Flying with Asiana again

Getting to Incheon airport

Today, the plan is to fly to Istanbul on staff standby tickets.  There are three flights during the day with one to two hours between each one of them and a final and fourth flight at night.

We chose to try Asiana Airlines at 1025 as it would be silly not to try the first flight.  And it’s also about NZD90 cheaper than the others.

We had set the alarm for 0525 and were walking to our metro station at 0555.  We took the metro and then the all-stops train to the airport arriving at Terminal 1 around 0730.

During the ride, I tried to check-in for our standby flight on the app but without success.  On my previous standby flight with Asiana, they initially didn’t allow my online check-in but I succeeded about 5h prior to departure.  No such luck today though.

Getting on the flight

At the airport, I also had no luck with the check-in kiosks.  Economy Class check-in was a shocking sight with a long common queue for all flights except to the USA.  Fortunately for us, there was a staff standby queue where we were served immediately.

The check-in agent made a phone call and after a very short wait, we were assigned boarding passes for our flight to Istanbul.

Queues to get airside were long but pretty fast-moving.  Unusually, security comes before passport control here.  Once airside, we had about an hour to kill at the Sky Hub lounge which had an wide selection of good quality food.  The Asiana lounge I visited last year had great seating but very little food but that may be an unfair comparison as they had just reopened after Covid-19.

On Asiana again

On board the Asiana B777-200, we realised it was an older plane.  The personal TVs were first generation ones (with interactive rather than broadcast content though).  The non-touchscreen PTV was very responsive and only lacked a countdown to the time of arrival.  There was also no charging of any kind available.

On the good side, the nine-across seating meant wide seats and very generous arm rests.  Seat padding were soft and comfortable, and recline generous.  It was going to be a great flight with all that and a spare seat next to me.

The spare seat next to me had be stickered with “Do Not Occupy” but the crew came to explain that I’m welcome to use it but they would prioritise giving it to anyone with non-functioning PTV.

We departed on time and I was treated to a Bulgogi Ssambap meal which involve wrapping beef, rice, doenjang and kimchi yourself to eat.  Oh, the mix of flavours was just divine.  Kim had the other meal of a cutlet on fried rice which was a little less interactive and conventional.

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The meal service flow seemed so effortless for the crew unlike some airlines where they feel rushed and have to pass things up, down and across the cabin.

I spent the flight catching up on recording my travel notes from the last week. We had been so busy, this was my first day of relaxation since we left Auckland about weeks tomorrow.

Through the flight, the crew were constantly offering drinks of water, juice and coke on trays between meals.  They did a pizza run mid-flight before serving a second meal before landing.  I was impressed with the three runs of coffee and tea (with lemon as an option) after each meal and how many times they check the lockers are properly closed before take-off and landing.  Very conscientious!

We realised how lucky we had been getting on this flight.  While there were spare seats on the flight, you’d have to look pretty hard to find them.  Thank you, Asiana, for having us!

Arriving in Istanbul

Arriving on-time at 1610, immigration wasn’t too bad.  Despite the long walk from the furthest gate, we were on the bus to Aksaray one hour from disembarking.

Since I had absolutely no Turkish lira leftover from previous trips and I wasn’t sure how much money I had on my transport card, we decided to get some money from the ATM.  Fortunately, there was a whole row of them as we hopped off the 50 min ride on the bus.

Akbank’s fee was horrendous at around NZD20 for the amount I wanted.  I later realised it was a 6.99% fee.  Fortunately Bank Ziraat was free!

Despite the time dealing with the ATMs, we were on the tram two hours from disembarkation, for the short ride to Sirkeci Esen hotel.

The room turned out disappointingly small with a couple of green/black mossy spots in the shower. The reviews had been mixed but the hotel prices had taken off since my last visit half a year ago and my previous hotel price had been an exceptional bargain.  The location in Sirkeci is unbeatable so it is hard to expect much for the price.

We grabbed a simple dinner in Hodjapasha alley and retired around 2130, which was very late in consideration of the 6h time difference with Seoul.