You should have seen yesterday the A-Talk program where a packet tour passenger was giving hard time for Finnair CEO Hienonen for the recent delays on their planes. They also mentioned the gear problem on the flight PEK-HEL - don't know if it was supposed to go back HEL-PEK as well.
Yeah, I missed that one. Overall they got the plane fixed (engine) and the delay was reasonable about two hours. Apparently when they realized that PEK-HEL flight will be heavily delayed because of the tire issue then they took the aircraft from HEL-BKK route but I guess then they realized the problem with then engine.
On my way back there was another delay of one hour but that wasn't Finnair's fault at all because the crew was stuck in the highway because of the accident.
PEK-TAO flights were quite mess on Friday because TAO got some snow for the first time during the past one year. For some miracle reason my CA flight was one of the rare ones, which were on time and not canceled.
Two hour delay is nothing (more time in the lounge) but it was sure "funny" to see so many delays for Finnair during the last Thursday.
I decided to come back to this topic to describe my observations from the HEL immigration queue on Monday 15th of Jan as we previously talked about the immigration experience in HEL.
As I was traveling with a Chinese citizen then I decided to join her in the non-EU line, better to wait together than I would be waiting on the other side. I used the waiting time on observing all the open non-EU desks and how the immigration was going in general.
One person was turned away as she apparently had a connection flight and not be allowed to enter Finland - quite obvious mistake as the connection line was just completely full of people and it was pretty easy to go to the left side where you are entering Finland as there wasn't so many people. Maybe Finavia should really think about the connecting flights and make it a little bit smoother experience - at least open more security checks in that area.
Most of the border guards were not speaking much and of course they weren't smiling (you wouldn't even expect that from them) - some asked some basic questions apparently from the visitors and apparently in English so it seemed to go quite well. All of the Chinese visitors I observed were allowed to enter pretty quickly, the most time was taken while the officer was waiting the result from the passport scan to appear in his computer (security check etc. apparently). Nobody I observed was asked to show any kind of proof for financial or return ticket.
I passed the check in about 10 seconds of course with EU passport but received a funny look "what are you doing in this line?" but of course the officer didn't say anything. Shouldn't I get at least "Welcome back to Finland", I am paying for this service anyway through taxes.
Of course one-time observation doesn't tell anything - it was probably just a good day and there wasn't any kind of problems occurring this time.
Well, they have now cranked open a wine bar in Schengenland with 1000 wines and sun dried tomatoes on offer.
Sigh, and then this comment from the press release.
"Less than 10 euros will buy you a glass of a venerable vintage, which you can enjoy with the guidance of our expert professionals,” says wine connoisseur Juha Lihtonen"
Talk about waste of terminal space...I have a friend who is a big player in the Helsinki gastronomy biz and he is always saying snobbery is the worst enemy of profit making.
Well, they have now cranked open a wine bar in Schengenland with 1000 wines and sun dried tomatoes on offer.
Sigh, and then this comment from the press release.
"Less than 10 euros will buy you a glass of a venerable vintage, which you can enjoy with the guidance of our expert professionals,” says wine connoisseur Juha Lihtonen"
Talk about waste of terminal space...I have a friend who is a big player in the Helsinki gastronomy biz and he is always saying snobbery is the worst enemy of profit making.
I was reading the news from the Kauppalehti (financial newspaper) and wondering if they actually have some good wines in there. It would be nice to have a glass of good wine (preferably good Champagne) before the flight, especially since the lounges do not have so special wine collection. But I was thinking the same, it is probably just some marketing hype and not so much good experience.
These kind of things are nice as they are benefiting all the people who do not get inside the lounges. In CPH they have few nice fish restaurants and even caviar place. In HEL they mainly have shops and then few restaurants where some of those are good only for sandwiches.
Well, they have now cranked open a wine bar in Schengenland with 1000 wines and sun dried tomatoes on offer.
Sigh, and then this comment from the press release.
"Less than 10 euros will buy you a glass of a venerable vintage, which you can enjoy with the guidance of our expert professionals,” says wine connoisseur Juha Lihtonen"
Talk about waste of terminal space...I have a friend who is a big player in the Helsinki gastronomy biz and he is always saying snobbery is the worst enemy of profit making.
What a crap... I am sure AY will promote this bar as well in their publications...then at the same time they are not offering a G&T in their Schengen area FF lounges and one needs to go to the standard shared J lounge (PriorityPass) for it...just unbelievable..
What a crap... I am sure AY will promote this bar as well in their publications...then at the same time they are not offering a G&T in their Schengen area FF lounges and one needs to go to the standard shared J lounge (PriorityPass) for it...just unbelievable..
