Review of Korean Air flight from Seoul to Los Angeles in First

Hi everyone, thanks for joining me for another journey. Today, we will be aboard Korean Air’s Boeing 747, the Queen of the skies, from Seoul to Los Angeles in First Class. KE is among only 3 carriers, Air China and Lufthansa being the others, who still operate the 747. I'm working on reviews for the other two 747's also, stay tuned. Every opportunity to experience it becomes that much more special.

Our journey begins at Incheon Terminal 2, where I just hopped off a short 1.5 hour flight over from Beijing. Since both flights are operated by Korean, I didn’t need to exit and re-enter. A side note, I once did this journey with Asiana from Beijing then Korean Air from Seoul, it was a 25 minute bus ride between the terminals.

I caught a glimpse of Delta’s LA28 Olympic livery on my way to the First Class Lounge. That is one spectacular design!

The Korean First Class Lounge is very quiet, with only a few travelers. At the entrance, all F passengers are offered a customized Korean Air metal luggage tag. A little mishap was my initial one got a letter misprinted, and the staff very quickly provided me a new one. An awesome little souvenir to take home.

The lounge offers ample seating space in the main section, with a separate dining area. There were also shower suites available but I passed. In the dining area, there was a small buffet  and a larger a la carte menu. 

I went with some fresh cherries and traditional Korean rice cake desserts from the buffet. Despite the limited buffet options, my word were there lots of alcoholic ones!

. The a la carte featured both Korean and Western options, very extensive ones at that. Since I didn’t get any breakfast, I gobbled down this spicy tofu jjigae (soup) with side dishes, this was awesome. The side dishes included some kimchi, zucchini, spicy squid, a seared piece of swordfish and some dried seaweed.  

Although already quite stuffed, I had enough space to try the beef tenderloin. I've always been curious why anyone would opt for the Western option on Asian carriers, so I thought I'd try it myself. This was also wonderful.

There was a family of four sitting across me who kept shooting me cheerful giggles as they were in awe at how much I was eating, I think I rivalled the same amount of food as the four of them:). The steak also came with sourdough bread, piping hot fresh from the oven. 

At this point I could not bear eating any more food but since macaroons are my absolute favorite, I gave what I assumed was a small order of it, a go. I was confident because the menu listed it as 'strawberry macaroon', singular. However, what arrived was the biggest single macaroon I've ever seen, I needed a knife to cut pieces of it out. It tasted solid, but I really couldn't stomach more than half of it, sorry!

A little bit of frustration occurred when I left the lounge and asked the receptionist to help me print a one page document. She informed me they didn’t offer printing services but I mentioned even the prestige business lounge can print with no problems. She then, with some hostility, informed me they could only print for first class passengers. After telling her I had just left the lounge she demanded I show my boarding pass before eventually printing for me. Not too happy with that experience.

On a happier note, check out this 747 model guarding the lounge!

Anyhoo, lets take our first look at the queen of the skies taking us to LAX today. Korean has since refurbished some of their 747’s with the new livery, which one do you like better? The giant glass panes at ICN T2 allows for some of the best planespotting, but snapping pictures and avoiding reflections at night can sometimes be a struggle.

Into the cabin we go, today I was in seat 2J on the right side of the second row. The bulkhead seats ended up being occupied by crew throughout the flight. My purser was very friendly as she greeted me at the door and walked me over to my seat. These seats are a massive step up from those on the A380 with extra privacy and room, with the F cabin on those looking extremely dated and offers essentially no privacy.

My seat encompassed nearly 5 windows. At the seat were pajamas, an amenity kit, slippers, headphones, and a bottle of water. The IFE screen is also a solid size and looks great with the wood finishing. The cabin feels so extra spacious without overhead bins, we were able to place our luggage in the cupboards on the outside of each seat, or beneath the table. The crew also offered to hang up my jacket and place my bag in the storage space. 

I was offered a welcome drink which I chose the champagne, and some vegetable chips along it. 

Here’s something I find strange, how cheap the amenity kit is. It’s literally a blue rubber bag with extremely cheap products inside. Most business class amenity kits even trump this one here. Korean have since introduced an entirely new F amenity kit as part of their rebranding with products by Graff, a huge step up from whatever this was. I recall another blogger sharing that each of these products here is worth a few bucks individually.

The two lavatories were located between the F and Business cabins. Looking behind, the entire cabin felt expremely spacious. Lufthansa on their 747 F has a big table in this space they utiize to place trays during meal service. Both have its merits.

