The oneworld alliance opens its first airport lounge in Seoul (although BA doesn’t fly there)

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• Simon says:

  23 Jan23 January 03:25

  Can you get access flying Korean Air as a Japan Airlines codeshare?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    23 Jan23 January 08:34

    No because Korean Air aren’t in One World!

• Dubious says:

  23 Jan23 January 04:34

  How will they decide what passengers want in these lounges?

  Trying to cover the broad suite of carriers, which each have their own position on cost versus quality ratio, I do fear a OneWorld lounge will see a drive towards a lowest-common denominator type offering over time.

  How does this lounge compare with the existing lounges in use by those airlines?

  • david says:

    23 Jan23 January 06:34

    If it was up to me I would say ‘let OnTheBeach customers in’.

    • Ironside says:

      23 Jan23 January 08:08

      You are Elon ‘sink’ Musk and I claim my €5!

  • Nick says:

    23 Jan23 January 08:49

    Most airports only have contract lounges so it’s already a ‘get what you’re given’, only now the money goes into oneworld rather than third party pockets. Oneworld itself isn’t a revenue generating enterprise so the profits can be reinvested in similar ventures going forward. It’s surprisingly easy to agree what a ‘good’ lounge looks like, it only gets difficult at the ‘top end’ level.

    The concept was only ever intended for airports with lots of oneworld carriers but no dominant home airline, hence Moscow, Seoul, etc. Amsterdam is going to be difficult because it’s split Schengen/non.

    • lumma says:

      23 Jan23 January 12:22

      Only two oneworld airlines would be flying intra Schengen from AMS

• John Murray says:

  23 Jan23 January 04:57

  I flew out of ICN last night on Qatar and there was no mention of this lounge – we were sent, along with many other carriers passengers, to the tired and overcrowded Asiana business lounge.

• Peggerz says:

  23 Jan23 January 07:28

  I am off to ICN with QR later this year so will check this out. It is an improvement on the previous offering of the Asiana Lounge. The problem is that presently the QR flight to DOH leaves at 01:20am and this lounge closes at 11:45pm. However that is better than my last time there the Asiana Lounge closed at 11:00pm. A small improvement….

• Alistair says:

  23 Jan23 January 07:32

  Speaking of lounges, did HFP ever cover the additions to the Greenwich lounge for T8 JFK? I was there the other week and it had expanded significantly from my visit a year ago. I don’t recall a HFP article on it, but assume the focus would be on Chelsea and SoHo lounges instead.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jan23 January 07:37

    Not covered, BA hasn’t sent any pics.

  • Rhys says:

    23 Jan23 January 10:16

    Never actually been inside the Greenwich lounge!

    • Alistair says:

      23 Jan23 January 20:47

      Highly recommend a visit next time you’re there. It’s actually now a HUGE space with four different and distinct zones with different food and beverage offerings, and leaves business class tickets with no status a good lounge offering.

• Luke says:

  23 Jan23 January 07:45

  Are there any options to fly to Seoul with a companion voucher? As far as I can see Iberia and Aer Lingus don’t fly there either

  • Alex G says:

    23 Jan23 January 11:28

    Use a voucher to get to Hong Kong, then an Avios redemption to ICN on Cathay. Or buy a flight from China or Japan.

    • Luke says:

      23 Jan23 January 12:04

      Thank you – that’s a decent option

  • Jonathan says:

    23 Jan23 January 14:30

    It’s much too far for Aer Lingus to be travelling, plus they don’t don’t fly anywhere near that part of the world, just about the same for Iberia, most of their long haul network is focused on Latin America

• Novice says:

  23 Jan23 January 07:53

  Heading SK in April so hopefully will check it out but depends on departure gate as I don’t think I would especially trek far just for a tiny lounge. I am flying finnair.

  • The Original David says:

    23 Jan23 January 08:08

    Fun fact: SK is the ISO code for Slovakia

    • Novice says:

      23 Jan23 January 19:24

      Yh but u all know what I meant. Thought I would say SK as I am touring all over the country not just heading to Seoul.

• Paul says:

  23 Jan23 January 08:03

  “It is a route which has come and gone over the years, but it never seems to attract enough premium traffic to stick around.“

  BA have only themselves to blame. They have messed about with this route since its inception. Firstly it operated twice weekly via HKG and had 5th freedom rights. This was intended to develop and grow the market and it worked. The flights between HKG and SEL were packed and the Koreans liked the product but required Korean crew. This led to a Korean cabin crew base which was hugely successful albeit the crew only ever flew SEL LHR thanks to outdated attitudes among the crew unions.
  When the Korean economy suffered a shock in the late 90’s BA fled dumping the crew and generally creating such bad feeling in the country that their later return, non stop now to LHR, struggled. The Korean crew never returned which was a cultural necessity in a crowded market.

  Meanwhile, KLM and Lufthansa stayed the course curtailing but not eliminating the route and thereby retaining goodwill in a nation where such things mattered (and still do) to many. Staying the course and having a long term strategic approach is vital in the Far East and BA just don’t have such a world view.

  While KLM and LH have grown, AF and AY have entered the market and of Course QR. BA are no where to be seen and frankly would struggle again given the poor level of service and historical baggage.

  I also note that for flights in Feb BA codeshare partner is CX from HKG rather than either AY or QR. If they are hoping this routing will help their presence in Korea they are very badly mistaken.

  • Dev says:

    23 Jan23 January 08:33

    Why the negative assumption about Korean crews only working SEL-LHR?

    This is British Airways. Other than the Gulf Carriers, you would not expect to see a Peruvian working for Mongolian airlines on a flight between Ulaan Bataar and Fiji.

    • John says:

      23 Jan23 January 10:04

      Why not, as long as they speak Mongolian to a high standard?

  • JDB says:

    23 Jan23 January 08:36

    @Paul – you are right to say that BA doesn’t have a “world view” that determines its route network and nor would its parent or shareholders wish it to. It’s all about profitability for IAG airlines. AF/KL and LH group are not only susceptible to political pressure to maintain or enter certain markets, but they have very low profitability expectations as can be observed in their financial results. These route network comparisons between BA and other airlines seem rather pointless.

    • HampshireHog says:

      23 Jan23 January 08:55

      Short term profitability, the endemic problem of British business as opposed to long term growth. Just look at the share buy backs as an example of a lack of ambition for long term growth.

      • JDB says:

        23 Jan23 January 10:49

        @HampshireHog – even Warren Buffett does share buybacks! Is he unambitious for long term growth? There are plenty of big UK companies that invest for long term growth.

        • HampshireHog says:

          24 Jan24 January 17:09

          and a I’d wager more that very obviously don’t !

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