Review: Asiana Airbus A321 Business Class (HND-ICN)
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After a week in Tokyo we start our way back home, starting with a medium-haul flight to Seoul where we will take the flight back to the North American continent.
Tokyo Haneda, a great airport for aviation enthusiasts
During our stay, we stayed between Harajuku and Shibuya districts which are easily accessible by public transportation. Tokyo Haneda is an airport that was exclusively reserved for domestic flights until a few years ago, but it is now open to international flights with a dedicated terminal and a fourth open runway. Which is convenient because it is only 30km from the center of Tokyo against 60km for Narita airport.
Our flight taking off at 6am, we decide to take a hotel in the terminal to avoid taking the subway in the night. With the BMO World Elite MasterCard and its 35,000 point sign-up bonus, we covered the cost of the room at the Royal Park Hotel with our BMO Rewards points.
But Haneda’s appeal is not limited to its location but also to its facilities. I visited both the international and domestic terminal and each has a very large and well-equipped terrace to watch the planes. We see a lot of aircraft from All Nippon Airways (ANA), which is a major customer of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a fleet of 64 aircraft out of a total order of 85.
The rest of the airport is not left out. The terminal has a beautiful architecture with a very nice public restaurant area.
We take advantage of this in the evening by having a beer and eating a typical Japanese dish, grilled eels. The restaurant offer in this “Edo” village replica is very varied.
Flight between Tokyo Haneda and Seoul Incheon with Asiana Airlines
After a short night, we will check in at the counter. I have to say that I was not impressed with Asiana’s website and mobile app, so online registration is rarely possible.
We have two First Class award tickets from Seoul to New York, but one of us does not have a seat in Business Class for this first segment. I had hoped to be able to invite my spouse to the ANA lounge but this is only possible when you have a status with ANA or Star Alliance. I tried to tell them that we had a first class flight afterwards but I hit a wall.
We thus find ourselves in the public lounge, seen the hour it is very very quiet.
The time to take a coffee and we move towards the door of boarding which begins a few minutes after our arrival.
The cabin is quite classic for a short-medium haul aircraft in Asia or North America. These are 2-2 cabins with reclining seats. I take a glass of water while the machine fills up.
We leave on time but the taxi to the runway is very very long in Haneda (20 minutes) because we take off from runway 05/23 which is at the other end of the airport projected on the bay.
We have a beautiful view of Haneda as we leave.
The service includes a breakfast, for which I choose the Korean version accompanied by a tea. The rest of the cabin is quite classic. Some turbulence as we crossed the Sea of Japan prevented me from visiting the rest of the cabin
We arrive on time in Incheon, where we follow the transfer route, without going through customs, but with a passage at the security post that will take only a few minutes.
Bottom line
A medium-haul flight in Asia quite classic, we appreciate the comfort even in modest size aircraft. We meet again for the next part of the journey 😉
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