Passenger comfort still a priority on venerable Korean Air A380

When Airbus first started delivering the A380 in the late 2000s it represented a new vision for long-haul travel. It would have the best of everything that technology of the time could provide, along with the highest possible degree of comfort for all passengers.

Many years later in 2025, Korean Air still operates its few remaining A380s exactly as envisioned and originally delivered in 2011. A longhaul economy flight between New York JFK and Seoul provided a fascinating look at how Airbus’ and Korean’s double-decker aircraft of the future have stood the test of time.

While the ticket was booked through SkyTeam partner Delta, I experienced no issues managing seats in advance or checking in online with Korean’s iOS app and receiving boarding passes.

On the day of travel I noticed that the aircraft had departed Seoul a bit late, and indeed this slightly impacted our departure. Rather than leave passengers in the lurch, Korean Air staff at the gate kept passengers well informed, even breaking out a whiteboard to post the 15-minute boarding delay.

Korean was the first airline to dedicate the entire upper deck of an A380 to business class, effectively providing those passengers with an experience where they’d never even see an economy passenger.

That illusion is broken for first class passengers on the lower deck as every economy passenger made their way through that cabin while boarding at JFK.

Despite its many years in service, Korean has never updated or enhanced its A380 interiors, outside of a recent seat cover change to align with the airline’s new brand. What was chosen in the mid-2000s and delivered in 2011 is still in place in 2025, from the entertainment system to the seats themselves.

With a seat pitch of 33-34 inches and width of more than 18 inches, it doesn’t really get better in economy than what Korean offers on its A380.

This was a very long flight, and at no point was I left wanting for more legroom or anything more out of my seat.

The seat itself was in terrific shape for its age, too. Short of a bump to a premium economy product which Korean does not offer, this was as good as it gets.

One aspect of the A380 I was wary about before the flight was the extremely dated Panasonic inflight entertainment system. For a daytime flight of this duration I was going to need to stay awake and entertained for a good while.

The system is so old that it predates capacitive touchscreens and LED backlights, requiring disruptively strong finger presses to navigate the menus while the display housing kicks out a tremendous amount of waste heat.

Despite its age, the system managed to deliver a decent enough experience thanks to its tethered remote control, just barely bright enough screen and surprisingly robust content catalog. Korean doesn’t offer the most movies of any airline, but its library was sufficient enough to keep me engaged while the elderly USB-A port eventually managed to charge my iPhone by the time we hit the Pacific Ocean.

While the majority of Korean’s fleet does not offer Wi-Fi, something I would have absolutely wanted on a daytime flight this long, it recently announced plans to roll out Starlink across its entire fleet, though I doubt the A380 survives long enough at Korean to see that happen.

My last experience with Korean’s catering in 2019 left me wanting more, so expectations were somewhat low this time. Thankfully, my expectations were shattered.

I couldn’t pass up another shot at inflight Bibimbap, and I swear it was the same meal and portion size served in business class all those years ago. The presentation was different, of course, as this was very much a “do it yourself” affair with separate packaging for the rice and soup that had to be assembled, but on such a long flight this itself is a form of entertainment.

I really enjoy assembling my own meal in economy as the challenge of putting the meal together in such a tight space provides a much needed break from staring at the entertainment screen. I also appreciated the robust mid-flight snacks available in the galley.

A hot pocket-type meal was offered at another point.

Crew members also served up a tasty pre-arrival meal.

The biggest trick up the A380’s sleeve is its ample non-seating space that allows airlines to get creative in ways that modern aircraft don’t have room for. Emirates has its famous bar, Etihad has its multi-room Residence, and Korean has its Sky Shop.

Intended to be a full on duty free showroom in the sky, the space wasn’t reactivated after COVID (when the super jumbo was stored). Despite that, or perhaps enabled by that, the space is now a fantastic area to simply stretch and hang out without getting in the way of the crew in their galley space.

This space on board is invaluable on a flight lasting the better part of a day, and is a perk becoming increasingly rare as airlines shift to smaller aircraft, including narrowbodies flying long haul, which don’t have an inch of space to spare.

At more than 15 hours aloft, this turned out to be my longest ever flight seated in economy class. A combination of early 2000s design and mid-2020s execution ensured that it was far from my longest feeling economy flight, however.

We may never see an aircraft that prioritizes passenger comfort as highly as Airbus did with the A380.

I’m glad I got to experience Korean Air’s version of it before it goes extinct.

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