Route of the month - London Heathrow to Seoul Incheon

Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business travellers. This month: London Heathrow to Seoul Incheon and beyond When it comes to nonstop flying, Oneworld is the missing alliance on this route. Skyteam’s Korean Air (KAL) and Star’s Asiana Airlines are dominant. The best option for Oneworld passengers is to route via Helsinki with Finnair, since British Airways last served Seoul some ten years ago. BA says it has no plans to return. This may seem surprising given South Korea’s growing economy, but it must be remembered that BA is unable to offer the connection possibilities of its two Korean rivals. Seoul’s Incheon airport acts as a regional hub for Northern Asia in the same way as Amsterdam does for Northern Europe. So just as passengers can reach some cities in, say, the UK or Germany more easily via Schiphol than via London or Frankfurt, so, too, can you access areas of mainland China and Japan more easily via Incheon than Beijing or Tokyo. Besides their regional links, Asiana and KAL also compete for the voluminous market between the UK and Australia with attractive fares to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. But such tickets are not openly promoted, one reason being because the cost of flying to Australia via Seoul is little more than the cost of flying to Seoul itself. They cannot be booked online so you need to contact your travel agent or one of these carriers direct. Also note that schedules on the way back from Australia dictate an overnight stop. Both carriers provide a night’s free accommodation in Seoul plus dinner and breakfast. Our Forum readers (see businesstraveller.com/discussion) have praised this routing.

What Korean Air offers

Flight KE908 leaves Heathrow Terminal 4 at 2005 to arrive into Seoul the next day at 1555. Inbound flight KE907 departs at 1310 to reach Heathrow at 1620. KAL operates a B747-400 with 12 first, 61 business and 262 economy class passengers. The big news is that KAL will be taking delivery of its first A380 on June 1 (for more details see businesstraveller.com/tags/korean+air). The entire top deck of its superjumbo will be given over to a 94-seater business class cabin with fully flat seating. The A380 will first enter service on regional routes before tackling the transpacific service to New York and Los Angeles. It is unclear when the aircraft will serve Europe or, indeed, whether or not London will be served before Frankfurt or Paris Charles de Gaulle. But KAL says the intention is that the A380 will reach London in time for the 2012 Olympics.

What Asiana offers

Flights depart four times a week from Heathrow’s T1. Flight OZ522 leaves at 2100 and reaches Seoul the following day at 1650, while OZ521 departs Seoul at 1330 to land in Heathrow at 1725. Asiana operates a two-class B777-200 with up to 32 seats in business and 271 in economy class. Both Korean and Asiana Airlines have an angled lie-flat business class product.

What Finnair offers

Finnair is a popular choice with readers on our forum. The carrier is adept at attracting passengers from Northern Europe to transfer in Helsinki for destinations on its growing Asian network. Changing planes at Helsinki is an easier process than at, say, London Heathrow (see businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/airlines/finnair). It might seem that flying indirectly with Finnair will take longer. That is certainly true if you depart from London, but Finnair scores by the fact it also departs from Manchester. So travellers based in the north-west of England will find Finnair a speedier option than trekking south to Heathrow. The carrier operates six times a week on the Helsinki-Seoul stretch. It is also the only one of the three carriers to provide fully flat seats in business class. Out of Heathrow, flight AY832 departs T3 at 1020 and reaches Helsinki at 1515. Mancunians take flight AY934 at 1015, arriving at 1505. After a connection of just over two hours (providing time to sample Helsinki’s new transit facilities), onward service AY041 leaves at 1730 to reach Seoul at 0815 the next day. On the return, passengers take flight AY042 from Seoul at 1020, landing in Helsinki at 1405, and connecting either with AY833 to Heathrow (1600-1710) or AY937 to Manchester (1600-1655). Finnair operates a two-class A330-300 on the Helsinki-Seoul stretch, with 32 seats in business and 231 seats in economy class.

Fares

Return flights in early April with Korean Air start from £5,307 for first, £2,502 for business and £792 for economy class. Asiana Airlines charges £2,119 for business and £731 for economy class, and Finnair charges £2,090 and £597, respectively. Finnair flights out of Manchester are £2,078 and £585 (prices sourced from opodo.co.uk).