SFO777

This panoramic video shows the entire cabin, including accidental bonus footage of quite possibly the most stunningly beautiful FA I have ever seen on any flight. And yes, she was working the F cabin. http://youtu.be/z7AoOIKBDAQ

The suites have three storage areas for everything from personal effects.







The curvature of the plane has produced a strange space between the seats and the cabin wall, used as ventilation.



Electronically controlled privacy divider can be raised and lowered at the touch of button on your seat control panel.











At least three FAs and our Purser stopped by to greet me, and made sure that my glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle was never empty.

vpat48

What a fabulous TR. Great TR & even better pics. Some of those CX attendants on the screensavers were Yowzers.

Like many have said that turbulence shot of the drinks was spectacular. Good that you had the camera ready to go. Is it a point & shoot or an SLR?

SFO777

Boarding was completed on time, and we were ready to push. And with only two other pax in the F cabin, both on the other side in 1A and 2A, I had the entire right side of the plane to myself. ^

One of the many great features of the A380 is the three live cameras, than you can "switch channels" and Change View. The tail cam and the forward landing gear cam were my faves. Some of the sequence from taxi to take-off.





















Once in the air, my 4th glass of Grand Siecle.



And a quick tour of the forward cabin area including F bar



Stairway to the Business cabin, which is the entire upper level. I'll take the grand tour after dinner.



And basic lav. Only one lav for all 12 F pax. Was not a problem with only two other pax today, but on a full flight it could be.

SFO777

Thanks very much ZFW-ATC. Hope you enjoy A380 pics.

I did not see any piano in the KE lounge.

Thanks gpeso8. Hope to finish most of it off by the end of the day today.

Thanks very much vpat48. I appreciate your kind comments. That drink shot was purely luck and accidental.
Most of my pics are with a Canon EOS 60D SLR, stock zoom lens.

SFO777

Dinner

After drink service, and at the timing of each passenger's choice, a superb two hour 8 course meal.







All in all, a commendable wine list, much better than recent BA in fight offering. Not all the wine in this list were available on our flight, but the ones I tasted were excellent.











Showtime and yet another glass of Grand Siecle.



The seared scallop and black mushroom with spicy orange sauce was very good.





Our set-up with each item precisely placed on the table.



FA knew enough to proactively suggest the Sauternes with my foie gras.
What a treat, the 2006 Chateau Rieussec was outstanding.



While I enjoy caviar, but I'll take a good foie gras any day. And today's champagne flavored fois-gras terrine with fig compote was positively sensational, especially paired with the Sauternes.





The Korean porridge was a mild and nutty flavored, more like a palate cleanser.



The organic seasonal organic salad was served to order from the cart, and was the best and freshest in flight salad I can remember.
And another glass or two of the Grand Siecle.

SFO777

For my main, I was torn between the the Je-dong seared rib-eye or the Korean Bibimbap.
Hey, I can get rib-eye any day but Bibimbap, not so much. Our menu came with a Bibimbap instruction sheet.



Minced beef and seasonal vegetables accompanied by sesame oil and Gochijang (Korean hot pepper paste).
Was a little surprised about the tube of Gochijang and the oil packet, instead being served in a little ramekin.





The final product was terrific, and paired well with the excellent 2009 Ghost Block Single Vineyard Napa Cab.



One of the sides was a white fish that was simply orgasmic.



Next up, the cheese and fruit cart...



My turn.



Camembert, chaumes and comte, with a glass of the Sandeman Founders Reserve Porto.





And delicious fresh fruit.





And finally, Chocolate brownie cake and ice cream. Tasted as good as it looked.





OMG. What a terrific meal. Certainly ranks up there with the best inflight meals of the year.

Up next: Touring the A380

sonomawine

"The final product was terrific, and paired well with the excellent 2009 Ghost Block Single Vineyard Napa Cab."

Very nice to see the Ghost Block as a wine offering! As always, fantastic trip report.

ma91pmh

Ok, phenomenal. I am totally sold and now the only decision left is do we go KE to Palau or Maldives for next summers diving expedition?

Love the champagne choices. While Dom and Krug are nice, they are obvious "easy" choices. Grand Siecle is what I had on BA F and is IMHO one of the best out there. Like Krug it's a mulit-vintage blend so you don't get the inconsistency of Dom and yet it doesn't have the odd sweetness of Krug. Thanks for posting the menu though - interesting they use different wines for New York and other routes. So a good excuse to fly out via NY and then back via ORD or ATL

As for bibimbab can't believe you had to think of that one I loved the one I had on SQ15 but can only imagine how good it must be on KE particularly flying out of their hometown.

