The 787, Narita, and the Park Hyatt SeoulWe started off in Detroit and our first flight was on a CRJ-700 operated by United Express. With these kinds of planes the first class seat is only marginally better than an economy seat, although we were able to grab the bulkhead seat so we had lots of legroom. As an aside, the 2 flight attendants working the flight got into some disagreement which they proceeded to settle in the galley which was right in front of us. To their credit they spoke in low voices so I wasn't able to tell what they were discussing, but I was impressed that it was only the first flight of the day and they already had an argument
. As far as the service, about the only difference between first and economy was that our coats were taken from us and hung in the closet, and we were offered pre departure beverages and snacks during the flight. The flight time was about 3 hours, which is pretty long to be in such a small plane, but we napped and read and before we knew it we were landing in Denver.
After exiting the plane we headed to the United lounge (my wife has the United Club card) and we finished making important phone calls and emails before our flight to Tokyo. After about 1.5 hours we headed down to the gate for our 787 flight to Tokyo.
As we went down the separate business class jetway which was empty, we stopped to take some pictures next to the 787 markings on the plane. Then we entered the plane and took our seats, 1A and 1B, which were right by the front door. As we got settled in, things got pretty busy. We stored our luggage in the overhead bins which were much larger than an ordinary plane, and then began to examine the seat and all the extras, like the amenity kit and the headphones (for the record this was our first time in United BusinessFirst). While we were doing that we were offered hot towels and predeparture beverages by the flight attendants. We then called over one of the flight attendants to confirm that our kosher meals were on the plane. That’s when disappointment struck.
First some background: Last year, we flew United in economy to Shanghai (a 14 hour flight), and while we had ordered Kosher meals for both of us, they only had 1 meal for us. Thankfully, we had come prepared for such a case, and we had extra food so we didn’t go hungry. With that experience in my mind I called about 2 weeks before our flight to Tokyo and requested kosher meals for both of us. The agent noted the request and assured us our meals had been ordered. I called back a week later and went through the same process, with the same assurances of the agent. I then made a last phone call 48 hours before and was again assured our meals had been ordered for both of us. I had been reading on FT about United’s troubles with operations, and somehow I didn’t feel that comfortable relying on United having our meals on the plane for us, so we made sure to bring some sandwiches just in case.
Back to the plane: When I mentioned the kosher meals to the flight attendant she got a confused look on her face, which gave me a sinking feeling. She went to get the purser, who after consulting with his list of special meals informed us apologetically that there were no kosher meals for us on the plane. None at all. For a 12 hour flight in business class. Like I said before we had food, so I wasn't that concerned about being hungry, but I was still not pleased, to say the least. However I didn't want to start our vacation off on the wrong foot, plus we were really excited about flying the 787, so we maintained our composure and said we would manage (BTW after complaining to United we were refunded 15,000 miles each).
Aside from the kosher food issue, we found the flight to be very comfortable. The seats were pretty new, and the entrainment system was pretty loaded with movies and stuff to watch, so the flight went by pretty quickly. 2 things I want to mention in particular: I’m 6”5 and I was able to nap quite comfortably without being squeezed for room. As far as the new electronic window shades on the 787: I was at first really excited by them, but by the time the flight had landed I was sick of the new window shades and preferred the traditional ones. With the electronic shades, even when it is on the darkest setting some sunlight does get in, so when I was sleeping for example, I had to wear an eye mask. It’s not sunlight that gets though because the shades are pretty dark, but it’s this strong light which is definitely annoying.
After we got off the plane in Narita, we made our way to the ANA lounge. I knew that United had a large and pretty good lounge in Tokyo as well, but I wanted to try out a foreign carrier’s lounge. Before we got to the lounge we were directed to the transfer desk of Asiana, where we were told we needed new boarding passes. We were flying on a 747 in business class, which on Asiana is upstairs, however they decided to upgrade all the business class passengers to first class on the bottom deck. Having flown only once before on the upper deck (in LH F) I told them I would prefer to stay in business class upstairs, but they told me that wasn't an option, as they were closing the upper deck. Although I was disappointed, I couldn't argue with being upgraded to first class.
