So I was pretty pumped for the return trip. Not just cuz I was ready to be home, but because I was booked on an A350. I took the bus to the airport, checked in, and headed to the lounge.
Asiana has a pretty good Business Class lounge! I liked the ambiance, the instant noodle selection, and the little rooms you could relax in.
A little bit before boarding, I went out to look at the plane! I have mixed feelings about the raccoon eyes or mask or whatever you want to call Airbus’ standard paint scheme.
There was a heavy storm that was delaying things (like I got random text message from the Korean Weather Bureau alerting us to what I presume was flash flooding), so I walked around the terminal to get another view of the jet.
That wing is pretty ugly, and that winglet is kind of weird…
The seat however, was pretty nice!
The tray table design was pretty interesting. Rather than having a table on telescoping rails that you pull towards yourself, you unlatched the panel on the seat shell, swiveled it out, and then rotated it down.
The cabin architecture was pretty underwhelming. Also, the PSU panels definitely had an unintended wave going… the downsides to weight savings I guess…
One thing that was neat, was the OLED lighted signs on the PSU’s… (look at the fasten seat belt signs. Those could change to various commands.
The FWD galley was surprisingly small. Just a handful of carts and three beverage makers. The F-5 position held more carts and all of the standard containers, and there was another small galley AFT of Door 1 Left (that you can see in the image above). Surprisingly, that was where the ovens and chillers were installed… I guess this is all a consequence of Airbus’ crew rest position (just AFT of the flight deck bulkhead).
The A350 galleys are all made by Rockwell Collins (formerly B/E Aerospace), so all of the electrical equipment is from the Essence Line, which is the latest and greatest. I was most interested in the cappuccino maker on the right…
I was curious about the lavatory, but given the SFE nature of the A350, it was also pretty bland. The mirror was already cracked and taped together, and the sink was kind of meh (though generously sized).
A pretty new plane, and the paint is already chipping off…
Anywho, after some time, we eventually took off, and made it above the storm clouds. We were greeted with a FABULOUS sunset!
ENHANCE!!!
Dinner was served shortly after we hit cruise. I chose the Korean set, ssambap.
I ordered a glass of eiswein, and wanted the cheesecake for dessert, but apparently the cheesecake was reserved for passengers that ordered the western set… So, I got a tiny fruit plate.
^honestly, this was kind of disappointing!
Since we were arriving in SEA around 10am, I dozed off for most of the flight. When I woke up, we were about three hours out, and the sun was *just* starting to rise. The clouds had some funky ripple running through them
first light
The winglet was sort of growing on me? but only sort of…
Breakfast was served, and I got the Korean porridge with fish and three slivers of mushroom.
The goal was to stay awake at this point, so I ordered a cappuccino. The flight attendant came back and said that the steam wand wasn’t working, so they could only serve espresso. Again, somewhat disappointed…
^I know, I know, first world problems…
I got up to walk around before the final “sit your ass down!” message from the flight crew.
The descent into SeaTac was pretty spectacular
There were good views of the Olympics and The Brothers!
The way the light was filtering through the clouds was just about perfect.
We flew around a hazy Rainier…
And even stopped by Seattle Center!
…and downtown!
Overall, the flight was great, and I can’t complain too much. The A350 is a nice and quiet plane… although, despite the partially carbon fiber construction, the humidity was pretty low (not too different from the 777 or A330, and nowhere near the levels of the 787). If I had to book a flight in the future, I’d look at whether the 777, 787, or A380 had a better hard product on-board first.
Oh, when we left the airplane though… it was absolute chaos at SeaTac International Arrivals. The following planes had also landed within one-hour of my flight:
- Lufthansa 747-400
- British 777-200LR
- Emirates 777-300ER
- Norwegian 787-8
- Korean 777-300ER
- ANA 787-9
- Hainan 787-9
- Xiamen 787-8
- Some Alaska flight from Canada
So there were literally close to 2000 humans jammed into this arrival hall. Lines were backed up to the jetway… I was able to skip these lines and get through customs relatively quickly with Global Entry, but my luggage took about 1.5 hours to show up…
Anyways, it was good to be home!