Flight: Korean Air KE 657 from Seoul to Bangkok
Duration: 6 hours
Equipment: A388(Airbus 380-800)
Class: Business
Seat: 10A(Window)
Seat Specification: Seat pitch: 74″, Seat width: 21.6″
This flight was originally slated to be operated on a Boeing 777-300 with 2 x 3 x 2 business class seat configuration. An equipment change instead gave me the opportunity to enjoy the A380-800 upper deck with 2 x 2 x 2 business class seating on this flight. I had tried this product pre-pandemic on Seoul-Los Angeles flight early 2020. Though many websites advertise this seat as a lie-flat seat, I think this is actually an angled-flat seating product. It is good enough for a flight under 8 hours but I would prefer to get a true lie flat for the long trans-pacific route.
One thing that does stand out in the cabin is the incredibly high seat-pitch in the cabin.
After lunch, I wanted to try out the seat in bed mode and actually took a nap for about an hour. The seat is not very comfortable for sleeping on your back. I would not prefer this aircraft on long-haul trans-Pacific flights (coincidently operated mostly on LAX-ICN-LAX).
Bottomline:
Seat: ***
Service: ***
Food: **
Business class seat configuration of 2 x 2 x 2 is not competitive anymore where the window seats don’t have direct aisle access. I either prefer the 1x2x1 or special configuration on 2x2x2 where each seat still has direct aisle access. The seat was wide enough but not true flat bed (even though seatguru website advertised it as such). It was also not very comfortable to sleep on but manageable for a short flight. I would actively try to avoid this product on long-haul routes that Korean operates such as LAX-ICN-LAX.
Food was so so and nothing to write home about. Same went for service.