Asiana Airlines’s A380 business-class Smartium product has been around for several years now. This year I happened to have a connection through Korea on my way back to the U.S., so I immediately chose Asiana’s A380 to check it out. This OZ204 segment was part of a round-trip award ticket redeemed with 160,000 United MileagePlus miles. I flew from Narita (NRT) to Los Angeles International Airport via Incheon (ICN).
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Check-in?
Unfortunately, Asiana gave me a very bad first impression. The day before taking this Los Angeles flight, I flew from Tokyo to Seoul on Asiana. At the Asiana check-in counter in Tokyo Narita, after checking my passport the agent noticed I didn’t have a Korean visa, so I explained that transiting Korea for up to 30 days with a valid U.S. visa is visa-free. They checked for a while and, while reluctantly accepting this, kept fiddling with the computer system and still couldn’t process it, so they called in another colleague to help. The “three-person Asiana gate team” finally managed to issue a strange ICN-LAX boarding pass from ten minutes before boarding until the gate was about to close.
The boarding pass said "PAX GUARANTEE NOT ENTER KOR," and effectively told me I couldn’t enter Korea. What on earth? My hotel and plans in Korea were already booked—how could I possibly just wait around in the airport? I felt like I was being shafted, but since the flight was about to depart, I decided to go to Korea first anyway. When I got to Incheon Airport, there was no transfer counter in sight, so I decided to hide that boarding pass and use the printed ticket receipt as proof of travel itinerary, then went straight through successfully.
The next day, I went to the Asiana check-in counter. After seeing my boarding pass, the ground staff quickly issued a normal boarding pass to avoid me having immigration or departure officers see the one with the weird wording. That wrapped things up.
Boarding
Before boarding, I visited Asiana’s business lounge, so I won’t go into details here. As boarding time approached, I headed toward the gate and from far away could already see a queue stretching about 50 meters, extending to another gate.
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Asiana ICN-LAX: Gate[/caption>
This photo doesn’t fully capture the boarding-line scene. Since Asiana’s A380-800 carries 78 first and business class passengers, and there were many SkyTeam elite members, the priority boarding lane was naturally packed.
Cabin
I stayed on the upper deck of the 380. The front of the upper deck is the business-class cabin, and at the front of the cabin there is a staircase leading downstairs.
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Asiana ICN-LAX: Business class[/caption>
Because this A380 has been in service for several years, the seats do not look brand new; some parts look a little darkened, which is understandable.
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Business-class seat[/caption>
I admit the angle of this shot is a bit odd, so just take it as-is...
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Large tray table
The tray table is attached to the seat in front; compared with designs that hide it on one side of your seat, you don’t have to worry about anything getting stuck when you open the tray.
The button that controls seat recline is on the right side of the seat.
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Inflight entertainment controller[/caption>
Asiana’s Smartium business class is equipped with a touch screen and a large-screen “remote.” I personally tested that you can play Tetris directly on the remote (what was I thinking?).
Dinner
Then came the most exciting part: the meal. As an Asian airline, the food offering was naturally very abundant. At the end of this article, I included the menu.
Since I was flying a Korean airline, I naturally chose traditional Korean cuisine. Western food can be savored slowly on American carriers.
[caption id="attachment_6684" align="aligncenter" width="3264"] Starter: Steamed scallops[/caption>
When the starter arrived, it was said to be scallops, but I honestly couldn’t tell how it looked like scallops. The taste was more like fish. Still, the flavor was good and it was fairly fresh.
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Starter: Sesame porridge[/caption>
Sesame porridge was also part of the starter. The porridge was a darker color, and compared with regular porridge, it tasted slightly salty.
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Main course[/caption>
By contrast, the main course was a bit plain, with rice, beef, and doenjang soup.
[caption id="attachment_6673" align="aligncenter" width="3264"] Dates and walnuts[/caption>
I guess Asiana’s chef has learned the fine-dining trick of putting a very small amount of food on a big plate. It suddenly looks much more elegant. Honestly, I thought the walnuts were a bit too sweet.
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Fruits and dessert[/caption>
After everything was cleared, a lot of fruit and tiramisu came, but the portions were a bit small. You can always ask the flight attendant for some more.
That was all of the dinner. If you’re still not full, you can ask for a bit more of the noodles at any time; getting a full meal should not be difficult.
Other amenities
At the front of the A380 upper deck, there is an ultra-mini lounge shared by Business Class and First Class, plus a sofa-sized social area. The sofas there even have seatbelts.
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Chat and social area
There are two restrooms next to the lounge, and one of them has a surprisingly large space with a built-in seating area. Please don’t read too much into what it might be used for.
Beds
After you’ve eaten and had your drinks, it is time to sleep. This is what the bed setup looks like:
My feet fit into this space without any issue; I’m not sure if taller travelers may find it a bit tight.
The amenity kit included only standard toiletries, along with earplugs, an eye mask, and similar items. I didn’t need much of it.
Breakfast
Before long, it was almost time to start descending, and cabin crew pushed out another cart to serve breakfast:
Why walnuts for dinner, and walnuts again for breakfast? Overall, this salad was very mild, and I couldn’t finish so much of that leafy fare.
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Breakfast: porridge
Thankfully, porridge arrived soon and saved my stomach.
And then a pudding.
Arrival
After breakfast, it was not long before we were about to arrive in Los Angeles.
Because the A380 cockpit is so high, ground staff had to stand on a small cart to direct where the pilot should stop.
Conclusion
Asiana’s onboard service is still quite good overall. The only thing I can’t understand is their strong fixation on walnuts. At the same time, Asiana staff at Narita Airport clearly did not receive enough training, and in that respect, they did not meet expectations. Still, Asiana’s A380 Business Class product itself is quite good.
Appendix: Menus
