G-BOAC

Although the AY LHR-HEL-PEK-HEL-LHR route is not new, I thought I'd write up a (rather detailed I warn you now, so feel free to skim it or even skip it!) report from the perspective of a bit of a BA die-hard in case it helps any of the other BA regulars in the future.

So I heard at the start of September I'd have to go to Beijing in late October to give a presentation at an event. Our company policy is premium economy longhaul so I immediately priced up BA WT+ as usual (I find it helps if you tell the TA exactly what you want, that way you stand a chance of getting it!). But I also knew of the AY routing via HEL which has some great Business Class deals sometimes. So after pricing WT+ on ba.com the next thing I did was check AY's routing on www.finnair.com. For my dates (outbound Monday 24th October, inbound Friday 28th October) BA were offering ~£2200 (yes, in W - those Saturday stays really make a difference if you have/want to!) and AY ~£1600 in Business all the way So, in true FT style, the only potential 'dilemma' for me personally was 320 Tier Points and 125% miles vs. 150 Tier Points and 175% miles (125% for WT+ and 50% Gold Bonus)...which (discounting the cost difference for a second) was a no brainer as I'm much more fussed with staying Gold than I am accruing yet more miles! I'd also never tried AY longhaul in any class so this seemed like a good chance to check it out. According to the BA miles calculator the direct BA route would have got me 17,686 BA Miles and 150 Tier Points vs. 12,664 BA Miles and 320 Tier Points on AY - so a 'loss' of 5022 miles.

So I put a request in for my AY itinerary with BA as a backup to fulfil 'the rules'. Surprise number one of the trip - our TA is good for something I can't do myself at least They came back and offered BA for ~£1700 and AY for ~£1400 - so there's some discounts being negotiated somewhere which I can't do (only on longhaul though it seems from my investigations) ^^ Either way, AY was still cheaper so it was booked. The only worry I then had was whether I'd get my miles and points at all in case it was some kind of special discount deal which was exempt (fingers crossed on that front please - IME AY flights take at least a week to post to my account)

AY832 24/10/2005 LHR-HEL 10:20-15:15 (A321, Seat 2C)
I reached BA's familiar Zone R at LHR T1 around 07:45 and breezed through to the FIRST section. I had to queue for a minute or so until one of the two manned desks became free, but check-in took a matter of seconds, spitting out BPs for my LHR-HEL and HEL-PEK legs in my previously pre-assigned seats. Then I experienced a new for me at Zone R - a queue for security! It took around 5 minutes to navigate the screening (still much better than the main terminal I assume!) and after a quick spot of shopping I headed for the FIRST lounge for a bacon baguette, early morning glass of Bellefon rose (time doesn't count when you're flying. Or something ) and to catch up on some mails over WiFi.

The flight was eventually marked as delayed until 10:45 which wasn't too bad, and I got to the gate in good time. As with BA (who handled the flight of course), there was no sign of priority boarding so it was a bit of a scum to get on, but I was soon ensconced in my seat (I have to say I prefer BA's leather setup to AY's cloth one, though pitch and width seemed the same as I expected) with my roll-on and rucksack (I like to get on early and claim my space when I've got two bags!) in the lockers above.

It's been a good few years since I've flown AY J shorthaul but the service was just as great as I remember and I have to say, actually better than most BA flights (even when they have catering!) - and as usual, it's the small things which make the difference; like my coat being hung as soon as I'd sat down and a newspaper run once boarding was over. J stretched back 10 or 11 rows and was nearly full (as Y appeared to be too). We eventually pushed back around 11am, but with a promise of a short flight time to make up some of the delay. I do love the nose wheel/fuselage live camera feeds AY have too, they make take-off and landing much more interesting.

