Air Premia premium economy (officially known as “Premium Wide”) is hands-down, without a doubt, one of the most comfortable ways to get to and from Korea.
It’s a legitimate premium economy product offering generous legroom, surprisingly large amounts of delicious food, and (you guessed it) wide seats.
The only catch is that you’ve got to be a pretty big fan of Korean movies and TV shows to get the most out of it (they don’t offer anything else). Having the Superman-like ability to brush off 4-hour delays with a disgustingly carefree “oh well – them’s the breaks” attitude will help as well.
YP102 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Seoul, South Korea (ICN) Monday, July 21, 2025 Aircraft: 787-9 Registration: HL8516 Duration: 11 hours 24 minutes Seat: 4F (Premium Wide / Premium Economy)
Air Premia 787-9 side view illustration by NorebboStock.comOur route from Los Angeles to Seoul (Incheon) today as YP102
My full review of Air Premia 787-9 premium economy from Los Angeles to Seoul (Incheon)
Oh. What’s that? You thought that Air Premia was a French airline? Me too (at least up until a couple years ago). Turns out they’re a low-cost South Korean airline with a remarkably good premium economy product.
Arrival at LAX
I arrived at LAX at 7:29 AM in United Express Embraer 175 first class from San Diego. It was immediately after landing that I was hit with the news that my flight to ICN had been delayed four frickin’ hours. Oof.
At least I was comfortable as I tried to figure out what I was going to do for the rest of the morning (and early afternoon).
“Welcome to Terminal B at LAX” he says (as his eyes dart towards a sexy a** QF A380 parked just over yonder).Thankfully I have the attention span of a gnat, and it didn’t take all that long to return my focus on getting really important pictures for the review. Here’s the moving walkway!
They changed the gate number for this flight three times over the course of three hours, and eventually settled on gate 130. Whatever.
Gate 130 (void of any Air Premia ground staff personnel). Can’t say that I blame them for staying out of view, because I wouldn’t know how to convincingly explain a 4 hour delay either.She’s here! She’s here! She’s late AF, but she’s MF here!T-20 minutes to go until boarding commences. Is it just me, or am I going to have an empty seat next to me all the way to ICN today?
The boarding process
They kicked off the boarding process at 2:27 PM. Pretty much a swing and a miss for a flight that was supposed to depart at 10:30 AM, right? Oh well. Them’s the breaks.
TSA Precheck. Zone A. Wide Premium. Four hour delay. Pretty much as baller as it gets when it comes to flying Air Premia.
Passengers needing assistance and/or extra time got to go first. Premium economy passengers followed soon thereafter.
Here we have what appears to be the lead flight attendant instructing her colleague on how to explain the benefits of a four hour delay to frustrated passengers. Said colleague doesn’t seem to be buying her bullsh*t.
Air Premia 787-9 Premium Wide cabin and seats
Premium economy on the Air Premia 787-9 is arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration. There are 7 rows, with 49 seats total.
Whoa. Air Premia Premium Wide = Norse Atlantic Premium Class like a mofo!
Prior to boarding this flight, I had a suspicion that this was going to be an awful lot like Norse Atlantic premium economy. I didn’t expect it to be an exact copy of it however.
Thinking about bailing on this review (because you’ve already read my Norse review)? At least scroll down to the part about the Bibimbap first. Seesh.Seat 4F (totally worth waiting 4 F’n hours for). “Bro. You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” I’m not kidding when I say that these seats every bit as good as what I experienced in ANA 777-300ER premium economy. This good. This real good.“Wide Premium”? “Lotsa Legroom” is a far better name for this IMHO.Look at me getting all comfy on a low-cost long-haul Korean airline. Yeah, we should’ve been in the air four hours ago, but gosh darn it am I ever comfortable.Everyone who bailed on this review because there are no video screens in these seats are going to be totally missing out on the fact that there are actually video screens in these seats.See? All they had to do was scroll down one more picture. The video screens flip up from the armrest!USB times three for me (since it looks like I’m gonna have all three center seats to myself today).There are also full-size electrical outlets located in the center console between the seats. Guess who’s going to be arriving in Korea four hours late fully charged and ready to rip?
Extras
Blankets, pillows, noise canceling headphones, and slippers were at every seat upon boarding. Once everyone was settled, the cabin crew came down the aisles offering pre-departure drinks.
감사합니다 for the pre-departure water! If it’s champagne you want, you’re going to have to plan better next time and fly Korean Air instead.
Amenity kit
Yeah. I know! Amenity kits in low-cost long-haul premium economy? I was not expecting this either. As if that wasn’t enough, it was probably one of the nicest amenity kits I have ever received on an airplane (even in business class).
