A_Lee

Personally, I'd rather have FA's with somewhat limited English and have them be top-notch at doing their job, than to have second-rate FA's with regard to service but who speak fluent English. Of course if you have a communication problem regarding some serious matter, then it's not so good. However, they always have non-Korean FA's on the transpac flights, usually Filipina and/or Thai who speak perfect or nearly perfect English. If communication is a problem you could always ask them to call one of those FA's who can speak better English.

A Japanese friend of mine who speaks very little English was traveling transpac on SQ in First class from Tokyo. They didn't even have a FA who could speak Japanese. He said he hated the flight. They did have a Japanese speaking FA in another class, but she was very busy and wasn't always available to communicate. He was extremely upset that English was basically the only language available to him and vowed never to fly SQ again. So it seems all the carriers have some difficulties in supplying enough FA's on a flight to cover just the two languages spoken on either end of the flight, not to mention other languages.

These days I'm seeing more and more Chinese speaking FA's on OZ flights, given there's a lot of Chinese now doing transpac flights, connecting at ICN on flights between China and the U.S.

mapleg

I have found (generally) quite good English language usage on NH flights, and I have flown in F, J and Y with them (even on Intra-Japan flights there usually is reasonable English). As expected, you need to keep the conversations pretty basic.

Ducati

If English is that important to you, you can always take a carrier that's based from an English-speaking country - US legacy airlines.

Seriously, I don't see how their English ability, or lack thereof, should be a big deal. If anything, OZ should give it the least priority. These FAs probably speak at least three languages. Their command of English is fine. Cognac, Coke. They both start with C. Close enough. lol.

And your comparison to SQ or CX doesn't make sense. Singapore and Hong Kong are English-based locations. OZ is Korean.
It's as if I complained about how Korean-bound UA FAs don't speak enough Korean...if any.

username

I don't know much about Korean food but I tried the Korean option both ways. I thought the "bibimbap" on LAX-ICN was good - it was not served hot enough and I could have used a little more. (The dessert was 3 tiny cookies. Delicious though.)

The ICN-LAX "ssambap" was really strange for me. I still ate it all but it seems none of the Korean passengers ordered it. (The dessert was 2 tiny dates/prunes. Delicious though. I also got an apple tart which was great.)

The breakfast prorridge was good LAX-ICN - just not hot enough and not filling for me. I had to get the western option (in addition) to fill me up. So I skipped it on the return and chose the Chinese option which was pretty good.

For those who know Korean food, how is their Korean option? Is it considered good or for "unsuspecting foreigners"

jon503

Well the Ssambab is one of my favorite airline foods anywhere. And on all the flights I've taken where it was available it seemed to be plenty popular among the Korean passengers in the vicinity of where I was seated.

The Bibimbap is decent to me, but I can get kind of picky about it and don't like their Gochujang that much (the red sauce). I do eat it quite a bit in restaurants though, so I'm probably spoiled. I suppose Bibimbap is offered because it's both a pretty tame and not too unfamiliar introduction to Korean food for "unsuspecting foreigners", but also because it's just a popular classic which might well serve as "comfort food" to Koreans, welcoming them home after a long trip or providing them with a familiar taste to steel their stomachs for things to come on their way abroad.

Ducati

Just because you believed that none of the Korean passengers ordered, it doesn't mean that it's not good or popular. The fact that it's a popular dish may be a reason why it's not ordered; they want to try something different like you have.

Jimgotkp

+1 my whole family are fans of the ssambap!

username

You are missing the point. My next paragraph said:
What I am trying to figure out is how good the Korean offering is. Maybe it is something that Korean passengers can get on the ground better than they get in the air? Therefore, no one ordered it? For example, I am not sure if I will order Ding Tai Fung stuff on EVA since I think I can get it fresher and better on the ground.

Ducati

I did understand your point.

Again, regardless of who is eating/not eating the ssambap is independent of its quality. Because you found it strange AND that you perceived that none of the Koreans were eating it, you naturally assumed that there was something wrong. It's possible, and most likely, that the ssambap is very good but Korean passengers wanted to try something else. I personally love the ssambap. It's kind of hard to mess up; all you need is fresh leafy vegetables. Yet, American-legacy airliners can't seemed to serve anything fresh.

Conversely, if you had thought that the ssambap was good AND other Koreans were eating it as well, you would have naturally assumed that the ssambap was good enough and you wouldn't have asked how good the airline korean food was.

I'm sure the Koreans were wondering how good/bad the Western meal was since you (self-described foreigner) weren't eating it. I would have told the Koreans the same thing.

Grunion

Ducati - I think you may have misconstrued my post.

OZ is an exceptional airline in my experience. As per my post - and the theme of this thread - I was intending to simply comment that in my personal flight experiencex (and others seem to echo similar experiences) english language skills could use some targeted improvement if striving for a "5 star" experience.

Would I choose UA over OZ because of english skills ?? .....absolutely not. Perhaps the comparison to SQ or CX is unfair with respect to english skills, but you'll note in the thread that I also compared them to NH, which I think is a fair comparison.

Grunion

Ducati

My point is that their English doesn't need improving, as many have pointed out as well. And, the fact that you believe that a high English fluency is a prerequisite for a "5 star" rating is misguided. Would Korean fluency be a factor in this "5 star" rating? I don't believe so.

What if someone had complained that Singapore Airlines didn't deserve their 5-star rating because their Korean wasn't up to snuff? That would sound ridiculous, as I believed your comment about the lack of English fluency in Asiana.

Quite honestly, I found your complaint to be quite sophomoric. Coke and Cognac? Really? As long as the FAs can communicate with their passengers in a safe and respectful manner, nothing needs to be changed. Requiring non-native English speaking FAs to speak native English is both unnecessary and absurd.

Just remember that I am not trying to attack you or your post. It's just that I see this too many times where flyers complain about the lack of English fluency in non-Western airlines. I always tell them: If you want English, go fly US-legacy or learn another language.

OsakaWino

All FAs on all international flights on all airlines should be required to be able to adequately communicate English. It is the only international language. This is not a matter of service, but rather safety. English capability on most ANA and JAL flights is barely sufficient to ensure safety. This is even more important for OZ than for NH because OZ carries a higher percentage of non-Korean passengers than NH carries non-Japanese passengers.

username

That is exactly what I did not assume and why I asked the question here.

nme7

Gents, let's keep it civil. Everyone can express their opinion and everyone can agree or disagree. But let's keep it friendly and move the conversation forward. I am not the moderator but I don't want to see this thread go down the hill.

Ducati

That's very hard to believe considering you pointed out two key reasons: the "strangeness" of the ssambap and that you believed none of the Korean passengers ordered it.