Review: Korean Air Airbus A321neo – Jeju to Seoul Gimpo

This is review details my experience on a Korean Air Airbus A321neo in July 2024. You can read my much more detailed full trip report of this flight by clicking here.

About the Airline

Expectations

Pre-Flight Experience

Seeing as I already had Korean Air’s app installed on my phone, it made little sense to book via any other platform. Upon opening this up, I entered all the required details into the flight search engine before almost immediately being presented with the long list of services operating between Jeju and Seoul that day. Once I had selected my flight, the booking process was quick and simple, although this was undoubtedly sped up by the fact that the app remembered most of my details from previous bookings with the airline and was logged in to my Skypass account.

Many will be delighted to hear that those flying on Korean Air can pre-select a seat across much of the aircraft without paying any sort of additional fee. Once I had selected my flight and picked a window seat near the rear of the aircraft, I went ahead and made a quick and easy payment. Talking of payments, Korean Air is currently the only Korean airline to accept American Express.

Online check-in for Korean Air’s domestic services opens up 48 hours before departure, however, being a domestic flight, I was also given the option of automated check-in. Seeing as I had pre-selected a seat, I decided to opt for automated check-in and thus two days before departure, my boarding pass was emailed over to me and also appeared in the Korean Air app.

Costs

Airport Experience

Already holding a boarding pass and travelling without any hold luggage, that afternoon I had no reason to stop by Korean Air’s check-in desks at Jeju Airport. However, visiting these a little over a month before this trip, I found these to be plentiful, well-branded and well-staffed. In addition, a near endless number of self check-in machines are available across the domestic check-in hall that can be used by those departing on all carriers.

With strong winds battering Jeju, at certain points, it looked rather likely that the inbound flight would not make it to the island and thus my flight back to Seoul would be cancelled. Indeed, this was the fate that was bestowed upon many travellers that afternoon. Looking outside, it seemed that most inbound aircraft went around on their first attempt at landing, and with a decent number failing to make it in on their second attempt, these aircraft returned back to the mainland resulting in the return legs of their rotations from Jeju being cancelled. Thankfully, our aircraft touched down on its second attempt. However, the weather meant that the aircraft’s departure from Seoul Gimpo had been delayed, with this elongated by the go-around. However, of course, this was by no means a complaint and there was little Korean Air could do about the weather!

Throughout the delay, an information board had been erected at the gate with our new anticipated departure time, whilst two Korean Air ground staff members were permanently stationed next to this to answer passengers’ questions.

When it came to boarding, this was a well-ordered affair and was done in accordance with passengers’ zone number. That day, passengers were split into three zones, and importantly, those requiring assistance were invited to board ahead of other passengers. Despite being a full flight, boarding was quick and efficient, requiring only minimal queuing. Last but not least, I found the gate staff to be polite, friendly and helpful. Thus, I was left with no major complaints.

Seat and Cabin

Onboard, Korean Air’s Airbus A321neos feature Korean Air’s new interior. In Economy, the plain brown and blue fabric seat covers have been replaced by a much more vibrant fabric with multicoloured horizontal stripes. These seats are sleek and modern, and topped with a pleather-covered adjustable headrest along with a coat hook, bifold tray table and a seatback pocket. Importantly for those on longer flights, these also come with a high definition 13.3 inch wide inflight entertainment screen which is powered by Safran’s RAVE system. Meanwhile, a USB-A port could be found under each screen whilst universal power sockets were located under each seat.

Upon taking my seat, I found this to be spacious and comfortable, with, as is usually the case on Korean Air, heaps of legroom offered. Meanwhile, as was to be expected from a brand-new aircraft, this was in tip-top condition, with no signs of wear and tear. Last but not least, despite the short turnaround, this also seemed to be spotlessly clean. Turning to the seatback pocket, this contained the all-important safety card and sick bag, the latest copies of Korean Air’s Morning Calm magazine and Skyshop catalogue, a Skyshop mail order order form and an information card relating to the aircraft’s wifi network.

Given the short length of the flight, neither pillows nor blankets were provided to those in Economy and I am not too sure as to whether these were available upon request. However, small boxes of headphones were provided, with these placed in a basket in the forward galley upon boarding for passengers to take, before the crew passed through the cabin before departure handing these out to those who were yet to take a pair.

Lavatories

Korean Air’s Airbus A321neos feature three 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

Unlike on my previous domestic flights onboard Korean Air’s inflight entertainment screen-equipped aircraft, on this flight, passengers were able to use the inflight entertainment system from boarding until disembarkation (except of course during the safety video and announcements). This was available in four languages (Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean), and was modern and sleek in its layout, loaded quickly and was highly responsive to touch. Device pairing was also offered for those who preferred to control this via their own device, which I tested and found to work without issue. Meanwhile passengers could also pair their Bluetooth headphones with their inflight entertainment screen.

Turning to the system’s content, this was expansive with a total of over 300 films offered, along with plenty of television programmes and an expansive library of audio, with 150 albums and playlists and 10 audiobooks, along with 8 K-pop music videos. All content commenced without any advertisements, something which seems to be becoming increasingly rare! Meanwhile, I found the system’s Flightpath3D moving map to work without issue for the duration of the flight and I was thus left with no complaints at all.

Alongside the inflight entertainment system, wifi was also offered onboard, although passengers can only use this to surf the web on Korean Air’s international services. However, upon connecting to this, I was able to browse through the inflight entertainment system and stream all content via my own device.

Additionally, the July-August copy of Korean Air’s 130-page Morning Calm inflight magazine was on offer and I found this to be one of the better inflight publications. Unlike many inflight magazines, this was not particularly heavily laden with advertisements and featured a good array of articles related to travel, history, culture and business, as well as a section about Korean Air. Importantly, all of this was published in both Korean and English.

Catering

Being a short domestic flight, as with all Korean Air domestic services, nothing other than a round of drinks was offered once in the air. That day, options consisted of cold brew coffee, barley tea, Jeju tangerine juice, tomato juice and still water. My only minor gripe was that hot drinks appear to have been eliminated from this service at some point during the Covid era, something that I had also found to be the case on Asiana Airlines’ domestic services. However, overall, I couldn’t find too much to complain about this service and this was conducted in a polite and friendly manner, with second drinks round made once all passengers had been served.

Crew

That afternoon, I found the crew to be polite and friendly, and I received a series of warm welcomes and farewells as I boarded and disembarked the aircraft in Jeju and Seoul. Meanwhile, the service was conducted politely, and despite the short length of the flight, the crew listed the drink options to passengers.

Summary

That day, I had a fantastic experience onboard Korean Air’s Airbus A321neo. The aircraft was clean and very comfortable, the crew were polite and friendly, and I was incredibly impressed by the onboard entertainment options. With that considered my only complaint was that the flight wasn’t long enough! Needless to say, I would love to fly onboard one of Korean Air’s Airbus A321neo aircraft on a longer flight to Southeast Asia where I can soak up the full inflight experience afforded by this modern and sleek jet!