Whoa. An amenity kit nicer than the one I recently got in Korean Air 747-8 business class was not on my bingo card for this trip. My face doesn’t know it yet, but it looks like it’ll be arriving in Korea fully moisturized and conditioned.
The departure from LAX
We pushed off the gate at 2:54 PM, which was…uh…just a wee bit behind schedule. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this was the fact that the cabin crew made no mention of the delay. At all. “Maybe if we don’t mention it they won’t even notice!”
Dude looks so pissed that he has to share his row of seats with two other people. He is sitting in an airplane with huge panoramic windows though (and his flight probably isn’t four hours late), so he should probably chill just a bit. Just sayin’.Speaking of (tiny) windows, look at what we have here! It’s the airline that rhymes with “horse” (that also features the exact same premium economy cabin as Air Premia). Of course!
The taxi over to runway 24L Took 19 minutes, and we were in the air and on our way at 3:13 PM.
The perverted way in which I was looking at the slippers during the climb out of LAX probably had these things terrified. I’ve been told that I can look a little bit scary when I see something that I like.See? I’m using them for their intended purposes. They had nothing to worry about.
In-flight entertainment
In-flight entertainment in Air Premia premium economy is just so-so. It’s probably spectacular if you love Korean movies and TV shows more than anything else, because that’s all they got. At least they had the decency to provide English subtitles.
Hooray for retractable video screens! They can’t be positioned squarely though (the droop is a mofo), so those of you who suffer from OCD may not share my enthusiasm for their existence.
Plot twist: being forced to watch Korean content ended up being a good thing. It turns out that I actually like Korean movies and TV shows but I didn’t know it yet. I really had no idea!
Noise canceling headphones (designed by Phiaton, soon to be worn by SANspotter).
The noise canceling headphones were pretty good, but not great. They were awfully cheap feeling but it’s kind of what I was expecting.
Look at me being all critical of the headphones. Honestly? I was thinking about whether or not I was going to get the red pepper paste with my Bibimbap or not.
Food and drinks (the first meal service)
They offered us two choices for the first meal (a vegetarian western option, and a Korean option). You’re darn right I chose the Korean option.
Okay, well, it’s not exactly as substantial (or fancy looking) as what I ate in Asiana A330-300 business class once, but I will say that this looks a lot more fancy pants than what you saw in my Zipair 787-8 Full Flat review. I was not expecting this much food.
Alchohol (beer and wine) were available free of charge of course (because premium economy).
By the way, “Honest Candidate” is the perfect movie to pair with Bibimbap. I’ve never felt more Korean in my entire life.“Opp, she bop, she bop!” (humming She Bop by Cyndi Lauper as I take a picture of my Bibimbap)Sesame oil, eh? That’s about as much spice as this pasty white boy can handle. I didn’t dare touch the hot pepper paste.Don’t worry. For those of you who aren’t familiar with my content, this is my “holy sh*t that’s really good and maybe I should’ve went with the hot pepper paste but then again I’m glad I didn’t because I would’ve been miserable later!” face.
Food quality was excellent IMHO. It wasn’t anywhere near as fancy that’s what you would get in business class on many airlines, but it was plentiful. And delicious.
Seat and cabin comfort
It’s not all it difficult to get comfortable in an Air Premia Premium Wide seat. The built-in retractable leg rests combined with the steep recline makes sleeping far easier than it would be way back in economy class.
Immediately after the successful ingestion of the Bibimbap came the successful deployment of the retractable leg rest.More success. Whoever it was at Air Premia who decided on these blankets needs a raise (or at the very least a year’s supply of spicy Bibimbap). This was the right choice!It’s not all fun and games however. That’s an awfully nice way of saying that they’re gonna throw your a** over the border to North Korea if you even think about taking the blanket with you. Be careful.Seat recline is excellent BTW. 45 degrees worth at least. Maybe even 46.
The midflight snack
The cabin crew on this flight never took a break, as they were constantly coming down the aisles offering cups of water to anyone who was still awake.
Something like my 57th water refill so far? I lost count after 40.
With just five hours of flying time remaining, they offered cookies as well. Not a bad in-flight snack in my opinion. I will never not turn down a gooey chocolate chip cookie.
I could only handle one cookie though. It was really good, but the amount of sugar in this thing (combined with the caffeine from the Coke Zero I had earlier) had me twitching and fidgeting in ways I only see in K-pop. Rosé wouldn’t have stood a chance against me and my moves!