I found ANA’s lounge to be ok, but nothing special. It was pretty crowded, and one of the more surprising things was how well kids are tolerated. There were several young kids in the lounge, a few of whom were crying pretty loudly, yet no one seemed to mind. Being tired and jetlagged it wasn't something that we really enjoyed. One of the reasons I wanted to check out the ANA lounge is that they have beer machines which dispense beer like a soda machine here in the US. For some reason I had assumed the beer they would serve would be kosher, however upon examination I didn't recognize any of the brands so I didn't end up taking any.
After about an hour in the lounge we headed to the gate for our flight to Seoul. Upon boarding the plane, we were welcomed aboard by 3 flight attendants and we turned left into the first class cabin. The first class cabin was nice but nothing special. It was more like a solid business class, as there was ample room by each seat but they had these standalone flat screen monitors at the end of each seat that didn't look too high tech to me. On the other hand the seats were comfortable, and the service was very good. We ended up being assigned seats 4E and 4F which are the worst 2 seats in the cabin IMO, as they were middle seats towards the back of the cabin. These seats had the least privacy and room, and since every seat was occupied we weren't able to switch. I thought it was very unprofessional of the Asiana ticket agents who gave us new tickets that they didn’t inquire which seats we wanted, yet after stewing a little I settled down and enjoyed the 2 hour flight. As I mentioned the cabin was full and we had about 4 flight attendants serving the first class cabin, and we had very attentive service. The flight to Seoul was only 2 hours, and after eating dinner (yes, a kosher meal), we turned the seat into the bed mode and got some sleep. The meal was OK, it was Hermolis and served in the box, but the main course was fish, which both if us don't really like.
We landed in Seoul at around 9:30 PM, and after grabbing our luggage, we headed over to the left baggage claim to drop off some of our luggage. After a few minute wait we were attended to and we ended up leaving 3 of our bags there. They charge based on the size of the suitcase, and we ended up paying about $8 for our largest suitcase, and about $5 for the smaller one.
With that done we headed to the bus area. When looking into transportation options from the airport to Seoul, I found that although there is a train from the airport to downtown Seoul, buses are usually the best way to get to and from the airport which to be honest sounded counter intuitive to me. One thing to realize though is that the buses take you directly to the most popular hotels which definitely saves you time and money over taking the train. The main bus company that offers bus service is KAL limousine bus service (the nicer buses are called limousine buses there, not sure what a standard bus is). We went to the information desk in the airport to help us figure out where we should wait to catch our bus, and they were very helpful. As we stood outside waiting for our bus, a guy in a KAL jacket seemed to tell us we had to buy a ticket from a machine or from him before we boarded the bus. Unfortunately he didn't speak great English, and from the research I had done I was pretty sure we could buy a ticket on the bus, so we pretended to not understand him. Fortunately I was correct and we had no problem buying tickets from the driver, which were about 15,000 Won (about $14). We had 2 small suitcases with us and the driver took our bags, tagged them, and put them underneath the bus. They give you a receipt for your bags which you have to hold onto to claim your bag so make sure you don’t lose them. In terms of the bus, it was nice with leather seats and decent legroom, a bit more than a coach bus in the US. This being the last bus of the day, there were only 5 passengers, including us on the bus. There was no traffic and IIRC we made it to the Park Hyatt in about 45 minutes. Keep in mind the bus makes several stops at different hotels to let off passengers, kind of like a sherut in Israel. The bus wasn't able to drop us off directly in front of the Park Hyatt so we had to walk underneath a large intersection to get to the Park Hyatt.
Upon reaching the Park Hyatt we took the elevator up and stepped out to the reception area. As I mentioned in the introduction, my wife had done a Hyatt Diamond status challenge, which gave her Diamond status right away and we were hoping to be upgraded to a Suite. Sadly, we were only upgraded to a deluxe room, and when I asked about a Suite, the lady told me we had already been upgraded! Oh well. The receptionist took our suitcases and escorted us up to our room. The room was very nice, and consisted of a bedroom and large bathroom. In the bedroom there were wood floors and floor to ceiling windows, which looked out to a nice view of some of the main streets in the area. The bathroom consisted of 3 areas: a toilet with a door on one end, a main room with a sink, and on the other end, a rain shower with a separate bathtub. In between the bathroom and bedroom there was a large closet, which if opened allowed you to see into the sink area of the bathroom. The shower was amazing with great pressure, and the bath amenities were very nice as well (I forgot the name of them). The toilet was fascinating: it was a Japanese toilet with all the accompanying buttons and dials, and even better, it had a seat warmer!! Let’s just say we took longer than usual in the bathroom….