Seoul (Incheon Airport) – Bangkok

Flight Number: TG 655
Flight Route: ICN - BKK
Departure Time: 10:05 PM KST
Take Off: 10:27 PM KST
Landing: 01:56 AM ICT (+1)
Gate Arrival: 02:04 AM ICT (+1)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 15B and 15D

After a chaotic and eventful day, we woke up bright and early to have breakfast at Lotte Jamsil Hotel. Since it was Sunday, the restaurant on 2nd floor was extremely packed with kids and family. Luckily since we held our wedding at Lotte Hotel, it included a free room and breakfast. Even thought we arrived at around 9am, the restaurant had a line of at least 15 groups – but luckily the hotel manager saw us and gave us a table immediately (due to us holding the wedding). The breakfast was not that much memorable as well as I didn’t carry my iPhone down to take any photos. It had your usual selection of Korean, Western, Chinese, Salad, Fruit and Noodle Station. The beauty of this hotel is that its connected to Lotte World – a theme park in Central Seoul as well as Lotte Mall.

Wife and I had a quick sushi lunch and we headed back to our room to pack. In preparation for both winter and summer weather, our suitcase was packed with swimming suit, t-shirts, sweaters, coats and parka. For an expected 9:00pm departure, we finished packing and left the hotel at about circa 04:30pm. There are several ways to get to ICN from Seoul:

• Option 1: Taxi
• Option 2: Subway and then Train
• Option 3: Airport Shuttle Bus

The with so much luggage – Option 2 was unrealistic (plus my wife hates walking around – more on that in later TR) and Option 1 with the amount of luggage, we would have had to call a van which would cost circa 110,000 KRW (calling the driver directly and will cost circa $110 USD) or Option 3 which would cost 16,000 KRW per person (circa $16 USD per person). Luckily, the airport shuttle bus was a short 2 minutes walk from the hotel’s main lobby and the concierge was gracious enough to help carry out luggage to the airport shuttle bus stop.

The airport shuttle bus (at peak hours) arrives twice an hour and its extremely convenient. There is ample room for luggage below and the bus has wifi, TV and wide leather seats. From Seoul (pending your location), it will take about 50 – 70 minutes to T2 (KE and Sky Team) and 60 – 90 minute to T1 (Asiana and all other airlines).

With the opening of T2, Korean Airline and other Sky Team airlines moved out of T1. The check-in was nothing special and there was no one in Business Check-In Line.


Koreans are extremely proud people and they will always try and praise “Korean” made products/services as world class. No doubt ICN was a massive improvement to Gimpo when it was first opened and ICN have made several improvements throughout the year. However, by no means and I agree with Lucky in his OneMileataTime post (link) – ICN is extremely overrated. The frustration starts off at security check point. Between each check in section, there are security check-points. However, ICN doesn’t offer any priority lines for frequent flyers and Business/First class passengers. There is a separate line for VIP/Elders/Disability/Government Officials but my frustration with this airport starts off at security. The security was a breeze (it took about 20 – 25 minutes) to get through security and immigration. The e-gates were not working for me but the immigration line took at most 5 minutes. Post clearing security, you will enter the main terminal lobby and post my last visit (circa 2015) T1’s shopping and restaurant selection has massively improved and included many luxury brands.

Normally, I would make a little room to visit the lounge at airports and especially at airports such as HKG, DXB, AUH, DOH, SIN and LHR, however, the lounges at ICN (both at T1 and T2) are mediocre at best. As Star Alliance Gold and Business Class Passenger, the wife and I tried to visit the Asiana Business Class Lounge in Gate 26 (Central), however it was extremely packed and crowded. With a lack of any seating space and mediocre drinks/food – the wife and I headed to a food court for our last Korean meal.


Cold Korean Noodles with a side of marinated beef bulgogi and a pint of Heineken (total circa 15,000 KRW or $15 USD)

With a scheduled 09:25PM departure, my wife and I headed to our gate at about 20 minutes before boarding at about 8:45PM. We started boarding on time and my wife and I headed to our seats. At first sight, it's just simple: Thai Airways simply does not offer a competitive business class product on its 777-200. While these seats are great for lounging, these “angel lie-flag” seats are not ideal for sleeping. At first the pillow and the blanket were excellent – soft and firm.

The amenity kits weren’t amazing but the contents are below (didn’t actually keep any of it – so decided to take a photo).









Sadly with the current weather conditions in Korea, we were delayed 40 minutes to non other than… “SMOG”. Shockingly, Seoul and South Korea’s air quality has dropped immensely in the recent years due to smog from China as well as numerous cars/plants in the Korean peninsula.

I think the wedding stress and fatigue finally hit and we fell asleep immediately and woke up 30 minutes before landing at BKK.

I’m pretty sure long haul Business/First in Thai Airways is fantastic – however on regional/short haul, Thai Airways business class is well below average. It’s not something I would wholly avoid, but if I had the opportunity – I would have flied KE on this route which offers 777-300, A380 and A330 or Thai Airway’s A350 (which flies this route but it was extremely early in the morning) which offers fully flat business seats.

One thing to state is that BKK immigration line can be tricky. My wife and I arrived at 2:00am and I believer it took a good hour to get through immigration. Thus, if you are flying business, please please please get the priority immigration pass.