Finnair Plus - Minimum Connection Time - HEL

My father is planning a trip to Scandinavia, and has thus far been taking travel advice from his mates at the pub, however for this one I figured I'd ask the more knowlegable folks here for some advice before booking his connecting flight.

He will be travelling SYD-HKG-HEL in mid-June (AY070), scheduled to arrive at T2 about 06:00 local time with onward travel to CPH on a different airline most likely SK or KF departing from T1.

Having looked at the Finnair website I see they recommend a 40 minute minimum connection time at HEL when transfering between 2 International flights (on AY or codeshare partner).

Bearing in mind he'll be entering from a non-Schengen zone and will need to clear passport control, collect his baggage, change terminals (I realise they are the same building but he still has to get from one end to the other) and check-in at least 45 minutes before his next flight what would you recommend as a minimum comfortable connection time in this situation.

Bugsy

I would allow 2 hours or more. There should not be many other passengers arriving from non-Schengen (the flight from BKK arrives half an hour later) and not many people waiting for luggage as most passengers continue the journey to other destinations. I'm not sure about how many non-Schengen charter flights arrive in the early morning. It takes around 10-15 minutes to walk to terminal 1 and the queus to baggage drop and security can be quite long in the morning unless he has status with SK.

If he has not yet booked the trip already I would suggest to buy a long-haul ticket with the leg to CPH included. It could be even cheaper to buy a ticket not ending in Helsinki. Or buy a separate AY ticket to Copenhagen (buy a return ticket) so you can check-through the luggage and the connecting flight would leave from terminal 2. If this is not possible I would suggest he buys another cheap ticket to CPH (Norwegian or SAS/Blue1) to be used just in case the inbound flight is delayed and the quicker connection could not be made.

P.S. I forgot that the new SIN flight also arrives in the morning at 6:35.

I agree, simply no point taking SK/KF to CPH - just book everything with AY to minimize any hassle and no need worry about connection time etc.

If he's into travelling in Premium I would look into SYD-BKK-CPH with SK. They have a deal with TG when flying to/from Scandinavia and booked in Economy Extra (S, Y) where he's seated in C on the TG leg. It's 2600 EUR + taxes.

Thanks for all the advice & information.

Unfortunately it's too late to change his SYD-HEL-SYD ticket - he booked them last week. His original plan was to spend some time in HEL before heading to Sweden & Norway since booking he's changed his mind a bit and has decided to go FI-DK-NO-SE-FI instead - hence the need for a flight to CPH.

I've looked into booking an AY flight HEL-CPH (both o/w and return) and the money they want is stupid (got to love the fact the return is half the price of the o/w which is still twice the price of the SK o/w). - I'll try to get him to book the 9:40am SK flight or at the very least the 8:40 KF flight.

At least going the other way he is planning to arrive back in HEL the day before his flight back to SYD.

Bugsy

If the longhaul arrives at HEL as scheduled, there will be no problems. After AY got rid of their old and unreliable MD11s, longhaul punctuality has improved dramatically and overall, I would say chances are quite good that everything goes well.

However, one needs to bear in mind that the AY longhaul fleet is still relatively small and if one plane if out of service for a technical reason or gets delayed eg. because of weather, this might cause very heavy delays several days in a row as AY practically has no spare planes. We're talking even 10 hours or more here.

Personally, I would not take the chance. Book an overnight stay in HEL and continue to CPH the next day would be my advice.

Thanks for all the advice & information.

Unfortunately it's too late to change his SYD-HEL-SYD ticket - he booked them last week. His original plan was to spend some time in HEL before heading to Sweden & Norway since booking he's changed his mind a bit and has decided to go FI-DK-NO-SE-FI instead - hence the need for a flight to CPH.

I've looked into booking an AY flight HEL-CPH (both o/w and return) and the money they want is stupid (got to love the fact the return is half the price of the o/w which is still twice the price of the SK o/w). - I'll try to get him to book the 9:40am SK flight or at the very least the 8:40 KF flight.

At least going the other way he is planning to arrive back in HEL the day before his flight back to SYD.

Bugsy

How about booking a return flight from a different airport:

HEL-CPH and the return from Gothenburg, Arlanda, Bromma or Norrköping. It costs 150 € HEL-CPH/NRK-HEL in June on www.finnair.com

I'll try to get him to book the 9:40am SK flight or at the very least the 8:40 KF flight.I think this is a perfectly sound plan, in fact I would probably book the 8:40 one. Includes free coffee as well :)

If taking the KF flight, I'd check www.optiontown.com for cheap upgrades (from €35), decent value and priority check-in and security can be quite valuable in HEL T1 in the morning.

If the longhaul arrives at HEL as scheduled, there will be no problems. After AY got rid of their old and unreliable MD11s, longhaul punctuality has improved dramatically and overall, I would say chances are quite good that everything goes well.

However, one needs to bear in mind that the AY longhaul fleet is still relatively small and if one plane if out of service for a technical reason or gets delayed eg. because of weather, this might cause very heavy delays several days in a row as AY practically has no spare planes. We're talking even 10 hours or more here.
Delays and cancellations do happen, but it's not like they are constant, and AY70 is probably not the most vulnerable route, as it has 10 hour turn-around time in HKG.

Also getting from HEL to CPH is not that huge of a challenge even if one misses a connection. There are so many flights that availability is practically guaranteed and while last minute prices might be steep, they are still somewhat within reason, so having to buy a new ticket is not a disaster, even if unpleasant. Currently you can buy a HEL-CPH OW for today for about 250€ or less from both DY or KF and tomorrow 150€ from DY. If it were the other way around, flying from CPH to HEL to catch a flight to SYD it might be another story.

Good travellers insurance is always a good idea though...

Personally, I would not take the chance. Book an overnight stay in HEL and continue to CPH the next day would be my advice.
For a 6am arrival? Really?

I would understand an afternoon departure if one wants to play it safe, but an overnight stay and 24h delay buffer just-in-case for a connection... I'd probably rather play it very safe and simply stay home.

After AY got rid of their old and unreliable MD11s, longhaul punctuality has improved dramatically

Where You get these statistics? How dramatically that has improved?

Hmm...old MD11...now AY flies A343's from 1994 and 1997? So what is old? :D
Brand new 330's are causing heavy delays also so I cant get it how age of aircraft makes it unreliable?

Where You get these statistics? How dramatically that has improved?

Hmm...old MD11...now AY flies A343's from 1994 and 1997? So what is old? :D
Brand new 330's are causing heavy delays also so I cant get it how age of aircraft makes it unreliable?

Totally agree with the above. "AY and old M11s" thing was/is a total myth..and they really were not that old at all, like you say....they were noisy birds, though..much better to sleep in an Airbus, no question about that.

I have no statistics and we also have to remember that AY's LH fleet has grown a lot since the M11 days..it's still an issue if they are one plane short but it was even bigger issue 10 years ago with 4-5 M11s only.