Robert Qld
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Posts
- 218
On the my recent flights back from Europe I was upgraded at the FinnAir gate for my HEL-BKK flight from Y to J.
I got a little suss that this was happening when my BP didn't scan through initially and the AY lady asked to hold on for a second while she got another person fix it up, before coming back to me with a cheeky smile and telling me about the upgrade.
It was pretty amazing (mainly for being an unexpected freebie - I fly semi-regularly with QF & AA in J - but its all either out of my own pocket or with points) and my attempt to act cool in accepting the upgrade... failed miserably.
Kiitos was said a bit then!
Just my luck however, the big problem was I was I just couldn't enjoy it properly.
Basically two things happened prior to the flight. The first was having no sleep the night before. I had an early morning out of Berlin that morning to connect in Helsinki, and while I know the HEL-BKK is a 1700 hour flight, but I just wasn't prepared to chance it when I was booking the flights a few months prior. And since AY was charging quadruple for a one way ticket and AB didn't have any decent flights, I couldn't fly OW, and thus no ability to try to get them to issue the connecting ticket in Berlin at the same time as my TXL-HEL flight. I ended up getting a LH flight out (And the geeky flying-nerd part of me was pretty excited to try one of their infamous cheese sandwiches!)
Anyway, I digress.
Helsinki is a great airport and AY let me check my baggage in 7 hours early. Went into Helsinki for lunch (and try to stay awake) and came back for a few hours in the AY Lounge. The lounge is pretty good... if a little Nordic in parts, but due to the way it is laid out there isn't really any nice quiet corners to try and catch a bit of shut eye, just a few chairs that tilt back (but all facing the windows - so huge amounts of Scandinavian summer sunshine)
However... (Cue dum-dum-DUM music)
I must have eaten or drank something dodgy in the lounge; I'm actually thinking it was the tomato juice. But at that stage I was snacking a bit to keep me awake so lord knows what it was. No need to go into detail for the next bit... but come gate time I was not just tired but physically drained as well.
So does that mean I got Heli-Belly?
So as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I turned the seat into a bed and slept for 8 hours solid.
So I did miss out on several parts of the J experience on AY. The dinner and wine menus, when reading them afterwards looked extremely nice, and while I was up for breakfast, I could still only pick at the food I did have.
However I at least avoided what turned out to be a very basic AVOD selection. The TV shows where the exact same in July that I had on the flight over in May (and '2 Broke Girls' does not warrant repeat viewing!) and a quick glance at the movie lists showed a very limited selection and nothing closely appealable to my tastes.
The seat itself was at least a flat bad (unlike J in the BKK-SYD flight I got in the next leg - urgh). The cabin... it kinda was a wee bit shabby looking... the shade of light blue they use I don't think ages that well and covers up the general wear and tear that greatly either. And while the FAs where as usual lovely and charming in what little I experienced, (even if they looked like SS Officers in their uniforms!), it would've been nice to see how attentive they actually where during the actually flight. I even missed the chance to duty free shop on the plane - I was was going to get some Angry Birds stuff for my nephew (...when In Finland!).
In heinsight, especially with the lack of sleep and the dodgy food, it was a good stroke of luck got the upgrade. My few days in BKK on the way home would have been a lot less enjoyable had I had to travel in Y (I'm bad for sleeping sitting up - even at the point of exhaustion).
At least I can look back with amusement
I got a little suss that this was happening when my BP didn't scan through initially and the AY lady asked to hold on for a second while she got another person fix it up, before coming back to me with a cheeky smile and telling me about the upgrade.
It was pretty amazing (mainly for being an unexpected freebie - I fly semi-regularly with QF & AA in J - but its all either out of my own pocket or with points) and my attempt to act cool in accepting the upgrade... failed miserably.
Kiitos was said a bit then!Just my luck however, the big problem was I was I just couldn't enjoy it properly.
Basically two things happened prior to the flight. The first was having no sleep the night before. I had an early morning out of Berlin that morning to connect in Helsinki, and while I know the HEL-BKK is a 1700 hour flight, but I just wasn't prepared to chance it when I was booking the flights a few months prior. And since AY was charging quadruple for a one way ticket and AB didn't have any decent flights, I couldn't fly OW, and thus no ability to try to get them to issue the connecting ticket in Berlin at the same time as my TXL-HEL flight. I ended up getting a LH flight out (And the geeky flying-nerd part of me was pretty excited to try one of their infamous cheese sandwiches!)
Anyway, I digress.
Helsinki is a great airport and AY let me check my baggage in 7 hours early. Went into Helsinki for lunch (and try to stay awake) and came back for a few hours in the AY Lounge. The lounge is pretty good... if a little Nordic in parts, but due to the way it is laid out there isn't really any nice quiet corners to try and catch a bit of shut eye, just a few chairs that tilt back (but all facing the windows - so huge amounts of Scandinavian summer sunshine)
However... (Cue dum-dum-DUM music)
I must have eaten or drank something dodgy in the lounge; I'm actually thinking it was the tomato juice. But at that stage I was snacking a bit to keep me awake so lord knows what it was. No need to go into detail for the next bit... but come gate time I was not just tired but physically drained as well.
So does that mean I got Heli-Belly?
So as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I turned the seat into a bed and slept for 8 hours solid.
So I did miss out on several parts of the J experience on AY. The dinner and wine menus, when reading them afterwards looked extremely nice, and while I was up for breakfast, I could still only pick at the food I did have.
However I at least avoided what turned out to be a very basic AVOD selection. The TV shows where the exact same in July that I had on the flight over in May (and '2 Broke Girls' does not warrant repeat viewing!) and a quick glance at the movie lists showed a very limited selection and nothing closely appealable to my tastes.
The seat itself was at least a flat bad (unlike J in the BKK-SYD flight I got in the next leg - urgh). The cabin... it kinda was a wee bit shabby looking... the shade of light blue they use I don't think ages that well and covers up the general wear and tear that greatly either. And while the FAs where as usual lovely and charming in what little I experienced, (even if they looked like SS Officers in their uniforms!), it would've been nice to see how attentive they actually where during the actually flight.
I even missed the chance to duty free shop on the plane - I was was going to get some Angry Birds stuff for my nephew (...when In Finland!).In heinsight, especially with the lack of sleep and the dodgy food, it was a good stroke of luck got the upgrade. My few days in BKK on the way home would have been a lot less enjoyable had I had to travel in Y (I'm bad for sleeping sitting up - even at the point of exhaustion).
At least I can look back with amusement
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