shiney

As per title, has anyone had any experience flying the incheon to heathrow route on the 787-7 in business? I've seen a good offer that's significantly cheaper than OZ or KE. Would appreciate some first hand knowledge on the food, seat, service before I book the flight. Thx.

Cymro

As you say, it's operated by a 787 (800 actually).

If you've ever flown BA, it'll be pretty familiar. Not flown it to Korea but I have flown the same plane and product to Montreal.

Seat is standard BA Club World, on a fairly recent plane (5-ish years old), very quiet, comfortable, at the front of the plane with very little engine noise. You have the "ying-yang" configuration, meaning that window seats face the rear and are paired up, so you are always facing your seat neighbour with a privacy divider. Food has got much better lately - not flown those other carriers but you'll get at least one local dish, reasonable drinks pairings, and a filling three-course menu. I wouldn't wake up for breakfast but maybe you'll have nothing better to do! Service is consistently inconsistent - can be very personal and super helpful (and occasionally, harmlessly cheeky) - down to downright grumpy. However, the business cabins are reasonably small and you should be well looked after.

There really isn't anything bad to say - it's not an outstandingly luxurious experience but the food is good, the bedding is very good now, and it gets the job done.

megaloman

I've done it and quite liked it. It's a Mixed Fleet route so don't hesitate to use call button should you need a drink... crew will be hiding in the galley most of the flight.

cosmo74

Flew it recently, LHR-ICN and return, (return was switched to the 789). I'm not a fan of the CW seat, but at least it's new on these aircraft, get 3A if you can as you can get out without stepping over anyone and it's not by the toilet, unlike 3K. On the whole it was a decent flight, I thought food quality was fairly good, particularly on the return from ICN - really lovely tuna starter that would have looked at home in First. Steak on the return was not cooked to death which was a bonus, i had a slow-cooked asian beef main dish on the way out, which was nice enough - could have done with a bit more zing to the sauce (I wasn't offered any chilli sauce, and don't know if they had it on board, but i saw passengers who were being served the asian meal on the return being given tubes of chilli paste). Breakfast on the outbound was ok - worth having if you're travelling into Seoul and don't want to arrive starving. Crew on the outbound were much better than the inbound. They ran out of one of the two red wines about 2 hours into the flight on the outbound, and ice halfway through the return, which is rather poor.

The timings for both the flights mean that you're essentially travelling in the daytime based on when you depart, even though on LHR - ICN you arrive the next day. Both flights were pretty quiet though and I managed to get some sleep: ICN -LHR involves a fairly early start if you're staying in Seoul, so it was good to be able to nap for a few hours on the flight and i found that getting home at around 4pm worked well for me in terms of jet lag. BA does not have its own lounge at ICN - I can't remember whose they use, but don't expect too much - I was in the F lounge and the food offering wasn't great, although it was fairly new and was at least a nice environment to wait in.

Admiral Ackbar

Piggybacking to say I just got off YUL-LHR (788) and had my best flight in CW on that route in a long time. Upgraded catering was noticeable, crew was fantastic (the SD really sets the tone I find) which made this short flight (left an hour late got in on time, 5.5 hours) memorable.

I still loathe the seat and still haven't found where to put my glasses when it is flat, but BA impressed me this time around!

orbitmic

Just the normal CW service (see dashboard) but with a couple of Korean crew, slippers available on request (the F ones) and a Korean main choice for each of the meals.

BA use the (mediocre) Asiana lounge at ICN.

cosmo74

Now you mention it, they automatically gave out slippers to everyone.

orbitmic

nice but unusual in my experience. On my 8 flights on this route one had to ask almost every time.

Forever in Seattle

The Korean crew member on my flight only gave them to the non Europeans when I recently flew on that route.

Forever in Seattle

I thought the food offering in their F lounge was reasonable. Sure as a hub flagship lounge it is underwhelming, but food wise I thought it was better than many (most?) of BA's own outstation lounges.

orbitmic

Yes, that was my experience on a couple of the flights too (which meant on request for me but pro-actively offered to passengers the crew assumed to be Korean based on the way they looked).

Re Asiana lounge, yes I completely agree if you were to compare to outstation/third party lounges then it wouldn't be bad (and at least BA has negotiated access to the F lounge for those of us with GCH/GGL/Prem/OWE status) but I meant as a flagship lounge, I find it a bit underwhelming and often very crowded.

itsmeitisss

Which is massively better than the Airport operated one that you get to use if flying CX or AY...that one is really very poor indeed

TTmex

I hang the headphones over the top and then hang my glasses from them. Seems to work and makes them quickly reachable from lying flat

MarkLHR

Markie

Last time I was there they let BA Gold's use the First Lounge with Asiana. It's a long walk but a good lounge.