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Part 6: ICN-CSX Asiana BUSINESS CLASS
Boarding announcements and greeting were made in three languages: Korean, Chinese, and English which at time seemed to drag on forever. The ride was pretty smooth despite a choppy section about an hour into the flight. A pre-departure drink was offered and I took still water. She did not even have to ask if I wanted ice with that as most Asian people are not used to having water with ice cubes in in. Hot towel was distributed and collected pretty quickly.
I was given a menu for the dinner on board and I went with the Korean option which consisted of a smoked fish roll for the starter and Bibimbap with the fixings and soup. Dessert was a fruit plate consisting of sliced apple wedge, sliced Korean pear wedge, melon slices, and X which was pretty good. The purser on the Lufthansa flight recommended that I try the dessert wines in the future as it is not as strong since the grapes are harvested later in the season making it a bit sweeter and "less potent" for me when compared to the regular dinner wines. The Korean man went with the Western Option. The menu for this flight had the meal option for the red eye flight returning to Seoul-Incheon as well and it is a pretty light snack.
I was given a menu for the dinner on board and I went with the Korean option which consisted of a smoked fish roll for the starter and Bibimbap with the fixings and soup. Dessert was a fruit plate consisting of sliced apple wedge, sliced Korean pear wedge, melon slices, and X which was pretty good. The purser on the Lufthansa flight recommended that I try the dessert wines in the future as it is not as strong since the grapes are harvested later in the season making it a bit sweeter and "less potent" for me when compared to the regular dinner wines. The Korean man went with the Western Option. The menu for this flight had the meal option for the red eye flight returning to Seoul-Incheon as well and it is a pretty light snack.
After dinner, I was ready to turn in and sleep for the duration of the 1000 mile flight that took about 3 & ½ hours. Little did I know that my left nostril would go crazy and started bleeding profusely for a good ten minutes. I had some tissues on hand in my pocket to plug it but it was not enough. At the same time, we started to get choppy in flight and I had to rush to the bathroom to attend to my nose. I tried to plug it with more tissues but it slowed down eventually and I settled to having just having a piece of tissue stick in my nose for the time beam. The flight attendant was very attentive and caring during my little emergency situation. I am not sure why it occurred but I chalk it up to flying for forty hours in 2 days with exposure to a high altitude for a long time and perhaps a little dehydrated as well.
I eventually dozed off and woke up about an hour before arrival. When we landed a coach passenger rushed ahead of me to get an immigration card from the First Class Flight Attendant and filled it out while we waited for the gate agent to finish the paperwork. I was the first one to cross the jet bridge and eventually made my way to the customs and immigration hall. It was very small with about 8 people working the booths for the late flight arrival from Seoul-Incheon. My immigration officer took his time to check my passport, visa, and looked at the others visas I had stamped in my passport before letting me go. The baggage claim was nearby and I had to wait about five minutes before it finally showed up (despite having Star Alliance Priority and Lufthansa HON tags). I am not sure if they follow up the priority luggage tags at the airport but I was happy that it came out sooner rather than later. I went through customs with no problems despite having two large suitcases, a small plastic bag, and a carry-on rollaway baggage. My ride was not there waiting so I had to borrow a cell phone from a nice young woman from the information desk who let me dial from her phone and then told my ride that I was at the international arrival hall and not at the domestic one. By time I landed, went through customs/immigration, and got picked up, it took about thirty minutes. The ride to my home took another thirty minutes and I was glad to have made it to my home despite forty hours of traveling. I immediately went to sleep after chatting with my uncle and was awoken at 6 AM when my uncle woke up to go the airport to catch a flight to Hainan.
The Lufthansa First experience was great along with the First Class Terminal and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I cannot properly assess the Asiana Service as I flew on a regional haul flight and will need to experience a First Class long haul along with the First Class Lounge to get a better assessment of Asiana Service (which was the Best in 2010 according to Skytrax and they are one of the few five-star airlines in the world as designated by Skytrak). This one way trip in First only cost me 60,000 US Airways miles which I think is a great bargain especially being able to transit through Europe and experience Lufthansa First Service the whole way.
Part 6: ICN-CSX Asiana BUSINESS CLASS 
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