Interesting points and experiences.
CGQ-ICN in C, A321
- Cabin has seen better days, worn cushion, could not recline seat. We changed to another row. I would not want to fly a longer route.
- Service was good, but far from special.
- Food was barely eatable, however CGQ catering is generally rather horrible.
That sucks, and is surprising. I've only flown OZ on ICN-PEK, and found the cabin fine (admittedly it was a short flight).
ICN-FRA in C, scheduled 74M, replaced by 772
- Our seat assignments had been messed up due to aircraft swap: One window-one aisle got changed to two seats spread around the cabin. CGQ check-in could not fix it. Apparently, swaps happen very frequently, like at TG.
- Tried to change seats again at CAT at COEX: Check-in lady was unhelpful and rude after we disturbed her texting on her cell; stated the seat map was "broken".
- Very friendly check-in at ICN the day after and we had two seats together
- 772s do not have AVOD. I couldn't believe it. In the year 2012, world's and Asia's best airline by some doesn't have AVOD on most of their 772s?! Seriously? The IFE in loop twice got hung, meaning movies started from the beginning after an hour.
- 2-3-2 configuration? Seriously?
- Partially broken seat
- Service: Good, but nothing special
- Food: Acceptable, (sous-vide chicken gross!)
- Almost forgot to mention: The website. What the...???
Preaching to the converted regarding the AVOD, or lack thereof. And while aircraft switches suck, they nevertheless can happen whenever we fly. In terms of the website, as has been vented repeatedly before, if you're not using IE, it has a lot of problems. It's not just an OZ-related problem; many Korean websites act up in a non-IE browser andOZ's IT department need to wake up and smell the breeze.
ICN, world's best airport
- Apparently no priority lines for security and passport control
- OZ lounge offering for lunch was unbelievably bad
- Arriving in ICN (admittedly only a few times so far) is a long, long walk and a massive line at the immigration counters for foreigners
- In my experiences at ICN, I haven't had a problem with passport or security taking up time, so I can't see the need for priority lines since everyone gets through pretty quickly.
- Which OZ lounge were you at? I can't speak for the First lounge, but I know that the business lounge food offerings are ok on quality, bad on quantity. But in terms of free wi-fi, comfortable atmosphere and available showers/chairs/space, it's a pretty good lounge.
- [I can't see how this next point is OZ's fault, but anyway] Yes ICN is a long walk at times and the immigration lines for foreigners are long. However like the security lines, they move quickly and are designed to handle a lot of people at once. I've never had to wait longer than 30 minutes from 'on the aerobridge' to 'out the airport door'.
By contrast, I shudder every time I come back to LAX given how many rabbit warrens you have to walk through after getting off the plane before arriving at the zoo that is TBIT Immigration/Baggage Claim/Customs (yesterday took 75 mins, a record; normally it takes close to 2 hours).
Overall, OZ was a disappointed, especially the aircraft swap to an ancient 772. They were the cheapest for this route, though, and seem to play in the TG league "you get what you pay for".
It sucks that they switched the planes, and that there were hardware issues with the planes they did use. Definitely worth complaining about and hopefully they'll fix it.
Return flight to China on CA in C, 773
- Better seats
- Better food
- Better service
- Pajamas, duvet
Haven't flown CA in C/F, so each to their own. Have heard their C/F seats are quite good and they have some newer planes, so I don't know what planes CA fly on those routes, but CA's likely to have better hard product. Both my other half and I have had such poor food (made us sick) and service (borderline discriminatory) on CA flights, I personally wouldn't touch them with a beanpole. But that's just my experience (and not something I'd like to go on about in this thread anyways).