After flying from Auckland to Hong Kong in Air New Zealand’s premium economy class, I flew from Hong Kong to Seoul in Korean Air’s 737 economy class. While Korean Air operates all sorts of widebody aircraft to and from Hong Kong (as well as their newer A321neos), my flight today would be operated by an older 737-900ER.
I used to fly Korean Air all the time, mainly because their pricing was relatively competitive compared to other carriers. I’d flown their A330, 777, and 747-400 (RIP) in business class, and even was seated in their first class once on the 747-8. However, this was my first time trying out their economy class, so I wanted to see how that measured up against the competition.
Well, while Korean Air has some brand new 787s and A321neos with new economy class seats, this 737 felt a bit tired and last-generation, despite the recent reupholstery. It was perfectly fine for the three-hour flight, though I was perfectly fine with it not being any longer than it was.
Here are my first impressions of the flight, and a full review will come in the coming weeks.
Korean Air’s 737 Economy Class Seat: Comfortable, But Dated
Korean Air’s 737s feature 165 economy class seats. While many airlines will usually install an inferior seat on their narrowbody aircraft, in this case Korean Air installed the same Weber 5751 seats available on their older A380s and A330s, complete with adjustable headrests and PTVs.
Korean Air 737 Economy Class Seat
First things first – the airline recently reupholstered their economy class cabins, and I guess it does look quite nice – definitely less drab than their previous all-blue and brown arrangement.
While Korean Air’s widebody aircraft feature industry-leading 34″ pitch (apparently this is because the Korean Air CEO is very tall, and values legroom), their narrowbody aircraft only feature 31″ pitch. I noticed this when getting onboard, and thought that the legroom was tighter than I was expecting.
Korean Air 737 Economy Class Legroom
I mean, on one hand, these seats are better than anything you’d find on a flight intra-Europe. On the other hand, I’m not sure I would’ve wanted to fly for much longer than I did. In economy I’d generally look for a seat with good storage and tech, and this seat wasn’t really a leader in either of them (apart from shared 110V power ports between seats – a feature I appreciated, despite one of the power ports at our set of three being inoperable).
Korean Air 737 Economy Class Seat
It’s worth noting that Korean Air is swapping this Seoul-Hong Kong rotation with an A321neo in the coming weeks. I would’ve loved to try Korean Air’s new A321neo in economy, and was sad the timings didn’t work out. From what I can see, the A321neos have much larger entertainment screens, though still not much in the way of in-seat storage.
Korean Air’s 737 Economy Class Entertainment and WiFi: Not bad!
It’s great that Korean Air’s 737s have an entertainment system. Well, it’s not the most enthralling selection. The touchscreen function wasn’t too easy to use (I had to resort to using the remote underneath the TV screen), and while there were some great movies on there, this isn’t one of the biggest selections you’ll see on an aircraft.
Korean Air 737 Economy Class Entertainment
On the other hand, I’m glad to see that Korean Air has finally gotten around to implementing WiFi. The selection isn’t particularly competitive – messaging cost US$4.95 (£3.73/HK$39), whereas a full-flight internet pass cost US$11.95 (£9/HK$94). The WiFi wasn’t particularly stable especially over Taiwan, though was usable throughout the flight.
Korean Air’s 737 Economy Class Meal: Hey, This Seems Familiar!
On my flight, there were two meal service selections – bibimbap, and beef with rice (apparently this wasn’t bulgogi, but a more Western selection).
I feel like I know exactly what to expect with bibimbap, though couldn’t resist choosing it when the smell of Korean sesame oil permeated throughout the cabin. While it was tasty, I was amused to see that this was identical to what you’d receive in business class, and hadn’t changed in the 10 years in the slightest that I’ve last flown Korean Air. The only difference between economy and business class was that the rice was left in a microwavable plastic container – the rest of the meal was even served in a proper plastic bowl (as opposed to disposable tupperware).
I guess it’s good to have an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality – though there are so many types of bibimbap you can get in Seoul, perhaps mixing it up once every few months (or every five years?) could be a bit more exciting?
Korean Air 737 Economy Class Meal: Bibimbap
While I don’t expect service to be customised in economy, in this case the expectations were just about met – the longest interaction with a flight attendant was when she mistook my laptop charger for a portable charger (which is strictly prohibited on Korean Air flights), and had to call another flight attendant over to verify that I wasn’t breaking the rules.
Conclusion: Korean Air’s 737 Economy Class
I’m going to share a few more thoughts during the full review, though there wasn’t anything particularly impressive about Korean Air’s 737 economy class. On one hand, I guess a few technological advancements have been implemented, including WiFi. However, on the whole I can’t imagine the experience was much different to flying the airline in 2015.
That’s not an issue, I guess – it’s a fairly comfortable seat for these short 2-3 hour routes, and the 737s don’t operate any longer flights. An A321neo would’ve been nice, and even then I wonder whether it’s the best economy class out of the seats flying within the region (given how competitive East Asia is). I would probably struggle with flying an A330 with a similar seat on a longer flight, though.
Have you flown Korean Air’s 737 economy class before? What did you think?
