July 29th, 2016
Korean Air 628 Jakarta (CGK) - Seoul (ICN) Departure: 2306 Arrival: 0743 (+1) Duration: 7:05 Aircraft: Boeing 777-3B5(ER)
Registration: HL8218 Seat: 1J (First Class)
Being a member of skyteam miles program(and Korean), most of the time I have used Korean Air to travel to various destinations. On most of the Asian routes Korean Air currently deploys fleets with 3 class configurations. Most of these type of fleets still have first generation Kosmo Suites(now they are renewing to KS 2.0). They are installed on Boeing 777-300ERs, -200ERs and Airbus A380s. Today, I was able to fly with the first generation Kosmo Suite on my flight to Seoul, Korea. Having flown with the newer generation Kosmo Suite 2.0, the older one was more like open suites with less privacy as the partition on each seat is low.
Korean Air's Boeing 777-300ERs have two versions. The revamped fleets have 8 first class (Kosmo Suite 2.0), 42 prestige/business (Prestige Suite) and 227 economy classes while the older version has 8 first (Kosmo Suite), 56 prestige/business (Prestige sleeper) and 227 economy seats. The only difference is the configuration of business class from 2-3-2 to 2-2-2 in the newer versions. First class seats are configured 1-2-1 as usual.
Korean Air operates daily flights to Seoul from Jakarta. It took me around 6 hours to arrive in Korea. The flight was fully booked on economy class and partially on business class but only two were on the first class. I was seated at row 1J and the other passenger at 2A, so we had a little more privacy during the flight.
My seat at 1J, the foot rest was pretty wide, around 2 feet with storage space underneath. Complementary blanked and newspapers were provided. Please note that the footrest is weak for a person to sit on it so you should only put your foot.
Amenity kits by DAVI
First class seat has 83 inches (211cm) of pitch and 20.6 inches (52cm)of width. Really spacious legroom and comfortable cushy space during the whole flight.
View of my seat 1J colored in Korean Air's trademark bluish green color. Except the seat, the rest of the suite was assembled with luxurious leather. It is a 180 degrees reclining seat with various seat adjustments during the flight.
There are 3 storage spaces by the window on your right hand side. A very large storage space on the right front section of the seat, medium sized spaces on the middle and small one by the rear section of the seat. You can put your books, laptops and many other soft articles inside here.
This is the small storage space on the rear-right section of the seat where you can put your mobile phones, digital cameras or passports in it.
The stowage on the middle section is usually for headphone as there are headphone jack and couple of usb ports in it.
This is the side of the seat where safety information card and other magazines can be found. There are also buttons to select your desired seat position. You can see flat-bed mode, dining mode and takeoff/landing mode.
Variety of modes to customize your seat. the arrows on the right indicates the divider for more privacy.
In-Flight Meals:
As soon as I board the aircraft, the flight attendant came to and asked me if I would like to have some welcome drinks and snacks. You can choose variety of drinks: Wines, champagnes or non-alcoholic beverages, available on board. On this flight to Seoul, the flight attendant approached to write down dinner and breakfast menus I want to have. As usual, there were two main menus you can choose: Korean signature dish Bibimbap or western/asian cuisine with numerous selection of wines.
The in-flight dining started about one and a half hours after takeoff. From fresh appetizers, delicious main to sweet dessert, the quality of the meal were top class. Meals were continuously served having no break between each course. It felt like while services on economy and business ended, I was starting to have my main dish.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Fresh pan seared scallops with a slice of cucumber and a sauce.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Beef samosa with sweet and spicy sauce.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Fresh salads and garlic bread with red and white wines.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Grilled cod fish with bell pepper slices and potatoes.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Colorful fruits as dessert.
Korean Air First Class in-flight beverage: Green tea.
Korean Air First Class in-flight meals: Blueberry muffin cupcake and strawberry yoghurt as simple breakfast.
In-Flight Entertainment:
Korean Air's in-flight AVOD system has wide selection of multinational movies, tv series, musics and games. The TV monitor is 23 inches which is an inch lesser than the new Kosmo suite 2.0s with impact sensing touch screen. And unlike the new seats, the older ones has no touch screen remote controller. The headphones from BOSE® is provided to you as soon as you settle down in your seat. It is perfectly noise cancelling and comfortable to your ears when using it.
Korean Air First Class in-flight Entertainment: Old style remote controller.
Korean Air First Class in-flight Entertainment: Old style remote controller.
Korean Air First Class in-flight Entertainment: BOSE® noise cancelling headphone.
Lavatory:
There is only one lavatory on the first class section which is right behind the cockpit. It is equipped with hand towels and some amenities such as razor blade and toothbrush set. The basin is more than double of what is on the economy class with lightings on the mirror just like vanity mirror.
Korean Air First Class Lavatory: Wash basin is automatic and the temperature of water can be controlled by moving the knob to either left of right.
Korean Air First Class Lavatory: The mirroring effect make the space bigger than it is.
Extras:
The weird-looking reading light. It looks more like a beverage tap.
Korean Air in-seat power socket: One of the things older version of Kosmo Suite has is the power port is too far from the seat. You'll have to stretch your arms out near the leg rest to plug your devices.
There is a compartment to put your carry-on items under the leg rest. As you can see from above the picture there is a latch to lift up the leg rest.
Summary:
Korean Air is renewing the cabins of Boeing 77Ws fleet to newer seats and I guess only A380s and some Boeings will keep the older versions.
For a 7 hour flight, the first class has everything ready for the passengers' comfort. From the design of the cabin to the services were exceptional. One of the thing lacking in my opinion is the privacy on the aisle seats and the location of the power plug. Although the cabin looks wide and open, there is little privacy between the aisle seats. Only when the seats are fully reclined, a shell by the aisle which can go up will cover the passenger's privacy. Other than that, I don't see any discomfort while flying on Korean Air's Kosmo Suite.