Korea is a great stopover point whenever you’re traveling from North America. Like Tokyo, it’s one of the main hubs you fly over first before heading to other destinations that’s more South in Asia.
So a layover we commonly do when we want to change things up is to stop by Seoul to get our fashion and cosmetic cravings on.
Cue the paparazzis
All Asiana Airlines flights at ICN departs in Terminal 1. After the security checkpoint, there are various signage around the Duty Free shopping area that leads you to their Business Class lounge.
The lounge itself is located on the 2nd floor of the terminal after the escalators. This is a Star Alliance lounge that welcomes its Gold members and any airlines within the network that’s flying First or Business Class.
If you’re flying neither of those, don’t fret. It’s a Priority Pass lounge too.
My initial impressions were very positive. It looks elegantly decorated with lots of real estate space. Not to mention, an awesome A380 model right in the front at check-in.
After showing our boarding pass, Paul requested if any showers were available.
Sorry… currently our shower is a 2-hour wait
It was a foreshadow of what’s to come….
This lounge was CROWDED.
Like the Centurion Lounge in Miami & Seattle, almost every seat was occupied anywhere you go.
With minimal staff working, even the one large water bottle needed a refill…
And the food offerings was a dreadful sight for the eyes.
On a positive note, the lounge had some large T.V. with entertaining Korean shows.
And a pretty piano that I appreciated.
Overall, this is the perfect example of never judging a book by its cover. Even though my eyes initially loved the lounge decor, it fails pretty much in all other aspects in what a business class lounge should be.
- No seats to even relax in
- No premium amenities offered
- 2+ hour shower wait time (was probably unlucky when this happened… but really come on, two hours?!)
- Inedible foods
- Understaffed in maintenance of the inedible foods
- A piano missing a piano player
Maybe it was the Gentle Monster shades Paul bought or maybe it was Pokémon Squirtle making all of us too bougie… but this place definitely was a huge disappointment. It’s a shame, because I feel like this place has potential, but it doesn’t even try to be “premium”.
Oh well, let’s go Squirtle. We’ll go to the duty free shops instead.
Chai Bear World 