Thoroughly enjoying the report and for sure it is pushing me to book KE ASAP

Oh and yes Foie Grois and sweet Bordeaux a far classier way to start than caviar and vodka

SFO777

IFE is not the same league as CX let alone SQ. I guess i's OK if you don't watch a lot of movies in the theatre. We do so there was nothing of interest that I haven't seen. Tail cam is still the best show on KE IFE, IMO.



Time to explore this puppy, starting with the FC Bar on the right side of the forward entry just back of 1R. Sounds like a great idea if you are traveling in a group, but not sure how much use it gets, since FAs will bring you anything anytime anyway. One of the FAs insisted that I try some of the candies. Good suggestion.





SFO777Jr and Short hair Francis will be happy to see the JW Blue.



Time to head upstairs and see how Business Class is doing.



Nice lounge area at the forward part of the cabin.







The entire upper deck is Business Class... maybe 30% load today. But what's with the lighting? Similar problem downstairs in F. How about using the dimmer to tone down the lighting just a tad and add a little more atmosphere, maybe something a little less than sun tan booth??





There is also a aft Business Lounge with bar and a few seats. Not nearly as nice as the Bling Air lounge.
Sorry, no pic. There were too many pax there and no obvious way to take an undetected pic.

Back at my seat, all the travel, food and booze is starting to wear my down and I passed out for 4 or so hours not even bothering with proper duvet and bedding. Unlike CX or SQ, there is no real time "Time to Destination" feature on the IFE remote, so when I woke up, I wasn't quite sure how long to go. And I couldn't remember whether I had changed my watch to LA time. Turns out we had about 3 and a half hours to go. Decided to freshen up and change out of my PJ's



Breakfast service began about two hours ago. I've had long haul breakfast on a lot of airlines and this was probably the best yet.



Each course was served by two FAs from the cart, allowing you to see your options. Yogurt with toppings was excellent.



This was the best inflight egg dish I have ever tasted. Freshly scrambled eggs on potato apple roesti with crispy bacon and cherry tomatoes. Simply amazing flavor and seasoning.







Up next: Korean Air FAs... something special in the air.

SFO777

Thanks so much sonomawine. Agree on the Ghost Block. I give KE a lot of credit for selecting good wines that don't break the bank, instead of other airlines (like BA) that have one or two good wines and and cost average down with swill.

ma91pmh, thanks very much for your kind comments. I do enjoy my Krug on CX, but really like KE and BA's choice of the Grand Siecle. Hope you can try KE on your trip next year. This was my first KE experience and I am hooked.

Thunderroad

Yet another superb TR, SFO777! Great pics and commentary, as always.

I'm curious: With KE F under your belt, what is your updated ranking of the international F's you've flown? (And which is #1: UA or AA? )

tomashi

Great report and wonderful pics, as always! And BTW: the carpet at RGN is awesome!!!

-Tom

kstew

"up next" can't come fast enough!

concorde02

Greeting from the sky, I am on AA flight now flying back from ARN weekend trip,

OMG SFO777, as I said earlier about having the same impressive experience on this flight 3 weeks before you did. I literally took the same seat (2J) as you did (load was 2/12), departed from the same gate, pick exactly the same food and drink on every courses... and had the very same opinions about the food, Grand Siecle, 2006 Chateau Rieussec, the best fresh salad in the sky! (I did double salad!), the FAs, how they were so beautiful, young, in-shape, dressed so nice, and friendly and polite at the same time. I felt like I do not need to write a report of my own on that trip cuz everything is like a duplicate.

However my out-bound flight was a mix of CX and EY F and BKK-ICN leg I took with OZ J and paid a visit into Seoul for a few hours...

SFO777

Thanks very much Thunderroad! AA? UA? Love your sense of humor.

Thanks Tom. Agree on the carpet. The funny thing is the rest of the new terminal is very muted colors. Lots of black and white.

LOL. Still working on putting my own spin on concorde02's spot on "beautiful, young, in-shape, dressed so nice, and friendly and polite at the same time" description without stepping over the line.

Thanks concorde02. Great to hear that you felt the same way I did, and made the same food and wine selections. Absolutely sensational flight. I never any idea that KE inflight could be as good as it was, considering its cast of weak alliance partners. What an eye opener.