Cheap Business Class Flights to Seoul

Korean Air flies San Francisco daily, a sector of around twelve hours covering 5,600 nautical miles, plus a broader spread of US gateways. United runs San Francisco and Los Angeles daily and holds Newark as a seasonal 787-9 service. Delta is the deepest of the American operators, with nonstops from Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle. Between them the coverage reaches most of the country without a positioning flight.

Incheon is also the best connecting hub in northeast Asia, and that matters even when Seoul is not the destination. Korean Air feeds onward across China, Japan and southeast Asia from a terminal that consistently ranks among the best airports in the world. If the trip continues past Korea, ticketing the onward leg on the same booking protects the connection and usually costs very little.

Twelve hours from the West Coast and closer to fourteen and a half from the East is squarely in flat bed territory, and the thirteen hour time difference from New York is about as disruptive as time zones get. You lose a day going out and gain one coming back. Arriving able to function on day one is worth more here than on almost any European route, which is the honest argument for the cabin.

The seasons are sharply defined and the shoulders are genuinely better than the peaks. Spring, from April into early June, brings the cherry blossom and mild weather. Autumn, from September into November, is drier and clearer still and is the best time to visit. Summer is hot, humid and monsoon prone, and winter is cold and dry with the lowest fares of the year.

Incheon sits about fifty kilometres west of the city on its own island, which is further than most travelers expect. The AREX express train reaches Seoul Station in about forty three minutes and is the sensible option after a long flight. Allow for it in your planning rather than assuming a short hop into town.

One scheduling note that applies to the whole route. Most eastbound departures from the US leave in the late morning or early afternoon and land in Seoul in the late afternoon of the following day, which makes the outbound a daytime flight rather than an overnight. That inverts the usual advice: on this route the flat bed earns its keep on the westbound return, when you are crossing back through thirteen time zones and genuinely need to sleep.