Part 2 can be found here!
OZ602
SYD-ICN
Boeing 777-200ER
Seat 2D
January 2, 2015
I was sad to leave Australia and return to the relative cold of the US (and returning to work). However, I had been looking forward to these flights in particular due to it being my first time in a real premium cabin and flying a new airline (Asiana).
Our plane at the gate (Click to Enlarge)
This Boeing 777-200ER featured Asiana's older style angle lie-flat seat in 4 rows of 2-3-2 seating. It was adequate for this daytime flight, but I can definitely see how it wouldn't be so great for an overnight flight.
The business class seat (Click to Enlarge)
Overall I was pretty happy with the seat. There was legroom for days and the seat controls were pretty intuitive. When I arrive at the seat there already was an amenity kit (containing ear plugs, socks, eye mask, L'Occitane lotion, toothbrush, and toothpaste), a pair of slippers, and a pair of headphones (which are not noise-cancelling, so I used my own). I was quickly welcomed with a pre-departure beverage of orange juice (they don't serve alcohol on the ground in some locations for tax reasons, I believe)
All that legroom (Click to Enlarge)
Entertainment screen and festively decorated cabin (Click to Enlarge)
Pre-departure beverage-in a glass! (Click to Enlarge)
From the start, I could tell that service is where Asiana stands out-no request is too big or too small, and everything is done with a smile. Questions are asked with a "May I..." instead of a "Are you..." that is common seen among the US carriers. When pressed, the call button is answered promptly with a smile. It also doesn't hurt that all the fight attendants are pretty young women.
After take-off the in-flight entertainment system fired up, and this was the major downside to the flight. Since this flight featured Asiana's older business class seat, it had Asiana's oldest entertainment system, which you may have seen maybe 10 or so years ago on other carriers. The in-flight entertainment played on a loop instead of on demand, such that you would have to wait for the next round of entertainment to begin. Additionally, the choices were a little lackluster, though there was not a movie that I really wanted to see (which is interesting, as I tend to watch new releases while on planes). There was only one Chinese selection, and it was a standard fantasy love story (The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom 《白发魔女传之明月天国》).
In-flight entertainment (Click to Enlarge)
Soon after hot towels were passed out followed by the menu for the day's flight.
Hot towel (Click to Enlarge)
Since the images aren't that great, here's a text version of the menu (with links to the images below):
Western:
Canape
Smoked Salmon
Appetizer
Prawn Salad
Soup Zucchini Cream Soup
Main Courses
Beef Tenderloin Steak
Served with Porcini Mushroom Sauce Mashed Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables
-or-
Seamed Hake Fish
Garlic and Herb butter with Mixed Vegetables
-or-
Chicken Cacciatore
Steamed Rice and Mixed Vegetables
Cheese
Emmeental, Garlic Cream, Camambert
Dessert
Mango Mousse
Coffee and Tea
Korean:
Starter
Smoked Salmon
Beef Vegetable Roll
Korean Pumpkin Porridge 'Hodakjuk'
Main Course
Mixing and Harmonizing A Famous Korean Cuisine 'Bibimbap'
Steamed Rice, Various Kinds of Vegetables and Minced Beef Mixed with Red Pepper Paste 'Gochujang', Sesame Oil, Accompanied by Assorted Side Dishes and Soup
Dessert
Fresh Fruit
Coffee and Tea
Korean Traditional Cookies
Made of Wheat Flour and Walnut
Refreshments
Sandwich, Seasonal Fresh Fruit, Ramen, Chips
Snack
Appetizer
Prosciutto Salad
Main Courses
Stir Fried Kimchi with Pork
Served with Pak Choi and Steamed Rice
-or-
'Barramundi' Fish Crust
Crusted with Gremolata Served with lime Hollandaise Sauce, Potato, Carrot and Snow Pea
-or-
Chicken Porridge
Dessert
Fresh Fruits
Coffee and Tea
Once again, since I'm bad at this taking pictures of menus thing, here it is typed out (with links to the image below):
Wine Menu
Apertifs
Campari
Medium Dry Sherry Sandeman
Spirits
Chivas Regal 18 Years Old Scotch Whisky
Ballantine's 17 Years Old Scotch Whisky
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Absolut Vodka
Beefeater Gin
Gognac & Liqueurs
Camus XO
Baileys Irish Cream
Drambuie
Cointreau
Beers
OB, Cass, Hite, Max
Heineken, Beck's Budweiser
Korean Rice Wine 'Makgeolli'
Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Orange, Apple, Tomato Juice
Pineapple, Guava Jiuce
Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale
Cocktail
Whisky Sour
Manhattan
Bloody Mary
Mimosa
Screwdriver
Champagne & White Wine
Piper-Heidsieck Brut Champagne
Joseph Drouhin Saint-Veran Chardonnay 2011
Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay 2011
Red Wine
Chateau du Malleret 2010
Wente Vineyards Reliz Creek Pinot Noir 2010
d'Arenberg Stump Jump Syrah 2012
Dessert Wine
Sandeman 20 Years Old Tawny Port
Sawmill Creek Vidal Icewine 2008
Coffee & Tea
Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee
Decaffeinated Coffee
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Earl Grey
Chamomile
Oolong Tea
Ginseng Tea
Green Tea
Jasmine Tea
For lunch I selected the Korean option with orange juice and champagne to begin the meal. Soon after the table is set and it's showtime! Overall I was very happy with the meal-the food was very good, and the flight attendants made sure my glasses were never empty.
