BACKGROUND
I was originally intending on just flying from PUS-CJU-PUS on Jeju Air and Jin Air, although my plans changed when I saw that KE were offering flights to Jeju which were comparable in price to the LCCs. An added bonus was that these flights would be operated by widebody aircraft (the Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A330-300) which made the choice of flights a no brainer.

The GMP-CJU route is the busiest air route in the world, with all Korean airlines operating flights between the two. To cope with the demand, a number of airlines use widebody aircraft flying the route (as of September 2015, Korean Air 747s and 777s, Asiana A330s and 767s and Jin Air 777s). For those who don’t know, Jeju is largely seen as being the most beautiful region of Korea, often referred to as the ‘Hawaii of Korea’ due to its long sandy beaches, palm trees and volcanic features.

THE TRIP
I caught the first bus of the day at 6AM to Seoul’s Nambu Terminal from my city in Gyeongnam (the area surrounding Busan). The first stage of the journey was uneventful; the large well-padded seats of the express bus (a far cry from intercity buses in the UK) helped me catch up on some much needed sleep and by the time I awoke we were half the way up the country near Daejeon and approaching our halfway stop. We pulled into Seoul’s Nambu Terminal on time at around 10:30 and I headed to Hongdae to explore some of the areas I hung out in as a student in the city last year. After a few hours I caught the AREX train a couple of stops westwards disembarking at Gimpo Airport 15 minutes or so after leaving Hongdae. After walking a reasonable distance through the underground walkway connecting the station with the domestic terminal I arrived at arrivals.

At Gimpo check in desks are located on the second floor and I headed straight for these. Having used a foreign card which could not be verified online to purchase the tickets which could not I had to check in at the staffed counters. Fortunately there wasn’t much of a queue and within a few minute I was handed my receipt style boarding pass and was ready to head through security.

Despite a reasonably large queue to enter the security area, going through security didn’t take too long and I was airside in around 10 minutes with 50 minutes to spare before boarding began. As always, Gimpo was busy with flights to Jeju departing every 5 minutes or so, flights to Busan every half hour and several flights to other destinations such as Ulsan, Yeosu and Gwangju. One thing that amazes me is the number of domestic routes in Korea, surprising considering that the nation is relatively small.

I bought a microwavable dosirak for lunch from the convenience store and watched my Boeing 747 pull in to gate 5 from Jeju with plenty of time before our scheduled departure time. By this time passengers had already started congregating at the gate and boarding started on time at 16:05. Judging by the number of passengers at the gate, I hadn’t imagined the flight to be full although in the end it turned out the only free seat was the one next to me


Jin Air 777 bound for Jeju


Asiana 767 also bound for Jeju


The 747 that would be taking me down to Jeju

FLIGHT
From – Seoul Gimpo, RKSS
To – Jeju International, RKPC
Airline – Korean Air
Flight – KE 1247
A/C – Boeing 747-4B5
Reg – HL7493
Date – 30/08/15
Dep Time (Sched/Act) – 16:35/16:50
Arr Time (Sched/Act) – 17:40/17:39





Today’s flight would be on HL7493, a veteran Boeing 747-400 delivered to Korean Air 20 years ago. Pictures online show the aircraft around the world; however in the past week the aircraft had only been flying between Gimpo and Jeju.

Boarding was conducted quickly and I was given a polite greeting at the door in English as I boarded the aircraft. One thing that gets me about flying in Korea which I have experienced on all of the airlines I’ve flown on (Air Busan, Asiana, Jeju Air, Jin Air and Korean Air) is that no matter how much I speak to the crew in Korean, I will always be spoken to in English. However I’d probably be more annoyed if I didn’t speak any Korean and was always spoken to in Korean.

Despite the aircraft’s age, the cabin was in a very good condition (bar a scratch on my PTV) and was very clean. Admittedly the seats were a little hard but this wouldn’t be a problem on today’s short flight, the seat pitch and width were both significantly better than on BA’s 744s. Each seat is installed with a touchscreen PTV and a removable armrest controller, a plug socket is also located underneath each seat. Aside from the safety video and a short video about a historic tourist village on Jeju, the PTV screen remained blank for the entire flight. The crew on today’s flight were from Korea, bar the captain.


Getting closer


Not my seat today unfortunately


The view from seat 44A looking outwards


The view looking inwards


A fairly spacious seat designed for long haul travel

Despite pushing back on time there was plenty of traffic at Gimpo which resulted in us holding for around 8 minutes whilst a company 747, Eastar Jet 737-700 and Cessna 172 landed and an aircraft took off. At 16:50 we blasted down runway 32L and made a powerful climb into the mostly sunny Korean sky, rising over Gyeyang before turning southwards and flying over Incheon.


On our way to the runway, note the pair of retired A300 stored in the maintenance area


Rocketing upwards


Gyeyang


Incheon

We reached our cruising altitude of 26000 feet in what seemed like no time at all, the fairly clear skies meant good view of western Korea could be had throughout the flight, from the left side of the aircraft Iksan, Jeonju and Gwangju could be seen as could the many islands that lie off the Jeolla-do coast. Service began in the final stages of the climb and consisted of drinks, identical to virtually any domestic flight in Korea. I opted for a cup of Jeju orange juice.
Shortly after reaching our cruising altitude we seemed to be heading downwards, the islands beneath us got bigger and unfortunately the skies got cloudier. We floated down along the island’s north coast into a grey and drizzly Jeju and made a smooth landing on runway 07 one minute ahead of schedule at 17:39. After some hard braking we made a very short taxi to gate one.


Simple but sufficient for such a short flight


The dated looking arrival video


Hello Jeju!


Going down


And down


Touchdown


Thanks for the ride!

Disembarkation was quick and not having any hold luggage I was able to leave the airport within a couple of minutes of disembarking. The airport’s palm trees and the outline of Mount Halla in the background reinforced the fact I was in Jeju, the weather on the other hand did not. I caught the bus into Jeju City and checked into my accommodation for the night.

Summary
Overall I was pleased with Korean Air, having flown with them once before (PUS-GMP on their 739) I knew what to expect in terms of their high level of service and I wasn’t disappointed. Having flown on a long haul aircraft, the seat was spacious and significantly more comfortable than on their mostly domestic 739s. I’d be happy to fly on a long haul flight on one of their 744s although unfortunately I probably won’t get the chance to! I would like to fly internationally on Korean Air although with my flight out of Korea on QR; I’m not too sure when I’ll be able to.

Thank you for reading my first trip report! If you have any comments, suggestions or questions feel free to comment!

Please enjoy some photos of Jeju City to finish