Review: Jin Air Boeing 737-800 – Seoul Gimpo to Jeju

This is review details my experience on a Jin Air Boeing 737-800 in June 2024. You can read my much more detailed full trip report of this flight by clicking here.

About the Airline

Expectations

Pre-Flight Experience

Once upon a distant time, booking a Korean domestic flight with an overseas card was infamously difficult. Thankfully, for the most part, those days are long gone and I had no qualms about booking directly with Jin Air. As you would expect from a sizable airline, this website was modern and sleek. However, I should note that only four language options were available (Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean), despite Jin Air’s reasonable-sized Southeast Asian route network. However, my greatest issue with Jin Air’s website was that the English version only enabled me to pay in Malaysian Ringgit, Thai Baht or US Dollars. Preferring to pay in Korean Won, I was required to shift over to Jin Air’s Korean website, something that may well prove to be a little burdensome for many Jin Air passengers based outside of Korea. However, other than this, I faced no issues when booking and I was able to make a quick and easy payment.

Online check-in for Jin Air’s services opens up 24 hours before departure and I opted to do this via the airline’s app. Fortunately, online check-in proved to be a quick and painless experience, simplified by the fact that this was a domestic flight and I was thus not required to enter my passport details.

Costs

Airport Experience

Having checked in online and with no hold luggage, I am not best placed to comment on Jin Air’s check-in arrangements at Seoul Gimpo Airport. However, upon walking through the check-in hall, the airline occupied a reasonably sized area that was well-branded and well-staffed.

When it came to boarding, this commenced exactly twenty minutes before departure. There, three Jin Air ground staff members staffed the gate and in my (limited) interactions with them, I found them to be pleasant, polite and friendly. However, boarding announcements were conducted in Korean only despite there being a reasonable number of overseas passengers. Additionally, there didn’t seem to be any boarding order and all passengers were invited to board the aircraft at once. Nevertheless, this was not an issue, and boarding was a quick and efficient process. Furthermore, despite being an almost full flight, the final passenger boarded with several minutes to go until our departure time enabling us to make a punctual departure.

Seat and Cabin

Jin Air’s Boeing 737-800 fleet comes in a low cost carrier standard configuration, with 189 seats in an all-economy layout. As is the norm on Jin Air’s aircraft, each seat was covered in Korean Air’s standard blue fabric which sports a repeating geometric pattern. Turning to the seats themselves, these seemed to be chunkier and more comfortable-looking than your average ironing board thin low cost carrier seat, and were topped with an adjustable headrest that was partially covered by a Jin Air pleather antimacassar. All of these ultimately gave me a good first impression and concealed Jin Air’s status as a low cost carrier!

However, once seated, I was starkly reminded that I was travelling on a low cost carrier. Unfortunately, I found the legroom to be dire and whilst tolerable on a short domestic flight, I took pity on those who end up being trapped in these for six hours or so on the aircraft’s regular flights to Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, nothing no in-seat power was provided (although USB-A ports are provided on Jin Air’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

Other than the poor legroom, I couldn’t find much to complain about. The cabin was in a spotless condition, being both very clean and devoid of any signs of wear and tear.

Lavatories

Like most Boeing 737-800s, those of Jin Air feature three lavatories – one at the front of the aircraft that is squeezed in between the forward galley and the cockpit, and two at the rear of the cabin. Making use of one of the lavatories at the rear of the jet before departure, I found this to be clean and tidy, stocked with the basics and thus leaving me with nothing to complain about.

Inflight Entertainment

No entertainment could be found onboard, with no inflight magazine, overhead screens, personal inflight entertainment screens, wifi-based streaming service or wifi. Whilst this was not an issue given the flight duration, those flying on one of Jin Air’s longer services will likely want to bring a book along! I should however note that Jin Air’s new Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet does feature paid wifi onboard, however, I am not sure whether this is something that will be rolled out across the airline’s entire fleet.

Catering

Since my last flight with Jin Air, sadly, the complimentary soft drink service has been replaced by a more low cost carrier standard buy-on-board service. Given the length of the flight, no service carts were rolled out and instead, a flight attendant walked through the cabin displaying a menu, with passengers invited to stop them as they passed through or press their call bell if they wanted to purchase anything.

Examining the selection of items available, Jin Air’s menu was slightly more compact than the likes of EasyJet or Ryanair, and the most substantial offerings came in the form of cups of ramen. When it came to prices, whilst items were sold for a little more than you would expect to pay for them on the ground, they were not overly expensive as detailed below. That morning, I failed to spot any takes for these offerings and instead, most passengers seemed to spend most of the flight fast asleep.

Crew

Whilst my interactions with the crew were minimal, I received a friendly welcome and a cheery goodbye from each crew member that I passed whilst boarding and disembarking the aircraft. In all interactions with both myself and those around me during the flight, the crew seemed to be polite and friendly and were very smart in their appearance. Thus, once again, I was not left with anything bad to say about those working the flight to Jeju that morning.

Summary

For a short haul hop to Jeju, I couldn’t really complain about the flight. Everything went well, the crew were friendly, the cabin was clean and in good condition and I arrived in Jeju on time. However, my experience was tainted by the cramped seat and thus based on this, I would likely avoid Jin Air on longer services unless necessary!