Review: Asiana First Class Lounge at Seoul Incheon

The Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge at Seoul Incheon Airport is located in departure area #4 near gate 42. It’s located on the fourth floor of the international terminal and is only available to first class passengers on Asiana Airlines or Star Alliance flights. Star Alliance Gold card holders, Priority Pass members and business class passengers can use the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge located in departure area #3 near gate 28.

The First Class Lounge is open from 6:50 AM to 9:00 PM and the Business Class Lounge is open from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM. On this trip, I was connecting from my first class flight from Frankfurt to my business class flight to Shanghai. Interesting note: though their service in the air is top notch, Asiana’s ground services could learn a few things from their Asian counterparts.

For example, first class passengers departing Seoul receive an escort through security, to the lounge and to the aircraft but arriving first class passengers get no such attention. Unlike Airlines like Thai Airways, arriving first class passengers don’t get an escort, assistance with fast-tracking through immigration or expedited baggage retrieval. It’s not the end of the world by any means but it’s really those nice little touches that separates a good airline from a great airline.

Upon arriving into Seoul, I followed the signs and made my way to the Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge. Even though I was technically supposed to use the Business Class Lounge, the desk agent allowed me to use the First Class Lounge. I don’t know if this was allowed because I was arriving on a first class flight or if she was smitten by my charming personality. I’ll let you guys decide. 🙂 But hey, it never hurts to ask so give it a try if you find yourself in the same situation.

The lounge itself was not very large but by only allowing first class passengers (and jokers like me) entry, it was never busy, crowded or loud at all. The open floor plan made the lounge feel spacious and the walled partitions provided defined spaces for semi-privacy and personal space.

The lounge was beautiful and reminded me of an elegant library. The mahogany walls, high-back chairs, baby grand piano and clean colors created a warm yet very luxurious space and made me feel a little guilty for not having a coat jacket on.

As you enter the lounge, there is a separate business center located to the left of the reception desk. There, you will find individual work stations with access to printers, copiers and a fax machine if you need to get some work done before/after your flight. Because the door can be closed, it offered more privacy and quiet from the main seating area.

The main seating area was located in the middle of the lounge. There were low walls that separated the seating area into small living rooms with a variety of seating options from lounge chairs to sofas. Behind the main seating area was a dining room setup with several small tables and chairs in clusters of four. The buffet and self-serve alcohol station was located along the counter in the dining room area. The spread was quite impressive with a great selection of hot and cold dishes including dim sum, soups, noodles, smoked salmon, cheese, fruit and desserts.

On the right side of the lounge, there was a wall of windows with views of the tarmac and high book shelves that created defined spaces to the open floor plan. The book shelves were beautifully decorated with antique “books” and adorned with elegant statues and bowls. And by “books,” I mean the exterior covers resembled a book but the pages inside were all blank.

If you want to rest, there are several relaxation, television and massage rooms that you could use. But don’t get too excited just yet. The relaxation, television and massage rooms were quite sub-par and sounded much nicer than what they were. The relaxation room was just a quiet room with several partitions that separated individual recliner chairs and ottomans.

The small space allowed you to kick back and relax but they were not great for sleeping. And the television room? Same as the relaxation room but with a TV and DVD player in front of it. Massage room? Yeah, it was just a small cubicle area with an electronic massage chair in it. It was actually disappointing for such an exclusive lounge. The whole concept of the relaxation, television and massage rooms seemed like a waste of space and could have been used for several, individual sleeping rooms.

The lounge also offered a shower room but I didn’t take advantage of that. However, I did use the WiFi and it was pretty fast.

Overall, this was a nice lounge and I would visit again. There were definitely some hits and misses. I really liked that the lounge was spacious and never felt busy or crowded. I think there were maybe six other people in the lounge with me at 1:00 PM on a Monday afternoon. The lounge was beautiful, food spread was great and the business center provided a quiet place to work. However, the cramped relaxation, television and massage rooms were a big waste of space and didn’t really provide long-haul customers with a place to relax before their connecting flights.

Have you visited the Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge? If so, tell me your thoughts in the comments section below.

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About James Dozer