This was a continuation of my trip from Istanbul to Shanghai. Even though I was booked in business class, I was allowed to use the Asiana First Class Lounge because my connecting flight from Frankfurt to Seoul was in first class. A full review of the Asiana First Class Lounge will be coming soon.
Flight: OZ 365
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Seoul (ICN) to Shanghai (PVG)
Depart: 2:20 PM on Monday (2:12 PM actual)
Arrive: 3:20 PM on Monday (3:08 PM actual)
Duration: 2hr 1mn
Seat: 3G Business Class
About 30 minutes prior to boarding time, I left the Asiana First Class Lounge and walked over to my plane located at gate 49. From the lounge, the gate was not that far away but I wanted to take a leisurely stroll through the terminal and check out the airport. I arrived at the gate with a few minutes to spare and took some pictures of the bird before boarding was called. Boarding started with business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members and all passengers boarded the plane through door 1L. I presented my boarding pass to the flight attendant and made my way to seat 3A on the left side of the plane.
Asiana Airlines uses these Boeings 767’s on their short, intra-Asia regional routes. These aging wide-body jets are configured with a two class cabin, business and economy. Business class is located in the small forward cabin with only 15 seats. There are three rows of seats in a 2x1x2 layout. On this flight, five of the 15 seats were occupied and there were two flight attendants working the business class cabin.
This Boeing 767 was configured with Asiana’s old business class seats. The fixed shell seats were marketed as “angled lie-flat” but let’s be honest Asiana, there was nothing “lie-flat” about these seats or even “angled lie-flat” for that matter. These seats were akin to a really good recliner seat. With a 168 degrees of recline, they were definitely better than your typical “domestic first class” seats but were not as comfortable as lie-flat seats by any means.
Seat fully reclined. No joke.
Despite being an angled recliner, the seat actually wasn’t half bad. Due to its fixed shell design, you still maintained your personal space when the passenger in front of you reclined back. When completely reclined, the area above your legs and feet did get a little crowded so anyone on the taller side, beware. This seat was perfectly fine for a short two hour flight but I would imagine it would be uncomfortable for anything longer than a few hours.
Waiting at my seat were a set of Asiana branded headphones and a pair of slippers. As I settled into my seat, the flight attendant came by to offer me a glass of water or orange juice and Chinese arrival forms. I chose the orange juice, filled out my arrival cards and started to play with my in-flight entertainment system.
As I was playing with my in-flight entertainment system, I found it was not working properly. I informed the flight attendant about the issue and she offered to reset the system for me. I told her it was no big deal and I would move over to seat 3G instead if it was available. She told me it was and helped move my bags over. It worked out because I actually prefer the right side of the plane more than the left. I’m a dork that way.
As we reached our cruising altitude, the seatbelt signs were turned off and the flight attendants came by to set our tables and prepare for our meal service. Menus were distributed and service began with warm towels and a round of drinks.
Departing Seoul (notice the clean skies)
On this flight, there were two meals options, Korean and Western. I opted for the western option which consisted of a prawn with mixed greens salad, stir fried seafood with fried rice (main course) and a hazelnut mousse tart. No bibimbap on this flight. The Korean option was a Po Dubu Bossam.
Everything was served on one tray with another round of drinks. The food wasn’t the best but it was good enough and I ate it all.
After lunch, our plates were cleared and I took some time to explore the IFE system a bit more. This was definitely an older system and the monitor was not the best quality. The 15’’ monitor was located in the seatback in front of you and there was a mediocre selection of on-demand movies and shows.
Each business class seat also offered a reading lamp, universal power outlet and USB power port.
Arriving into Shanghai (that’s smog)
Service wise, the flight attendants were all fantastic. Some spoke English better than others but everything was said with a smile and they made a genuine effort to understand and assist us. Even on this short flight, they walked the cabin frequently and made sure we were taken care of. Asiana really does have some of the best flight attendants around and I can’t say anything bad about them.
For those of you that enjoy a lot of pictures, here’s a photo slideshow with a lot more pictures.
Other trip reports in this series:
- The new Star Alliance Lounge at LAX
- The new Korean Airlines Skyteam Lounge at LAX
- Turkish Airlines business class from Los Angeles to Istanbul
- Hilton Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge at Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines business class from Istanbul to Frankfurt
- Lufthansa Senator Lounges at Frankfurt
- Asiana Airlines first class from Frankfurt to Seoul
- Asiana Airlines first class lounge at Seoul
- Asiana Airlines business class from Seoul to Shanghai
- Westin Bund Center Shanghai
- VIP lounges at Shanghai Pudung International Airport
- Thai Airways business class from Shanghai to Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Spa and Lounge
- Thai Airways first class from Bangkok to Paris
- Star Alliance Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at CDG
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Paris to Montreal
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Montreal
- Air Canada business class (Executive First) from Montreal to Los Angeles
