Back to CA with Finnair/AA
May 27, 2002, 10:06 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: SJC/SFO
Posts: 21
Back to CA with Finnair/AA
Terve!
After spending a year in Finland studying at the Univerisity of Oulu, it was now, sadly, time to return home to the Bay Area.
24 May AY354 OUL-HEL A319
I arrived early to check in and get a good seat assignment on the transatlantic segment, since I had given up my previous seat assignment when I changed my reservation. Fortunately, I was able to get an aisle for that flight when I checked in at OUL. This time I was travelling with bags, lots of them. Well, only two, but one was really heavy, and fortunately, they didn't weigh them when I checked in.
On domestic AY flights, there are no seat assignments, pax just get on the plane all at once and find a seat. This flight wasn't full, so I got a window seat, so I could have one last view of Finland before I left. AY's Airbus planes have a camera in the nose of the plane, so during takeoff and landing, pax can have a pilot's eye view of approach and departure. I think this feature is really cool, and I was very happy to have an A319 for this flight. Flying time was 50 minutes, and we were served coffee and a small snack, which consisted of a sandwich and apple juice. Pretty good for a 50 minute domestic flight! We arrived on time, and parked at a remote stand and were bussed to the terminal.
The Helsinki-Vantaa airport is really nice. There is an area with duty free shops that are actually cheaper than regular stores, so I had a small CD/DVD binge(last chance for Finnish CDs and DVDs!) duing my layover.
AY005 HEL-JFK MD-11
Once again, this flight was very full. I didn't see any empty seats in coach. Fortunately, I had a nice aisle, and not the 'E' seat. The first thing I noticed about this flight was that many of the pax had a serious BO problem. Yuck! The pax near me were fine, but during the whole flight, some of the smelly pax would walk by me on the way to the lav, and I would just have to hold my breath! I think if I had sat next to one of these pax, I would have had to use the barf bag!
We left about 10 minutes late, but our flight time was only 8hrs 7min, so the captain was expecting an on time arrival. We took off, and everything was smooth for about 15 minutes. Then, the seat belt sign came back on, and the captain began making an announcement, first in Finnish. I understood three words of his announcement: small technical problem. Uh-oh. I knew I was having way too much good luck with flights lately. I thought we would be returning to HEL, but then the pilot explained that it was in fact only a small problem that could be dealt with in flight, and we continued to JFK with no more problems. The captain was very good about explaining to us what happened, and how they were fixing the problem, which was actually rather interesting.
Inflight movies were Shallow Hal and Space Cowboys. I was mildly interested in seeing Shallow Hal, but decided instead to stay with the Suomi Pop audio channel. I'm really going to miss Finnish music! Lunch was BBQ chicken (I always have chicken on AY!) with rice, salad with French dressing, roll, Gouda cheese, and chocolate. Not bad, but that BBQ chicken was quite potent! Before landing, we were served a snack with a ham sandwich, Fazer chocolates, and juice. We arrived about 5-10 minutes late, and I was quickly off the plane and on my way to customs.
This was the easiest time I've ever had going through customs at JFK. They didn't even search my bags! I made it to the domestic check it area and got my boarding pass for the next flight, and headed for the security checkpoint. The main line was pretty short, and there weren't even any pax in the premium line, so I got through in about 5 minutes. I didn't even set off the metal detector, so security was very easy this time. After security, I hit the snack bar and got my long-awaited root beer. I had been craving root beer for months, so I was so happy to finally be able sit and have a nice root beer! Of course, I'm now craving licorice ice cream...
AA177 JFK-SFO 767
I had such an easy time so far with customs and the security checkpoints, so I just knew it was my turn for the gate check. I was right. They sent me to the checking area, where I stood in a long line waiting to be checked. There must have been about 30 people in line, and there were only 2 or 3 people doing the searches. The line continued to grow, and finally, as departure time approached, more people were brought in to help. By the time they got to me, all they did was open my computer case (surprise! there's a computer in there!) and ignored my large purse and coat with bulging pockets. Rather disappointing after waiting in line for so long
The flight pushed back a little late, and we then had to wait for 15 planes ahead of us to take off, but the flying time was only 5hrs 33min, so the captain said that he expected us to still arrive early.
The inflight movie was The Shipping News, but I didn't watch it. I was so tired by this time that all I wanted to do was sleep. I did stay awake for dinner. The choices were penne pasta with marinara or BBQ chicken (hmmm, why does that sound familiar) I chose the pasta, which came with a salad with creamy dressing, roll, and some sort of lemony-coconutty cake, which was quite good. I normally can't sleep on planes, but for some reason, everytime I fly in from HEL, I just can't stay awake on this flight. I was so out of it that I didn't even realise we were landing. I was aware that we were on approach, then I felt a thud, which was the wheels hitting the runway. It still took a moment to realise that we had landed! We arrived about 10 minutes early, I was soon off the plane, back home in the Bay Area.
It took several years for me to get back to Finland after my first visit as a teenager, but I think my next visit will be sooner rather than later.(I still have lots more Iittala and Marimekko stuff to buy!) Maybe sometime next year if the fare isn't too high.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you do death with this long report, but I don't see too many Finnair reports here so I thought I'd share my experience.
Kiitos!
Jenn
After spending a year in Finland studying at the Univerisity of Oulu, it was now, sadly, time to return home to the Bay Area.
24 May AY354 OUL-HEL A319
I arrived early to check in and get a good seat assignment on the transatlantic segment, since I had given up my previous seat assignment when I changed my reservation. Fortunately, I was able to get an aisle for that flight when I checked in at OUL. This time I was travelling with bags, lots of them. Well, only two, but one was really heavy, and fortunately, they didn't weigh them when I checked in.
