Friday, May 16, 2014

Hong Kong Trip with Korean LCC
 [Jin Air] LJ 11 ICN-HKG (Seoul/Incheon->Hong Kong) trip report
 [진에어] LJ 11 서울/인천->홍콩/첵립콕 탑승기

Jin Air 진에어 LJ 11 ICN-HKG (Seoul/Incheon->Hong Kong)
DEP ICN 16 MAY 2014 09:45
ARR HKG 16 MAY 2014 11:45
Flight Duration: 4:00
Aircraft: B737-800

Courtesy of www.flightaware.com
I needed to book a round trip from Seoul to Hong Kong in Mid-May, and the research narrowed me down to Air Macau and Jin Air (subsidiary airline of Korean Air). I decided to take Jin Air, because I wanted to arrive in Hong Kong. For the return flight from Hong Kong to Seoul on 18 May, however, I changed it to Macau->Seoul flight.
The trip report for my return flight to Seoul/Incheon from Macau/Taipa, Jin Air LJ 008 is on the next link.

It was my first time taking Jin Air and the first time taking a Korean LCC (low cost carrier). I actually didn't expect an inflight meal to be served (but they ended up serving it!). The seat pitch was comparable to that of Southwest Airlines.



At my Gate 131, with my boarding pass. I was at the most western end of the satellite terminal, where the gates here are one floor below normal departure gates.



The boarding time was delayed slightly to 9:15AM.

Jin Air's flight attendant uniform is very casual.  It's the airlines' approach to become more friendly and less formal (in a good way). They wear jeans for uniform.

fly better fly~ (that's the company motto)

This aircraft was previously with Korean Air. The seats didn't change; only the head covers changed.

Photo looking toward the main terminal.




Cabin view as passengers fill in.

And as we were taking off toward the north on Runway 34, another plane was taking off parallel to us from Runway 33L.


As we were flying over Jeju Island, the inflight service was started.

I was thinking it would be a small snack, but it turned out to be a good meal!

There was pasta salad (with tomato sauce), rice roll with tuna salad, Sausage patties, Kimchi, and Vanilla Cake. 

And after a good nap, the plane was already descending toward Hong Kong airport.

A cloudy day in Hong Kong due to typhoon effects nearby.

That is the new satellite concourse for Hong Kong Airport.
And our plane arrived at the north concourse building, where mostly smaller jets and LCC go to.


Buses to the main terminal are accessible at the ground floor of this building.

Intra terminal bus.


The whole process takes about 15 min.




Near Tsim Sha Tsui.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

To Korea with Hawaiian Airlines!
 [Hawaiian Airlines] HA 459 HNL-ICN (Honolulu->Seoul/Incheon) trip report
 [하와이안항공] HA 459 호놀룰루->서울/인천 탑승기

 
HA 459 HNL-ICN (Honolulu->Seoul/Incheon)
DEP HNL 14 MAY 2014 13:40
ARR ICN 15 MAY 2014 18:50
Flight Duration: 10:50
Aircraft: A330-200

Courtesy of www.flightaware.com
After a good stopover in Honolulu and good times with friends here, it was time for me to depart for Korea. It took me about an hour to get to Honolulu from my friend's house.  I took the City bus 20, which also goes to Waikiki Beach.  City bus 19 also goes the same direction.

Before you continue on.... here's my return flight trip report with Hawaiian

After passing through the security and customs, I found a special-livery Alaskan Airlines B737.

I got a take-out from the food court in the terminal and continued on plane-spotting.  I always ask for take-out, since it seems like I'm getting more food that way~

And my flight to Seoul. HA 459. It is code-shared with Korean Air.

My boot and the Hawaiian Airlines.


Boarding process went smoothly. I was one of the first to get into the plane.


I took this time to quickly get snap shots of interior of the plane before everyone else boarded.


My seat on the window side. All seats had water, blanket, and pillow.


All of the seats would eventually be taken on today's flight.


It seems to be Hawaiian Airlines A330 paradise here!


My boot in the plane.


And about 50 minutes later, we have taken off.
There were some Korean flight attendants aboard today.  One of them spoke in English and Korean. Her Korean wasn't so great. Her accent was bad and half of the time I couldn't even understand what she was saying.  On top of it, she sounded a little terse.
She was explaining all of the landmarks of Hawaii that the passengers on the right side could see.


Anyways, we were on our way towards Korea.


And the inflight cabin lighting gradually shifted.



Hawaiian Airlines has personal TVs for each seat, but you gotta pay in order to watch it. For each movies, you have to pay 7.99 USD or shows for 6.99 USD. I didn't want to pay that much money so I decided to read some book.


I always mix the Pass-O-Guava juice and Sprite. It tastes good that way^^. That Pau Hana snack is also one of the best airline's signature snacks out there.


Shortly after, I realized there was some error with the system. All of the movies there were previously locked for price were now being offered with no charge.  The bad news was that a lot of the movies that I wanted to watch were missing from the list.
I decided to watch the "Secret Life of Walter Mitty".


There were no choices given for the in-flight meal. The flight attendant said it was a Korean style chicken.



Seeing that I was a Korean, she also offered me a Gochujang (Korean pepper paste).


In-flight mood lighting after meal service.


The bathroom was very clean.


After 5 hours, I decided to take a stretch break. The curtain you see is set up for crew to go in and take a rest. The flight attendants set up a mini snack bar in the back so that passengers could go and get some beverages or pau hana snacks. Unfortunately, they did not have ramen.


A cute little girl that was fooling around in front of me.






As the plane was passing through Japan Airspace, they distributed some snack boxes.


I ordered Pass-O-Guava and Sprite again. The Snack Box had turkey/cheese sandwich and cookie.





Incheon/Songdo City on the far. It's been almost one year since I've last been to Korea.




The plane was now heading toward the satellite concourse of Seoul/Incheon Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines was a good experience overall; the flight attendants were very attentive and the meals were nice. but I personally did not like the idea of having to pay almost 8 USD just to watch a movie in-flight.