Premium economy lavatory
There’s not much to say about the premium economy lavatories other than the fact that they exist. There’s two of them at the front of the cabin, and there are about as basic as it gets. They gotta save money somewhere I guess.
One of the advantages of being hopped up on sugar and caffeine is that it gave me the energy to do a really thorough lavatory review. I did not half a** this.
The pre landing meal
The second (pre-landing) meal was served two hours prior to landing at ICN. There were two choices once again, but I forgot what the other one was immediately after she said “mushroom meatballs.” Long story short: whatever that second option was, I guarantee it wasn’t as good as the meatballs.
You know it’s gonna be a good meal when you notice that the tinfoil is bulging in all the right places. Looks like somebody is happy to see me! A bulging, beastly pile of food. Mushroom meatballs and rice was the right choice.Shrimp? Prawns? Either way, I was only able to eat one of these things because of how big those balls were. Moving on…
Decent and arrival at Incheon Airport
I had pretty much forgiven the four hour delay as we began the descent into ICN. This was a really comfortable flight (with really good food), and life was pretty good at that moment. “Oh well. Them’s the breaks.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine all the residents of Seoul pointing and laughing at us during our approach into ICN. “Maybe fly Korean Air next time if you want pre-departure champagne and 3-hour delays instead of 4!”
We touched down on runway 34L at 6:37 PM. From there it was a 19 minute taxi over to Terminal 1, and we docked at gate 46 at 6:56 PM.
Despite being ridiculed by the locals all the way in, I have no regrets going with Air Premia and their Premium Wide seat. Korean Air is really good. I get that. The balls are bigger on Air Premia however, and that’s tough to beat.
Pros and cons of Air Premia Premium Economy
I was impressed by the Premium Wide experience more than I thought I would be. I knew it would be pretty good (I’ve never had a bad experience on the Korean airline), but it’s always a gamble when flying low-cost long haul. I’m so going to do this again. Hopefully without delays next time!
Pros
The seats are incredibly spacious. Even more spacious than other premium economy experiences I’ve had on other airlines recently.
Seat recline is amazing. It’s not quite lie-flat, but it gets close.
The food (in both quality and quantity) is really good.
Cons
There’s not much variety (or choices) when it comes to in-flight entertainment. Everything is Korean.
Aisle access for middle seat and window seat passengers will be difficult if the people sitting next to and in front of them are fully reclined.
Can you remember the last time that someone told you to stay away from the bare-bones Standard seats on the…
10 Comments
Not gonna lie, I thought this would be another Norse review when I saw the title pic lol.
Speaking of which, it’s interesting how both products, in addition to using the same seat model, also have a similar amount of legroom. All legacy carriers have 38” of pitch in Premium Economy, while Norse & Air Premia have 42-43. I’ve heard that this is because Premium Y is their most premium product, so they can afford to make it as spacious as possible without cannibalizing Business Class sales. And if you ask me, more legroom at a cheaper price sounds like a pretty unbeatable combo.
I’m pretty sure that this is an ex-Norweigian/Norse aircraft, as it’s pretty much a carbon copy of those “premium” experiences. Except for the Bibimbap of course! But yeah, the legroom is incredible.
I’m very much looking forward to trying out their new/updated premium economy cabin sometime in the near future…
I’m wondering about your thoughts about Alaska starting flight internationally to London, and Rome with the Dreamliner. In addition, and a bit juicy, how do you think of the new livery on the 787?
I personally do not really like it but, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Alaska Airlines flying long haul / international will never not be weird to me lol. It is exciting though! And I do quite like the new livery (even though the loss of the Eskimo was a bit of a shock). You can read more of my thoughts about it here:
Was going to ask you to review Air Premia as I have been flying it for my work back and forth to Seoul and wanted to see your thoughts.
I do hope to end up doing a review when Korean Air comes out with their new “Premium Economy” that is designed to rival Air Premia.
I always appreciate your time and efforts in your reviews and thank you for helping my wife and I decide on which airlines to take whenever we travel. Your travels are truly appreciated!
Thanks Marc! Yeah, I’m glad to have finally scratched Air Premia premium economy off my list. For now anyway. I really want to try their new premium economy product, so back on the list goes lol.
Doing it back to back against Korean Air’s new premium economy sounds like a lot of fun I think.
Another question here, my wife and I are planning a trip to Japan via Premium Economy and were wondering, if you recommend JAL, ANA, United, Delta, or AA as which one is the best of the bunch? We are consider comfort the most important, and the reason I am writing to you on the Air Premia review is that we love the Air Premia seats and were wondering if any of those we are asking about match or may be equal to, especially on the recline portion. Air Premia gives you 8″ of recline which is almost unheard of.
