I flew PVG-ICN-HKG on KE last week (S-fare, $397 O/W) for the opportunity to fly on KE's new A380--as well as to avoid the SHA/PVG-HKG flights on FM/MU which ALWAYS seem to be delayed (my HKG-PVG leg was delayed on the way back). It was my first KE experience.

Quibble first: GM still doesn't show up as SkyTeam Elite-Plus in KE or MU/FM's systems. I expected this, but it is still a bit disappointing. I was allowed into the KE lounge in ICN, but feel a bit too kettle-ish having to negotiate entry (granted, I am 25 so may not look the part).

Lounge: the KE lounge is under renovation at the moment, so there was a limited supply of seats. Overall a very nice lounge (on par with NRT, I think).

A380: I was booked in Y and managed to snag one of the few remaining aisle seats when I checked in at T-24. I acted the bit of gate-lice, since I wanted to explore the plane a bit. I got the Op-Up to C (23D), and had quite a s***-eating grin walking up the jetway to the second level

The seats are the standard flat-bed for KE international, and I found them quite comfortable. AVOD has a rather large screen, and I found the selections and usability excellent. I was in the last row of C, right in front of the aft-bar, so the flight attendant suggested that I move forward in the cabin since the bar might become noisy. I told her that it didn't matter. The A/C rained a bit of ice on the aft-C cabin during take-off, but I didn't notice any other 'quirks', other than the deeply recessed windows. The two window seats have small lockers under the windows, and the overhead space is quite large in the entire cabin.

The A380 was extremely quiet in flight, and the all-biz upper deck seemed like a private jet as opposed to the upper deck of a large airliner. The bar areas are a nice touch, and they provided a nice place to stretch one's legs. KE only serves SKYY products in the bar area (cocktails were excellent, though). KE's service was excellent, and the purser thanked every C passenger personally for flying KE--a nice touch. All in all, I prefer the upper deck on the 744 due to it's intimate size, but the upper deck on the A380 was a fantastic experience (and the flat-beds are far superior to the cradle seats on the DL744)

As a nice bonus, I got a 50%MQM boost for "50% High Yield fares 50% Qualification Bonus", even though I was only on an S fare SkyTeam has been great for me so far, and experiences like this on KE are why I will fly 100k miles this year on SkyTeam. ^