LHR - MUC LH2483
Airbus A319 D-AKNH (delivered May 1998. Once part of LH Italia, named Bologna)
Seat 8F
Departure: 07:30
Arrival: 10:20

The coach was much as any other National Express coach, but having started at Taunton was already just over half full. This being half-two in the morning most of the passengers were asleep, many of them occupying more than one seat. I managed to slide myself in next to someone, and dozed most of the way to Heathrow. At Heathrow Central coach station about half the passengers got off (the coach was continuing on to central London), and I made my way to a surprisingly crowded Lufthansa check-in area at Terminal 1.

I suspect this was the early morning rush, as by the time I had dropped off my luggage (having checked in the night before) the queue had all but disappeared. I quickly made my way through the relatively quiet security, although was stopped for a secondary swab of my luggage near where you used to sign up for IRIS. I had time for a leisurely breakfast at Giraffe, to grab some M&Ms, and headed to the gate with about ten minutes to the boarding time.



It was quite an empty check-in area, and indeed there were plenty of free seats in the economy cabin, including an empty middle for my row-mate and I. The new slimline seats were very much in evidence, fine for this length of sector, and offering plenty of legroom.



Once we climbed out of Heathrow we were treated to a breakfast-style wrap from Monty’s, which I had with an orange juice and (at the FA’s suggestion) a cup of tea. I was a little taken aback to see 3rd party advertising on the coffee cup which seems a little chintzy, but I suppose that’s the economic reality nowadays. You can’t really see it on the photo, but the cups make a reappearance later in the report.



The rest of the flight passed without incident, and perhaps you’ll forgive me if I wasn’t giving it my full attention. It was a long taxi at Munich, past a lot of building work for the T2 satellite extension, and eventually to waiting busses. Transferring non-Schengen to non-Schengen was as ever a joy at Munich, and from exiting the bus I simply hopped in the lift up to the terminal, and found first my gate, then somewhere to eat.

MUC - ICN LH718
Airbus A340-300 D-AIFC (named Halifax - Gander)
Seat 31A
Deaprture: 11:55
Arrival: 05:30



Boarding was through gates H23 and H24, although only H23 was on the boarding pass so I sat there. It was handled very efficiently, as you might expect, but when Economy was called it became clear that H23 was the First/Business/Elite gate and that I was at the wrong end of a growing queue to board. Fortunately I was able to use one of the self boarding gates, and was one of the first non-status passengers on board.

I made my way through to my seat, which was fairly obviously showing its age. Knee-room was plenty adequate, but leg room was somewhat impinged by the presence of the IFE box. I’d also forgotten just how narrow these seats were.





Paper menus were handed out with the drinks (gin and orange for me) and pretzels. As well as Korean there was English and German text, but I thought you’d like to see the cover too.



Mains listed were Beef Stroganoff or Korean Bibimbap, so there was no contest. I’ve never been much of a fan of stroganoff in any case. When it finally came round it looked something like this:



There was no handy little guide to eating it (as I’ve read there is on Korean Air), but I was sat next to a Korean fellow so I could just copy him, and very tasty it was too. Less inspiring was the salad starter, which could quite easily have been served on a US carrier. Very poor show, Lufthansa. Less poor was the regular juice and water runs, which were kept up throughout the flight on a perhaps hourly basis. And not at all poor was the generous slug of Baileys (cognac was also offered) I was given as an after-dinner drink.

The AVOD had plenty of choice, but not all of it to my taste. I did watch Madagascar 3 which owing to the very busy Jubilee/Olympic/Euro football summer had only just been released in the UK (as opposed to May in most of the rest of Europe). I watched a couple of other things, interspersed with a couple of hours sleep, until breakfast rolled around.



There was no choice for breakfast. In addition to the roll and yoghurt, there was hot potato wedges, scrambled egg, and a very tasty chicken curry. I washed it down with an orange juice and a cup of black tea, on which you can just see some of the advert I mentioned earlier.

We landed early and in the dark, and my Korean seatmate had his seatbelt unbuckled before we had left the active runway. He was positively restrained compared to the guy on the other side of the plane who was up and rifling through the overhead bin moments later. Fortunately the cabin crew managed to get him to see sense. After a not-insignificant taxi we pulled in to the satellite A concourse. The flight was continuing on to Busan with some proportion of the passengers, but everyone was required to disembark at Incheon. The bulk of us were sent on to the main terminal to enter Korea or to make our connections, whilst the Busan PAX had to hang around for a bit.

