Asiana Airlines

SYD-LHR return via ICN. This airlines 5 star status was reflected in all sectors the cabin crew were excellent. The food Western and Korean was delicious and delivered in a timely and unhurried manner. The price paid for the ticket represented excellent value for money there was also the bonus of arriving in LHR around 6pm at which time immigration and customs are a breeze.

ICN-TPE-ICN-SGN-ICN mixed leg flights in 2 versions of A330's and an A321. Old A330 had comfortable seats with thick padding. However the thick padding ate up the space and it felt more cramped compared to the new version. The new A330 had slim seats in same pitch but thanks to the slim back it had a couple more inches. Much more spacious! Also its 10.6" screen was easy to see and had touch screen feature. A321 also had touch screen IFE with slim seats and was very spacious. Service was polite and fast as usual and all meals were very good. A few gripes I saw was the crew's limited English skills and somewhat expensive fare. As far as short to medium haul economy class product Asiana is tough to beat.

OZ202 Seoul-LAX on February 7 2014. We used miles to book almost A year in advance and were lucky to get 1st class on a Boeing 747 only to have the company change the aircraft to a 777 and get downgraded to Business. What a major disappointment. First the "lie-flat" seats did not lie flat but hung at about 20 degrees making it essentially impossible to sleep. Then the cabin attendants appeared not to be able to speak or understand English very well. They seem constantly confused which is strange with four attendants and 24 passengers. We did get the best Korean meal I've ever had however and the attendants were friendly and eager to help. I would not recommend Asiana for your future flight plans.

Chicago to Incheon South Korea. Flight OZ235 Jan 3 departing noon 12pm. 10/10 stars. This was an international flight inflight entertainment had a sizeable selection of movies including recently released movies. Flight attendant service was prompt polite and smiled. The food (a more subjective less quantifiable opinion) was quite good and enough to keep me from getting hungry until I arrived at my place of living after leaving the plane and the airport. If I have the opportunity to fly Asiana Airlines again I will.

ICN to SYD on 30th December. Sat in seat 27k. Inflight entertainment system did not work (no sound). When I called the stewardess she just said (in limited English) that there was nothing she could do and walked off. Was told that as the economy class section of the flight was full there was nothing they could do and I would have to spend the (11 hour) flight reading or sleeping. When the passenger next to me complained that I had my reading light on (it was a night flight) the stewardess told me that I had to turn it off! As a paying passenger I feel that it is totally unacceptable that the entertainment system does not work in the first place never mind staff being unwilling to do anything about it. 12th January ICN to LHR. Sat in seat 26G - and again the inflight entertainment system for my seat does not work. Staff tried rebooting it 5 times but that did not work. Even though there were spare seats in travel class staff would not let me move as it would mean moving to a centre seat from an aisle seat. So 12 hours in a plane without any working in flight entertainment. Again an utter lack of maintenance or customer care from Asiana. I had further problems with the meals on these flights - on the ICN- SYD flight my main course was served cold it took staff 20 minutes to find a new one. I had a similar problem on the ICN-LHR. Because row 26 was the last row in that service round the western food choice was gone. I had to wait 20 minutes whilst staff waited to see if there was one from another trolley available. Now I accept that meal choices may not be available but by the time I was given mine it was cold. It was reheated. It was still cold. A new one was found (45 minutes after I should have been served) - again cold. Although I can't fault the other two flights on my itinerary I felt that these flights were amongst the worst I have ever flown on with poorly maintained and old planes disinterested staff and an active lack of management in the cabin.

Mixed bag of flights - ORD-ICN-PNH then REP-ICN-ORD. Flight from Chicago to Seoul was on a newer 777 quite comfortable seats food actually decent the AVOD was easy to use and good the service very very good. Seoul to Phnom Penh was on an old crowed tight Airbus not much to brag about there. Then Siem Reap to Seoul same ageing Airbus again crowded and very hot thank goodness I had a T-shirt on under my shirt along with zip-off pants. I mentioned the heat to the stewardess at one pint and a minor change was made but still overly hot in the cabin. The return flight to Chicago was on the older 777 AVOD system was difficult to use and a problem mid-flight caused them to shut it down and start over. Seats were a bit uncomfortable and worn. Food on this segment was ghastly - the main meal was truly inedible (western/some unidentifiable beef that one bite told me was bad then in the middle of the night they turned on the lights and served a piece of what was supposed to pass for pizza. Very strange. The attendants were very efficient though as I saw mentioned somewhere a bit robotic.

Flying OZ221 following by OZ741 from JFK to BKK via ICN and 742/222 on the way back in Business class both way. I can say that Asiana had met or exceed my expectation for all the flights during my trip. Especially for the long hual from JFK to ICN (222/221) I had the 180 flat bed (new 1-2-1 configuration ) and great food (surprisingly I can get good medium steak on the airplane). In-flight staffs are very responsive and feel warm welcome. The downside is the ICN-BKK section is on the older plane without AVOD system. I would defiantly fly with them again in the future.

LHR-SYD via ICN and return. 777-200 on all legs. A bit of a mixed bag really. Firstly their English language website seems clunky and I was unable to select a seat in advance as the system didn't recognise my check-in code. Although the cabin was blandly coloured and fairly dated the seats had plenty of leg room though and you don't feel cramped - the 3-3-3 layout really makes a difference as opposed to the more packed layout of newer 777s. The food was varied and generally good with interesting Korean dishes on offer for those in the mood to experiment though I opted for the Western option for all but one of the meals - probably more down to personal taste. The cabin crew were very friendly and attentive if a bit robotic. IFE was much better on the ICN-LHR legs as these aircraft had AVOD Sydney legs had an older system with programmes stating every 2.5 hours which was frustrating. Overall a good selection of films but much smaller than EK. Transfer facilities at ICN were excellent free showers and plenty of comfy armchairs/recliners tucked away from the busy concourse to lie down on. The stopover Hotel in Seoul on the return journey the Seoul Royal was excellent with the restaurant service being the quickest I've experienced. Overall a few quibbles but significantly cheaper than the ME/SE Asian carriers and BA/QF and it gets you there well fed and in relative comfort which is after all the main thing.

OZ762 CGK-ICN 23 Dec 2013. Flew on an ageing A333 which still had Asiana's old interior the IFE at my seat wasn't working properly and the screen was fuzzy. Food choices were great - had the Korean breakfast choice which was chicken porridge very tasty. The seats were old and tired but well maintained and the cabin was dim and dark but clean. Strangely the FAs I interacted with during the flight seemed to speak very limited English - very smiley and helpful nonetheless. A decent experience but honestly I expected more from a Five Star Airline.

OZ761 ICN-CGK 30 Dec 2013. On my trip back I was lucky enough to be flying on one of their retrofitted A333s - new cabin interior bigger screens more extensive and responsive IFE. The FAs were attentive and friendly and the food was great. The food cart ran out of choices by the time it reached my area so I had the Korean choice - bibimbap which was decent. The boarding process was smooth and seamless. A great flight overall.