The 777W's aren't free and maybe the 747's are already paid for? :confused:

I don't know, I'm just saying. I am sure that if the numbers worked out, OZ would likely replace the 747's with something else.

Maybe they are planning on replacing them with the A380 that are coming in a few years or have they said if these are for route expansion?

I'll be next month's paycheck that LAX is one of the first places the whales will go to.

There has to be some expansion-their longhaul fleet now consists of 4 744/74M and 11 (13?) 77E. They have 10 A350-1000, 12 A350-900, and 9 A350-800 on order, and 6 A380s on order. So if the whales replace the 74s which are ancient, there are 2 left over to go somewhere (I'm guessing the whales will end up going to JFK, LAX, and FRA, which are also coincidentally are the only 3-class longhauls in the system). And assuming the A333/767/777 (total number: 29?) are all replaced by the A350 (I'm guessing some kind of split between the 1000 and 900 for the 77E and some kind of split between the 900 and 800 for the other two types), there's one left for expansion. A320s are relatively new so I doubt we'll see a replacement for them for quite some time.

The 77E aren't free either.

any idea when those 2 772's on order will be delivered. i hope it will have the new Y too with the 10.6 screens! and hopefully it will fly to JFK.

If they'll have QS C (I'm guessing about 24J and less Y) they would be imbeciles not to put them on JFK. Especially with KE operating the whale and the 77W with flatbeds on that route.

I wonder if they'll reduce the size of the F cabin to 4, down from 8. Isn't F mostly pilots on rest and FFP redemptions anyway? Then you could have something like 4/24/207. To keep 8F they would go down to 8/24/189.

Nor this week. Looks like a 747 combi did the Wednesday LHR run.

OZ213/214
 

I just finished my 3 days visit to Seoul with OZ213/214. Since this is not the first time for me, I didn't take any pictures.. Only short summary..

[OZ213]
45,000 mileage redemption with 10k miles off coupon from bank of america. Actual route is SFO-ICN(stopover)-CTU.

On OZ213, I took 5K which face the stairway. I prefer even number of side seats such as 2K, 4K, 2A, 4A which give me more separated. :) Ridiculously, when I make flat bed, my back feels pain. So, I should slightly turn back around 1 degree, then I could feel more comfortable..

Food was so so.. but cabin crew's service was not impressive at all. Looks like United crews.. What a shame..


[OZ214]
K class economy ticket + fare difference + 20,000miles redemption (with diamond plus coupon) then got C cabin seat..

I was seated at 4A which I like. and all service were decent and very impressive. I fell asleep as soon as I boarded. after 5 hours sleeping, I had a private dinner :) Thanks to Ms. Kwon. But, still food is just so so.. I had fish (halibut), but taste was not good comparing Korean dish (Ssambab)


Anyway, overall above average experience. But, still prefer first class operated in ICN-LAX route..

Yes I nearly booked a redemption for that day as I was intrigued if it would have first and by only selling two class might get the first class seat however after looking at the timetable and asking questions and calling OZ it was confirmed to me that it would be a combi so I decided against it

No OQS on ICN-LHR for the last 2 Wednesdays. So looks like low odds of actually getting this seat in this route. I have an upcoming flight that is still scheduled to be OQS, but some of the Wednesdays in August have already had an equipment change, so not holding out much hope that I'll get to try the new seat.

I can't honestly see them cutting F capacity as KE is increasing their F capacity. I think QS could work with 24 seats with only one row subtraction from Y.

IIRC next year I believe.

Which routes/flights get the QS seats as of today?

EDIT: Thanks, AZ Trvels the World, for the info.

Really? ;)

SYD-ICN
 

QS is on OZ601 ICN-SYD 9th September, therefore anyone flying out on Saturday 10th September on OZ602 will be flying in comfort!

From 10/30, Asiana will add 3 weekly to LHR, making it daily. Monday and Friday flights will be QS.

Edit: Daily only up to 12/13. After then, 6/week without Wed. Still M/F will be QS.

Result for London

How relaible is the info? When should I be phoning OS to move me into my preferred Quadra Smartium?

As of today, my information is correct. However, it means OZ will rotate QS aircrafts more tightly without adding aircraft (14 longhauls per week right now, add 2 from 10/30), meaning higher chance of last minute aircraft swap.

Does this mean I am in luck for my ICN-SYD flight on Nov 22/11?
How about the ORD-ICN leg on Nov 21/11?

And the HKG-ICN & ICN-ORD in Jan/12?

They should be rotated more tightly though. Having the plane sit on the ground at LAX for 8 hours is wasteful.

Smartium to SYD
 

Excellent!!!
Any insight as to whether it will fly OZ601 on Thursday 15th? We are coming through ICN en-route to SYD.

Thinking of a booking LHR-SYD on the 2nd wednesday of October and hoping to get the QS. The problem is the website timetable only shows where QS aircraft are allocated up until 01/09 so is there a chance that they change the timetable after this so that LHR won't get QS on Wednesdays?

As there have been many Wed flights during the life of the timetable posted that haven't had QS seating, I'd not count on seeing them reliably or regularly for a while yet.

Mark

The ICN-LHR Wednesday flights have been about 50% OQS since that schedule came in. For example last week flew OQS, this week it's an old style 777. A previous poster suggested that the Wednesday flights were going to be replaced in the next schedule change and the 77W would be seen on twice a week to LHR instead.

ORD-ICN would probably be one of the last flights to get QS. Currently, it often gets the planes with a broadcast loop IFE instead of AVOD.

ORD-ICN also has lower loads up front, subsequently less likely to have QS.

