Asiana OZ A380 BKK-ICN, 31 July; Economy Upper-deck
Jul 31, 2014, 10:58 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Programs: OZ Diamond, nobody everywhere else
Posts: 164
Asiana OZ A380 BKK-ICN, 31 July; Economy Upper-deck
This is going to be more of a picture gallery, rather than a full-fledged trip report, so please take this lightly.
I scheduled a trip to my brother working at Bangkok from ICN, going in on 25 July and returning on 31 July. Both flights were initially scheduled to be on Asiana's new A380 aircrafts, but following a slight delay of their 2nd A380, schedule changed, with introduction of A380 to ICN-BKK delayed to 4 August. Our aircrafts changed to 747-Combi for 25th and 777-200ER domestic for 31st.
But Lady Luck did show us a slight smile since the 2nd A380 delivery came earlier than the revised schedule and A380 was put to ICN-BKK from 30 July.
I already knew A380 was a really a big bird, but looking at it with your own eyes was different. The size overwhelms you. It looks much bigger than it seems on pictures. Especially when a smaller aircraft is at a nearby gate...
Our flight back home was a red-eye flight, with scheduled departing and arrival times at 1:10 AM and 8:30 AM respectively. The aircraft was going to be HL7625, the 1st OZ A380 that was previously serving ICN-NRT & ICN-HKG routes. I assume the 2nd newer aircraft HL7626 is now used for the NRT & HKG routes.
The load was somewhat light, but boarding procedure was a little bit chaotic, forcing upper-deck economy passengers to board with lower-deck economy passengers, go up the stair located at the tail section of the aircraft, and back to the seats.
Maybe that was to prevent upper-deck business paxs from suffering boarding upper-deck economy paxs, I don't know...
So, the upper-deck economy seats are from rows 70 to 83, located behind 17 rows of Business Smartium seats.
The seat-pitch is specified at 33 to 34 inches but it feels much spacier thanks to the thinner seats. The seat-back feels quite firm, but not uncomfortable. When you recline your seat back, the seat-bottom moves forward, reducing discomfort to the pax behind you.
The upper-deck economy seats are in 2-4-2 configuration, perfect for traveling couples. What is more, the windows seats have an extra feature --
The side storage bins!!! Which doubles as an extra side table when the bin lid is closed! Even for a 5 hours and 30 minutes flight, this bin came very handy. I put 2 cross-bags and one plastic duty-free bag containing several cans of beverage into the bins. My D600 could be stored on top of everything comfortably with spare space.
I think these upper-deck economy window seats are going to be in high demand.
The seat-back screen with AVOD feature was the best I have ever seen on economy seats. 11.1 inch-screen was unfortunately marred by video contents that could not take advantage of the screen's high resolution.
The remote control is now much simpler. Perfect for gaming. Usual interaction can be done with screen-touch alone.
A USB charging port for each seat.
But the flight info screen was, of course, very nice.
The over-head indicators are slightly different from previous aircrafts, following current trends. The no-smoking sign is now permanent and no longer in the indicators. Taking its place is the no-electronics device sign, which lights on only during take-off & landing.
Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before arrival. The menu being egg omelet or mushroom congee. I opted for the congee but omelet seemed very good as well. The congee was excellent, of course, perfect for easy breakfast.
My deepest apology for the lack of pictures -- I was famished & sleepy so the thought of taking pictures didn't occur to me at the time.
One Empower power socket (110 V, 60 Hz) is located between two seats. With one socket for 2-seats, two sockets for 3-seats, and three sockets for 4-seats.
I scheduled a trip to my brother working at Bangkok from ICN, going in on 25 July and returning on 31 July. Both flights were initially scheduled to be on Asiana's new A380 aircrafts, but following a slight delay of their 2nd A380, schedule changed, with introduction of A380 to ICN-BKK delayed to 4 August. Our aircrafts changed to 747-Combi for 25th and 777-200ER domestic for 31st.
But Lady Luck did show us a slight smile since the 2nd A380 delivery came earlier than the revised schedule and A380 was put to ICN-BKK from 30 July.
I already knew A380 was a really a big bird, but looking at it with your own eyes was different. The size overwhelms you. It looks much bigger than it seems on pictures. Especially when a smaller aircraft is at a nearby gate...
Our flight back home was a red-eye flight, with scheduled departing and arrival times at 1:10 AM and 8:30 AM respectively. The aircraft was going to be HL7625, the 1st OZ A380 that was previously serving ICN-NRT & ICN-HKG routes. I assume the 2nd newer aircraft HL7626 is now used for the NRT & HKG routes.
