Canadian North

Traveler reviews and experiences with Air Koryo often highlight a surprising level of service despite the airline's unique context and international reputation.

What Travelers Love:

• Comfortable and well-maintained cabins: Many travelers report that the aircraft interiors, particularly on newer Tupolev Tu-204s, are clean, smart, and feature comfortable, well-maintained seats, even if dated in design.
• Friendly and diligent cabin crew: Flight attendants are frequently described as smiling, friendly, respectful, helpful, and making a genuine effort to provide pleasant service.
• Surprisingly adequate meal service: For relatively short flights, the provision of a meal, often a burger, is noted as being better than expected or comparable to offerings on similar short-haul routes with other airlines.
• Efficiency and punctuality: Some passengers have noted efficient boarding processes and punctual departures and arrivals.

Common Complaints:

• Limited in-flight entertainment and content: The in-flight entertainment is typically restricted to state-produced programming and propaganda, lacking the variety and modern amenities found on most international carriers.
• Outdated aircraft on some routes: While newer aircraft are praised, older planes, particularly those used for domestic flights, can be noisy and may exhibit issues like condensation dripping in the cabin.
• Lack of transparency and international oversight: The airline's historical one-star rating on Skytrax was largely attributed to a lack of transparency with inspectors and failure to address EU demands, rather than solely poor passenger product.
• Limited beverage selection: Some reviews mention a restricted choice of beverages during the flight.

Overall sentiment suggests that while Air Koryo offers a distinctive and often quirky travel experience reflective of its North Korean identity, many travelers find the actual flight experience to be surprisingly adequate and not as "bad" as its reputation might suggest. The service often exceeds the low expectations set by its unique status.