Originally I had requested the western dessert in addition to the Korean dessert, but by the end of the meal I was way too full to try it. It was unfortunate, as I was looking to pair it with the icewine on offer, which I had heard very good things about and wanted to try for myself. After the filling meal, there was another hot towel service, and I visited the lavatory, which was stocked with L'Occitane amenities.
At the conclusion of the meal service hot towels and water bottles were passed out before the cabin lights were dimmed for the middle portion of the daytime flight. I put the seat in bed mode, which was an angle lie-flat. Interestingly, the "bed mode" button didn't make my seat flat, and I had to further manually get the seat into the angle lie-flat position. I slept for about an hour before the curse of the screaming baby hit. The baby, which was seated in the row in front of me, started screaming and remained boisterous for the remainder of the flight, naturally resulting in me not sleeping for the remainder of the fight (which was fine since this was a daytime flight). I really enjoyed the seat for lounging since the leg rest was adjustable and provided a fair amount of support. Unfortunately I was not hungry enough during this middle portion of the flight to sample the refreshments menu, so I sampled more of the entertainment, watching a couple of movies and listening to some cpop. I also had the chance to enjoy some ginseng tea, which hit the stop to help pass the flight. When I pressed the call button, the flight attendant appeared within a few seconds and my tea was brought out a couple of minutes later with a smile, something you tend not to see on North American-based carriers.
A couple of hours outside of Incheon the lights turned on in advance of the snack service. We were presented with another hot towel and I elected to begin the meal with orange juice and guava juice before selecting the porridge main. I love porridge and this time was no different, as porridge is one of my favorite comfort foods and I devoured the entire meal. The end of the meal featured the fourth hot towel of the flight. My only gripe was that the jujube in the porridge still had some pits in them.
Interestingly, towards the end of the flight after the final loop of entertainment, Asiana played a "in-flight fitness" clip, featuring some...interesting...stretches and positions. Naturally I had no idea what was going on, but it definitely looked like something you'd see from a "wellness video".
Unfortunately this flight did have to come to an end, and I was very pleased with every aspect of the flight (except the screaming baby, naturally), though maybe it might be the product of this being my first ever real business class flight. I'd have a hard time deciding whether this flight or the flight after (also in business class) was my favorite flight ever, but it didn't seem like I was going through the motions typically associated with international long-haul travel. If you get the chance, I'd highly recommend flying with Asiana, regardless of class of service.