The load was somewhat light, but boarding procedure was a little bit chaotic, forcing upper-deck economy passengers to board with lower-deck economy passengers, go up the stair located at the tail section of the aircraft, and back to the seats.
Maybe that was to prevent upper-deck business paxs from suffering boarding upper-deck economy paxs, I don't know...
So, the upper-deck economy seats are from rows 70 to 83, located behind 17 rows of Business Smartium seats.
The seat-pitch is specified at 33 to 34 inches but it feels much spacier thanks to the thinner seats. The seat-back feels quite firm, but not uncomfortable. When you recline your seat back, the seat-bottom moves forward, reducing discomfort to the pax behind you.
The upper-deck economy seats are in 2-4-2 configuration, perfect for traveling couples. What is more, the windows seats have an extra feature --
The side storage bins!!! Which doubles as an extra side table when the bin lid is closed! Even for a 5 hours and 30 minutes flight, this bin came very handy. I put 2 cross-bags and one plastic duty-free bag containing several cans of beverage into the bins. My D600 could be stored on top of everything comfortably with spare space.
I think these upper-deck economy window seats are going to be in high demand.
The seat-back screen with AVOD feature was the best I have ever seen on economy seats. 11.1 inch-screen was unfortunately marred by video contents that could not take advantage of the screen's high resolution.
The remote control is now much simpler. Perfect for gaming. Usual interaction can be done with screen-touch alone.
A USB charging port for each seat.
But the flight info screen was, of course, very nice.
The over-head indicators are slightly different from previous aircrafts, following current trends. The no-smoking sign is now permanent and no longer in the indicators. Taking its place is the no-electronics device sign, which lights on only during take-off & landing.
Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before arrival. The menu being egg omelet or mushroom congee. I opted for the congee but omelet seemed very good as well. The congee was excellent, of course, perfect for easy breakfast.
My deepest apology for the lack of pictures -- I was famished & sleepy so the thought of taking pictures didn't occur to me at the time.
One Empower power socket (110 V, 60 Hz) is located between two seats. With one socket for 2-seats, two sockets for 3-seats, and three sockets for 4-seats.
Last edited by philphys; Jul 31, 2014 at 11:05 pm Reason: cross-bags, not small backpacks... :p
Jul 31, 2014, 12:00 pm
#3
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,446
That's a pretty sweet Y cabin. The footrests are a nice touch.
How were the seats? Those bottom-sliders get mixed reviews on NH and CX.
How were the seats? Those bottom-sliders get mixed reviews on NH and CX.
Jul 31, 2014, 7:24 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Programs: OZ Diamond, nobody everywhere else
Posts: 164
The pax in front of me, a small child, did a full recline (which I had to help by pulling the seat back) on me but I didn't feel my space intruded that much.
The screen could be tilted up to about 15 degrees, which did help.
Also, sliding bottoms made me feel less guilty about reclining myself.
One thing that bothered me: The recline button was very stiff, a slender woman or a child may need both hands to push the button.
By the way, I am 5'11 tall (180 cm) and weigh 210 lbs.
Jul 31, 2014, 10:38 pm
#6
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: TK M&S, BAEC, EK
Posts: 257
Thanks for sharing.
Sounds as if it was a quite a comfortable red-eye flight thanks to being in upper deck economy. As you suggested, those thinner seatbacks probably make things seem more spacious.
Doing upper deck economy on SQ 380s from SIN-LHR makes a an extremely long flight much more comfortable and allows for a decent amount of sleep. Hope you have a chance to try that sometime and compare with OZ.
Sounds as if it was a quite a comfortable red-eye flight thanks to being in upper deck economy. As you suggested, those thinner seatbacks probably make things seem more spacious.
Doing upper deck economy on SQ 380s from SIN-LHR makes a an extremely long flight much more comfortable and allows for a decent amount of sleep. Hope you have a chance to try that sometime and compare with OZ.
Aug 5, 2014, 8:14 pm
#9
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,412
From a quick glance at the in-flight map, was your flight rerouted due to the military exercises in China?
Also, OZ's Korean catering is quite alright. If "Korean meal" was a special meal choice, I'd order it over many business class meals...
Also, OZ's Korean catering is quite alright. If "Korean meal" was a special meal choice, I'd order it over many business class meals...