Once we were airborne, service proceeded at just the right pace for my liking - efficient yet calm, relaxed and not rushed. Hot towels and menus (BA take note - IIRC these were promised in CE early last year and I've yet to see one!) were dispensed and the first drinks served. Here I opted for a champagne to get a direct comparison to BA and found AY serving Joseph Perrier. I'm no champagne expert by a long way, but it did taste lighter and less acidic than the Heidsieck Monopole BA serve in CE ^ I was also pleased to see serving from full bottles of wine remains - a nice touch. The menu was:

Where BA wins is in the return of metal cutlery and the serving style of the meals - BA plate it on the cart (or if you get a good crew and/or quiet cabin, in the galley) whereas AY just give you a tray with the plastic and foil covers still on. I love fish (sorry BA Board!) so that was a good start, the beef tasted a bit like corned beef to be honest but hit the spot and the dessert was a bit too sickly so I didn't have more than a bite - it wasn't as if I'd go hungry today anyway! AY proudly promote (with a flyer on your tray) that their wines are from Portugal and it showed - the red was very sweet, almost port-like! There followed several coffee/bar offerings and just to double-check, I asked for a port to make sure...yes, it was definitely sweeter than the wine in the end

In the end we landed at about 15:35, or around 20 minutes late. I'd say (just as I recall from a few years ago) AY shorthaul J wins on overall service quality and 'general' cabin environment, BA wins on the seat itself and the manner of serving the food (plus, when there is catering you usually get a choice of main dish at least). I've done AY in Y to HEL and back (!!) several times this year and they beat BA there overall too - I'll be trying to stick to the AY operated services on this route in future, in any cabin.

G-BOAC

AY51 24/10/2005 HEL-PEK 18:00-06:25 (MD-11, Seat 2J)
I was one of the first off the AY832 at Gate 29 and knew it was only a short trot to the Finnair International lounge from there. Within minutes I was in the lounge with a cup of tea and a perfectly-timed 1hr of (paid ) WiFi mail access before the longhaul began to accept people at the gate. This time, there was a priority boarding line which was good to see, and by around 17:30 I was settled in to 2J on the MD-11 (my first time on one of these).

Initial impressions were that the cabin seemed very spacious, bright and airy. The flight socks, ear plugs and eye shade were on my arm rest and a bottle of water in the back of the seat in front (further amenities such as a shaving kit and toothbrush with some decent Colgate paste are available in the washrooms) which was a nice touch. Also good to see were what claimed to be active noise-cancelling headphones, which were good but my MDR-11 buds on my iPod seemed to work better. There seemed to be more room 'around' the cabin than the BA 744s and 772s I'm used to. On the negative side, it struck me that one is closer to their neighbour than they are even on shorthaul when on the left of the plane (where the collapsed B seat is a nice 'buffer' zone). I was soon joined by someone in 2L and that confirmed this feeling. I only flew BA's Cradle seats ('Old Club World') once on a lucky op-up in 2001, but this reminded me of that lack of personal space compared to what I'm used to now in New Club World. Some on the BA Board complain about the 'school dormitory' type feel of the New Club World cabin on 777s, but I have to say it reminded me of how spoiled one is on BA with the flat beds and privacy of the seats which have a much more secluded and individual feel. It made me realise (and be thankful at) just how much New Club World revolutionized business class travel.

Again my coat was taken as soon as I'd settled down and I had a play with the seat and look at the IFE as I was offered pre-flight water/champagne/juice. The screen was reassuringly huge (much bigger than on BA) but the IFE was a bit limited with a poor choice of films (no change for me there then! ). In fact, the screen was perhaps too big for the seat area - it was quite cumbersome to try and stow when the person in front was fully reclined as I found out later. The seat itself was basic with 3 controls (recline, footrest and lumbar support) but comfortable. OK, so I knew AY wouldn't ever win on the seat front (incidentally, in their in-flight magazine Flying Wings, it says flatbeds will begin rolling out in November and be available in all of their 7 MD-11s by May 2006). But it was a good time to remind myself that I was making all these comparisons to BA's J class when in reality the actual alternative for me on the day was only WT+, so I was still very much better off where I was! The only downside for a direct comparison there was the lack of laptop power (as far as I could see?) on AY which I would have got in WT+ (if I'd wanted to work!). So I settled back to enjoy the service on our scheduled 7:18 of flying time - which in one word was 'attentive'.

