Review of Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul to Shanghai in Business

background

This report is a continuation of this nearly month long journey combining work and leisure that will take me >24,000 miles.

After 2 weeks in Veneto for work, it was time to move onto the next stop on this journey. I needed to get to Shanghai to join up with Mrs. NGO85 for a week in China for vacation. So instead of heading back to LAX, I needed to find a way to get from northern Italy to Shanghai. There was a direct MXP-PVG flight on CA at that time operated by their A359, but I did not feel like driving 3 hours back to Milan and preferred to look for something ex-VCE. There of course is the obvious LH/OS/LX options, but I preferred to take the road less traveled and book with my FFP carrier OZ on their summer service VCE-ICN. The only issue is that this is only 4x weekly service so I had to leave on Friday instead of Saturday, which posed some issues to ensure a timely arrival at the airport. The VCE-ICN-PVG routing was booked as a one-way ticket with a very competitive fare.

The routing for this series is as follows:

This report will be on OZ's A321 used on international regional flights.

Pre-flight

After spending 30 minutes clearing security, I quickly made my way over to the OZ Business Class Lounge where I was welcomed by the flagship OZ A380 model.

The lounge is the standard affair with a modest buffet and fairly dense seating areas.

The chef station still had breakfast out, so I took a simple offering to hold myself over until dinner.

15 minutes before boarding I made my way down to our gate to see our little A321 ready to go.

They apparently haven't repainted in awhile. Can't imagine the last time a passenger aircraft of a DC10/MD11 was in ICN…

flight

Asiana Airlines, OZ 365
Equipment: Airbus A321 [HL8004, delivered October 2014]
Departure: 14:00 (ATD: 14:39)
Arrival: 15:00 (ATA: 15:14)
Flight Time: 1:35 

Boarding started on-time and was orderly with priorities being respected. Making my way down the jetbridge, the literature cart had newspapers and magazines, which I did not partake in. The welcome on-board was warm and I was directed to my seat. The international A321s have a 2-2 J cabin with 3 rows. The domestic A321s are in an all Y configuration, but really only used to Busan and Jeju.

My recliner for this segment. The seat next to me would remain empty with a load of 8/12 on this flight.

These recliners have the newer version of IFE, but you can see where a USB port should be is blocked off.

Seat pitch is good. You could probably get out without forcing your seatmate up. Since the seat next to me was empty, I didn't have to worry about this.

On the left side, we have the IFE controls, headphone jacks, and a USB charging port.

On the right side is the seat controls.

Seatback contents in a plastic sleeve.

Pre-departure drinks were offered by a tray, I just took an orange juice. Menus and slippers were then handed out.

Our neighbor 2 gates down seems to have a serious issue with its front landing gear…

We boarded quickly and had the long taxi out from Terminal 1. We went past the pair of ZE B737 MAXs that were grounded at the time. Both have been sold off as ZE struggled to make it through the pandemic.

We turn on to Runway 16L to align.

And away we go…

We take off to the east before making our turn south towards Shanghai.

Drum roll please, will it be bibimbap or ssambap? No surprise, it will be bibimbap again. Only one choice of western main, which does not sound appetizing, so I will default to the trusty bibimbap for the 2nd time in <16 hours.

Service starts with an oshibori.

Followed by the linens.

My tray as received. It contains the bibimbap with condiments, a fruit cup for dessert, and a dried pollock soup. I took a cup of tea and water to drink. Bibimbap is good, but when forced to eat it on almost every flight, it can get tiresome due to lack of diversity. Korean carriers should be able to find some other food from their cuisine to offer.

After eating, I stopped by the lavatory, which was fully stocked with L'Occitane products and tooth brushes. Strangely, no mouth wash.

Back at my seat, the FA offered more drinks so I took a glass of water to sip as we finished off the flight.

We were soon descending into a grey Shanghai along the G40.

The mouth of the Yangtze River filled with cargo container ships.

Final descent into ICN.

We landed on Runway 16R, which is pretty standard. We had a long taxi back to the terminal crossing a MU B77W as we exit the runway.

At the gate, it was a quick deplane and a long walk to immigration. Immigration was not too bad at this time and by the time I was cleared, the bags were already circulating in the baggage claim. I got selected for the random customs checks at the exit of the baggage claim, so had to put my suitcases onto the scanner before being released.

I had just missed the Maglev departure, so opted to take the metro since Line 2 also reaches Longyang Road for my required line transfer. The metro is significantly cheaper and just as fast if you are not able to show up right when a Maglev is ready to depart due to their lower frequency.

I'll leave off this series here as I start my week in Shanghai, thanks for stopping by!