Asiana (OZ) 747 vs 74E - seating and first class access question
 

Hi there,

I am considering two different Asiana flights from HKG-ICN, flight 724 on a 74E which shows (on ANA) as not even having first class, or flight 722 on a 747 which has a full three classes of service. I am on a first class award continuing to LAX on Asiana in full 3 class first, so I would prefer the 747 flight. However, the 74E flight works much better schedule-wise.

Question. Seat Guru shows the 74E as a 3 class plane. Is it possible that for this red eye Asiana is selling the 3 class as a 2 class? If so, does anyone have any idea of how they allocate the first class seats? Specifically, do you know, if I book a first class ticket HKG-ICN-LAX, and this is 3 class sold as 2, can I sit in the first class seating area?

If this was true I would definitely take the 74E. Searched all over FT and Google and could not find any help on this one.

Anyone know? Thanks! ^

Not to hijack this thread...but I've been meaning to ask...on the reconfigured 74E, I can't find a seatmap anywhere, is there any C class on the lower deck, or upstairs only?

[Here you go. C is upstairs only. F in the nose and the rest is Y.

Thanks, but that's old config. And thus my question.

I am on a OZ 74E SHA-ICN in about 10 days. I'm booked in F, with a seat assignment in row 2 in the nose. The online seat assignment tool on Asiana's website shows the three classes. For my flight, the ANA tool also shows the flight with all three classes.

So, it seems to me that if you end up being booked in C, you'll probably end up there -- in the upper deck.

P.S. There is an Asiana forum, so you might find more there.

I was on OZ724 last week. It showed in schedule as 74E sold as 2-class. Actual a/c was 747 combi with business class in the nose, no F seats.

Where have you read/heard that these have been reconfigured? Per my response to the question above, I'm booked on one in about 10 days and the seatmap on Asiana's website matches the Seat Guru map exactly.

I'm not even sure Asiana has finished retrofitting their 744's, have they already moved on to 74E's?

Thanks much. So I guess its probably that configuration, and SeatGuru just lacks that printout. I wonder if all of these are being upgraded eventually to the new 74E config shown on Seat Guru? My travel dates are March, 2010. Its only a 3 hour flight. Maybe I'll grab the 74E redeye that works withmy schedule and roll the dice that there will be F by then and I can re-ticket.

I wouldn't count on a specific a/c type. I'm on the same flight again next week and it is 767 (currently, it showed as 744 in the schedule when I booked).

So is the reconfiguration of the 74E Combi to add F seats, or remove them?

Kiwi Flyer, were you on a newly reconfigured aircraft, with their new business class seats?

The business seats didn't look like that.

Reading around the OZ forum, it seems all the 74Es are reconfigured to the new products, ie the one linked above, except for one roaming around Asia. I know someone booked on a 74E from ICN-LAX next week, who will throw an absolute fit (correctly so) if they don't get the new cabin products.

More appropriate on the OZ forum
 

I will be moving this to the OZ forum, as it is more appropriate there.

Does anyone know -- are all the 74E's the combi version, or are there others?

And, if they're 74E's that have been reconfigured, do they have F, J & Y, or are they without F?

I'll be flying OZ F through ICN in a little over a week, so I'll attempt to find out in the F lounge what the deal is.

74E is the code for 747 combi, if not, it would say 747 or 744.

All 747 pax and 74E are all 3 classes.

For ICN F lounge you are do a search for my trip report, it had plenty of photos.

Reconfiguration is to change the seats in all 3 classes, F, C, and Y.

They have long done with the reconfiguration with only 5 747 left in the fleet. 2 747 pax, 2 747 combi, one 747 combi still left with the old seat usually use for HKG run, occasionally for LAX.

There are no OZ 747 has business in the nose, all of them has F in the nose no matter it is the old seats or the new seats.

Come to think of it, you are probably on the 74M with the old seats, so you had mistaken the F seats as C seats, as the seat is really outdated, way behind their competitors.

No you don't, if it is 3 class sold as 2 class, then you will be only booked into I class. I don't know what is your status and what you airline you belong to. But I had tried that as UA*G, you will only get to sit in C.

It is the same situation for NH, they has 3 class plane sell as 2 class for NRT-HKG, I was on a F award, all I can get is C even I had explained and showed my card to them. F is reserved for pax booked in paid C.

Does anyone know how to view an Asiana SeatMap? I have a Star Alliance (Booked on UA) Record Locator but I'd like to see the SeatMap so I know if it's going to be the newer configuration. (ICN-LAX, 744)

You need to sign up for an Asiana Club number. Once you get that go to the Asiana website, click on "Bookings" on the top bar, then "Seat Selection" then "Go To Seat Selection." This will bring up a new page where you enter your Asiana PNR (it is different than the UA one, call Asiana to get it) and your Asiana Club Number and then click "Confirm & Cancel." You can then click on each segment and view your seats.