After take-off (and whilst the BBC News played familiarly in the background!), we received a comprehensive menu and wine list (in many languages, but also in far more detail than BA's, I only reproduce the names below not the full information) before being offered a small (but rather satisfying) salmon canape and the first drinks selection (I opted for a G&T, with Bombay Sapphire - again, BA take note, I wish you'd stock this!). The canapes and better spirits were a nice touch - but then I remembered J is the highest cabin on AY so there was no F to 'take things up a notch' or have to differentiate from like on most BA longhauls. Around 50 minutes after take-off, the meal service began. Although the choice wasn't as wide as BA's (again, in J not W), there was metal cutlery and the food was of good quality and 'just about right' quantity:

I selected the salad (delicious), the lasagne (pretty good) and the cheesecake (alas still part-frozen when I got it!), noting the 'dessert or cheese' choice just as on BA - is this a oneworld cheese conspiracy, I wondered?! Throughout I stuck with the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc which was sweet but slipped (all too) easily, and had a hint of lychee about it, which went very well with the starter, of course. By attentive, I mean the crew must have done at least 10 different runs with top-ups on offer, and my glass was never less than half-full. Other nice touches included a small toothpick pouch, mini salt and pepper shakers and a wide bread selection (hot garlic bread included) which was most welcome. After a couple of coffees and a couple of glasses of Sauternes though, I was ready to try and bed down (after writing up the bulk of this report). The pillows and blankets were handed out over several runs through the cabin which was unobtrusive and friendly, a very nice touch again.

Alas as soon as I put my eye shades on, I realised I wasn't tired! Although we'd left Finland at 6pm local time, that was still very much 4pm UK time for me as I'd just arrived that afternoon. For the locals, by the time most were looking to sleep it was 22:30 or so for them which would be ideal after a few glasses of wine. For me it was only 20:30 (and I guess I must drink too much wine because I was too used to it ). This is something I'd never considered when planning the trip (I like to try and follow the old rule of "sleep going East, stay awake going West"). As it turned out, I was content to just relax with my eyes shut in the dark, knowing I'd drift off eventually. I think I got around 3 hours of interrupted, shallow sleep but it was nice just to be resting the eyes at other times anyway. I am one of those people who really doesn't sleep so well in any position but flat and although the recline was generous, it wasn't "enough" to get really comfortable for me. But again, compared to the real alternative of WT+ I was much more better off!

More realisation of just how good NCW is (IMHO) came in the middle of the night when the guy next to me wanted to get out, shortly after the guy behind me did too. In NCW you have the funny back/front layout and (mostly) have to step over someone else's legs to leave your seat - people find that strange. Well it struck me as a whole lot easier than trying to get out of a window when both seats in front and the one next to you are reclined (impossible for Mr. 2L, it seemed) or from an aisle when the seat in front is reclined (likewise impossible for Mr. 3J without manhandling my seat!). In NCW you get a funny layout, but the days of people swinging on your seat or waking you up (well, had I been asleep...) to ask you to de-recline (is that a word?) are gone! As is the annoyance of being able to feel the person behind you rummaging in the seat pocket for something. It really is a genius product!

About 1:30 out of PEK the lights came up and I drowsily lifted my shades (speaking of which, one for he BA Board again: no effort was made to lower any shades in the cabin by the crew - but then it was dark all the way) and the breakfast service began.

I had plenty of juice and a couple of coffee refills (again, the crew did several passes through the cabin with drinks) and enjoyed the fruit and fresh bread/croissants on offer. The hot food was a bit strange - two rather tiny sausage things and a quiche which all looked rather helpless swimming around in a large crockery dish! It's not what I'm normally eat for breakfast, but then I'm not Finnish either, I guess In the end, it tasted nice and I polished it all off before we got the 40 minute warning.

Ultimately we landed at just gone 06:30 (15mins early). After a long taxi to the gate, the crew held back both sides of Y until J had emptied (via 2L) and I began the dash to immigration, remembering it to be a bit long and a bit of a nightmare if you catch it at the wrong time. Which we did. The Chinese have clearly learned a lot from the Americans - a huge array of desks open for nationals, 4 open for foreigners I think it took me around 15-20 minutes to get through, joining as I did the end of one of the already long-ish queues, but thanking my lucky stars I'd made a dash for it! Once I was through though, that was it - with no checked bags I was straight out, past the unlicensed taxi touts (a lesson learned on my first trip several years back) and on my way to my hotel in a 'real' taxi, glad someone else was braving the early-morning melee of cars and bikes and pedestrians in central Beijing - something which seems to get worse every time I visit!

