This week, we’ll be looking at several carriers in Japan and Korea, targeting the service category. This region is known for superb service — but does it translate to the sky? Let’s find out! Let’s see who has the best business class service – ANA, Japan Airlines, Asiana, or Korean Air?
As a reminder, Premium Travel Insider aggregates reviews from around the web and scores them on a 1-3 scale. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate a variety of categories, the most important of which we call the “Big 5” that are most important to a premium travel experience: seat, food, drink, service, and in flight entertainment. You can learn more about our methodology here.
Top Line Scoring of the Best Business Class Service
| Airline | Number of Reviews | Aggregated Service Score |
| Asiana | 11 | 2.80/3 (Superb) |
| Japan Airlines | 12 | 2.75/3 (Excellent) |
| ANA | 10 | 2.60/3 (Great/Borderline Excellent) |
| Korean Air | 7 | 2.50/3 (Great) |
By the numbers, Asiana is our winner, with a superb 2.80/3. This is an incredible level of service, backed up by rave reviews by numerous bloggers and reviewers. However, the other airlines also live up to the hype of great service. Japan Airlines is right behind Asiana with a 2.75/3. ANA and Korean Air lag a bit behind, but both provide great service in their own right. There weren’t really bad reviews for these airlines, but let’s dig into what people loved about them.
Asiana Business Class Service – Best and Worst
Asiana – The Best
Asiana rocked a superb 2.80/3, so you know you’ll be taken care of! But let’s see exactly what people loved the most.
Emily McNutt of The Points Guy, traveling from Seoul to San Francisco, had this to say: “Within minutes of boarding, I was approached by a flight attendant who introduced herself and thanked me for flying with Asiana. The immediacy and friendly nature of the introduction got the flight off on the right note, and the service remained consistently good for the duration of the flight.”
Ramy of Points Pointers, traveling from New York to Seoul, found the service incredible: “The service is amazing, flight attendants are very friendly, helpful and willing to assist with anything they can do to make the flight more enjoyable.”
Asiana – The Worst
There was no “worst” for Asiana. Everyone had an acceptable or better journey!
Japan Airlines Business Service – Best and Worst
Japan Airlines – The Best
Coming in close behind Asiana is Japan Airlines. The carrier had similar rave reviews — with one exception, which we’ll get to a moment. On to the experiences!
Adele of The Champagne Mile, returning home from Tokyo to Sydney, had nothing but positive things to say about the service — and the entire experience: “Featuring a fabulous hard product, quintessential Japanese service plus magnificent food and wine options, this product is really very hard to fault.”
Lucky of One Mile at a Time, flying from Tokyo to San Francisco, summed the service up succinctly: “The service on this flight was what you’d expect from JAL — typical Japanese perfection.”
Japan Airlines – The Worst
JAL had one negative review for the service — the only one to fail to meet expectations. Here at Premium Travel Insider, we love these types of reviews, because we want to present you with EVERYONE’s experiences, and nothing is perfect… well, maybe except Emirates first class suite. Anyway, from Travel Codex:
Finally, I will say the service was extremely underwhelming. I have never received such poor service in business class! From being ignored at the beginning of the flight to being violently shaken to be woken up to being served the wrong dish without an apology, I find JAL’s service to be far from professional or elegant. I would expect more from a Japanese carrier and a Skytrax 4-star airline.
Rocky Horan of Travel Codex, flying from Tokyo to San Diego.
ANA Business Class Service – Best and Worst
ANA – The Best
Although coming in third, ANA business class features great, if not excellent service. Like Asiana, there were no bad reviews — everything was acceptable or better. Let’s look at the best reviews:
Kyle from Live and Let’s Fly caught this picture of the ground crew showing respect as his plane departed from Tokyo to Chicago — as is done with every departure to the departing aircraft passengers and crew. He remarked: “For frequent travelers to Japan, the experience of their culture is common. To those who infrequently travel through or to Japan, they will be blown away by the attention to detail, respect and order that permeates all areas of the experience. Perfectly executed boarding, the crew immaculately dressed, elegant and polite are all part of the ANA service.”
Sam Chui, flying from Tokyo to Chicago, had this to say of ANA: “The flight attendants also took the time to talk to customers, not just rushing the service through.”
ANA – The Worst
ANA had no bad reviews for service – only “acceptable” or better. Wow!
Korean Air Business Class Service – Best and Worst
Korean Air – The Best
Coming in last, but certainly not least, was Korean Air. The carrier scored a 2.50/3, which we considered a great rating.
Kevin Horn of Airline Reporter, traveling from Los Angeles to Seoul, observed: “The service was excellent and it solidified my opinion of Korean Air as five-star, service-focused airline.”
Nick Ellis of The Points Guy, flying from Toronto to Seoul, had glowing praise: “I experienced excellent service from the moment I boarded until I left the plane. Flight attendants went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable and had everything I needed. This is consistent with two other experiences I’ve had with Korean Air, too, so I know this isn’t just a fluke.”
Korean Air – The Worst
Like Asiana and ANA, Korean Air had no bad reviews — everything was considered acceptable or better.
Conclusion: Best Business Class Service – ANA, Japan Airlines, Asiana, Korean Air
Korea and Japan both have a reputation for great service. Based on the reviews for these airlines, it is clear this reputation is deserved, and extends to the sky. Although we had a clear winner in Asiana, all of the airlines had great service — or better. If you’re flying any of these carriers, you can expect superb service as part of the business class experience. However, there’s more to a flight than just service! Make sure to check out our full reviews of each airline:
Not happy with those carriers? Check out all of our business class reviews and see if you find someone else you like. Or perhaps you’d like to upgrade to first class — in which case our first class reviews might be to your liking. No matter how you fly, Premium Travel Insider has you covered.