lkrt

This is the best thing ever. I almost believed they were serving business class passengers Red cabbage salad with lingonberries, the worst school lunch salad in the whole of Finland.

ylefin

Osso Bucco is as terrible, almost

chrisny2

haha! Well, I guess I'll just forgo the pre-order and see what ends up showing up on my flight! I'll update you all after 10 July

Purjelentaja

My experience HEL-ORD-HEL from this weekend.

HEL-ORD
Premium lounge packed, not as bad as Schengen lounge, but only a couple of seats vacant. Cleaning of the shower cabinets wasn't being taken care of, as one had to wait quite a while for them to be made ready for next customers. Boarding at gate 32 was a zoo, as there was no way to get to priority boarding through the crowd, so ended up waiting quite a while to get to the gate.

Onboard normal full business class meal service. The menu turned out to be different than the one online in MMB. Not good they are not synchronized, but update the one seen at MMB earlier or later than it actually is done. It was Sasu Laukkonen's signature menu still offered, the text on the back of the menu leaflet tells it's the same menu on HEL-ORD and HEL-MIA. Amuse bouche was nice, but not memorable. As starter I had roast beef, which was really tasty, and as second starter asked also for the cold cucumber soup , which was not so special. For main I chose pressed beef neck, which turned out to be one of the best airline dishes I've ever had. Jymy ice cream, and very nice cupcakes for dessert. Very good dinner, I would say. Before arrival "light" meal, chili con carne, no other choice, was tasty, but not anything very special.

Service onboard was friendly and efficient. The only place for critisism is that if they have signature drink, it would be good if the FAs know how to make it, luckily they finally managed it Very pleasant flight as a whole. Arrival at ORD was interesting as it looked like the planes on ground were just zigzaging around without any control or plan, but obviously there was someone on top of the situation, and we found our gate. Immigration was a breeze, no lines at all at immigration, was first at passport control and through in no time.


ORD-HEL
Check-in agent was like from another world, and looked like she had never been tagging luggage tags before, and now I have my suit case handle covered in glue from the tag, not good. Security was quick, just a couple of minutes, and the agents were polite and friendly. Actually much better experience than at HEL on outbound leg. From CTA metro station at terminal 2 to check-in at terminal 5 and through security in about 30mins. Not bad.

Headed straight to BA First lounge. Lounge dragon told me the same story we have read here several times: the lounge is not for Finnair customers, they close earlier, other passengers haven't wanted to leave when they close and has had to call the police, blaa blaa blaa... I told her it is oneworld first lounge and as emerald we can use it, and finally she gave up. A real drama queen. Actually the only reason to go there is they have windows to the apron, and that they have much better drinks offerings than Swissport lounge, which is very very basic. It seemed that they were trying to save their champagne, as they brought a new bottle to replace emptied one only after someone went to ask for it, and it happened several times. Anyway, we left when BA was boarding and the dragon didn't need to call the police to get us out.

Onboard again efficient and very friendly service. This time the senior purser knew right away hot to make their signature drink. Smoked salmon canapé as amuse, and grilled prawns for starter. Both ok. Another starter outside the menu was carrot-ginger soup, which I could have a taste and it was amazing, made wrong choice not to choose that as starter. As main Japanese influenced grilled salmon, which was tasty. My friend had mediterranean polenta as main, and it looked and tasted surprisingly good. Small cakes and ice cream as dessert, but no Jymy on flights to HEL. Normal airplane breakfast before arriving HEL, funny enough, to be served in the afternoon Finnish time.

As a whole I have a feeling that food offerings have improved lately, perhaps with those known chefs creating their signature menus. However, they have not reached their goal of having best business class in Europe, but foodwise they are well on right track.

chrisny2

I'm writing from the Premium Lounge during my long connection. It's now practically empty and is beautiful.

Interestingly, on my flight ORD-HEL last night, the carrot soup was not available. Instead, the appetizer and entree were served together on the tray. You can tell by the plate size of the shrimp that it was catered differently, rather than a FA error. I had the polenta and spinach pasta dish and it was very tasty. It had great flavor but was nice and light for a late meal.

I really enjoyed the flight - great service. Also the Cognac and the Finnish Napue 48 gin were delicious.

Aviating

Good news from Chicago.

Finnair has obviously listened to the customer feedback and now changed to the KLM lounge. This beats the Swissport lounge any day.

- Today 1,5h before departure about 80% full.
- View to the tarmac.
- 6 different wines + Prosecco
- 6 different beers
- 6 different spirits
- Tasty tomato soup
- Sandwich selection

So huge need anymore to try to get into the BA F lounge past the dragons which tries to decline the entrance with made up reasons.

Justinus

aama

Did you try to access as OWE or AY J?

I think I've been there few times and Oneworld rules says it should be open to all flying OW.

Trav1970

I've tried to get in a couple of times flying AY and being Platinum. The lounge was "full" so I wasn't admitted. I stayed outside to see how many people came out of the lounge - the answer was "not very many."

intuition

BA has the SOP to deny all OW members access, quoting this rule 24/7:

SPBanker

I tried to access BA lounge in late June as OWE. There were exactly ZERO persons in the lounge. I was denied access as "the 380 is leaving soon, and this place will be very full".

jimaras08

AA Flagship is the way to go in ORD ...

remymartin

petteriusa

I also tried earlier this summer, in J class and OW Sapphire and was steered away. Just flat out told Finnair customers just don't get access, full or not. Very frustrating as stated the KLM lounge is just not worth it. I left almost immediately and was more comfortable at the Frontera restaurant.

florens