First time on KE: what to expect?
 

Hi,

it will be my 1st time on Korean Air, and I was wondering what to expect in general.
I have only flown 2 Asian carriers: SQ and Air China. Otherwise, I mainly fly with LY, as well as European and US airlines.

Thanks!

What route and what class of service?

Sorry, I should have been more specific:

I will fly ICN-HKG, HND-GMP, and ICN-CDG, all in Y

They are lovely. Not exceptional, but lovely. Even in Y. :)

Your cabins, presuming their 777 or A333 or 380 will be exactly the same. Identical pitch, seat patterns, everything. Their on board product is extremely, almost perfectly consistent. Only the old 747 have older ife and a slightly smaller seat.

You will see a lot of the same food over these flights - bibimbap, Chinese fish and noodles, chicken and rice, beef and pasta. It isn't bad, but it will all taste the same.

Haneda to Gimpo is always a giant, full plane. Quite impressive considering you wouldn't get a 777 from ATL to NYC running four times a day in each direction. You will get a meal, but the flight is so short that you can barely finish a movie.

Hong Kong is a regional flight, so it's just a meal service.

If you look on their website, they have a service schedule of the flight to Paris (when you eat, etc)

Korean Air attendants are very gracious and polite as they are on most Asian airlines. The advantage, I think, is that their planes are consistent.

For instance, Asiana will swap planes two hours before departure. You might be flying to Paris with overhead TV on a loop.

Thanks, thats' very informative :)

Do you have the link, by chance?
I can't find it :(

You can find the Service Plan on pg 108-109 of this month's Beyond magazine. http://beyond.koreanair.com

One thing to add: Although the beverage service is quite regular on longer flights (typically water and juice), don't hesitate to ring the call button anytime you want something else like a soda, beer, or mixed drink. FA's have always been happy to respond to a request. (obviously don't abuse it either ;))

Thanks!

Can you help me understand what i am looking at? Is the 1-14 on the top essentially hours? Hour 1 is drinks, hour 2 is meal, etc? I'm flying ke082 jfk/icn , trying to plan on when the first meal will be. thanks a lot.

Yes, that's the correct interpretation.

For ICN departures, be aware that there can be long lines for passport control and security. If you don't take the train, it can be a long ride from Seoul to the airport. Be sure to allow enough time.

Check whether your AF/KLM FB Silver status gives you any benefits on KE, such as use of a lower tier elite check in line or the ability to reserve (better?) seats in advance.

I recently flew HND -> GMP and ICN -> NRT on Korean Air. Hadn't flown Korean Air since an ANC-ICN flight in the 90s. I think the service has improved a lot since then! I was in economy and I really liked the food which surprised me. I thought the flight attendants were incredibly nice and seemed to switch easily between English, Korean and Japanese when interacting with passengers. My flight to/from the U.S. was ANA which was fine, but I liked the food and the flight attendants on Korean Air better.