Since I had about four hours to kill (just over that, actually, thanks to an early arrival) I decided to enter Korea, mainly for the chance to get a new passport stamp. I made my way through a slow but efficient immigration desk, stepped outside for a breath of genuine Korean air, and tried to make my way back airside to relax in the comfy chairs. in the check-in areas passengers for international flights were encouraged to use security point four. This was closed until 7am, so I made my way to security point three. This in turn was closed, with a notice encouraging passengers to head to security point two. After covering a considerable distance I finally reached security point two, which (joy of joys) was open and manned. Unfortunately the man I spoke to was unhappy with my home-printed Lufthansa boarding pass, and insisted I get a proper boarding pass from the Asiana counters. Which didn’t open for another 45 minutes.

I made my way over to the Asiana counters and found somewhere reasonably comfortable to sit. I first tried the automated kiosks, but they couldn’t help me as I was already checked in. Shortly before the desks were scheduled to open queues started to form, and with nothing better to do, I went to join them. Then, at the allotted hour, the counter staff lined up in front of the desks whilst music (some kind of company anthem?) was played over the PA, bowing several times. It was a charming display, and I’m glad I managed to get myself caught landside to see it. I don’t actually know, but I’m guessing European and North American carriers don’t do this sort of thing.

I eventually got to the front of the queue, and took a surprisingly long time to have my boarding pass re-issued. The check-in agent took his time checking that everything was in order, even requiring me to show my luggage receipt, and eventually sent me on my way, boarding card in hand. Security was painless at this time in the morning (by now about 6:45), and I headed up to the Korean Culture Experience on the 4th floor to experience some comfortable seating.

After some dozing, I felt it was time to head to the gate, where I swear I took a photo of my ride to Okinawa, not least to catch the registration. This has subsequently disappeared, which will serve me right for giving my phone to a 3 year old so he can play Angry Birds. It wasn’t a particularly good picture anyway, since the gate was obscuring most of the plane, but its loss is regretted.

ICN - OKA OZ172
Airbus A321 HL8256 (Delivered May 2012)
Seat 16F
Departure: 09:20
Arrival: 11:35


Kenny’s very sorry about this.

I don’t think its very unusual when writing a 787 trip report to expect the Dreamliner to be the newest plane flown on, even after a year in service. But here I was on a five month old Asiana A321, and quite apart from the fact that this was my first of the type it was enough to put a grin on my face. Although it had lost its ‘new plane smell’ in the interim, the cabin was immaculate, roomy and airy. The footrest disguises just how much legroom there really was. The AVOD was modern and extensive, and completely wasted on a trip of this length. I didn’t bother checking out the movies, but the tv channels whilst numerous didn’t really cater to western tastes. I ended up watching a couple of episodes of Just for Laughs and then left the airshow on.






With a 9:20 departure I expect that this was a breakfast or at the very least a brunch service, but I wouldn’t recognise the meal delivered as such (but that’s just me exposing my ignorance). The meaty salad starter had some of my least favourite ingredients in the shape of gherkin and babycorn, but combined in something that was very tasty as a whole. Under all that vegetation in the main meal was a piece of a white fish. First impressions were unfavourable, with the edges having dried out, but once these were out the way, the whole thing was delicious. The tube of hot pepper paste was only available on request, and I wouldn’t have known to ask for it, but fortunately I was sitting next to a Korean again. Dessert was a deliciously light yet sticky orange muffin.

I rather think I fell asleep for most of the rest of the flight, and woke with my iPod headphones in whilst on final approach. I can’t say that there were no announcements about this kind of thing for certain, but the cabin crew certainly didn’t wake me up to deal with it (my seatback was upright, my tray table stowed and my window shade open). It was a bus gate at Okinawa Naha airport (I believe this is true for all international arrivals). My seat near the front of the economy cabin meant that I managed to be one of the last passengers onto the first bus, and I ended up fairly close to the front of the immigration queue. After a navigating snaking tensa barrier, we were directed to one of a number of short immigration queues, which were not given nearly as much space as the helpful man doing the directing seem to think they were. Although there was one flight ahead of us, it was all but done by the time I got there, and I was quickly in to pick up my luggage. Customs was a breeze, then I was back into Japan for the first time in over five years.