Trip Report: Asiana Fukuoka to Seoul Incheon

Pro:

- Helpful during crash

- Great food, especially for a 1 hour flight!

- Friendly staff

Cons:

- Well, the fact that my original plane crashed... 

This should have been a trip report for Asiana A320 HIJ Hiroshima to Seoul, but then this happened. The entire airport was closed and all flights canceled. We called into Asiana's Japan call center to check on our flight and they told us they were awaiting a decision from the Hiroshima airport (HIJ) to see if the airport would reopen the next day for our early morning flight. She took my number and called me back around 6pm to let us know that the airport would remain closed and that she could rebook us out of Fukuoka (FUK) to Seoul and that Asiana would pay for our bullet train ticket to get there.

FUK boasts that their airport is the only one in Japan that's five minutes from the main train station. While true, what they don't tell you is that there's a long, meandering bus ride to get from the airport subway station to the international terminal – 60 minutes for us from the Shinkansen to gate...

The flight out of FUK was on a 777-200. We were in the not-so-smart-sounding "Business Smartium" class. One thing I noticed about both Asiana and Korean Airlines is that the ticket agent always presented us a seat map with all of their plane types on it during the check in process – "you'll be on the 777 today in seat 4A, is that ok?"

No, really. It's actually called that

The lounge is post-security and given how small the airport is, I wasn't surprised at how small and generally uninviting it was. No windows, very sparse food and beverage offerings, but it was early and the coffee machine worked so it was fine. Fukuoka is famous for its tonkotsu ramen, so if you have extra time, I'd recommend getting ramen at the shop on the street level of the International terminal and skip the prepackaged "almost a croissant" lump they had in the lounge, just keep in mind that there is no priority lane at security when planning your dining. 

The seats are lie-flat and come with headphones and cabin slippers even though the flight is just over one hour. The purser greeted us by name, thanked us for flying Asiana, and hung up my coat for me. 

We took off on time and we both chose the Korean meal. The meal on this short flight was a fancy Korean Eki-ben with miso soup. This is my third time flying with Asiana and I still think they have the tastiest food in the skies. 

After brunch they handed out landing cards and pens and we landed on time at ICN.