September is here - what new routes for Smatium??
 

So the Asiana web page used to show where Smartium was deployed with a flight range of July 1 to Sep 1. Now they have added details upto end of October. The only noticeable change is that London is confirmed as Smartium on Wednesdays.

Is that it??? Based on reports of occasional sightings on Sydney route, are Asiana deploying Smartium intermittently elsewhere?

Again, the schedule on the website is not 100% accurate, you should check the seatmap of your flight to see if you might be lucky.
I specifically booked OZ 213 from SFO-ICN but Asiana changed the aircraft back to an old B777 ... even the one without AVOD :mad:

Did this happen recently, that is after OZ said SFO-ICN was QS daily?

It has yet to happen...my flight is in about 2 weeks (Sept-19) but the online seatmap shows the old configuration & I called the serviceline and they also told me that this flight will be the old config, no reason given.

I'll be on OZ 214 from ICN-SFO on Oct. 24. I though the plane would have the new smartium seats. That's what I have reserved.

Since my award tickets were issued by ANA, in Business, how can I check to see the seatmap of my specific flight? How do I know if it's a new or old B777? When I made seat assignments, they were the new smartium seats.I will be really p***ed off if it's not the new seats. It's the reason I chose to fly OZ and not UAL. I read so much about the new seats and the service of this airline. I'll call OZ to se what they say.

I just called the US reservations tollfree number and the agent confirmed that my flight ICN-SFO 214 has been downgraded. It's pretty irksome given that their schedule indicates that the 9/22 flight would have the new seats.

I'm flying ICN-SFO on Sep 26th and just called the reservation center to ensure my flight is still the QS one and the agent did confirm that it is. Is this downgrade to old Biz a common occurrence on the ICN-SFO route? I was under the impression that this route was guaranteed to have to the QS as it is advertised that way.

Will be quite frustrating if our flight does end up getting downgraded as I had booked OZ over UA F because of the QS.

Fingers crossed that you get the QS, but I would pick the new UA F over OZ C class any day. Whilst soft products are closer, the UA F suite is much larger and provides more personal space over the albeit very good OZ Quadra Smartium.

Mark

I flew ICN-SYD a few times lately and never had QS. In fact, none of the flights had AVOD. So personally I would prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised if you get something better.

Talking to people I know who fly the route alot (my former employer has large offices in ICN and SFO) I know one who's done 12 RT's from ICN-SFO since they launched QS on the route and he's never had a down grade. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but LAX and SFO are two of the higher yielding routes for C, so I think OZ does their best to ensure there's a QS plane on those routes.

UA F has a slightly better seat with a little more space, but that's their only advantage. OZ's C soft product is definitely better than UA's F soft product. Better food and way better FA's.

I disagree about the seat comparison. The UA F seat has way more space than OZ C seat. In fact, I find that the seats next to the windows feel very cramped.

OZ food is better, no contest. Now if they could just do something about the warm champagnes and hot cabins.

UA's F suite is wider at the shoulder and seat, and more noticeably the nearer the "foot end" you go. On the 777, you have 4 abreast vs OZ's "4 plus 4 halves" where the footspace of the seat row on either side reduces the seat width.

I'm not knocking OZ. They're a great airline and I really like the QS seat. But on the route mentioned (SFO-ICN), I still would pick UA F. Sure, OZ's service will 99% likely be better, and food (at least the Korean food) would be better for sure on OZ. However, UA operate the 747 on that route, so I would have a 100% chance of their new suite vs a who knows what chance of the QS. You mention that OZ try to keep new product going to SFO and LAX which is great, but as we can see from this thread, subs can and do happen, not even keeping to the schedule that they had anticipated to be able to run. The chance of getting the old seat would be a major factor for me in going with another airline.

Of course YMMV, but all things being equal, in that situation, I'd still stick with UA F over OZ C. And hey, on the 747, it would even be a slightly quicker flight. :D

Mark

Would anyone know whether business class on today's (September 22nd) flight 214 from Seoul to San Francisco has the new Qudra Smartium seats?

My partner just returned from Seoul on today's flight 214 into San Francisco. Asiana flew the old business class. No AVOD, which didn't matter because his monitor only flickered. He originally had seat 4G but he ended up with a middle seat. He wasn't happy. The website indicates that the service to San Francisco has the new business class seats 7 days a week but that there's a caveat that last-minute subtitutions might be made. I learned about the equipment swap a couple weeks ago after I read in this thread that someone else's flight had been swapped. I contacted Asiana's tollfree number in the US. Though we were told to check back with Asiana as the plane could get swapped back to the new cabin. Two days ago in Guangzhou and yesterday upon check-in he explained that if the plane wasn't equipped with the new seats, he'd cancel the reservation and rebook on either Singapore or United. He was assured both times that he'd have a new seat. He got into the cabin to find old seats.

He feels that Asiana had been less than forthcoming and so won't be using Asiana for his travel needs, despite the better soft product. Partner typically tries to sleep immediately and so is more interested in hard product. Incidentally, he typically splits his flying 50/50 with Singapore and United from SFO-HKG and SFO-ICN, with an occasional flight to Tokyo on United or ANA.

Although with any airline there's the possibility of equipment swaps; with UA he could fally victim to a 772 downgrade to ICN and get an even worse seat. As fare as SQ going, they only run 77W's on said route so the equipment will always be the same. I'd say give OZ another chance, mistakes/equipment swaps do happen and I'm sure the likelihood of it occurring is much greater on UA.

ICN - JFK QS Seats in C
 

Does anyone know why most of the flights to the US have QS seats in C except for JFK?