Australia to Germany the long way

[boomy]

The executive lounge.

Food options like in most western hotels, good but not outstanding. It was good enough for dinner if traveling alone and that what is most important in an executive lounge IMO (as someone who often travels solo for business). I did like the German Riesling on offer, something different then the mostly appalling Chilean wines I tried in other Korean hotels.
The positives: new hotel, modern rooms, nice lounge, good status recognition, relatively close to airport, shuttle bus to airport stops frequently at the hotel.
The negatives: location far from Seoul (1hr), not much to do in the area during winter.
The next morning we had a light breakfast, keeping in mind we will soon visit the OZ F lounge.
We had a short walk outside after breakfast.


After check out we hopped on the KAL shuttle to the airport. I found it interesting KAL use it's shuttles to transfer both the airline crew and hotel guests together.

 

[boomy]

ICN airport
After the missus checked in for her flight back to BNE we went together to check in for my flight to FRA.
OZ don't have any fancy F check in area, just a big yellow sign and carpet.

I was originally allocated at 2K and was able to change the seat to 1A at check in. For some reason row 1 can't be pre-selected, that's why I guess the seat was still vacant.
After I got the BP someone came to escort me through dedicated fast track security to the F lounge. The OZ girl was a bit confused when my gf joined us and said that fast track is only for F pax, not J. She said that she will help with security but after that we will have to go to the J lounge if we want to be together. I told her not to worry about it and let me do the talking when we get to the lounge. I never understood how can it be that passengers know the rules better then the staff working at the airport. I have the *A lounge rules stored on my iPhone exactly for situations like this one. Fortunately the F lounge lady was a bit more informed and once she saw my gf's BP she let her in immediately.

 

[boomy]

OZ F lounge
The dark wood furniture and dim lighting give the place a calm and luxurious atmosphere.



I like the library style OZ decorates the J and F lounges.

The grand piano

 

[boomy]

The dining area

Smoked duck breast in orange sauce, yum!

Nice alcohol selection

Individual TV viewing seats

Massage chairs (spent almost an hour there)

 

[JessicaTam]

The lounge looks impressive. Were the staff attentive?

 

[boomy]

The lounge looks impressive. Were the staff attentive?

I drank a glass of champagne and then got up to have a look around. When I returned to my seat a few minutes later the glass was full again.
I hope that answers your question

 

[TomVexille]

I drank a glass of champagne and then got up to have a look around. When I returned to my seat a few minutes later the glass was full again.
I hope that answers your question

Magic!

 

[amaroo]

Looks like a club (bit of a CCR rip off?) I'm guessing the lounge staff would have been 100% better than the ex-gulag staff working the the LHR CCR.

 

[JessicaTam]

I drank a glass of champagne and then got up to have a look around. When I returned to my seat a few minutes later the glass was full again.
I hope that answers your question

It does nicely, thank you.

 

[boomy]

ICN-FRA OZ F
When entering the lounge I was informed that someone will come to escort me to the plane when boarding starts but I politely declined as I wanted to go down and have a look around the terminal before boarding (ICN is one of the best designed airports in the world IMO).
I arrived to the gate 10 min after boarding was called and there was no queue in the J/F lane. The FA who checked my BP when entering the plane showed me to my seat and offered to hang my coat, very good start, I was already impressed!
It was the old style OZ B747 F cabin, no surprises there, this is the one they always use for flights to FRA.

The seat was comfortable but I found it a bit too short when switching to fully flat mode (I'm 190cm). It wasn't a major inconvenience but still not something one expects to have when flying F. I guess the seat was originally designed for Koreans...
The CSM came to introduce herself (OZ has all women cabin crew) and another FA came to offer pre-departure drinks. They had two champagnes on offer and by the time we departed I managed to sample both so I can have enough time to make a wise decision with which one to order after takeoff


KA watch and learn, warm nuts served in a bowl.

 

[boomy]

Waiting for takeoff, a few planes ahead of us.

 

[boomy]

Wine list
Champagne

White

Red

Dessert

 

[boomy]

Lunch menu
Western

Korean

Refreshments

Snack (second serve)

 

[boomy]

Lunch service started with Russian Caviar.

Followed by Korean Royal Table D'hote.
Ginseng salad roll.

Shrimp and vegetables with pine nut sauce.

Rice porridge with purple sweet potato.

Bibimbap with king prawn for main.

 

[boomy]

The lunch service in F was similar to the dinner served in J with a few minor additions and improvements. All in all it's a good meal for someone who likes Korean food. I was the only western in F and everyone else also ordered the Korean meal so I have no idea how the Western option looks like.

 

[boomy]

Comfortable pyjama

Nice slippers

L'occitane amenities in the bathroom

Bose NC headphones

Leather kit for men with Bulgari amenities

 

[boomy]

The OZ service in J is already so good and I was curious to see if it can be any better in F. Well, it was better! In J they wait for you to finish the drink before refilling it while in F they come to refill your glass while it's still half-full. At some point I thought they try to test me to see when I am going to tell them to stop refilling my glass. I could easily finish at least 5 bottles of champagne if I would not have stopped for a few hours to sleep.

 

[boomy]

After lunch I felt a bit tipsy and took a nap. I had quite a lot champagne onboard and probably shouldn't drink so much of the "cheap" stuff in the F lounge, after all it's only logical the quality in the F cabin will always be better but the Moët was good and the lounge angels kept refilling my glass so...
I managed to sleep about four hours, being a day flight I wasn't very tired. When I woke up and looked around there were no FAs in the cabin. No more then two minutes after I put the seat up, one of the FAs came from behind the curtain with a hot towel. I don't know how she knew, my only guess is she heard the seat moving and figured someone just woke up.
What can I say, this is the perfect example of true First Class Service!

 

[boomy]

When the FA offered drinks I asked if any Pol Roger left. "We still have a few bottles" was the answer, ah music to my ears
For 2nd serve I chose the Western option.
Starter was Roasted beet with quail egg, heirloom tomato and mustard vinaigrette.

Main was coughin Lamb Tenderloin matched with a glass of Burgundy red.


Dessert was Vanilla mouse with pineapple, chocolate and lemon dressing matched with a glass of Canadian Ice wine.

Starter and dessert were both good but the lamb was dry and tasteless. Next time I will stick to my rule of ordering traditional meals from the country of the airline I'm flying with.

 

[boomy]

We landed in FRA just before 5pm and I went to have quick shower in the Senator lounge (love the rain showers there) before going to meet the family for the Xmas dinner.
After all the food and drinks I had in the last 11.5 hours the last thing I needed was another big dinner with a lot of alcohol.
Oh well, first world problems.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!