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Flying to Europe in the nose of the plane usually costs a small fortune, but there are a few tricks to save a bit of money without compromising on comfort. A popular strategy is to fly to an Asian port and pick up a discounted Business class flight with Finnair for the onward trip to Europe. Finnair often has good deals on flights from Asia to Europe, stopping over in the airline’s Helsinki hub.
Recently AFF member nonpop used one of these Finnair deals to travel to a country famous for flamenco and tapas.
We found ourselves thinking of checking out another Euro location we’d passed through but never stopped to look around..
Our preferred route has become via a SE Asian port with QF then connect to Finnair. Until recently the additional SC earn has been nice coupled with AYs ‘affordable’ pricing. As this trip was self funded, then bang-for-buck was high on the consideration list.
Anyways, we had secured our QF tickets to BKK then just waited on an AY sale. Sure enough one came around and we booked. And Tapas started to dominate our thoughts.
The trip starts off well with a visit to Qantas’s acclaimed First class lounge at a Sydney Airport. The lounge experience seems to hit a sweet spot.
Another shot from within the Spa area. I was subsequently told I need to retain Platinum by SWMBO. We then settled on ensuring Easter time coming would be a reason for another trip to the 1st Lounge together. Our reasoning was that some couples go hiking together, whilst we’d go Flounging together.
Despite a short delay, the flight to Bangkok in Qantas Business class is pleasant and uneventful.
After a night at the Novotel at Bangkok Airport, it’s time to fly the next leg with Finnair. Anyone considering flying Business class on the Finland’s national carrier will want to take notes as the trip report features detailed photos and analysis of the seats, the cabin and of course the food on Finnair’s A330 aircraft. Of note is the no less than three toilets to be shared between the 34 passengers in business class.
By the time the plane arrived in Finland, HEL had quite literally frozen over. Typically for the Scandinavian winter, the airport was covered in snow. Helsinki’s airport is however renowned for its quick and easy transits and connecting to the Barcelona flight was as stress-free as one would expect.
The journey to Spain is just the beginning of the holiday. What will our traveller get up to in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid? Will the return trip be just as enjoyable? Join the journey HERE.