Hey Marc! Believe it or not, Air Premia has the most comfortable premium economy seat out of any of those that you listed IMHO.
I will admit that I’m not all familiar with the JAL product (I’ve yet to try that one), but I assume that it would be very similar to the ANA offering. You’ll get the best service on ANA and JAL of course, and if it was me, I would probably go with ANA if I knew that the aircraft I’d be flying on had the new style seat.
Scott, how about a review of Cathay Pacific sometime? The fares for business JNB-LAX are pretty cheap, in a manner of speaking. And the layover in HKG would allow you to check out the various CX clubs. Of course, positioning to JNB offers all sort of reviews depending on the carrier. And if you make it it to JNB, you have to try RwandAir to KGL; any carrier whose boarding music is “You must sleep with me tonight, tonight” deserves a review. Good review on Air Premia.
Thanks David! As a matter fact I do have two Cathy Pacific business class reviews coming up (ICN-HKG and HKG-MNL). One of those is the new 77W cabin – which was really nice. And yes, I did have a chance to check out The Pier at HKG. A full review of that will be coming soon…
Not gonna lie, I thought this would be another Norse review when I saw the title pic lol.
Speaking of which, it’s interesting how both products, in addition to using the same seat model, also have a similar amount of legroom. All legacy carriers have 38” of pitch in Premium Economy, while Norse & Air Premia have 42-43. I’ve heard that this is because Premium Y is their most premium product, so they can afford to make it as spacious as possible without cannibalizing Business Class sales. And if you ask me, more legroom at a cheaper price sounds like a pretty unbeatable combo.
I’m pretty sure that this is an ex-Norweigian/Norse aircraft, as it’s pretty much a carbon copy of those “premium” experiences. Except for the Bibimbap of course! But yeah, the legroom is incredible.
I’m very much looking forward to trying out their new/updated premium economy cabin sometime in the near future…
Hey Scott,
I’m wondering about your thoughts about Alaska starting flight internationally to London, and Rome with the Dreamliner. In addition, and a bit juicy, how do you think of the new livery on the 787?
I personally do not really like it but, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Alaska Airlines flying long haul / international will never not be weird to me lol. It is exciting though! And I do quite like the new livery (even though the loss of the Eskimo was a bit of a shock). You can read more of my thoughts about it here:
Alaska Airlines New Livery
Hi Scott,
Was going to ask you to review Air Premia as I have been flying it for my work back and forth to Seoul and wanted to see your thoughts.
I do hope to end up doing a review when Korean Air comes out with their new “Premium Economy” that is designed to rival Air Premia.
I always appreciate your time and efforts in your reviews and thank you for helping my wife and I decide on which airlines to take whenever we travel. Your travels are truly appreciated!
Thanks Marc! Yeah, I’m glad to have finally scratched Air Premia premium economy off my list. For now anyway. I really want to try their new premium economy product, so back on the list goes lol.
Doing it back to back against Korean Air’s new premium economy sounds like a lot of fun I think.
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the reviews!
Hi Scott,
Another question here, my wife and I are planning a trip to Japan via Premium Economy and were wondering, if you recommend JAL, ANA, United, Delta, or AA as which one is the best of the bunch? We are consider comfort the most important, and the reason I am writing to you on the Air Premia review is that we love the Air Premia seats and were wondering if any of those we are asking about match or may be equal to, especially on the recline portion. Air Premia gives you 8″ of recline which is almost unheard of.
Thanks again,
Marc
Hey Marc! Believe it or not, Air Premia has the most comfortable premium economy seat out of any of those that you listed IMHO.
I will admit that I’m not all familiar with the JAL product (I’ve yet to try that one), but I assume that it would be very similar to the ANA offering. You’ll get the best service on ANA and JAL of course, and if it was me, I would probably go with ANA if I knew that the aircraft I’d be flying on had the new style seat.
Scott, how about a review of Cathay Pacific sometime? The fares for business JNB-LAX are pretty cheap, in a manner of speaking. And the layover in HKG would allow you to check out the various CX clubs. Of course, positioning to JNB offers all sort of reviews depending on the carrier. And if you make it it to JNB, you have to try RwandAir to KGL; any carrier whose boarding music is “You must sleep with me tonight, tonight” deserves a review. Good review on Air Premia.
Thanks David! As a matter fact I do have two Cathy Pacific business class reviews coming up (ICN-HKG and HKG-MNL). One of those is the new 77W cabin – which was really nice. And yes, I did have a chance to check out The Pier at HKG. A full review of that will be coming soon…