Your Asiana Club number does not get added to the reservation, but you need one to access a United reservation for some reason.

How far in advance are you looking ? I don't think if it is operated by the 74M with old seats, they are not going to be put that on schedule more than a few weeks. As technically, they have enough 74M and 744 to cover both JFK and LAX. Why not just choose the flight with 777 instead then you don't need to worry anything ?

The 777's to LAX aren't showing an F Cabin. Looking at the July ICN-LAX schedule.

You didn't say from your question in post #20 you are actually looking for F.

I think it comes to if you want true F service, but have a slight risk of undesirable seat and IFE in the 74M, or you are going to sleep most of the way. 2 class 777 in C is gurantee a good seat plus IFE. If you route it thru ORD or JFK, it is 100% guranteed new F.

Sorry, yes I am traveling in F ICN-LAX. Are they only using the older equipment on this route under "rare" equipment swap circumstances or does it also fly on the regular schedule?

Okay. Thanks for clarıfyıng. Yeah the seats were rather poor for F.

Not regular schedule, maybe a few times a month. Someone had asked the question, and I actually looked into the statistics, last month in March, the 74M with the old seats was used on LAX-ICN for 5 separate days.

Thanks Paul. I got my Asiana PNR number (And was able to see the seatmap for 1 segment), but unfortunately it won't allow me to see the ICN-LAX segment SeatMap. I called Asiana and they said that the F Cabin on this flight has only 10 Seats, which hopefully means the new configuration. Any idea on why the SeatMap isn't showing?

For my flight ICN-LAX flight it was because the cabin was full. Once a seat became open, I could see the seatmap.

Can someone confirm that when swaps for the old config 747 occur, they only happen on the ICN-LAX and vv route. If I choose to depart ex-JFK am I assured new config even though it is operated by a 744 too? Is this something to do with range of the old aircraft?

For now, it is safe to say JFK-ICN get the 744 pax, but when the nex schedule comes JFK goes daily, who knows what is going to happen. As there are only 2 747 and 2 74M, LAX requires 2, and JFK requires 2, which left the 74M as spare. When one of those go on check, the 74M with old seats is very likely to substitute.

There is nothing to do with range. ORD used to use 74M as well before the 3 class 777 comes, and JFK is not that much further than ORD. It is about loads and freight.

An update to this: Either all the other passengers in the F cabin changed their plans the day before departure, on my two consecutive flights on Monday, or more likely, it appears, OZ blocks a ton of seats on the F seat map.

Flying SHA-ICN, in a 74E, my traveling companion and I were the only two passengers in the F cabin.

Then, connecting ICN-LAX -- same thing. Just the two of us, and three deadheading crew members in F.

In both cases, up until online check-in, there was no flexibility to move seats. At the airport, we could have whatever we wanted.

For my SHA-ICN flight on Monday, I was scheduled to fly a 74E (combi) and the seat map showed the old configuration of F seats up to, and including, online check-in.

At the airport, however, I was given a different seat when I checked my bag. The plane had been changed to a 74E with the new configuration of F (the suites).

In C also. I've booked several trips months in advance and am extremely limited in my seat selection then, but often in reality the passengers in the cabin are vastly different than the available seats. Perhaps they don't want their competition being able to look at the number of empty seats and by that determine what sort of loads they're getting. The same reason I suppose why availability for each booking class is always limited to a very low number, regardless of the actual availability.

Same in my recent experience (3 74E flights between HKG & ICN).

I had the exact same thing happen last month, except I was the only person in F from PVG-ICN.

Also, the 747E (new F) from PVG-ICN was the same plane that continued to LAX with 3 pax.

I flew on the new F seats on ICN-NRT recently and I was surprised that the seat does not go horizontal flat - it's nearly there, but the seat still retains a slight "Z-shape" even when fully reclined.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3529/...af0c8dc488.jpg

I wonder why they designed it this way? (I made sure I fully reclined the seat with "bed mode" before taking the pic so it's definitely as far back as it goes)

Compare this to the NH F seat:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3541/...1063fe2e5c.jpg

This one definitely goes full flat. I didn't have time to try to sleep properly on the OZ F seat but I slept solidly for 8 hours on the NH F seat.

There's no question that NH's F seat is vastly superior to OZ.

I also don't like the fact that OZ's tray table doesn't move out of the way when you get out of your seat. I alway have to wiggle and squirm through the small gap between the table and armrest.

Poor design IMO.

Other than the F seats doesn't goes flat, the armrest is not electronic go down with the seat like NH F, something remind me of old UA F.

The new OZ F seat is far better than the old one, but behind the competitors current F seat.

it looks like Asiana just changed the 2nd evening ICN-LAX on 04 May (just this day :td::td::td:) to a B747Combi (cause i'm on that flight)..... Hope there are some new configs going around...