TK away to London & Helsinki

[andye]

Went down to mumandye's place in Camberwell on the bus next morning. Helped her out a bit mounting a picture frame and sorting out some boxes of keep-or-throw stuff. Wished I could have stayed longer but will devote more time when I'm back later in the year.

Back up to Paddington to pick up bags. Took the Heathrow Express (a bit exxy but quick). Check-in with AY very efficient.

AY1338 leaves from T3 so those who know, know it's a potential lounge extravaganza (see LHR T3 lounge crawl Saturday 6 June 2026)

I've done the crawl (mostly as OWE) a few times now but am now only OWS and given the geographical separation have never visited the Amex lounge

Overall pretty impressed. I'd rate it above all except QF and CX J lounge offerings and, for me at least equal to BA/AA F.

Buffet is decent and the coughtails a real highlight. They seemed relatively "masculine" which suits me. The Breakfast Marteani was a Paddington's delight:- tea and marmalade in a glass

 

[I love to travel]

Yes, agree the gates are a bit of a hike. Makes it difficult to judge one's lounge time. I handed in my shower buzzer as I wasn't going to fit one in.
Was aboard the 4h A321 TK1931 to London pretty efficiently
J Seats are very good on a par with QR medium haul, above QF/VA J domestic and streets above Eurbusiness

What is the recline like on those seats?

 

[andye]

What is the recline like on those seats?

Pretty similar to QF/VA Dom J or international Y+

 

[andye]

Then adjourned to the Qantas lounge. Very pleased to see they had my favourite Plymouth Gin and settled in

Its the first time in T3 that I haven't felt the need to go to the CX lounge which is a compliment to QF

 

[andye]

As I've made the 3h LHR-HEL trip a few times in Y, I had picked a Comfort seat for extra legroom. AY1338 is now an A350 (3-4-3) so maybe the ordinary Y would have been OK. (There was late J award availability but as its not an awfully long flight and my Y seat was non-cancellable, I didn't take it up. The J seats looked similar to the TK IST-LHR ones)
I was in window and told the person next to me that he was welcome to the armrest.
Not to worry-the aisle didn't show up. Middle moved and I was now in better than Eurobusiness (minus the food)

 

[andye]

Arrived pretty late into HEL but plenty of taxis.
Checked into the Radisson Blu Plaza. I am top tier due to the Avolta status match Club Avolta (formerly RED by Dufry) status match with potential future Radisson status
I'd been hoping to get a juicy upgrade (top tier are supposed to get the best room available) but ended up with a top floor minor upgrade (with shub) with some sweets and bottle of water. I did check and the hotel was full so late arrival probably went against me.

 

[ellen10]

@andye , Just a quick question about IST airport. How long was the walk to the gate from the lounge. We only have a short stopover, so wondering whether it is worth the attempt to visit.

 

[andye]

@andye , Just a quick question about IST airport. How long was the walk to the gate from the lounge. We only have a short stopover, so wondering whether it is worth the attempt to visit.

It was about a 15 minute briskish walk.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd been hoping to get a juicy upgrade (top tier are supposed to get the best room available) but ended up with a top floor minor upgrade (with shub) with some sweets and bottle of water. I did check and the hotel was full so late arrival probably went against me.

Most hotel chains check the status of people checking in that day in the morning or even the previous evening. So it really shouldn’t matter what time you check in that day to get your status recognition.

But sometimes the hotel systems don’t talk properly to the chain status systems

@andye , Just a quick question about IST airport. How long was the walk to the gate from the lounge. We only have a short stopover, so wondering whether it is worth the attempt to visit.

It can by very long if you get one of the distant gates ( and there is little travellator assistance.).

This was 850m