After a slight delay, we powered out of ICN at 20:13, 33 minutes later than scheduled.

Food service began shortly after takeoff. Credit to Korean for this massive tray table. We received tablecloths and I started with a coke zero and The office!

My apologies for not grabbing a picture of the menu, it was taken from me shortly after boarding when my purser confirmed I wanted the traditional Korean meal as opposed to the Western option. The menu was extensive features various Korean small plates, as you will soon see. I believe my neighbour also went local.

We started with the amuse bouche of scallop and a sun-dried tomato, a nice refreshing way to kick things off.

Then came the caviar service, which is provided regardless of which menu you choose. It came with the classic offerings and bellinis. Overall, the caviar service was on the smaller side when it comes to F offerings, but every time caviar is an option thats a reason to crack open some more champagne, as I did.

Then queued the beginning of the extensive traditional Korean meal experience. The Korean meal is presented as a 'Hansik Jeongchan', a set menu served in a traditional and formal style. 

We began with a chilled pickled vegetable soup and a warm savory porridge, with the latter reminding me of what my roomate used to order for me as a hangover cure. Both had a strong salty seasoning to it, which I always enjoy. I also ordered a glass of whisky to accompany the course.

Then came a small lemon sorbet and fresh vegetables. Growing up in Asia, I always loved the simple yet delicious concept of cold vegetables dipped in a savoury bean sauce, and it didn't disappoint here.

Unfortunately, the tiny plate was all they had for the sauce, when I asked for some more having only finished two pieces of lettuce they informed me they were all out :(  Another common strategy is to place pieces of cooked meat in between the lettuce leaves to form a mini sandwich, a very classic way to eat Korean BBQ. For that reason I found it slightly strange the lettuce was served without the accompanying meat.

Next came the main show, a traditional Korean meal with all the side dishes. The five side dishes included a seared tofu, spicy pickled cucumber, fish roe, traditional greens, and if I remember correctly some fried fish. All were delicious except the fish roe, nothing against the preparation just not for me. Then the main dishes we had a grilled fish and beef patty, these came with a delicious Korean soup, seaweed, and steamed purple rice. The fish could’ve used some more flavor but everything else was very tasty. 

I had forgotten to take a picture of the other Korean option which was a spicy fried pork belly, my delightful purser offered for me to try both just in case one wasn’t to my liking. The spicy pork belly would have paired perfectly with my lonely lettuce slices from earlier. At time point my stomach was erupting, keep in mind this was two set meals on top of the two full entrees from the lounge!

Dessert featured a cheese plate and fruits, followed by a traditional Korean pumpkin sweet. I do feel KE falls slightly short here. I must admit, haven taking Korean Prestige class, the desserts are near identical. (edit, now that I've looked back on a 1.5 hour KE flight, I've realized they are actually identical with the exception of the pumpkin snack which wasn't offered before).

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My lovely purser then began turndown service. Throughout the flight, she remained quite reserved and very professional, never felt even for a moment that I wasn't being taken care of. Awesome.

The size of this seat really shines once all flattened, one of the largest beds I’ve slept in in the skies. The bedding was also wonderful, particularly the thick blanket. The 747 offers doors that close, something not available on F on the A380s. This is rather just for décor, since anyone can easily look over and see you in the aisle. A nice touch regardless. I caught a quick movie before bed, the IFE options fell short, more was needed on a 9 hour flight without wifi. You heard that right, no WiFi.  This seems to be one of the biggest complaints with Korean’s older fleet, especially on these long haul transatlantic routes. The lights were dimmed as everyone else headed off to bed. 

Something about a darkened cabin feels very peaceful.

After a few hours of sleep, lights were turned on again for breakfast. Considering the actual flight time was around 9 hours, it does result in a slightly awkward amount of sleep time. Dinner service finished nearly 2 hours following takeoff, and lights turned on for breakfast around an hour and a half before landing, leaving only around 5 hours of rest time, I woke up very sleepy still. 

Breakfast began with a yoghurt and berry compote, with my goto iced americano. 

Then came some milk and cornflakes with dried cranberries.

The savory portion began with yet some more traditional Korean side dishes, pickled radish and some lotus. 

Here was breakfast, an ox-tail broth with greens and side of steamed white rice. This was a nice hearty breakfast with a very flavorful broth (looks like another one of my college hangover cures). 

Then the curtain call came with some more fruits. Again, I felt this was very much below par for F standards. The apple was slightly mushy and kiwi extremely sour.

Before long, we landed at LAX. No fast lane security is offered here but customs didn’t take too long.