Asia Sampler 2014: Part 3

Part 3: Our adventure home from BKK-LAX with stops in Hong Kong and Seoul

BKK-HKG THAI Air TG600 Royal Silk Class: When we woke up at 5AM in Bangkok it was the final sprint of the trip with 35 hours to go until LAX. We had to get to Seoul for our flight back to LAX as that’s all they had available for the transpacific flight. Upon checkin at BKK we were able to use Priority Security and Immigration which made the experience so much nicer. The lounge was just below security so we went there to grab a quick bite to eat. The plane for our 2.5 hr flight to Hong Kong was a 747-400. We were seated upstairs again which is always nice due to the smaller quiet cabin. Breakfast was served but the quality was mediocre at best. When approaching Hong Kong we had excellent views of the city. For a short flight it was great but the service was just OK.

 

HKG-ICN Asiana OZ746 Business Class: After touring around Hong Kong for 12 hours we headed back to the airport to take a shower at the United Club lounge and grab a snack. They had vanilla ice cream so I made a Coke float which was refreshing after a hot summer day. Upon arriving to our gate there were over 25 Asiana employees prepping to assist with boarding their brand new A380-800. This route is their training route prior to opening it up on their long haul route of ICN-LAX-ICN. The crew was amazing even though this flight departed at 12:40AM local time. Upon boarding, I was escorted to my seat and offered a pre flight beverage. I was able to snap some pictures of this new plane and the flight attendant even offered to take a photo of me. The lounge area in the front of the Business Class section of the top deck was awesome. So much room to hang out during a long haul flight. The meal was very good and once I finished I slept for the remainder of the flight in the lie-flat seats which were super comfy. Even though this was an intra-Asia flight it was definitely the quality of a long haul flight.

 

ICN-LAX Asiana OZ202 Business Class: The final flight of our Asia Sampler trip was back to Los Angeles. We knew after the A380 flight we should set lower expectations as we were flying an older 747-400 for our long haul flight to LAX. After touring Hong Kong and Seoul we were simply exhausted so any type of seat would do. Running on very little sleep at this point in time helped too. We boarded our afternoon flight and settled into our cradle Business Class seats. We were served dinner after takeoff which we selected the Bibimbap bowl and it was an excellent choice to continue the Korean cuisine. We slept for most of the flight after dinner and woke up to breakfast being served just prior to landing at LAX. The french toast was amazing! The quality of the seats weren’t the newest but I thought they were more comfortable than the Lufthansa A380 Business Class cradle seats I flew on last year. The service was great but still nothing beats the last flight on the Asiana A380.

Conclusion: It was an amazing trip and I would highly recommend flying EVA Air 777-300ER and Asiana A380 in Business Class for any transpacific leg of your journey!