Korean Air Economy Class Review

Today we have a wonderful guest blogger Roy who writes Off the Bitten Path about strange and interesting food he has eaten from around the world like century eggs, fried crickets, raw horse mane sushi, and chicken feet.  Although Roy is a serious foodie, he is also a frequent world-traveler.  Today he is guest-blogging about his experience flying Korean Air’s economy class for his long-haul flight over the Pacific Ocean.  How was his 14 hour Korean Air experience?  Keep reading to find out.

Korean Airline 747 Korea to New York

Over the past year Paul has posted some amazing reviews of his first class flights around the world. Although I did fly business class with Finnair last year, that was only because of a free upgrade. When I fly, I fly economy. That’s why Paul invited me to write up about my recent flight from Korea to New York on flight KE 85, which was a huge double decker Boeing 747.

I can’t say much about the check in procedures as I actually checked in in China at Xian airport with a local Chinese ground staff. Though the check in was quick, and there were no massive queues, I was a bit disappointed they didn’t ask me whether I wanted an aisle or a window seat. Luckily I got the aisle seat I was hoping for. Let’s skip ahead to my arrival in Korea at Incheon airport, which was where my actual journey was to start.

Incheon Airport is a jungle. Literally and figuratively. It is a beautiful terminal with lots of real plants and trees around giving it a very relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.

In many airports in China I struggle finding my beloved Coke Zero and have to settle for a bottle of iced tea. At Incheon Airport it was difficult to even do that. Every shop seemed to either be a luxury or a duty free shop. After trawling the entire length of the terminal I finally found a 7-eleven where I could buy a few drinks, and some unusual snacks for my blog at that. At that point it was almost time for boarding so I headed over to the gate.

Boarding went smoothly, and within no time I was seated in the isle seat of the middle section.

I could tell straight away that this was no budget airlines as my knees didn’t touch the back of the chair in front of me. In fact I had quite a bit of leg room. Not only that, but we were also given small pouch with disposable slippers and a toothbrush with toothpaste.

That’s something I have definitely never gotten in any economy class before. There were also blankets and pillows for everyone.

The interactive screens on the seats in front of us had loads of options for movies, TV and games.

There was even a USB port from which you could watch your own movies if you had any. Unfortunately those ports didn’t work to charge my phone with, but there were separate outlets near each seat for that, so I could still charge my phone or laptop. Unlike in China, phones were aloud to stay on, but only in flight mode.

Everybody received two full meals, a dinner after take of and breakfast before landing. For dinner I had a Korean bibimbap, which the flight attendant showed me how to mix.

Surprisingly we were given real cutlery instead of disposable ones. That was another thing other airlines don’t usually do in economy class. Beer and wine was also freely available, though I stuck to juice.

At breakfast time I chose the continental breakfast, which was a little on the meager side with just a tiny croissant, some fruit and not much else really. To be fair, that’s what a continental breakfast is.

All in all it was probably the best economy experience I’ve had. There was plenty of leg room, good food and excellent service. Also there was no turbulence or any ear popping, so it was smooth sailing all the way.