OZ 0221 Flight Information:
Route: From (JFK) New York City, New York to (ICN) Inchon, South Korea
Duration: 14h 10m
Equipment: Boeing 747-400
Scheduled Departure: 12:30AM
Scheduled Arrival: 3:40 AM
Seat: 38C (Economy)

Pre-Departure:

My mother (*G), grandmother (*S), and I (*S) decided to go to Korea this summer to see relatives and take care of some business. Even though our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30AM, we decided to arrive at the airport around 3:30PM. Since Asiana runs one flight during the day, their check-in desks open around 8:20PM. As you can tell, there is a 5 hour gap and we didn’t have our BPs so going to the lounge was a no-no. We decided to kill time by watching people, eye shopping, and eating dinner till it was 8PM.

When it became 8PM, we decided to move upstairs so we can be first in line even though Business Class check-in is available to us since my mom had OZ Diamond status. After taking our time walking, we saw a group of thirty or so people waiting on line already! The check-in desks opened at 8:30M and we were the first ones to check-in since there was no one waiting in F. After talking with the agent, my mother and I were able to get exit-row seats for this long flight. Due to my grandmother’s age she had to sit 8 rows behind us so we couldn’t do much about it.

Since a *G passenger can only bring one additional passenger inside the lounge, we had to sign a mileage redemption form to receive a lounge pass for 4,000 miles. We decided to go to the Swiss Lounge because my mother and grandmother didn’t want to go to another terminal even though I did… *sigh*
The Swiss Lounge is nothing amazing compared to the OZ Lounge at ICN, imo. There were more negatives than positives about this lounge during my stay.

The negatives include:

1. Bad food selection
2. Staff members who give you an attitude when you ask for something such as a shower towel and amenities.
3. One shower for each gender. During our stay, the female shower was out-of-service so my mother couldn’t take a shower. The staff told my mother to use the shower on the male’s side but they didn’t clean it or re-stock the shampoo/lotion/soap after I used it.

The positive:

1. Sitting on a comfortable sofa with a view of the tarmac compared to a metal bench with a view of stores I’ve seen for 5 hours already.

Around 11:30PM, we decided to go downstairs and get through security. Upon arrival, we were behind a massive group of passengers, crew, and pilots trying to get through. The lines were disorganized and people were cutting each other by pushing and shoving. What made it worse was that there was an Etihad flight about to depart and security was only accepting Etihad passengers. After thirty minutes of patiently waiting we got through. Surprisingly, my laptop was not swapped like it normally is at EWR, JFK, and IND. Boarding began around 12PM and we boarded with Business Class passengers due to my mom’s *G status.

On Board the B747:

Seat 38C is an aisle, exit-row seat aboard the 747-400 Combi. It is right next to the lavatory and thankfully it didn’t smell too bad during the entire flight. Originally, this was my mother’s seat but since I’m bigger in size (5’11, 240lb) and HATE sitting next in the middle, I sat here. The purser along with two other FAs came and welcomed us and told us if we needed anything to contact them. This was obviously due to my mom’s status with OZ.

The food was nothing too special and if I recall the menu was like this:

Dinner (Served ~2 hrs after departure):
-The infamous bibimbap (Korean)
-Steak (Western)

Breakfast (Served ~2-3hrs before arrival):
-Cheese omelet (Western)
-?????? (Korean)

The FA that was serving us made sure we were treated well and made sure we enjoyed the flight. Prior to serving dinner and breakfast, she asked us which dish we would like to have so we would get the dishes we want. Also for breakfast she recommended the cheese omelet compared to the other dish that I forgot was served. If it weren’t for her recommendation and my mom’s status, I would’ve been REALLY hungry upon arrival at ICN. That “????” looked HORRIBLE and I felt bad for our seatmate in 38A since no cheese omelet was available when it was her turn to get served. The cheese omelet wasn’t very good either to be honest but it definitely was the better choice.

Prior to landing at ICN, my mother asked the FA if they served honey peanuts that some airlines used to serve back in the day. Why my mother asked was because my cousin in Korea is pregnant and wants it. Unfortunately, no honey peanuts were to be found BUT the FA got us a HUGE bag full of the snack mix that is intended for the F cabin. My mother and I were asked twice to fill out a comment card by two different FAs. I’m not sure if the comment card helps the entire crew or just that one individual FA….

In conclusion, OZ’s FAs are top notch and are the reason for Asiana’s existence and their 1st Place Award by Skytrax, imho.