Review: Asiana Airlines Boeing 767-300 – Seoul Gimpo to Jeju

This is review details my experience on an Asiana Airlines Boeing 767-300 in May 2024. You can read my much more detailed full trip report of this flight by clicking here.

About the Airline

Expectations

Pre-Flight Experience

As one would hope given Asiana Airlines’ status as Korea’s second-largest carrier and its global presence, booking via the airline’s website was a relatively painless process. I found this to be modern and easy to use, and had no issues when searching for, selecting and paying for a ticket. Despite purchasing the cheapest ticket, I was able to select a seat across much of the cabin for no additional cost. My only slight complaint was that paying for this took a little longer than usual and American Express was not accepted as a form of payment.

Most passengers flying with Asiana Airlines can check-in 24 hours before departure, whilst an automatic check-in service is also available for those flying on the airline’s domestic flights. This involves ticking a box, entering your email address, name, date of birth and nationality after booking. Once done, you are automatically checked in 24 hours prior to departure and sent your boarding pass by email. Despite needing to stop by Gimpo Airport’s check-in counters to drop off my bag, I decided to try this out and true to this, exactly 24 hours prior to departure I received my boarding pass for the flight to Jeju.

Costs

Airport Experience

That morning, a late wake up meant that I arrived at Gimpo Airport a little later than I would have liked and I made it to check-in with an hour to spare before departure. Whilst this would not have usually been an issue, Gimpo Airport seemed to be particularly busy that morning and I ended up having to queue for a few minutes before I was able to drop off my bag. Once at the counter, I found the agent to be polite and friendly, although lacking a Korean phone number I was required to wait around for five minutes whilst my suitcase cleared security. During this time the agent retained my passport, and so I was left with no choice other than to linger around the desk until my suitcase had cleared the security check.

When it came to boarding, this was a straightforward and efficient affair, and commenced on time. As many would hope, those requiring assistance were invited to board in the first cohort of passengers. Meanwhile, despite the comparatively large size of the Boeing 767, all Economy passengers were invited to board the aircraft at once. Despite this, boarding was a quick and efficient affair that required nothing more than minimal waiting at the gate.

Seat and Cabin

Onboard, the majority of seats appeared to be rather dated in their appearance, being welcomingly chunky and complete with large armrests that featured sealed-off ashtrays and chunky audio channel selector and volume buttons. That said, those in the first few rows were noticeably more modern and featured adjustable headrests. The reason for this variation in seats is that these newer seats were retrofitted to the aircraft when its Business class cabin was removed, and I assume that Asiana Airlines lacked enough older seats to fit into all of their Boeing 767s that had their Business class cabins removed. Regardless of their design, all seats onboard featured Asiana Airlines’ standard beige fabric and were topped with a red-orange fabric antimacassar.

Looking around, my first impressions were very positive. In spite of its retro appearance, I found my seat to be incredibly comfortable and spacious. Furthermore, this was in pristine condition, being both clean and devoid of any major signs of wear and tear.

Lavatories

Like the rest of the cabin, I found the lavatories to be dated in their appearance but otherwise left me with no complaints. These were in an immaculate state, being both clean and devoid of any noticeable signs of wear and tear. Importantly, these came with all the basics and thus left me with no reason to complain.

Inflight Entertainment

Above both aisles, fixed-televisions could be seen at regular intervals and upon boarding broadcast a welcome message that was accompanied by a mixture of calming music. I should however note that I soon found these to be not particularly well positioned and it proved difficult to view these from the window seat.

Other than this, no inflight entertainment was provided, with Asiana Airlines having halted the publication of its inflight magazine in 2020. Meanwhile, no wifi was provided, although I can imagine that few passengers have an issue with being incommunicado with the outside world for fifty minutes or so! However, I should note that at the time of writing, wifi is only available on Asiana Airlines’ Airbus A350 services.

Catering

Just like competitor Korean Air, Asiana Airlines does not offer a particularly expansive onboard service on its domestic flights. This consists of nothing more than a round of drinks and once the crew had completed this, they then made another pass through the cabin topping up the cups of those who wanted a second drink.

Crew

Given the length of the flight, interactions with the crew were fairly minimal. However, I received a barrage of friendly welcomes and farewells, and the crew were polite whilst conducting the limited onboard service. Thus, I could find absolutely no reason to complain about the crew that morning.

Summary

Overall, I had a fantastic experience riding onboard Asiana Airlines last remaining Boeing 767 and the world’s only passenger Boeing 767-300 in operation. Whilst the cabin was definitely retro in its aesthetic, this was clean, tidy and in tip-top condition, and provided a very comfortable ride to Jeju. Thus, based on my experience, I would be more than happy to fly with Asiana Airlines again in the future.