On reflection, I'd say AY's J service was excellent on this leg with a lovely, attentive crew, impressive drinks offering and good food too, which only lacked a wider range of choices. They fall down on the seat compared to BA J, but at the price paid and for the service I received when the other option was WT+, it was a bargain. If all that stays the same then when they roll their flatbad out, I would heartily recommend them as an excellent choice to the Far East from LHR (but on the other hand, we'll see how I feel about the hassle of the connection on the return leg when I get there...). Big thumbs up to AY ^^^

G-BOAC

AY52 28/10/2005 PEK-HEL 10:55-14:30 (MD-11, Seat 4C)
Well, the day began on a positive note - I checked my BA EC account before I left my hotel (I don't normally do TRs on hotels, but for the record, I was staying at the Renaissance Beijing Hotel on Xiaoyun Road which was very nice with spacious, comfortable rooms and at a very decent rate by Western standards. I would have booked it myself for what was already a good rate on the website, but again our TA came in with a decent discount too ^) and saw the miles and most importantly tier points from the first 2 flights of this trip had posted already ^ So that solves that worry Much quicker than normal too which was (pleasantly) surprising.

When I arrived on Tuesday I noticed the traffic going to the airport was jammed solid. Not wanting to get caught out on the way home, I decided to head off earlier than normal...hence a most unwelcome 06:30 wake-up call got me started for the day. After some quick e-mails, a shower and a rapid check-out, I was on my away in a taxi around 07:40...and of course the traffic flowed perfectly today and we didn't stop once So I got to PEK rather early at around 08:05 for my 10:55 flight. I'd forgotten at PEK that you clear customs, then check-in, then do security so it took me a minute to get my bearings and stop looking for check-in desks until I'd filled in the customs form and walked through there All of this took no more than about 5 minutes; both J and Y check-in were actually empty at AY and the (surprisingly cheerful for that time of day!) girl printed me both sets of BPs and handed me an Air China lounge invite. What took more time was the queue for immigration which I must have stood in for 20 minutes again But luckily I wasn't in any hurry! Security was cleared easily enough (do note though if you're going to China that you're not allowed alcohol in hand luggage for some reason when you fly back out or internally) and then it was off to the lounge. My advice here would be don't expect too much! Air China seem to serve about 30+ airlines with lounge access but it wasn't all that busy in the end, less than a quarter full I'd say. It's basically a big room packed full of chairs (over 100 at a guess)! There is a row of 6 PCs at one side (one was working!) and desks for laptop users with Ethernet connections (couldn't get any to work ). A decent array of soft drinks were on offer along with some local snacks and warm breakfast dishes plus coffee and several types of tea. Booze lovers, go elsewhere: a bottle of JW Black, a bottle of Baileys and some small red wine bottles were out and that's yer lot Although to be fair, it was 9am I stuck to my final few cups of 'authentic' Jasmine Tea for the trip. For smokers, there's a tiny little room at the back of the lounge. I did think about trying to find BA's lounge and check that out...but then thought the challenge of trying to explain (or bend) the oneworld rules at a third party lounge in a place I don't speak the language wasn't really worth it

With boarding apparently due to commence at 10:05 I left the lounge a bit early (yes, I was bored doing e-mails offline...) and ambled to Gate 17 about 5 minutes walk away. In the end boarding was delayed slightly and I was in my seat by 10:20 (again via a proper priority boarding line ^) with my jacket hung and with 4A still looking nicely empty...right until the last minute. At this point two Finns boarded (making J completely full) and one asked if I'd mind taking his 2C seat instead so he could sit with his friend in 4A. An aisle for an aisle and all that so it was no problem for me and I happily swapped. There was even ample chance to move my luggage forward a couple of lockers nearer my new seat - plenty of space still left. What wasn't so good was the fact they'd obviously operated their "odd one out" MD-11 on this route today. I'd been warned about this on FT when I asked a question about seating/service in advance of my trip - there's one plane in the fleet which isn't fitted out like the rest. This one has no PTVs and no individual air vents and the seats have only a footrest and recline control (no lumbar feature), although they were still comfortable (even though the recline really didn't seem to be as far as on the outbound). On the plus side, you do get an Empower adaptor (to power your personal DVD player) which is handy if you want to work on a laptop, and the seating throughout the entire J cabin is all 2-2-2 on this plane.