On domestic AY flights, there are no seat assignments, pax just get on the plane all at once and find a seat. This flight wasn't full, so I got a window seat, so I could have one last view of Finland before I left. AY's Airbus planes have a camera in the nose of the plane, so during takeoff and landing, pax can have a pilot's eye view of approach and departure. I think this feature is really cool, and I was very happy to have an A319 for this flight. Flying time was 50 minutes, and we were served coffee and a small snack, which consisted of a sandwich and apple juice. Pretty good for a 50 minute domestic flight! We arrived on time, and parked at a remote stand and were bussed to the terminal.
The Helsinki-Vantaa airport is really nice. There is an area with duty free shops that are actually cheaper than regular stores, so I had a small CD/DVD binge(last chance for Finnish CDs and DVDs!) duing my layover.
AY005 HEL-JFK MD-11
Once again, this flight was very full. I didn't see any empty seats in coach. Fortunately, I had a nice aisle, and not the 'E' seat. The first thing I noticed about this flight was that many of the pax had a serious BO problem. Yuck! The pax near me were fine, but during the whole flight, some of the smelly pax would walk by me on the way to the lav, and I would just have to hold my breath! I think if I had sat next to one of these pax, I would have had to use the barf bag!
We left about 10 minutes late, but our flight time was only 8hrs 7min, so the captain was expecting an on time arrival. We took off, and everything was smooth for about 15 minutes. Then, the seat belt sign came back on, and the captain began making an announcement, first in Finnish. I understood three words of his announcement: small technical problem. Uh-oh. I knew I was having way too much good luck with flights lately. I thought we would be returning to HEL, but then the pilot explained that it was in fact only a small problem that could be dealt with in flight, and we continued to JFK with no more problems. The captain was very good about explaining to us what happened, and how they were fixing the problem, which was actually rather interesting.
Inflight movies were Shallow Hal and Space Cowboys. I was mildly interested in seeing Shallow Hal, but decided instead to stay with the Suomi Pop audio channel. I'm really going to miss Finnish music! Lunch was BBQ chicken (I always have chicken on AY!) with rice, salad with French dressing, roll, Gouda cheese, and chocolate. Not bad, but that BBQ chicken was quite potent! Before landing, we were served a snack with a ham sandwich, Fazer chocolates, and juice. We arrived about 5-10 minutes late, and I was quickly off the plane and on my way to customs.
This was the easiest time I've ever had going through customs at JFK. They didn't even search my bags! I made it to the domestic check it area and got my boarding pass for the next flight, and headed for the security checkpoint. The main line was pretty short, and there weren't even any pax in the premium line, so I got through in about 5 minutes. I didn't even set off the metal detector, so security was very easy this time. After security, I hit the snack bar and got my long-awaited root beer. I had been craving root beer for months, so I was so happy to finally be able sit and have a nice root beer! Of course, I'm now craving licorice ice cream...
AA177 JFK-SFO 767
I had such an easy time so far with customs and the security checkpoints, so I just knew it was my turn for the gate check. I was right. They sent me to the checking area, where I stood in a long line waiting to be checked. There must have been about 30 people in line, and there were only 2 or 3 people doing the searches. The line continued to grow, and finally, as departure time approached, more people were brought in to help. By the time they got to me, all they did was open my computer case (surprise! there's a computer in there!) and ignored my large purse and coat with bulging pockets. Rather disappointing after waiting in line for so long
The flight pushed back a little late, and we then had to wait for 15 planes ahead of us to take off, but the flying time was only 5hrs 33min, so the captain said that he expected us to still arrive early.
The inflight movie was The Shipping News, but I didn't watch it. I was so tired by this time that all I wanted to do was sleep. I did stay awake for dinner. The choices were penne pasta with marinara or BBQ chicken (hmmm, why does that sound familiar) I chose the pasta, which came with a salad with creamy dressing, roll, and some sort of lemony-coconutty cake, which was quite good. I normally can't sleep on planes, but for some reason, everytime I fly in from HEL, I just can't stay awake on this flight. I was so out of it that I didn't even realise we were landing. I was aware that we were on approach, then I felt a thud, which was the wheels hitting the runway. It still took a moment to realise that we had landed! We arrived about 10 minutes early, I was soon off the plane, back home in the Bay Area.
It took several years for me to get back to Finland after my first visit as a teenager, but I think my next visit will be sooner rather than later.(I still have lots more Iittala and Marimekko stuff to buy!) Maybe sometime next year if the fare isn't too high.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you do death with this long report, but I don't see too many Finnair reports here so I thought I'd share my experience.
Kiitos!
Jenn
May 27, 2002, 10:59 pm
#3
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Syracuse, Boston, Athens
Posts: 995
Well, what was it?
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Ilves:
The captain was very good about explaining to us what happened, and how they were fixing the problem, which was actually rather interesting.
</font>
The captain was very good about explaining to us what happened, and how they were fixing the problem, which was actually rather interesting.
</font>
May 28, 2002, 11:55 am
#4
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: A Southern locale that ain't the South.
Programs: Bah, HUMBUG!
Posts: 8,014
I only spent two days in Finland but I fell in love with it. I've never met friendlier people in my travels and actually spent an evening out alone at a club with complete strangers and made friends with quite a few of them. Just so you know, go to HTTP://www.yle.fi and you can listen to YLE, Radiomafia, Radioextrem and several other services. It's a way to keep in touch!