TRIP REPORT: Korean Air, Seoul - Zagreb

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On February 1st I flew from Seoul to Zagreb with Korean Air. This was my first flight with Korean Air and with the B787-900 Dreamliner as well. My trip to Seoul was also with Korean Air, but with the B748 from Frankfurt.

Seoul is a totally different world for us, like many other Asian cities, but ok, everything is very well organised so it was no problem at all to get to the airport. The train goes from city centre to the airport and the ride was almost 1 hour long, there is some express train which doesn't stop at every station, but I couldn't find that one.

After arriving at Incheon Airport I was surprised by the huge open space, both inside and out. On my flight from Frankfurt to Incheon, when we landed in Seoul, I remember that weird moment, watching around how spacious and huge everything is.

Let's get back to my departure flight from Seoul to Zagreb. Check-in was crazy fast and I was the only one at the counter. Korean Air has many different counters separated by type of passengers (first, business, morning calm, group passengers, web/mobile check-in, etc.) and, for every one of these categories there are around 20 counters or so!

Zagreb as a destination on the screen at Seoul Incheon Airport - Terminal 2

Security and passport control was also really quick. The airside is full of different shops, duty free, bars, etc. Also, there are a lot, but, really, a lot of smoking rooms. Koreans smoke a lot obviously.

My gate was between two others. On the left side was a small B738 aircraft destined for Busan, and on the other side was another B787, ready to fly to Vancouver.

B787-900 Dreamliner shortly before boarding to Zagreb

Boarding was delayed by 10 minutes, due to ground handling support. At least that was what they announced as the reason... Business class was full so they boarded the aircraft first. Since Korean Air uses just one door for boarding the B787, the second bridge was not connected. Someone told me that sensors on the B787 are close to first door so Korean Air decided not to use the other doors, for safety reasons.

I used priority boarding as well, after all business passengers, because I have elite status. Boarding was quick and soon I was at my seat, first time on board this brand new aircraft. I think our aircraft was delivered to Korean Air 7 months ago, so, a really new one. I got an emergency exit row and luckily, no one was next to me. Korean Air is still a company where you can ask for a favour, and if they can do it, they will. So there was 15 empty seats in economy class and I asked for them to keep the seat next to me empty and they did. They even called me at the gate to inform me (I asked for that at check-in) that check-in was closed and that no one would be next to me.

After boarding, the crew came to inform me about exit row info. They were super polite and friendly throughout the whole flight. To be honest, I think they are the best airline crew I have seen, and I have flown with many airlines on long haul flights.

Super friendly and professional crew

Shortly after departure they served snacks, after an hour there was lunch with 3 different options (2 western and 1 Korean) and after lunch the cabin lights were dimmed for sleep. I couldn't so I watched a lot of movies (you know, an 11 hours flight to Zagreb is not that short!). The crew saw that I was not sleeping so they brought juice several times and also peanuts. Really nice of them.

Lunch, one of the options - beef

Five hours prior to landing, somewhere over Russia, they served pizza as a snack, and, to be honest, I don't like those pizzas from a box on any flight. Same goes for Korean Air pizza. Not good guys!

Two hours prior to landing, the crew served a 2nd full meal and there were again 3 different choices. The food was quite good actually. Also, as almost every airline on long haul flights, we got a pillow, blanket (which wasn't small! Hate Lufthansa regarding this!) etc.

Second meal service – some pasta with chicken

After landing in Zagreb, we were parked at gate 28 and disembarking took some time because the aircraft was more than 90% full and even passengers who are continuing to Zurich need to disembark the aircraft in Zagreb. I asked the cabin crew member which was seated on the jump seat in front of me how many passengers were continuing to Zurich and I was shocked with her answer - just 45.

All of the cabin crew were standing to say goodbye and to bow to all passengers, even the captain was there, and I don't know how many, but some of them were outside of the aircraft, on the air bridge, also greetings passengers. Really, really nice service!

Since the flight from Zagreb is direct again, I'll use it in May in the opposite direction now, from Zagreb direct to Incheon and I can recommend this airline to all.

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