Asiana Club - NAP-FRA-ICN-TYO in.... Y

Hi folks,

I searched for existing threads on FRA-ICN in Y and couldn't find much, so here goes.

Currently my best option for travel to Japan in October looks like NAP-FRA-ICN-NRT with a return originating at HND. NAP-FRA will of course be LH metal; the rest will be OZ. This will likely be in Y, as I don't yet have enough UA miles for two R/T in C (for me & Mrs. keihin_242).

As most of the threads here discuss F & C, I'm looking for specifics on Y in the 744. I have never flown OZ before, and while I know they have an excellent reputation, I'm sure that's primarily founded on premium cabin service.

So, in the Y cabin, how is the AVOD, food, and service? I flew KE a few years back in Y and found their food to be excellent for Y; I'm hoping OZ offers similar quality.

Seatguru says the 744 has 34" seat pitch, which isn't bad in Y for a average height guy like me.

It looks like 28-29 A-B are the best Y seats on the aircraft.

I understand I must be an OZ FF member for OLCI. Are 29-29 A-B reserved for OZ elites?

Are there any bonuses for *Golds on OZ? I know LH will often try to block rows of seats for me - does OZ ever do this?

And I humbly apologize, but I'm still not clear on whether or not *G has lounge access at ICN or I must pay a mileage fee. While I expect *G will get me into the C lounge, this is the sort of question I most want to get answered before buying any tickets.

Finally, any comments on HND? I'd be leaving on the 0600 flight for ICN and none of the HND lounges are open at that time. I've been through HND T1 & T2 countless times, but never the international terminal. Is the terminal open 24 hours?

Thanks for any assistance. I hope to have the chance to try OZ for the first time. My other *A options here are all more expensive except the slightly cheaper TK, which I have reasons to avoid.

These days I'm back to mostly flying coach with OZ, and my experience is that they do typically block the front and best seats and assign them to their own elites at check-in. I'm not sure if there's anyway for elites to request those seats prior to check-in though, being I've never tried. I know there's a lot of OZ elites in those seats, because I always get seating there, and typically I see the cabin manager going around to personally greet me and some others in that area. Unless the flight is full, I almost always get the seat next to me blocked as well. That's with me being Diamond Plus. Based on various factors, I'm led to believe there's quite a few Diamond Plus members, and after that the Diamond (simple *G) members would be even much more numerous. So as another carrier's *G, I assume you'll be quite far down on the list for any preferential treatment/seating, if any. But then again, I have no experience, being I've always shown them my OZ card when checking in. Maybe some other *A elites will have some experience in that matter. Anyways, if you don't have access to the seats you want, but nobody else has taken them, it wouldn't hurt to ask that you be assigned whatever seats it is you're able to get, but see if they can put in a request for 28/29 A/B, and if no elites get them you might get lucky.

I consider food and service to be excellent with OZ. Service I'd rank the best in the industry. Food much better than average, though I find OZ desserts to be less than spectacular. But that said, you have to factor in that it's Y, and any service/food in Y is probably not going to come close to C/F on the same airline. The FA's are certainly very friendly/courteous/professional in Y, but they still have to service the entire cabin, just like they would on any airline, so don't be expecting too much. Overall, I'd say OZ offers similar food/service to KE, but better. As far as AVOD, best if someone else answers that, as I don't typically spend a lot of time with any airline's AVOD system.

You most certainly will have access to the OZ business class lounge at ICN. No need to use any mileage to enter. Just your *A Gold card and boarding pass.

I really don't know about HND. The last time I flew OZ out of HND, it was at night and was the old terminal. I know the new international terminal has lots more flights than they did when the old terminal was operating, so perhaps they've increased the hours. I'd be surprised though if OZ doesn't have some lounge option for you there. I've never had any case of flying OZ internationally and being without a lounge, except when flying from a certain different location where they were remodelling/rebuiliding the contract lounge and it wasn't yet completed.

I do the ICN-FRA-ICN leg on OZ in Y about twice a year with the family, even though other alternatives are available at much better prices out of ICN.

As mentioned, the food and service is what makes it worth the extra money, but as with most other long hauls, a full load versus a light load will determine how much sleep and comfort you will get. The AVOD is very basic on OZ, the system itself is good, but the program selection is very weak compared to SQ, CX, EK etc. I will use my Ipad instead.

As a D+ (wife also OZ*G), me and my family are usually given preferential seating (a row of 4 for the three of us or similar), but again, the load is the determining factor, and when I did these legs as SK*G, there was no recognition or special arrangements, so don't expect much.

All in all, you should enjoy the flight and experience, but Y is Y, so total comfort is not really an option...

OK, I went ahead and purchased this itinerary. I'm looking forward to flying OZ, but I just went through the crash course on their English website.

I booked through Orbitz (since OZ's international sites will not let me select any departure airport that doesn't have an OZ-metal route, nor can I select HND for Tokyo) and found out the hard way that you can't see your OZ reservation if you don't have an OZ FF# associated with it.

Now I wish I could read hangul because the Korean site looks far more functional.

I did manage to get seats assigned, although 28-29 A-B couldn't be selected, nor could the bulkheads, exit rows, etc. Everything else was wide open.

I assume these are blocked for OZ elites and may be selectable at C/I if not yet occupied. Speaking of which, I assume LH will issue all of my boarding passes, but in this situation would it still possible to use OZ's OLCI 48 hrs before departure, assign better seats if possible, then have those seats show up when I check in with LH? If this has the potential to cause problems, I'll stay with the seats I have.

Again, looking forward to the OZ experience, even in Y. Maybe next time I'll cash in those miles for some C seats. Thanks for all the guidance!^