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For quite a few years, the Finnish airline Finnair has been offering very competitive fares to Europe through their Asian services. Six or seven years ago those services often made great status runs, with cheap Business class flights between Bangkok and either Singapore or Hong Kong. These days they have just the point to point options, with codeshare flights from Australia connecting with the aircraft in Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong. For our members who are tempted by the cheap fares, and the Asian connection option, one traveller decided to journal their experience, travelling in Economy.
Let me start by saying I’m not much of a photographer so I’ve only included a couple of snaps in the individual reports. I’ll concentrate on the experience rather than the hard product as details on the hard product are readily available from other sources. I am AA Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire)..
Things were to get off to a rocky start. For some reason, the codeshare booked on the afternoon British Airways flight was changed to the mid morning Qantas flight. That meant an early start in the Sydney lounge, and the pleasure of an A330 to Singapore instead of the newer B777.
It had been a few years since I flew Qantas economy longhaul and I had low expectations, but I must say I was very impressed. The A333 looked in pretty good shape except for the IFE screens which are small by modern standards. I found the food and drink service to be particularly good; menu below. Not much more to say except that my prior view of QF staff being a bit surly has changed and really the size and speed of the IFE are the only things I could fault.”
With a much longer layover in Singapore than originally planned, it was time to sample the delights of the relatively new Qantas Lounge. The first of a series of refurbishment projects for the international lounge network, the lounge offers a table dining experience with a menu that changes on a regular basis. For this visit, it was not the food that proved to be the highlight, but the drinks, and the bartender.
Things improved dramatically when I sat at the bar and bar manager Ronaldo entertained me with his drinks and a few anecdotes…
With the troubles behind them, the journey well on its way and after some entertaining drinks, things soon got even better.
Hurray! The beep at the gate and ‘please use the first door rather than the second.’ So I’m now 1/1 with upgrades on Finnair, seat 9A on one of their newer birds with new J product.
What will Business be like flying Finnair in the new cabin, and will it be economy for the return leg, why not join the journey? Follow the adventure HERE.
