KOREAN AIR BUSINESS CLASS SEAT REVIEW   :   AIRBUS A380

I came away somewhat disappointed with my KE A380 experience. In terms of the business class seat, there is absolutely no difference between 744 and 773ER business products, except for the duty free shopping mall, the celestial bar and the DIY bar in the front. So if business class tickets command a premium price on the A380, one should really reconsider if the seat is more important than anything. All transpacific business class seats are the same, so too is the IFE. Compared to Singapore Airlines or Emirates A380 business products, Korean Air seats are satisfactory at best. Korean Air does not even offer noise canceling headphones. Nor do the headphones appear indistinguishable from those offered in economy below. KE business class seats do have generous legroom - one is able to climb/hop over a fully-reclined, sleeping passenger without coming into contact with him or her. The Celestial Bar - what the hype and ads do not say is that your alcohol selection at the bar is limited to 4-5 pre-selected cocktails containing Absolut (a sponsor), and no more than 3-4 bottles of other wines/spirits. In other words, should you wish to have beer, the bartender must either walk to the galley or make arrangements to have the beer brought to you from the galley. KE's arrangement for the celestial bar does not jive with one's general notion of a bar. Furthermore, KE's bar has limited seating and seats (including benches) are arranged awkwardly. The lack of any steady passenger flow through the Celestial Bar certainly says a lot. The duty free on the main deck is very unique. I enjoyed a brief walk through the mall and it reminds you of walking through the cosmetics/alcohol section of a duty free shop in any major airport. Unless traveling with miles, Korean Air A380 business is not worth any extra money, especially if you're paying out of pocket. If you have a choice between A380 and non-A380 service on KE, and they are priced the same, simply go with the choice that provides a better schedule for you.

Business class seats narrower than ideal but comfortable to sleep in. Not 180 degrees but no sliding problem. Good VOD but better interfaces can be found in their newer planes like A330. Bathrooms maintained fastidiously. Good quality food.

New Kosmo Suite. The padding was way thinner than the old seats but it was wide so wonderful to sleep in. Most FA's couldn't speak or understand English fully.

FRA-ICN on Korean Air's new business class. Full plane, friendly service. AVOD with enough choice, meals were ok. Their "fully flat seats" are not fully flat and slightly angled. The sitting comfort is poor as the headrest cannot be moved up far enough to allow someone my height to sit up straight.

The seats are very uncomfortable, they lie flat at an angle of approx 15 degrees and you keep sliding down. The cushions are almost non-existent and seats are hard and difficult to sleep in.

HKG-ICN-SYD-ICN-HKG. Apart from the lounge and ground service being excellent, they use old type aircraft! The decor and facility is very early 90s! In first class, their seat is no different to business class, it only reclined to 150 degree. I did not get much sleep at all, although I had all the privacy being the only passenger. However, be warned that ICN to SYD, no AVOD or laptop power, and that's first class!

Old style Prestige Plus seat, ie. 170 degrees recline. Pretty comfortable and roomy. Most of Korean Air's flights from Europe currently have the old style seat - but check their website as they seem to be putting the newer 180 degree lie flat beds into more of their business cabins. As another reviewer mentioned, I had to ask for eye mask and earplugs. Seat individual AVOD is pretty good, with recent films - disappointed that they don't have noise cancelling headphones. The downstairs cabin feels smaller as it is split into two sections of 3 rows each, whereas upstairs in the 747 it is 6 rows.

It is unbelievable the old style sleeper seat is offered - recline to 150 degree. It is well padded and quite comfortable for relax, but to sleep in it is another story. Hong Kong to Seoul fine, at least has in seat power and personal TV (no AVOD). Aircraft for Sydney is very old, and this time the first class seat is the same - minus the in seat power! They do not provide toiletry bag (most things are found inside the toilet), but a nice set of pyjama and slippers.

The A330-300 is deployed on long range flights, and offers seating you would expect to find on domestic airlines in business class. I was flying Brisbane - Seoul (9hr 30 min). No personal TV monitors, no power, very little recline and horribly uncomfortable and out-dated seats. When the person in front of you reclines, you are unable to get out of your window seat without the person next to you getting up.

You want to avoid older B777s or A330s in 2-2-2 format. They are only 58" and do not recline enough for first class. New 777s fitted with 1-2-1 format cosmo sleepers are pretty good. I like the older lie-flat seats on older 747s better though.

ICN-YVR. On this 777-200 you still have the old style Prestige seat. Since KE introduced their new seats over a year ago, I wonder why it has taken so long to reconfigure all of their aircraft. The old seats are truly miserable for a long-haul product Very little recline and almost impossible to get much rest. I will definitely avoid this type of configuration, which I know they also use for their Honolulu services.

All indications were that their B777-200s were equipped with the new angled "lie-flat" seats. Please verify with the airline before purchasing your ticket. The airline's website gives no indication of which routes are served by converted 777s. Needless to say, on my route LAX-NRT-ICN the old-style biz seats were waiting. Inflight entertainment for the 10 hour flight from LAX to NRT was ok. Five movies shown in constant rotation on five separate channels. Films shown in three languages. Service attentive. These old- style biz class seats are just the pits though. They did have in-flight power which was a life saver. No adapter required, just plug it in! Chief Flight Attendant was apologetic and said that Korean was only serving certain routes with the converted planes. I think it would be nice to find out before boarding!

Some planes are converted to the Prestige 'Plus' seats, which are pod-type, recline to 170deg and have individual entertainment systems. Others are non- converted, with original business class seats which do not fully recline. The new seats are less commodious than the old ones, and are harder, with thinner cushions and various ridges and bumps in the complicated seat construction. I found the old seat more comfortable, but of course it does not recline as much. For sleeping, the new one is thus preferable, although not perfect - too hard for me, and does not recline to full-flat. 'Plus' entertainment system is vastly superior. My ratings are for the 'Plus' seat.

The seats are well padded old school type that semi recline. Cabin on 777's are nice, quiet, service is first class. The 2 bathrooms for Business class are located at the rear of the cabin and are always used by economy class passengers and therefore always occupied and rarely clean. AV varies between on demand and cycling through depending on which 777 you fly on. No amenities - ear plugs and eye masks available on request. Korean Air and all the other sky team partner airlines have remained in the old terminal 2 building in PEK which makes transiting through PEK a nightmare (add at least 30mins) if you have connecting flights through the new Terminal 3.

SIN-BNE. Recline of seat in this ultra-competitive Asia-Pacific market very disappointing. Reminded me of Biz class in the mid 90s. No personal video units. 3 screens located on front wall of cabin. The single movie of the flight didn't start until about 3 hours into the flight, well after the meal and duty-free service. Service relatively courteous but tended to look for what to take away rather than what to provide. I also had to get up and ask for earplugs and eye masks. Short hops in this setting wouldn't be a particular issue but this flight was long enough to consider several Asian and Middle Eastern airlines flying from Singapore to the Australian market with angled-flat or 180 degree flat beds. The price was good but now I know why.

Earlier reviews have been archived (prior to the date of last review above).