Review: Korean Air Boeing 737-900 – Jeju to Busan

About the Airline

Expectations

Pre-Flight Experience

Being a major airline with a global presence, unsurprisingly booking with Korean Air was a breeze and I opted to purchase tickets via the airline’s app. However admittedly, this was assisted by the fact that I was logged into my Skypass account and so all my personal details had already been filled in and I thus needed to do little other than make a few taps whilst I confirmed my flight choice. As with many airlines in the region, Korean Air allows passengers to select any regular vacant seat across the cabin without paying any sort of additional charge. Meanwhile, being a domestic flight, check-in was a quick and easy experience that required me to do little other than reconfirm my personal details.

Costs

Airport Experience

Operating a near countless number of departures from Jeju each and every day, Korean Air has a massive presence at Jeju Airport. Thus, I was not surprised to find that the airline occupies a large and well-branded check-in area, with a total of twelve desks on offer plus plenty of self check-in machines. Despite having a fair few late evening departures, upon arriving there the check-in area was almost devoid of passengers and I was able to walk straight up to a counter. Not only was the check-in agent very polite and friendly, perhaps taking pity on my tall stature they moved me to the vacant overwing emergency exit seat!

When it came to boarding, this was a well-oiled and efficient affair, and all the gate staff seemed to be polite and friendly. Thanks to Jeju Airport’s limited number of contact stands, a short bus ride was in order before reaching the aircraft and I was pleased to find that the ground staff allowed the bus to depart to the aircraft before this got overly full, rather than waiting until this was absolutely rammed. As such, it seemed that three buses were needed to shuttle passengers to the aircraft, however this was an efficient operation and boarding was completed well ahead of our scheduled departure time.

Seat and Cabin

Korean Air’s non-ER Boeing 737-900s operate almost exclusively on domestic flights, save from the very odd short hop between Busan and Fukuoka. As such, these aircraft lack the mod-cons that can be found on most other Korean Air jets such as inflight entertainment screens or wifi-based streaming and at-seat power. Furthermore, having once been a regular Korean Air passenger, I always found their Boeing 737-900 jets to be the most cramped aircraft of their otherwise very spacious fleet. Despite this, the seat was soft and well-padded, and thanks to my emergency exit seat, I was treated to an abundance of legroom on the short flight to Busan.

Being one of Korean Air’s older jets, the aircraft’s interior did seem to be a little dated in its aesthetic. However, crucially this was in a pristine condition with almost no signs of any sort of wear and tear, and having been immaculately cleaned during its turnaround in Jeju.

Lavatories

Korean Air’s Boeing 737-900s feature two lavatories for Economy class passengers, with these located at the rear of the aircraft. Making a pre-departure visit to one of these, I found it to be spacious, spotlessly clean, devoid of any signs of wear and tear and ultimately left me with absolutely nothing to complain about.

Inflight Entertainment

Onboard, there was no sort of entertainment, with no entertainment screens, drop down or otherwise, no wifi and no Morning Calm inflight magazine. Nevertheless, this was not an issue given the short length of the flight.

Catering

Despite the short length of the flight and the fact that many passengers seemed to drift off to sleep as soon as they were seated, Korean Air’s standard domestic inflight service was undertaken. This consisted of a round of hot and cold drinks, and notably, the crew offered top ups to those who guzzled these down!

Crew

I found the crew to be nothing short of incredibly polite and friendly at all stages of the flight, and I was therefore left with absolutely no complaints regarding them that evening.

Summary

Whilst it would be a little foolish to judge an entire airline based on a 38 minute flight, that evening, I found my Korean Air experience to be fantastic. My ground experience in Jeju was efficient and queue-free, and all ground staff I dealt with proved to be warm and friendly. Meanwhile, the old aircraft was comfortable, clean and in an immaculate state, whilst the flight attendants delivered a fantastic level of service despite the short flight time. Needless to say I would be more than happy to fly with Korean Air again.