With the timer for Asiana Airlines to be fully merged into Korean Air set, the amount of time left to fly on the airline is rapidly becoming limited. True, there’ll still be a number of aircraft in need of repainting into Korean Air colors, so the airline’s livery will probably be around for some time, but the OZ identifier will become a thing of the past. As such, I’ve decided to maximize my time flying with the airline by incorporating it both into more trip report series and more stand-alone reports. One of the most endangered aircraft in the OZ fleet is the 777-200ER, already gone from Korean Air, and with only a handful of examples left in Asiana colors, unlikely to last long after the merger is complete. The type is mostly used within Asia, having handed over its European and North American routes to the newer A350-900, with the one remaining destination for the type on the latter continent being Seattle. I flew the aircraft there last year, but it took me until now to get around to flying it back to Seoul from the Emerald City. This turned out to be a fun flight, even though it was in complete darkness, and it’ll be the start of an increasing amount of Asiana trip reports.
Server: Solo
Airline: Asiana Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER
Origin: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, SeaTac, Washington (SEA)
Destination: Incheon International Airport, Jung-gu, South Korea (ICN)
Flight Number: OZ271
Route: KSEA-RKSI
Seat: 39J (Economy)
Time En Route: 10 Hours 54 Minutes
Author’s Note: For carriers that operate both out of Incheon and Gimpo, the originating or terminating airport will henceforth be referred to in the title as “Seoul-Incheon” or “Seoul-Gimpo”, respectively.
Getting ready to board at Gate S11 in Seattle. After getting dinner at one of the many restaurants at the airport and spending the evening watching the traffic, it’s finally time to head across the Pacific to South Korea. Our flight tonight is on one of Asiana Airlines’s few remaining 777-200ERs, once a frequent sight on the West Coast, but now they’re pretty much confined to SEA. We’ve flown on one before in business class, but since the type’s days are numbered is OZ colors, we figured we ought to try the economy class before it’s too late.
Taxiing out for departure as a Delta Air Lines 757-300 rolls by on Runway 34R operating the red-eye service to Minneapolis as DL953. The cabin on this old 777 is very dated, with the IFE system being controlled via remote, and only via remote - no touchscreens to be found here! There also is no in-seat power, which is somewhat annoying on a long-haul flight like this one. However, the seats themselves predate the industry trend towards slimming everything down, so they’re very well-padded, which should at least make sleeping in them easy enough.
Taking off from SEA around half an hour past midnight. The trip should be around 11 hours in duration and we’re hoping to be able to spend a decent chunk of that asleep, as it’s been a long day. Despite us not being in front of the engines to listen to the growl of the twin Pratt and Whitney PW4000s, the low, steady rumbling produced by them is enough to start to lull us to sleep. We might actually have to fight to stay awake until we reach our cruising altitude.
Climbing roughly parallel with the Strait of Juan de Fuca, just south of Port Angeles. Port Angeles is home to a Coast Guard Air Station, a Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard of which we saw yesterday at the Musuem of Flight, suspended from the ceiling alongside a former United States Air Force Lockheed F-104C Starfighter painted to represent a F-104A. During the daytime, the Strait provides some impressive scenery, but since it’s dark out, we can’t see all that much. The cabin lights are dimmed, and we’re starting to feel our eyelids getting heavier and heavier.
Leveled off at our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean. Now that we’re in cruise, we can finally get our pillow out to catch some much-needed sleep. The ample padding of the seat slightly reduces the available legroom of the seat, but we don’t really care. We’re too tired to focus on minor gripes like that, instead being more focused on getting some shut-eye.
The second meal of the flight is served east of Japan, not too long after we’ve woken up. Despite the cabin not having aged terribly gracefully, the food does not seem to have suffered in a similar fashion, being just as good as we remembered from our trip from Lo Angeles to Seoul in economy aboard an A350-900 last year. Asiana has long been considered one of the best airlines in Asia for years for a reason, and the dining contributes heavily to that reputation. To be honest, we’d put OZ’s standard economy meals on par with premium economy ones on former Star Alliance partner United Airlines and soon-to-be SkyTeam partner Delta Air Lines.
Slight bit of spoiler deployment as we start our final descent over South Korea. After finishing dinner, we watched one of the many movies available on the IFE system. Even though the remote took some getting used to and the screen is a relative dinosaur, we had an enjoyable experience using it. As we descend, we’re looking out at the glowing spiderweb of roads and cities across the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
Early morning arrival in Seoul on Runway 34L. It’s fairly quiet right now at Incheon International, with most aircraft moving being freighters and inbound flights. In a couple hours, that’ll all change, as ICN warms up for another busy dau of operations. For now, though, we’re content to enjoy the quiet.
Taxiing to Terminal 2. Since the merger with Korean Air, Asiana has shifted operations from its original haunt at Terminal 1 over to the newer facility. Besides being our first time flying on one of Asiana’s 777s in economy, our flight is going to be our first time parking at T2 with them as well. Next to us, a Korean Air Cargo 747-8F is taxiing out for departure as KE213 to Los Angeles.
Deplaned at Gate 57 at Terminal 2 with Incheon Tower looming over the apron in the background. Overall, we had an okay experience on this flight, with the hard product being dated and the soft product being the excellence we’d expect from Asiana Airlines. While we wouldn’t necessarily jump at the opportunity to go out of our way to fly on an OZ 777 these days, the economy cabin is passable, provided one can handle the slightly less-than-average legroom and antiquated IFE system. Nevertheless, we’ll likely be back aboard one soon as these jets prepare for their final curtain call.