Asiana Airlines

Flew economy return with Asiana Airlines from Sydney to London with a stopover in Seoul. My family including a 6 and 8 year old were more than impressed. The cabin staff were attentive friendly and smiling. Food and drink very good my children were served first as this gave my husband and I enough time to assist with their meals before ours arrived. The children were kept entertained with the AVOD. The overnight stopover was great and fuss-free. We made our way to the Asiana desk at the airport and were ushered into a van and taken to our hotel for the night with vouchers for dinner breakfast and lunch.

SIN-ICN. Reading the reviews made me feel comforted to know that Asiana is a 5-star airline. And indeed live up to the name. Staff were all friendly ground and in the cabin especially having a 5-year-old cousin tagging around with an elderly in hand. Service was amazing and the FAs were undeterred by the language barrier and constantly gave a smile. Food was pretty good choice of drinks were small. IFE wasn't all that bad a wide choice of movies and songs. Seats were pretty hard but caught some sleep on the outward trip. Overall a memorable flight experience definitely comparable to Singapore Airlines which I strongly support.

Seoul to Seattle departed plane walked all the way to entry control and stewardess came running with my top coat in hand I had left it on my seat - a long way from getting off the plane to this point and with a smile on her face.

Hiroshima- Incheon-LHR. We got one Business and one economy ticket as we were flying with our 6 month old so we could swap and get some rest. Getting a basinet was no problem and facilities were great. Lounge in Hiroshima limited but not surprising for a small airport. It was nice to see proper business class seats on the A321 (rather than 3 economy seats with middle not used as in Europe). Staff extremely friendly available when needed and making a fuss of our son. Couldn’t have been more helpful. Transfer at Incheon after the short flight was very quick though staff were rude at passport and baggage check (not easy rushing through when you have a kid and all the baggage). Lovely business lounge and there was a nice large baby changing and separate play area. To Heathrow service was fantastic always someone on hand and great food. Likewise staff remembered what you were drinking though always other options. Again our son was looked after well and staff were always keeping me smiling after about 100 laps of the plane when he wouldn’t sleep! AVOD and plane were a bit dated though – it’s been a while since I haven’t had on demand. Didn’t sleep so well as seats were a bit uncomfy in recline and engine noise seemed pretty loud on the 777-200. Obviously they are rolling out a new business cabin and looks like there are some A380’s on order now. I look forward to seeing that product. I’d give service 10 but cabin and entertainment 6–7.

October 2010 flew Heathrow to Hiroshima via Incheon as Group Organiser and leader of 11 people (elderly British ex-servicemen who had served in the Kure City area of Japan at sometime between late 1945 to 1956 and wives). For our previous 11 such annual visits I had always used an alternative direct flight to Tokyo with a different airline. I found Asiana to be far superior in all respects with the possible exception of the on-board entertainment. The seating space food drinks were excellent as were the flight attendants and booking and transit arrangements. I am now organising a further tour for November 2011 and have had no hesitation in requesting Asiana as my preferred airline.

LAX-ICN. We traveled with a 2 year old which is never fun but fortunately he slept most of the flight. The food was was very good and selection of inflight entertainment impressive. We had a native English speaker FA she was fantastic and made sure we were comfortable all flight. I found the service even in economy to be top notch and the experience overall more then met my expectations.

JFK-ICN-CEB in Business. JFK-ICN in a 3-class 777 with angled lie flat seats. Swiss Lounge in JFK disappointing but everything onwards was perfect. Onboard was served a great 7 course meal then slept (seats better then most angled lie flat I've used). A further meal before landing. Impeccable service amazing food. Lounge in ICN is excellent gave me a pager to advise when the showers were free and had a great shower with many toiletries included. ICN- CEB very good crew introduced themselves after boarding. Another good meal.

BKK-ICN-SEA in Business class - 2 overnight flights. Fabulous great seat nice food excellent IFE lovely FAs. If only N American carriers could learn something from them!

LHR-ICN. Excellent service from check-in to landing. Seating food and service very good. slight complaint the inflight entertainment was not on-demand but on a loop with no idea when the films were to start. ICN-SYD very good with exception of entertainment as first flight. Return journey a repeat of the outward journey with exception of overnight stay in Seoul. This was part of the ticket and paid for by Asiana. Excellent 5-star hotel although it is a one hour transfer time to Seoul. The management of the transfers was excellent and very smooth. I would thoroughly recommend Asiana Airlines based on my experience of the return trip to Sydney.

London - Saipan via Seoul. The food and the crew were outstanding. The space in the Economy seats is the best I have had in a long haul cabin and got some sleep. The inflight entertainment was disappointing - no video on demand on either of the long haul flights and only a main cabin screen Seoul - Saipan flights. There was a message on the looping system saying how long the films had been running for so you had to try and judge when the next batch would start. I was very glad that I had heard of the poor entertainment system before I left so I loaded up my laptop and smartphone with movies and TV shows. If there was guaranteed AVOD on the LHR-ICN route this would be a no brainer - but this lets down the rest of the Asiana product so badly. Seat food and service definitely 5-Star but entertainment system gets a 3-Star from me. Asiana nearly get top spot but unfortunately having flown Qatar Airways they win with their IFE.