Flight 5: PVG-ICN - Shanghai Airlines lounge
OZ362 / A330-300
Seats 2H & 2K – C class
+
Good and efficient ground services (priority check in, fast track security, priority boarding)
Good service on board
L’Occitane amenities in the restrooms
-
Food quality below average (Chinese catering?)
After a few days in Shanghai it was time again to head back to PVG, for the last time in this trip. We reached 432 kph in the Maglev that time, and arrived with good time for check in.
I was slightly nervous about this flight, since prior to our first segment I had called all airlines to reconfirm our ticket, and it turned out that this segment on Asiana had been removed from my girlfriend’s reservation. A couple of calls to US Airways solved the problem but seeing the face of the check in agent when she scanned our passport, my guess was that that reservation was a bit messy. Anyway, everything went fine at check in, and Priority tags were placed on our bags.
This time there was no Fast track at immigration but fortunately the lines were small that day.
We headed for the lounge. There is no *A lounge in PVG. OZ is using lounge nr 77 operated by Shanghai Airlines.
This lounge offers a selection of cold food and a large choice of drinks. Decent, with fruits, makis, sandwiches, crackers, but not exceptional. The lounge has good seating capabilities with Apron view and the restrooms are equipped with Japanese style toilets.
There was priority boarding and a dedicated bridge for C passengers, so all went quickly and smoothly. The cabin was empty when we arrived and the load was quite low on this short flight (7pax out of 30 C seats).
Asiana operates 2 flight 1hour apart from each other on that route, and I was actually surprised to see they operate an A330 for one of them, given how short the flight is, one would think that frequency would be more important than seat capacity. Anyway, this was a good opportunity for us to try a new airline on a widebody aircraft, so I won’t complain!
The seats of course were not full lie flat, they were angled, and the hard product generally was more like a widebody regional C class. I would probably not like crossing the Atlantic nor the Pacific on it but still, that was pretty good for a 1h50m flight.
No amenity kit were handed out for such a short flight, just sleepers. I asked if they could get me a toothbrush (hoping to get an Asiana kit), but was told there are some in the restroom...
L´Occitane amenities:
Once we were airborne and the seatbelts sign was switched off, the crew welcomed us and bowed simultaneously in front of us. Very nice touch.
Service then started. There were no paper menu, we were given the coice verbally between fish and chicken. Not so much help. If I’m honest the food was not great. Is that to be blamed on Chinese catering? Never mind, I took my revenge with the Champagne that was served, sorry I can't remember which one, meaning it was good...
Arrival in Seoul was quite smooth. There was no big queue at immigration (we went further on the side, instead of going straight where everybody was). Actually we were looking for a Business class line, which we did not find, but since there was no one at these counters…
Our luggages were the first to arrive thanks to proper ground service, respecting Priority tags.
In conclusion, besides the food service, Asiana delivered a good and enjoyable flight to Seoul. It as a very pleasant experience that I would like to renew in the future, hopefully on a longer flight then.