Ha Ha. :rolleyes:

I cannot recall exactly how far in advance of my departure I found ATL-ICN 77L availability. I think it was somewhere around four weeks, perhaps a bit inside four weeks. Nonetheless, I hope you get it. The 77L was a superior experience to the KE ICN-ORD flight, except that I got op-upped to F seating (with C service). Five entree selections compared to three on KE, better wines, much more substantial mid-flight snack, and better selection on AVOD made the 77L superior to regular KE C. The F seating on KE made up for a lot, though, despite it being the old F. My DL flight went out full in both J and Y, so it was definitely popular. I would keep searching every day.

And pretty much all of them have G1 or G2 bonuses except HR Santa Clara (double airline miles) - combine with the current Mastercard bonus and we're beginning to talk some Hyatt points ^

Grand Hyatt? Wow that is a great deal. Was going to stay there this past weekend but friends did not want to cough up the $179 rate I had gotten (it eventually went up to $279). So we stayed at the IC.

I agree - $99 is an outstanding rate for that property.

The seat map (I know, I know) shows 30 open in J and 1 open in Y. Moving to this flight would mean a pretty early start the morning after our wedding, but I really think the seat alone would make it a worthwhile change. It would also get us to Seoul about 13 hours earlier. I've been checking a few times a day for the last week or so and nothing so far...

I'm a little surprised to hear that the wine on DL was superior to the options on KE. Did you find any good wines on KE? The better food and AVOD options on DL don't really surprise me. Right now, we're on KE JFK-ICN purely for the convenience.

It only works for 2 days, if I try to book more it shoots up to $189 :eek:
Much to my chagrin, it is the same days I was going to book starwood free nights.

I just merged my 3(how in the world?!) SPG accounts and now I cna't login to any of them, I feel another SPG customer service call coming soon.

BD claims IAH-ORD-IST-JNB-WVB-JNB-EZE-IAD-IAH would come to 150,000 miles (fine by me), and ~$775 in taxes (:mad: :rolleyes: :-:).

Gotta love the fuel surcharges masquerading as taxes. :-:

ETA: A completely accidental and unnoticed 73,000. w:rolleyes::rolleyes:t!!

I too wish I was there too. It was my summer vacation spot for about 15 years when i was younger. This year would be cool as they are going to have an A380 fly in tomorrow so if you are in the area of KOSH watch out for the big plane landing and staying till Friday. Lucky I will see it up close and personal later this year in the nusery in France in November ;).

My flight showed tons of empty J seats until a few days before the flight. If there are that many open seats on the seat map, you may still have a chance. It was easier for me because I was only looking for one seat, but I would keep checking. The timing and quality of that flight make it worthwhile - for me, it meant not only that I got a true lie-flat seat for the 15-hour flight, but I was able to make a same-day onward connection to KUL when I otherwise would have had to overnight in ICN. I had to take a 7:00 am flight DCA-ATL to have a safe connecting time, but it was well worth it. Since you are staying in ICN, that convenience aspect is not as important, I suppose, but it beats a 3:00 am arrival.

Don't get me wrong - KE is still pretty good in C. It's just that now that I have flown many KE C segments, I guess I have just gotten used to it a bit more. It is still better than NW J, IMO, in all respects except the seat; I prefer the KE seat, but it is a matter of personal preference. I was expecting KE TPAC C to offer a bit more enhanced service than KE intra-Asia longhaul C, but the meals, wines, and overall service were basically the same, except that the pre-arrival meal was larger on the TPAC than on the intra-Asia flight. Also, the pre-arrival meal on my ICN-KUL flight, a hot roast beef sandwhich, was downright awful. I slept through the pre-arrival meal on ICN-ORD, so I cannot comment on it. The SIN-ICN flight offered a very light post-departure meal (one skewer of chicken satay) and a more substantial breakfast service - I skipped both in favor of sleep. On both TPAC's, each carrier offered two selections for the pre-arrival meal, but DL's was a bit more substantial. I opted not to have the pre-arrival meal on DL because I was so full from the other meals. In addition, the midlight snack on DL conisted of five small pieces of peppered tenderloin served cold, with a few pieces of cheese, breadsticks, a Toblerone, and a roll. The midflight snack on KE was ramen noodles or snack foods like chips, pieces of fruit, or pieces of candy, similar to what NW offers. DL was far superior in that regard.

KE had the same wines IIRC on the TPAC as on the intra-Asia flights, two whites and two reds, plus a sparkling wine. I did not try either of the whites, but I tried both reds. The reds were a Bordeaux and some low-end Mondavi Syrah/blend or some such. I preferred the Bordeaux. KE also had one type of port on offer during the dessert course, which was ok, but not as good as that offered by DL. I would have to look at the menu to double check, but I think that DL offered three reds and three whites, plus a sparkling wines. I drank a few glasses of the Bordeaux and a bit of the port - both were far superior to what KE offered. DL also uses proper stemware, i.e., an actual, properly-sized wine glass, whereas KE uses these tiny glasses that hold perhaps a third of a "real" glass of wine. In fact, KE uses tiny glasses for everything. I got to the point on my last trip that during predeparture and other structured beverage services from a tray, I would grab two glasses of champagne, two glasses of water, and two glasses of juice. On at least two of the flights, the FA came back with an extra bottle of water after I took three glasses of water at once off the tray, in addition to juice. On the TPAC, they at least had the 'island' in F stocked with beverages and light snacks, so one could self-serve.

The intra-Asia C flights on 332's and 333's have non-AVOD IFE, but the AVOD on the TPAC 744 seemed to have fewer movie and tv selections than the last time I flew on AVOD-equipped KE aircraft last fall. The DL AVOD had far more movie and tv selections than the KE AVOD and had an actual widescreen as opposed to the more square-shaped KE screen. Even CO AVOD has a better selection than KE, at this point, it seems.

As a I side note, I preferred intra-Asia C on the 772 to the 332 and 333 - there is more legroom at the bulkhead and the seat seemed to recline more deeply.

KE still shines ahead with respect to service quality, however. The US carriers just can't top the major Asian carriers, in that regard.

ETA-DL also has a full sundae and fruit/cheese service where you can select the types of fruit and cheese you would like, while KE has pieces of fruit and a handful of pre-plated cheeses, with one standard plating/no choices.

Sparkling wine was average on both carriers.

ok looks like I am headed to houston tonight. How is 4P Houston SW? I need ot be near texas medical center (no this isn't relatedx to my mom!)

I have to say, I have done quite well with gold companion upgrades.

Don't tell Steve Gadfly that. He doesn't believe they really exist. :eek: