Finnair to Dublin

[OZDUCK]

We have been toying with going to Ireland next year and Glider-'s post in the "Cheap International Airfares" forum about the Finnair"Companion Sale" has caught my interest. I have a some questions and would welcome any responses.

May in Ireland - I have had a look at weather websites and it appears that May could be nice in Ireland. Has anyone been there at that time of year, and if so what was it like? Obviously, a storm could sweep in from the Atlantic and cause problems but on the whole would it be an ok month to go? I don't expect to have a beach holiday of course.

Would 18 or so days be adequate for a reasonable trip there? Obviously the more time the better - but would that sort of time give us a good overview of the country? The trip length is flexible - up to about 30 days in total.

Finnair - I don't have super-high expectations of Finnair's J class but I assume that it is reasonably comfortable, especially compared to Y, and that for the low(ish) prices on sale that I would get "value for money"? After my first long J trip - with CX Perth to Toronto & return - I accept that I can't sleep on aircraft so as long as the seat is comfortable and roomy I would be happy. The food just has to be edible and in a quantity such as to keep me from getting hungry and bored. Oops after some more research I now see that on the A350 they are the "same" seats as CX so they would, I assume, be fine.

However, on some dates & times the intra-European leg Helsinki - Dublin is operated by Norra, which I gather is the Jetstar of Finnair. The flight is 3 hours and on an E90. SeatGuru shows that the Business Class is just the front 3 rows of standard economy seats - 2 abreast with not even an empty seat between them and the same 31"pitch and 18" width as the rest of the plane. Is this leg actually even worth calling or paying for Business Class?

On other times it is operated by a A319 with the Euro-Business mode of normal economy seats with the middle seat of the 3 seat row blocked. Again, it seems difficult to consider a 3+hr flight in on of these as business class. Am I being picky at the prices being quoted? For 2 pax in May about Sin$5600 - A$5,900 return Singapore - Dublin for 2..

I can get to Singapore easily enough for a reasonable price from Perth.

Any thoughts gladly accepted.

 

[RooFlyer]

Can't remember the time of year that I visited Ireland, but I'd say 18 days would be fine. As you say, could spend longer but 18 days would give you a good look. One of my over riding memories was the roads - mostly one lane each way, with little opportunity for over-taking the tractors etc. Don't count on fast transits between stops.

I'm a fan of Finnair J. Good food and service; I haven't been in their most recent seat/bed but the previous version was good; I'm also a terrible sleeper on planes.

Euro-business on Finnair is worth it (seating not withstanding), but the Norra sounds not worth it.

Finnair do have regular sales in various combinations. A$5,900 for 2 SIN-Dublin-SIN sounds a fantastic bargain and for that I'd even go Norra J on the last leg, if needs be.

 

[OZDUCK]

Can't remember the time of year that I visited Ireland, but I'd say 18 days would be fine. As you say, could spend longer but 18 days would give you a good look. One of my over riding memories was the roads - mostly one lane each way, with little opportunity for over-taking the tractors etc. Don't count on fast transits between stops.

I'm a fan of Finnair J. Good food and service; I haven't been in their most recent seat/bed but the previous version was good; I'm also a terrible sleeper on planes.

Euro-business on Finnair is worth it (seating not withstanding), but the Norra sounds not worth it.

Finnair do have regular sales in various combinations. A$5,900 for 2 SIN-Dublin-SIN sounds a fantastic bargain and for that I'd even go Norra J on the last leg, if needs be.

Thanks RooFlyer for your thoughts.

I thought that I was right in working on the assumption that driving in Ireland would be a little like Scotland in the 1970's or Tasmania a few years ago - in that every trip would take 50% longer than you would think it should.

I think I can avoid the Norra flights and am probably being a bit precious about the Dublin/Helsinki legs at the quoted prices. And my fat fingers expanded the price, the real fare is actually around A$5,300, so even better.

 

[Peter D]

The roads in Ireland are fine. The European gravy train has served Ireland well.

The farm tractors now have a network of freeways all to themselves.


Seriously the main roads are simply main roads and one can keep up a reasonable pace. Not that you will want to hurry when you get there. The freeways radiate out from Dublin and Belfast and in most country areas have very light traffic.


We were there in Oct-Nov 2011 for three weeks one of which we spent at a single base in Killkenny. Saw most of the country north and south but we did skip Dublin as we had been there before.


Best way to travel is by car and use B and B’s.


Killorglin is good base for both the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula. Allow full day for each.
Also in the west the Burren and nearby, cliffs of Moher. In the north the Antrim coast is beautiful and also has the giants Causeway. I could go on and on. Thanks for sparking the memories.


O/T but I used to take camping holidays in the Scottish highlands in the sixties and seventies. Even there those long single lane mountain roads have now mostly been upgraded. Ireland is a more populous area and less rugged/remote hence more roads.


You will have great time and the driving is easy.

 

[VPS]

18 days in Ireland will be great - even though the roads around Dublin are amazing compared to what they used to be, there are still those old country lanes - it's a beautiful country and would strongly recommend the Dingle Peninsula - can come up with some more places if you like - people are still very friendly - weather is variable - you could get three weeks of glorious sunshine or howling gales or something in between

 

[OZDUCK]

Peter D & VPS - thanks also. Good to hear that the main roads are fine for the occasional fast trip relocation trip. Also good that the times seem ok. We are yet to set our minds on how much we wish to see. At the moment it would seem to be mostly towards the south and will ask for more suggestions later.

I still remember driving through the Scottish Highlands on those one lane roads and having to use the passing pull-ins when we met the occasional car coming the other way - not that much traffic in 1976.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

I too can concure that Ireland has very good main roads between the major centres, with thanks to a generous helping hand from the EU.

Many of the smaller country lanes still exist in the rural areas, although these are between very unpopulated areas of the country, particularly on the West coast. Nonetheless nothing beats an Irish car trip, driving down a few of the lane ways seeing the wee small villages and reading the road signs in Gaelic.

You will want to fly in Finnair's J, the A350 product looked very good when I travelled in July from HKG > HEL. The Y product on the other hand was very disappointing. But nonetheless Finnair's service is quite good, HEL airport is a breeze to transit through.

 

[OZDUCK]

I too can concure that Ireland has very good main roads between the major centres, with thanks to a generous helping hand from the EU.

Many of the smaller country lanes still exist in the rural areas, although these are between very unpopulated areas of the country, particularly on the West coast. Nonetheless nothing beats an Irish car trip, driving down a few of the lane ways seeing the wee small villages and reading the road signs in Gaelic.

You will want to fly in Finnair's J, the A350 product looked very good when I travelled in July from HKG > HEL. The Y product on the other hand was very disappointing. But nonetheless Finnair's service is quite good, HEL airport is a breeze to transit through.

Thanks CCPhil - the consensus seems to be that the roads are generally better than I thought.

I would only take this somewhat convoluted route for the J fare special - otherwise I would use Etihad or Emirates for a 1 stop trip to Dublin.

 

[Lendav Orav]

Norra isn't the Jetstar of Finnair, it's more like the Qantaslink or Jetconnect.

 

[OZDUCK]

Norra isn't the Jetstar of Finnair, it's more like the Qantaslink or Jetconnect.

I must admit that I haven't flown Jetstar, I think I flew Qantaslink once Melbourne/Launceston. So - is it better to be like Jetstar or Qantaslink?

 

[Lendav Orav]

Yes for sure. It means it's not a low cost subsidiary, it just operates some of Finnair's flights on its behalf, with full service.

 

[OZDUCK]

Yes for sure. It means it's not a low cost subsidiary, it just operates some of Finnair's flights on its behalf, with full service.

OK - Thanks - my main concern is the plane - E90 with 2 economy size seats on each side compared to an A319 with 3 economy seats but at least with the centre seat blocked.

 

[Lendav Orav]

Oh right. Yes it means you won't get the blocked seat in the middle.

 

[dajop]

I too can concure that Ireland has very good main roads between the major centres, with thanks to a generous helping hand from the EU.

Many of the smaller country lanes still exist in the rural areas, although these are between very unpopulated areas of the country, particularly on the West coast. Nonetheless nothing beats an Irish car trip, driving down a few of the lane ways seeing the wee small villages and reading the road signs in Gaelic..

Yeah the main roads between major centres are good and quick, but not terribly interesting. When we were there in July we noticed the more scenic and interesting routes tend to be a lot windier and slower (particular getting stuck behind other tourists, with limited overtaking opportunities!) such that you do need to allow a lot of time for these. But well worth getting away from the main highways. Some of the scenery is amazing.

 

[OZDUCK]

Yeah the main roads between major centres are good and quick, but not terribly interesting. When we were there in July we noticed the more scenic and interesting routes tend to be a lot windier and slower (particular getting stuck behind other tourists, with limited overtaking opportunities!) such that you do need to allow a lot of time for these. But well worth getting away from the main highways. Some of the scenery is amazing.

Thanks for this .Hopefully we will have enough time to take the scenic by-ways, except on the odd days that we have to relocate over a considerable distance.

 

[OZDUCK]

Just to let those who replied to my questions know, I have now booked a return trip to Dublin in May/June 2017 for A$5,283 for 2 pax. In J, to/from Singapore, with a 2 night stopover in Helsinki. I will now have to sort out the Per/Sin leg and also the Singapore transit.

Thanks to Glider for posting about this fare.