Apertifs
Campari
Medium Dry Sherry Sandeman
Spirits
Chivas Regal 18 Years Old Scotch Whisky
Ballantine's 17 Years Old Scotch Whisky
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Absolut Vodka
Beefeater Gin
Gognac & Liqueurs
Camus XO
Baileys Irish Cream
Drambuie
Cointreau
Beers
OB, Cass, Hite, Max
Heineken, Beck's Budweiser
Korean Rice Wine 'Makgeolli'
Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Orange, Apple, Tomato Juice
Pineapple, Guava Jiuce
Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale
Cocktail
Whisky Sour
Manhattan
Bloody Mary
Mimosa
Screwdriver
Champagne & White Wine
Piper-Heidsieck Brut Champagne
Joseph Drouhin Saint-Veran Chardonnay 2011
Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay 2011
Red Wine
Chateau du Malleret 2010
Wente Vineyards Reliz Creek Pinot Noir 2010
d'Arenberg Stump Jump Syrah 2012
Dessert Wine
Sandeman 20 Years Old Tawny Port
Sawmill Creek Vidal Icewine 2008
Coffee & Tea
Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee
Decaffeinated Coffee
Espresso
Cappuccino
Cafe Latte
Earl Grey
Chamomile
Oolong Tea
Ginseng Tea
Green Tea
Jasmine Tea
For lunch I selected the Korean option with orange juice and champagne to begin the meal. Soon after the table is set and it's showtime! Overall I was very happy with the meal-the food was very good, and the flight attendants made sure my glasses were never empty.
Smoked salmon starter (Click to Enlarge)
Beef vegetable roll served cold (Click to Enlarge)
Out of focus shot of the pumpkin soup (Click to Enlarge)
Bimbimbap main (Click to Enlarge)
Fruits (Click to Enlarge)
Korean cookies with oolong tea (Click to Enlarge)
Originally I had requested the western dessert in addition to the Korean dessert, but by the end of the meal I was way too full to try it. It was unfortunate, as I was looking to pair it with the icewine on offer, which I had heard very good things about and wanted to try for myself. After the filling meal, there was another hot towel service, and I visited the lavatory, which was stocked with L'Occitane amenities.
Lavatory Amenities (Click to Enlarge)
At the conclusion of the meal service hot towels and water bottles were passed out before the cabin lights were dimmed for the middle portion of the daytime flight. I put the seat in bed mode, which was an angle lie-flat. Interestingly, the "bed mode" button didn't make my seat flat, and I had to further manually get the seat into the angle lie-flat position. I slept for about an hour before the curse of the screaming baby hit. The baby, which was seated in the row in front of me, started screaming and remained boisterous for the remainder of the flight, naturally resulting in me not sleeping for the remainder of the fight (which was fine since this was a daytime flight). I really enjoyed the seat for lounging since the leg rest was adjustable and provided a fair amount of support. Unfortunately I was not hungry enough during this middle portion of the flight to sample the refreshments menu, so I sampled more of the entertainment, watching a couple of movies and listening to some cpop. I also had the chance to enjoy some ginseng tea, which hit the stop to help pass the flight. When I pressed the call button, the flight attendant appeared within a few seconds and my tea was brought out a couple of minutes later with a smile, something you tend not to see on North American-based carriers.
Seat in "bed mode" (Click to Enlarge)
POV of the seat in angle lie-flat mode (Click to Enlarge)
Business class cabin mid-flight (Click to Enlarge)
A couple of hours outside of Incheon the lights turned on in advance of the snack service. We were presented with another hot towel and I elected to begin the meal with orange juice and guava juice before selecting the porridge main. I love porridge and this time was no different, as porridge is one of my favorite comfort foods and I devoured the entire meal. The end of the meal featured the fourth hot towel of the flight. My only gripe was that the jujube in the porridge still had some pits in them.
Drinks! In glasses! (Click to Enlarge)
Showtime (Click to Enlarge)
Prosciutto salad (Click to Enlarge)
Chicken porridge main (Click to Enlarge)
Fruit (Click to Enlarge)
Jasmine team to finish the meal (Click to Enlarge)
Interestingly, towards the end of the flight after the final loop of entertainment, Asiana played a "in-flight fitness" clip, featuring some...interesting...stretches and positions. Naturally I had no idea what was going on, but it definitely looked like something you'd see from a "wellness video".
In-flight "fitness" (Click to Enlarge)
Unfortunately this flight did have to come to an end, and I was very pleased with every aspect of the flight (except the screaming baby, naturally), though maybe it might be the product of this being my first ever real business class flight. I'd have a hard time deciding whether this flight or the flight after (also in business class) was my favorite flight ever, but it didn't seem like I was going through the motions typically associated with international long-haul travel. If you get the chance, I'd highly recommend flying with Asiana, regardless of class of service.
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