Hong Kong International

The next parts of the trip, I flew together with flyertalker cathaana. She was in First while I was in Business Class except some domestic flight in the US, which I flew also in First.

This time we took the MRT from Jordan to Lai King, where we changed into the Tung Chung Line to Tsing Yi and there into the airport express.

We headed for the check-in desks for Asiana Airlines, where we were told, this was First and Business Class. It seems, we were not looking like First and Business Class Passengers, but allowed to use the counter as we told we were flying First / Business. Amazing, if you do not look like a business traveller you are not expected to fly Business or even First. Check in was due to the routing a bit of a hassle, as the agent was first not aware that I had had a transfer in Hong Kong. He also asked for my address in the US, which I know for sure, was in the system. Finally I got my boarding passes for this and the next flight from Seoul to Chicago and the Lounge invitation. Asiana uses the Dragonair Lounge at Hong Kong instead of one of the other available Star Alliance Lounges.

Immigration was some minutes wait, but security was fast. No need to put of shoes and even my laptop could remain in the laptop bag.

Flyertalker cathaana headed for the Silver Kris Lounge and I was invited to use the First Class Section as her guest. My first visit in a First Class Lounge of Singapore Airlines. The selection of food and beverage was okay, as the number of magazines and newspapers was, but there was not window and therefore the lounge a little bit dark. Free Internet PCs were available; I did not know if there was W-LAN available, as I did not use my laptop.

We changed later to the Dragonair Lounge, which was upstairs and was the more spacious lounge, as it was open with a view to the gates 17 to 19. The food and beverage selection was good and better than expected.

As boarding had started at 13.45, we headed for the Gate.

20 May 2006
HKG - ICN
[Hong Kong – Seoul Incheon]
OZ 722 (Asiana Airlines); Boeing 747 – 400
Gate 19
13:15 – 17:40 [effective 13:15 – 17:45]
Business Class
Seat 07 K

There were a lot of people queuing for Economy, but no one at the counter for First and Business. The agent preventing Economy Passengers from the use of the First and Business Class section was the same, who checked me in. He took a look at my boarding pass and my passport and let us pass the lines.

Heading down the long jet bridge an Asiana Agent said “Economy this way” as we appeared at the entrance for First and Bussines. She was a little bit puzzled as she saw cathaana’s First Class Boarding Pass and my Business Class Boarding Pass. Again, it is funny to be the unexpected traveller in First or Business Class.

Cathaana made the famous left turn entering the plane, while I headed for the staircase to the upper deck, as Asiana had the Business Class only on the upper deck of its 747-400.

I settled myself in the first row of Business Class and stored my trolley in the luggage storage room near the front lavatory. Headphones (Sennheiser) which one could not only use in a plane and blankets were laid on the seat.

Cathaana came upstairs to have a look of the “cheap seats” and I accompanied her to the First Class Section to have an impression of the First Class seats. Well, they offer more room and they are lie flat seats, but like my Business Class seat, they are also not up to date anymore.
As I was back upstairs, pre departure drinks were offered, one could choose champagne, water or orange juice. Some minutes later a hot towel service followed. Unfortunately, no newspapers or magazines were offered. There were some magazines in the magazine holder, but they had a sticker, you should leave them on board and only the Time Magazine in English. The flight attendants collected the magazines before landing, strange.

As written above, the Business Class is not up-to-date. The seat itself was not in the best condition, some parts were loose and some stains on the floor and on the seat showed the age of the product. Also, there is no power outlet in the seat, which is seldom in these days. The seat had not adjustable head rest and not adjustable food rest. As I prefer to sleep in Z shape, this is something I really missed on the flights with Asiana.

The safety demonstration was done by a video shown on the main screen.

We pushed back in time and had a long taxiway before we finally were airborne at 13.38.

In the air, menus were distributed and we were asked, what we like to eat. A look at the menu showed the following options:

The menu contained the menu for the out- and inbound flight Seoul - Hongkong. But let's have a look

I had opted for the Western Lunch Menu and chose the prawn. The flight attendant wanted to take the menu but I asked to get them as a souvenir, what was not a problem, though she seems to be surprised. 20 minutes after take off, the linen were laid on our tray tables and meal service began. As on my previous flight on Thai Airways, the first course was brought on the tray with silverware (real knife) and glasses for wine and water and for the following course, the dishes were replaced by the next one.

The grilled prawns from the appetizer were greasy, but nevertheless okay. The prawn were also okay while the rice was not the best, dry and without any taste. One had the impression, there was missing something.

The coconut cheese cake was good; perhaps the best part of the menu.

Service on the other hand was very attentive, the glass was never empty, again you had to tell the flight attendants not to refill anymore wine. And one got the selected wine to taste if it was okay before the glass was filled like in a better restaurant.

Meal service took some time, nearly two hours and there was not much time left. The in-flight entertainment system (without AVOD) was not running okay. Some channels were not available while other channels were available, which should not be available and also they seem not to be in the right order.

The seat was as written one of the worst I had had so far in Business. The seat pitch is okay, but as you have no in the length adjustable food rest and as the head rest also was not adjustable and everything had to be done manually, this is even worse than Thai’s old Business Class. But Asiana is upgrading their products and offer it on several flights, unfortunately not on the route ICN – ORD we were later flying on this trip.

We began our descend into Incheon and finally touched down at 17.38 and were at our parking position at 17.45. Economy Passengers were hold back and First Class and Business Class Passengers could disembark first.

Cathaana waited for me at the Security Inspection at the Transfer point and. After we passed it we went to the transfer desk and asked about the load of our next flight, which was overbooked in all three classes. But as far as we understand the agent working there (her English was not the best), Asiana did not look for volunteers. So we were on our way to Asiana’s First Class Lounge (where I only got access as guest of cathaana).

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