Asia's underestimated dragon of the skies
Written: Apr 15 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good food, excellent in-flight service, tickets are usually very inexpensive
Cons: check-in may take a while, no personal televisions in Economy
The Bottom Line: Don't expect service to be efficient, but it will be sincere, and you will be treated very well in the air.
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| singaporeboy's Full Review: Korean Air |
People advised me against flying Korean Air before I stepped on the plane for the first time. I was given images of 747s crashing in flames onto the ground or into the sea. Thankfully, they remained images and didn't translate into reality. The reality was that Korean Air is actually very nice, and I enjoyed my flights.
Side note: all my flights to and from Korea used the old international airport, Kimpo. I have not yet been to the new airport, Inchon.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
I decided to be brave and try both a western and a Korean dish on the two flights I took. The western food was standard airline fare, but properly prepared. The Korean dish, on the other hand, was both very spicy and very tasty. A friend of mine assured me that Korean Air serves dishes which are as close to authentic Korean food as one can find on an airline. The portions were large, and we were given small dried snacks as well before the meal. I suspect that they've been cost-cutting in the alcohol department, though, since the wines they served were really not very good. I mention this since Korean Air is partnered with Air France, and I guess I was under the impression that there would be some good French wine on board. They served Japanese sake, though, which was nice.
Oh, and the flight attendants were very good about passing out drinks before and after the meals, but they didn't have very much of a selection, and what they had was mostly the usual suspects from North America. There weren't many cold Asian drinks (except soya bean, they had that). Granted, not many people on a flight from the States may have wanted canned herbal tea or sugarcane juice, but I did...
IN-FLIGHT SERVICE
What a welcome change from the U.S. heavyweights! The Korean Air hostesses were both beautiful and charming, and were so dutifully attentive that I almost felt shy asking for anything. I noticed one of the flight attendants had to run around looking for the postcard and pen I asked for on my first flight. It was out of the way for her, but she was so nice about getting them for me, and I didn't want to trouble her further that flight. During meal service, another flight attendant was very good about explaining some of the ingredients in one of the meals I asked for, and advised me that I might not like the Korean entree offered (the western entree I had in its place was good, so I think she was right). Korean Air has flight attendants every bit as gracious and attractive as Singapore or Malaysia Airlines (who have some of the best hostesses I've ever met).
ENTERTAINMENT
Korean Air still hasn't gotten around to upgrading their planes with personal televisions in all classes, so the entertainment on board in Economy class is still in the classic single-screen cabin format. This is a bit of a drawback for the airline, since personal televisions are definitely the way of the future and the way of many of today's airlines, and the old format is dying out. Nonetheless, the movies are recent, the programming decent, and the music selection is adequate. More attention paid to in-flight entertainment would make the world of difference, but until the system is overhauled, the current system isn't bad...it's just not that good.
Bear in mind: even though very few North American carriers offer personal televisions in Economy, all the top Asian carriers already do, and it's against the Asian airlines that Korean Air competes most strongly.
SERVICE ON THE GROUND
Unexpectedly, I had quite a few problems with the service I got from Korean Air on the ground. The problems started when I was checking in, when there were only a few agents available to check in several hundred passengers. The line-up was very long and moved very, very slowly. In contrast, there were a lot of agents available to check in the upper class passengers (of which I wasn't one), and it didn't look like any of them had to wait to be served at all. I was a little envious of that, and noted that it reflected a little poorly on the airline itself. Then, I'd had my seat preassigned, and the computer system seemed to have lost it. I ended up with a seat quite far back. Then, after the flight, my frequent flyer information seemed to have been misplaced, so I had to send in the ticket and boarding pass to have them correct it (they were very apologetic about that, but I was still put out). I got the impression that the airline isn't entirely together about its ground operations. Nonetheless, all the employees seemed genuinely sincere about trying to help people get sorted out, and one ground agent even offered to priority tag my luggage on the return trip. That's something I've never seen done before, and it was a nice touch.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
From what I understand, Korean Air's long history of crashes and fatal accidents stems from its history as a family-owned conglomerate which hired its pilots from the Air Force. The pilots were arrogant and had a "captain-knows-best" attitude, and the management was not on good terms with the staff. That led to the problems...or so I've been told. I understand also that that's been corrected, and that the partnership with Delta and Air France has led to a new management culture and some civilian pilots. Their record's been clean for a few years (the last crash was in 1997) and it looks set to stay that way for at least a while longer.
I get the strong impression that this company is trying very hard to win back customers put off by its old poor safety record. Their hearts are in the right places, and they do seem sincere about giving good customer service. As a result, they're among the most comfortable in the air in terms of in-flight service, and they've far surpassed even some of their Asian competitors in that sense. While it will take more than smiles and sincerity to fix some of the glitches still plaguing the system, and to repair a reputation shattered only four years ago, I think they'll manage.
Bear in mind, too, that Korean Air has some of the cheapest airfares around. They're consistently offering excellent deals to Korea, or through Korea to Asia, and they have a huge international network. Also, their frequent flyer program is one of Asia's best, even if their partnerships are a bit lacking.
Korean Air is a great way to fly, all things considered, if you're prepared to be a little patient, and if you bear in mind that Korean food is much, much hotter in Korea (and on Korean Air) than it is in North America!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
singaporeboy
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Location: Illinois
Reviews written: 96
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me:
Just someone who's lucky enough to have lived in several corners of the planet
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