It’s starting to get real. Check in for the first leg done, still not packed off course.
A trip planned for a while doing a US east coast road trip to mark a birthday milestone. Flying in and out of New York driving south to Miami and back another way over five weeks. Longest holiday in 20 years. No more than 4 hours driving in a day in a giant American SUV.
For the actual flights, flying Asiana in J from Sydney to Seoul and then on to New York the next day. On the way back reverse but not leaving the airport.
We are slightly more than the Griswold’s being two parents and three kids under 15 as opposed to the holiday legends who were 2 and 2.
Couple of comments on the Asiana experience so far, recognising they will be merged “eventually”.
1. Very good pricing for J to New York over the Christmas period at ~$7k AUD. For a family of 5 still expensive but not compared to other airlines.
2. Clunky website.
3. Good communication, there has been a couple of 5 or 10 minute schedule changes since we booked. Email received and a follow up call from their Sydney office to confirm the schedule changes are ok. Not sure if this is just a J thing.
4. As we have a more than 10 hour layover on the way to New York we are offered a hotel by Asiana that they pay for. This is not proactively offered and you have to book this against the ticket by calling them. However as they called about the schedule changes I did it then. We don’t know where it is and will be given a voucher at check in at Sydney which we redeem at arrivals in Seoul. From what I’ve read it online it “works well” and is well sign posted but I am alert but not alarmed. Anyway what’s the worst that could happen.
5. For kids meals you can’t add online but have to call. Again did it on one of their calls to us. The flights from
Western ports (Sydney / New York) have only “western” kids meals loaded but the Seoul flights have a choice of western or Korean which you preorder like BTC.
Ended up joining everyone up to Asiana Miles. Again clunky and annoying website but should earn star alliance status (for travellers over 12) and can use points on their partners and their usage process looks reasonably flexible for now. Not that we need status on this trip but may come in handy in the future on flights on Air NZ or SQ.
Will try to post as we go along.
As a side for those that have or have family members with ADHD, Ritalin and similar are illegal in South Korea however you can get an exemption if you are travelling and it is for personal use prescribed by a doctor.. As we are leaving the airport on the way over we applied for one. The website application is relatively straightforward being in English and Korean but you need a lot of supporting documents to upload including letters from a doctor confirming diagnosis and usage rather than the normal doctors letter which just says their prescription.. 6-10 business day processing time and the approval is in Korean only. You have to declare at customs and according to the approval even with approval of you don’t declare you are breaching the law.
A trip planned for a while doing a US east coast road trip to mark a birthday milestone. Flying in and out of New York driving south to Miami and back another way over five weeks. Longest holiday in 20 years. No more than 4 hours driving in a day in a giant American SUV.
For the actual flights, flying Asiana in J from Sydney to Seoul and then on to New York the next day. On the way back reverse but not leaving the airport.
We are slightly more than the Griswold’s being two parents and three kids under 15 as opposed to the holiday legends who were 2 and 2.
Couple of comments on the Asiana experience so far, recognising they will be merged “eventually”.
1. Very good pricing for J to New York over the Christmas period at ~$7k AUD. For a family of 5 still expensive but not compared to other airlines.
2. Clunky website.
3. Good communication, there has been a couple of 5 or 10 minute schedule changes since we booked. Email received and a follow up call from their Sydney office to confirm the schedule changes are ok. Not sure if this is just a J thing.
4. As we have a more than 10 hour layover on the way to New York we are offered a hotel by Asiana that they pay for. This is not proactively offered and you have to book this against the ticket by calling them. However as they called about the schedule changes I did it then. We don’t know where it is and will be given a voucher at check in at Sydney which we redeem at arrivals in Seoul. From what I’ve read it online it “works well” and is well sign posted but I am alert but not alarmed. Anyway what’s the worst that could happen.
5. For kids meals you can’t add online but have to call. Again did it on one of their calls to us. The flights from
Western ports (Sydney / New York) have only “western” kids meals loaded but the Seoul flights have a choice of western or Korean which you preorder like BTC.
Ended up joining everyone up to Asiana Miles. Again clunky and annoying website but should earn star alliance status (for travellers over 12) and can use points on their partners and their usage process looks reasonably flexible for now. Not that we need status on this trip but may come in handy in the future on flights on Air NZ or SQ.
Will try to post as we go along.
As a side for those that have or have family members with ADHD, Ritalin and similar are illegal in South Korea however you can get an exemption if you are travelling and it is for personal use prescribed by a doctor.. As we are leaving the airport on the way over we applied for one. The website application is relatively straightforward being in English and Korean but you need a lot of supporting documents to upload including letters from a doctor confirming diagnosis and usage rather than the normal doctors letter which just says their prescription.. 6-10 business day processing time and the approval is in Korean only. You have to declare at customs and according to the approval even with approval of you don’t declare you are breaching the law.
