Braniff

I have now been to three Asiana domestic lounges - Gimpo, Jeju and Gwangju. They have uniformly been horrid. They are located before security, have no food offerings to speak of, and only offer small cans of soft drinks, cans of Maxwell House (yes, really) and what I assume are some sort of energy drinks. And a water cooler. They are all tiny with no views except Jeju which has a quite spectaular view of the runway and apron activity. I don't understand the concept - yes, Asiana is only Economy Class on domestic routes but surely something better would be appreciated by their Elites if they're going to bother at all.

I have also been disappointed by the Asiana main lounge at ICN. There were no power outlets by the tables where it would seem appropriate for peole working on laptops, etc. They were only by the chairs. And the lounge can get so crowded that they constantly run out of items - they can't keep up.

I will however say that I have found Asiana on-board service to be just excellent. So this is not all a rant.

DownUnderFlyer

No idea why the domestic lounges in Korea are what they are. My last visit to a KE lounge has been a while ago but it looked very similar. Then again, this is how lounges in the US look as well.

Usually the main ICN lounge is full but I never found it crowded and food was always there. However there have been some reports here of people who had the same problems you had. And I agree, there could be more power outlets.

lee_apromise

Less people travel on airplanes in Korea due to KTX (except to/from Jeju Island). May be that's why. I wouldn't travel from GMP to PUS on airplane just to experience the lounge. I would rather save my time/money and take KTX.

stupidhead

Besides, nobody uses them anyway for a 30 minute flight, since it's pretty common for Koreans to book themselves on the next flight out 40 minutes before departure.

mcg1000

Plenty of Japanese use the Shinkansen and the ANA domestic lounges are pretty nice: https://www.ana.co.jp/dom/checkin/lounge/index.html

lee_apromise

You are comparing apples and oranges. You can't expect Japanese way of doing things to be done in Korea. Basically OZ and KE can't compete KTX and other LCC in Korean domestic market hence the creation of Jin Air and Air Busan to keep the costs down. OZ and KE were basically losing money on all domestic sectors except GMP-CJU.

DownUnderFlyer

OZ and KE could have nicer lounge, you are right. Distances in Japan are much greater than in Korea so planes get some advantage. And you just have so many more people in Japan so again, this makes domestic air travel more viable.

stupidhead

One point-Asiana OWNS Air Busan. Well at least a nearly 50% stake in it. So they don't compete.

lee_apromise

Please read my post carefully. I did say "Hence the creation of Jin Air and Air Busan" to compete against KTX, Jeju Air, Eastar and Tway (ex-Hansung which went bankrupt).

Endesu

If you are flying GMP-PUS, the need for a lounge is minimal as they will book you in on an earlier flight if you try to check in more than an hour before your flight.

Flying out of Jeju, Ulsan and Gwangju, the majority Koreans don't show up until less than one hour before the flight and hence wouldn't have much time to enjoy a lounge.

So even though I would be very happy to see domestic lounges improved dramatically, I can't really see it happening, as people would most likely only stay for 10-20 minutes, grab some free food for the flight and then be off.

Somebody has to pay for these lounges, and higher ticket prices is not what anyone wants.

A_Lee

My feeling is you can't really compare domestic lounges in Japan with those in Korea because ticket prices are much more expensive in Japan. Inferior domestic lounges are the norm in many other places around the world. Thailand comes to my mind first, where TG only offers a poor selection of snacks and very limited drinks in their domestic lounges, many being ridiculously small, some not even being air conditioned. It's often more comfortable for me to wait outside. Wherever I go, I never expect to see a wonderful domestic lounge, of course I'd be pleasantly surprised if I happened to stumble across one.

dsquared37

Currently in ICN and we might head to the plane before boarding time. After the hassle of getting food, telling 3 people the chair next to me was taken (my better half was in the shower), having been given a key to the shower which hadn't been cleaned and freshly washed (read: warm) glasses for beer or booze I've about had it.

Also, the outlets near the seat do not work.

But I know in 30 minutes I'll be onboard and all my worries will cease.

lee_apromise

There are too many banks in Korea which give out priority pass for their credit card holders. For instance, you can get a credit card from Citibank in Korea with annual fee of US$30 equivalent, they will give you a PP with unlimited access. I can definitely see the lounge getting more crowded as time goes by. It's distasteful that OZ and KE are accepting PP holders in a country where "everyone can get unlimited PP for $30".

A_Lee

Completely agree. They really need to stop doing that and let the PP members go to the HUB or the other (Matina?) lounge. Perhaps they get good money from PP for each visit, but it's gotta hurt their business some with the overcrowding affecting paying business class customers.

Back before I was D+, I complained about the overcrowding situation once on a particularly busy day when I was flying in C and they responded by giving me access to the F lounge. I doubt they'd do that now though being the F lounge is much more crowded than it was back then.

lee_apromise

I've sent a complaint through their website about PP holders entering the lounge and the fridge temperature. We'll see how it goes. I'll post up their reply as soon as I get it.