 2 hour light I had, but you'd be seeing a masseur if you'd had spent longer than that in it.... leg room seemed slightly longer than normal, but the width wasn't great, even for my svelte figure!
The food: despite being a 2 hour flight, we were soon served drinks. I didn't see much of a choice, but as I'd be awake for 24 hours, I needed coke!!!! They also had, from what I saw, that urine looking type apple juice and orange juice..... Then the food was swiftly dealt. I didn't get a choice and was served some beef and rice. The beef seemed okay, and with little fat (which was a surprise). The sauce served with it was hot, as is the norm in Korea... A bit too hot for my delicate palate!
In flight Entertainment: Non existent. There was some locallly produced TV show on the small monitor. headphones weren't issued, and occasionally the sky map thing was shown. There were lengthy breaks between these, as they had to be manually switched by one of the cabin crew on a box close to me (for the geeks, they were using Sony 8mm video tapes from what I could see). I pity anyone that has to fly long haul with them!
Seat back mags.... Well, actually quite interesting, and written in Korean on one side of the page with English on the other. Most of the articles were syndicated from other sources, but there was one which was about great drives in Europe. Of course, there was a lovely drive mentioned in N.Yorks.... Kept me busy for around 20 minutes....
What else can I tell you? Well, the cabin seemed quite.... The passengers seemed quite subdued, which was most welcome. The staff were courteous and seemed to be professional, and mainly female.
Baggage delivery: After getting through immigration unscathed, the bags were delivered with around a ten minute wait, and in one piece.
Final thoughts: Would I fly with them again? Possibly, but only short haul and only if ANA and JAL weren't available (Two of the national Japanese carriers). They seemed okay for value for money (Around £200 between Tokyo and Seoul), but if you are flying from the UK to Korea, Korean Air are the ONLY choice. BA pulled out of the route a couple of years ago. Personally, if it's your own money, fly via Tokyo or somewhere with someone else......
Advantages: Under-seat sockets for laptop plugs; Fast; Friendly; Free Hotel Disadvantages: No Seat-back entertainment between SEL and AKL
...suck less than others - Korean Air is one of these.
If you are going to be locked-up in a tin can for an obscene amount of time - the best you can hope for is that: you don't have to pay too much for the pleasure; the flight is as quick as possible; the trolley dollies / flight attendants are pleasant; and the safety videos are mildly erotic.
That's why I'll fly Korean Air again.
THE PROS
* Under-seat sockets for laptop plugs
* 4-star accommodation ... ...one change of plane.
Korean Air operate a Boeing 747-400 between London & Seoul and then a 777-200 down to Auckland.
The over-all flight time is faster than even Air New Zealand.
The connection time on the way out is three-hours.
On the way back there is an overnight stay - great if you are not in a hurry.
ON THE PLANE
The seat-pitch on Korean Air is pretty decent compared to other airlines.
When I say 'decent,' it's not degrees of comfort ...
cookemedia 26.09.2008 (02.11.2008)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Korean Air Lines - KAL
Advantages: Relatively Cheap Disadvantages: Found staff woke me up all the time
...no pillows.
The aircraft Korean Air uses are B747-400, B747-300, B747-200, B747 SP, B777-200, A330-300, A330-200, MD 11, A300-600, A300B mine was a B747-300.
The seat itself was ok, I was allocated a window seat but it didnt recline that much so sleep was a little difficult. There are several other varities of seat available depending on price my seat was an economy seat and was according to the specifications 17.2 inches wide, recline to 27 degrees, ... ...the food was awful.."a traditional" korean dish was on offer or chicken noodles...neither of which were appealing and I didn't fancy the dehydrated seaweed soup either. I wasn't offered any alcholol but soft drinks were available...
The actual flight was pretty bad due to turbulence and so I wanted to sleep but unfortunately the staff kept waking me up which I found annoying but when I wanted a drink the wasn't one to be found.
The inflight entertainment ...
curly110 25.02.2003 (27.03.2003)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Korean Air Lines - KAL
Advantages: friendly staff Disadvantages: food is not always nice, depends on which plane you get
...cheaper. Then we came across Korean Air. They were charging us around £700 per person. The trip ws split into 4 bits as it was a 20 hour flight to New Zealand, not terribly good for my first time flying!
Anyway I will try not to bore you too much but this is my experience.
Heathrow to South Korea (Seoul) - The plane was modern (I think it was a boeing 747 but i'm not quite sure). Each seat had a little TV in the back where you could listen to music ... ...a choice between english or Korean meals. I had beef in gravy with mashed potatoes. My brother had a korean dish which was very spicy.
South Korea (Seoul) to New Zealand (Auckland) - After a two hour stop in Korea we set off again. The plane was very old and didn't have little TV's. The seats were really old like the ones you find in coaches. The food wasn't nice either it was stodgy and tasteless. But in this one we had side seats which had a lot ...
Sabrina2090 23.11.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Korean Air Lines - KAL
Advantages: Very Cheap and Cabin is quite Clean Disadvantages: Delays and food timing was poor
...could fly Japan Airlines or Korean Air. Now he was skeptical since Korea was a third world country at the time, but he risked it. Today he is telling me how poor the service was and how he was scared about the safety of the plane. But that was then and this is now. Korea and Japan are now pretty rich countries and air safety is much better these days. I travel a lot and I do want to try new airlines so Korean Airlines was my choice. Besides it saved ... ...really make much difference. The Korean Airlines Boeing 747-400 was pretty much empty, that is before stopping in Pusan. We stayed in Pusan for only about 10 minutes and the plane was off again. Seats in the plane were quite comfortable and you weren't packed like a sardine in a can. More passengers got on in Pusan and the plane was a little more crowded. Dinner was served 3 hours into flight. The meal consisted of a over salted salmon steak with ...
cyclone88 11.07.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Korean Air Lines - KAL
...the last 18 months with Korean Air, both internationally- short and long haul- and domestically.
Internationally, we usually travel buisness class, though we have used economy plus for one trip, from Busan to Shangahi, as there is no business class on that sector.
Business class on long haul legs ( Seoul to Sydney/Brisbane) is not too bad, but it doesn't really compare to Singapore Airlines or even Garuda, both of whom we have flown with. The planes ... ...of 10mins to over 1 hour, and never with any annoucement of the reason for the delay.
Give Korean Air a try, they aren't too bad, and now you can get FF points with Air France or Delta, so there are a lot of opportunities for using the points. ...
johnkennett 07.08.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Korean Air Lines - KAL
