Rapid Travel Chai

Packing for a warm destination and don’t want to lug your heavy winter coat?

Asiana and Korean Air  have seasonal coat check services at Seoul-Incheon International Airport (ICN).

Asiana is the originator, launching in 1999 and by 2010 handling over 150,000 coats in a facility that can hold 4,000.

A 2010 Korean Air press release lays out their highlights and caveats:

This service is available for all passengers travelling internationally from Korea with either Korean Air or a code-sharing flight of Korean Air.

Passengers’ coat will be hung on a sturdy plastic hanger wrapped in plastic sheet during storage.

To store the coat, passengers simply show their boarding pass at Hanjin Cargo counter located in Area A of the passenger terminal on the third floor of Incheon International Airport. To retrieve the coat after their return, they only need to show the storage receipt at the same counter.

The coat storage service is available from 4:30am ~ 9pm every day. A passenger can store one coat for five days for free. After that free period, a surcharge of KRW2,500 per day will apply.

When on personal travel I carry a backpack and have gone, shivering, to airports in winter to avoid lugging a space-consuming coat to warmer climes. I would love to have this service available in the US. Haha, well, I can dream.

Korean Air cup holder