Soon after boarding the pre-flight champagne was offered (and accepted, of course!) and newspapers/magazines were brought around on a trolley (hint for the future, sitting on the front right gets you faster service if you care, as the crew on the left also seem to double up attending to boarding via 2L). Although we pushed back on time at about 10:55, we didn't get airborne until 11:35 - PEK seemed very busy, with two landings for every one flight they let depart from the single runway. As we waited, I saw the BA flight hurtle past the window on take-off - if only I could have managed a double-take, because I'm sure it looked more like a 767 than the usual 3-class 777 they operate on this route I'm no plane expert, so I'm not sure if that's even possible? Maybe I was mistaken. Anyway, despite the long wait to take-off, the flight was predicted to take only 7:40 so we were still timed to land 20 minutes or so ahead of schedule.

20 minutes later the excellent service commenced as before with hot towels, menus and the first drunks run (something I forgot to mention on the first flight, this was all served from the front galley without trolleys which I always feel gives a nicer, more personalised service). Again there were canapes (this time two; a king prawn one and a duck one). I decided (life's full of tough choices, eh? ) on a G&T again to the backdrop of the BBC News once more The menu on this leg looked better, with one extra choice of main:

The wine and spirits selection was identical to the outbound journey as already reported above. On this flight, I chose the duck starter (with a glass of champagne, liberally topped up as I expected! ^), the beef main (with a glass of the Medoc which turned out to be a bit too dry for my liking) and the lemon tart with a glass of port and coffee. The port was excellent - light, sweet, fruity and it slipped very easily I "may" have had several more glasses too Another nice touch this time was a full-size pepper grinder for freshly ground black pepper on your salad or pasta ^ The food too was very good for an airline meal - in fact, this is probably the first flight I can recall where I've thought catering on the return from the remote station was actually better than from home base on the outbound sector! As on the outbound, there were several drinks top-up offers and bread runs too.

I was surprised to see much of the main-screen IFE seemed the same as on the HEL-PEK flight - granted, the episode of Joey was one of the funniest I've seen, but I didn't need it twice in a week! With that, I requested a final glass of port and my fired up my DVD player for 'Monster In Law' (each J passenger gets the Finnair-branded Pioneer player and their own wallet of the entire DVD selection, so no fighting or waiting for your choices is required). Next up was 'Stuck on you'. So much for 'sleep going East, stay awake going West' - I dozed off from sheer exhaustion some way through the film for what must have been just shy of an hour Well, it's been a long month for me (and to be fair, it's not a great movie)! During the 'night', the crew came round several times with sandwiches and offers of more drinks...which I felt best to decline by that point except for soft ones

On this flight, the crew did make an effort to close the blinds (as we were flying through daylight) and turned out the cabin lights for those who actually planned to sleep. But for some reason the light snack/lunch service began earlier this time, it was around 1:50 before landing when the lights going up. After hot towels, the offering was:

I wasn't very hungry I have to say, so I managed to eat just the meat balls themselves (delicious) and the fresh fruit, washing it down with another couple of glasses of champagne ^ (well, it was a Friday - and I certainly wasn't going to go to work once I landed!). Before long we had the 30 minute call and the crew swept in to action clearing DVDs, headsets, etc. before our touchdown at HEL around 14:15. Interestingly when I looked out of the window on approach, the entire place was covered in snow...when I left on Monday it was like a summer's day!

During the course of the flight I noticed two other pax with BA Gold tags dangling from the rucksacks they removed from overhead lockers. Combined with another British passenger I met in the lounge doing the same route back to LHR as me, it seems I'm not the only one who (I assume) decided to take advantage of the excellent Business Class fares ex-LHR on this route (indeed they were all on my return leg to LHR too). And good on Finnair - they deserve the custom. This trip has left me feeling that their service is superb and well worth a look for anyone who can try it. It doesn't beat BA's Club World, but it comes close save for the seat and IFE. However, at a price which actually competes with BA's WT+ offering, it's a no-brainer, even for a BA die-hard: AY wins hands down.