Hey hey hey ... AY Platinums need to stay in their lounge and stay out of the lounge where we (the people without status) are enjoying our G&Ts and Champagne.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NoWindowSeat
What a crap... I am sure AY will promote this bar as well in their publications...then at the same time they are not offering a G&T in their Schengen area FF lounges and one needs to go to the standard shared J lounge (PriorityPass) for it...just unbelievable..
Take a "taskumatti" along and there is no problem of that sort any longer
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Quote:
I was reading the news from the Kauppalehti (financial newspaper) and wondering if they actually have some good wines in there. It would be nice to have a glass of good wine (preferably good Champagne) before the flight, especially since the lounges do not have so special wine collection.
You are right, a Champagne bar would be nice.
But as the big spenders among pax start to be Asian or Russian, it should be adopted to those tastes. Aka also good cognac/single malt selection, premium snacks like caviar instead of dried tomatoes and the whole thing in the non-Schengen area.
Quote:
But I was thinking the same, it is probably just some marketing hype and not so much good experience.
I have a worse theory: These people have opened the bar to have a nice field of work, not for profits. The whole concept seems almost stupid.
Quote:
These kind of things are nice as they are benefiting all the people who do not get inside the lounges. In CPH they have few nice fish restaurants and even caviar place. In HEL they mainly have shops and then few restaurants where some of those are good only for sandwiches.
Great minds think alike... I'm all for a place like Caviar House at LHR.
But also have to keep in mind the masses of Asian pax who are in for a longhaul of unedible Finnair nosh. You could make a real killing by offering Asian favourites and some Finnish specialities like reindeer in the right setting. The current non-Schengen restaurant is the pits.
Last edited by mosburger; Feb 21, 08 at 8:34 am.
Reason: sp
premium snacks like caviar instead of dried tomatoes and the whole thing in the non-Schengen area.
I don't actually get the whole dried tomatoes thing ... in the wine bar? I could easily think many other things to eat while having a glass of wine but dried tomatoes? In my opinion they do not go very well with certain wines.
I could understand that they have sundried tomatoes but why they advertise that - is that going to be the best they can offer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mosburger
But also have to keep in mind the masses of Asian pax who are in for a longhaul of unedible Finnair nosh. You could make a real killing by offering Asian favourites and some Finnish specialities like reindeer in the right setting. The current non-Schengen restaurant is the pits.
Agree totally. Now both HEL and Finnair are just promoting that they are somehow the Asian-friendly airport/airline (because of the connection time and flight time) but how about actually offering them some experiences?
We Finnish do not mind that so much but I know many people who would love to take their photo with the Santa Claus during the December/January time. And many of my friends would love to have a restaurant offering some truly unique experiences, we are talking about reindeer and bear and that kind of things.
I personally would love to find a really nice restaurant in HEL offering a nice Asian meal before boarding the long-haul flight.
Of course many people do not like to spend time in the airport more than necessary but the good airport would actually feel that good that you don't mind spending time there ... you might even choose your flights in that way that you can have a peaceful meal and some shopping if the airport is nice. And that is something, which would benefit the whole airport and all the shops/restaurants in there.
I personally would love to find a really nice restaurant in HEL offering a nice Asian meal before boarding the long-haul flight.
Even better would be a food market, in the Singaporean hawker centre style, with lots of choice and reasonable prices... but I am not sure that we have enough customers for that in HEL.
Also... I am sure that if they had that in Schengen area, they would need to hire more people to security checkpoints, since so many people not flying would want to visit.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NoWindowSeat
I know this has been discussed before but the more I think of it the more I have to agree with other posters both here and on other forums as well.
AY lounges at HEL airport are simply the worst home base lounges any Oneworld airline is offering as of today (I must admit that I have no personal experience about Royal Jordanian or Malev home base lounges after they have joined OW, though). Finnair HEL so called premium lounge is:
Royal Jordanian/AMM - just forget it. One lounge, where smoking is allowed, some open sandwiches with their toppings missing (!) etc. Total crap.
Malev/BUD - they have 3 (or 4?) own lounges, nice. (+ 1 or 2 *A lounges) If you are entitled to lounge, you can use any of them (at least until the end of March, when the Schengen divide comes down between 2A and 2B)
At least something positive is happening at HEL. I'm sitting in the long haul lounge and I must say I quite like the recent new arrangement with the furniture. The lounge area is in better use now and it's also easier to move around in a packed lounge (not the case now, though). Free wifi is a big improvement and they are also running a survey for lounge guests so that we can say our opinion...another chance to give my feedback about the offerings available.