G-BOAC

AY833 28/10/2005 HEL-LHR 16:00-17:10 (A320, Seat 2D)
As one of the first off the AY052, I followed the Connections signs (thankfully the International, non-Schengen gates at HEL are all very close) and made my way through security, passport control (x2) and back to the International Lounge...and had a nice cup of Earl Grey in my hand by 14:30 After hitting WiFi to despatch my queued up mails (and catch up on FT, natch) it was time to board the jam-packed AY833. This time, J extended back to row 7 and every seat was filled, with Y looking just as busy.

The service was pretty much identical to the AY832 earlier in the week - rather surprisingly, right down to the menu too So there's not much else to report on that front. I'd eaten so much during the day already that I still wasn't very hungry, so I just had the fish starter (stop it before you start AJLondon ) and attempted a slice of the beef to show willing, but couldn't get any further This time I stuck with champagne throughout but snuck in another cheeky port with the coffee. OK, I'm very partial to port, but it's also a bit of an in-joke for me and one of my best friends - the last time I flew AY J shorthaul several years ago, me and her managed to actually finish off all the port they had on board (back then it was full-sized bottles too!)...much to the chagrin of our other colleagues who woke up as we approached LHR to find us both rather merry - it's been team folklore ever since

I was always worried about the extra hassle of another flight to get 'home' after the longhaul part. In reality, it's not so bad. The seconds did seem to tick away exceedingly slowly (but it's also one of the longer HEL-LHR flights of the day with a scheduled time of 3:10) but the break at HEL was nice to be able to walk around, recover a bit and do some mail/surfing. It's not really much extra problem (especially with hand luggage only).

We landed at LHR about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, despite pushing back around 10 minutes late from HEL ^ The only spanner in the works was the ridiculous queues and scrum at EU passport control again It felt like it took me nearly as long as the entry in to China to get through! In reality though it couldn't have been quite that long as I found myself on the slightly delayed 17:32 HEX - which is not bad from one of the fairly distant T1 gates (23? one of the ones which has the stupid door system to separate outbound and inbound pax, down past the BD lounge if you're coming from 'inside' T1). Having no checked luggage helped of course, but I did really leg it both off the plane and down to the train too once I was through, I hate hanging around LHR once I've landed (Arrivals lounges excepted).

And that, as they say, is that. If you're still reading by this point, well done ^

In conclusion, although this was but one trip, I didn't get the impression it was anything out of the ordinary for AY (meant in a good way!) and I think anyone else could reasonably expect the same excellent experience as I had in future. I wouldn't hesitate to do this route again given the chance. AY are (unlike IB and EI *cough*) a credit to oneworld and an excellent carrier ^

AJLondon

Nice trip report, Phil. ^

Would you say that the AY longhaul J seats were similar to OCW? Or perhaps similar to the old LH/AF/KL J seats or even QF domestic?

We'll deal with you back on the mother ship aka the BA board!

G-BOAC

Thanks, AJ.

Now you're asking I would say (from memory) it was similar to OCW, but with more fabric/padding and what seemed like more recline? As I said, I only did OCW once and that was years ago. As for the other stuff, you're showing up my rather narrow airline experience Can't say I've ever tried any of the others to be able to compare, sorry. The other good thing vs. OCW is that the first couple of rows are 2-2-2 not 2-3-2 too. I'd say any Row 1 seat would be most desirable for easiest egress during the night.

I think I meant to say "(no puns please, BA Board)"

Phil

upgrade lover

Nice report! Sounds like AY will be a great choice when the new J seats arrive. Were there any sort of pictures of the new J seats in the mag? Can't wait to hear about the return.

Gardyloo

According to a post on airliners.net, they're using the "Majesty" - http://sicma.zodiac.com/eprodpass.html

Looks a bit like the QF Skybed. If so, ^ .

Gnopps

Nice report, I look forward to the return.

AJLondon

Cheers for that further update, Phil.
Indeed. Nothing fishy in that regard.

G-BOAC

Am here at work on my Saturday completing a rather hefty expenses claim after a very busy October! Anyway, I also managed to write up the last two legs now and post them above in the placeholder slots. All in all, a very good trip indeed.

Hope the report is mildly interesting to some and useful to others in future considering the same type of routing.

Phil

Moomba

I just saw this link on the Other Euro Flyer forum. Shows several pix of new J class seat.

http://www01.finnair.com/faye/photob...mages=inflight

With these seats and servce described by GBOAC sounds like a winning combination.

Buster CT1K

Great report! Thank you.