The original StarMegaDo in November of 2009 was great fun so immediately after Tommy777 announced that there would be a repeat I started planning in order to attend again. There was speculation on where it would take place, I especially liked the RTW-plan, but during spring it got clear that SMD 2 would mainly take place in the U.S. I was tempted to join the fun in FRA but as I already had visited FRA/LH last year I decided to first visit family in Toronto and then join the fun in IAH.

I looked at a few alternative ways of travelling and then booked an all *A-trip in C flying HEL-CPH-YYZ on KF and AC, then after a few days YYZ-IAH on AC (Jazz). After SMD 2-fun I’d fly back home SEA-YYZ-CPH-HEL on AC and KF. During summer though AC reduced their frequency to CPH so I had to change my TATL flight home. I was offered OS where I would instead fly SEA-YYZ on AC and then YYZ-VIE-HEL on OS. I had heard great reports on OS catering by DO & Co but the hardware wasn’t supposed to be as good. As I had never flown on OS before I didn’t mind the change too much though.

I had an excellent dinner with my wife in a new restaurant in Helsinki the night before - I’ll gladly recommend http://chefetsommelier.fi/en/ to anybody visiting Helsinki wanting a great dinner! That really started my vacation in a great way. Finland changed back to normal time from daylight savings the same morning as I was leaving for my trip so I was supposed to be able sleep an extra hour which of course would have been very nice. Note that I was supposed to sleep - was a bit excited to start my trip so I woke up really early and couldn’t fall asleep again… so I browsed on FlyerTalk instead

I took a taxi to the airport and proceeded then to leave my bags at the baggage drop as I had already checked in online. I didn’t get printed priority tags even though I was flying in C on CPH-YYZ (Y on HEL-CPH as KF doesn’t have C) - asked about that but didn’t really get any other answer than the system said so… The check-in agent added red tags though, don’t know if they’ll make any difference. There was no queue to the security so I was through in no time. After buying some chocolates I entered the SK lounge.

SK lounge in HEL

SAS lounge in Helsinki is decorated in the usual Nordic minimalistic way. Breakfast offering is nothing special, but the wireless internet works and it’s nice and quiet in there - I prefer being in the lounge to not being there.

KF 653 (Avro RJ85) HEL-CPH in Y+

Quick boarding as the flight wasn’t full. KF’s Premium class (Economy Extra) was just one row and I was the only passenger there - (originally I had booked 1C with unlimited legroom but changed onboard to 1A to be by the window) - this was my new record. Others were flying regular economy. Flight was very uneventful, it was very cloudy so we didn’t get any view either. Flying time was 1 hour 33 minutes and we landed in time to CPH. In Y+ I was served a simple breakfast with juice, coffee/tea, bread roll, yoghurt, cheese and some veggies. I've taken this flight many times so it's nothing special, just a nice commute. Service was very friendly too.

Novia lounge in CPH

As I had almost four hours between flights I decided to do some lounge hopping in CPH. I visited Novia lounge first - entered with my Priority Pass. That lounge is nothing special, I much prefer the SK Business lounge as it is roomier and more comfortable, looks much better and has better offerings (except that Novia lounge also offers spirits which SK Business lounge doesn’t have. Novia lounge is a bit of a mess with used plates and glasses everywhere and a weak magazine/newspaper selection.

SK Business lounge in CPH

After Novia lounge I spent some time at the SK Business lounge. I prefer sitting in the area furthest back with windows, it’s usually quieter there. Newspaper selection is also excellent in the lounge, I find all my favorite Finnish and Swedish papers there - took DN and SvD with me to my flight as I guessed (rightly) that AC wouldn’t have a good newspaper selection.

50 minutes before scheduled departure time I exited the lounge on my way to the C-pier. The lines to the passport control were horrendous - there are 4 TATL-flights among others leaving within 30 minutes of each other and the border police don’t seem to be capable of handling that well. I don’t understand why there aren’t separate lines for EU nationals either…
Queues continued at gate C28, it took over 10 minutes to enter the gate. I had booked seat 08A but it was changed to 07A - during flight 08A was used as crew rest.

AC883 (763) CPH-YYZ in C

Boarding itself was very fast, a warm welcome entering the plane and I made my way to 07A. My first impression was that the seat was quite narrow and there wasn’t much place to store magazines and other stuff I’d like to have close when flying. The business cabin had a load of about 80%. Soon I was offered a glass of sparkling wine and got myself settled. We were also asked our meal choices - I chose veal steak (other options were salmon, chicken and vegetarian pasta). Boarding took a long while and we finally left the gate about 25 minutes late. A quick taxi to the runway and then we were off!

Soon the IFE was switched on and we were offered drinks. I chose a gin tonic and was also given a glass of nuts and almonds. Lunch followed soon after. Parma ham, cantaloupe and parmesan appetizer was very nice, and the salad with sun-dried and cherry tomatoes was also quite tasty. Mozzarella-crusted veal steak with noodles was nothing special, I didn’t even really manage to find the mozzarella… Cheese selection was nice, I liked it with the port wine AC served. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was supposed to be warm - it wasn’t - but it was still very nice.

I managed to make myself very comfortable on the seat and relaxed with a few movies. I very much like the fact that the seat goes full flat, compared to my previous C flight a few months back on LH (HKG-FRA) the AC hard product is miles better! Little before arrival we were given a cold plate with salami, pastrami, cheese and greens which was ok. During flight the cabin crew made numerous water runs, that was nice. The service was better than I expected, I was made feel very welcome.

The flight took exactly 8 hours and we landed about ten minutes before schedule at YYZ. Immigration was fast but I had to wait a while for luggage and the queue to customs was quite slow as there were a number of flights arriving at the same time. From plane to taxi it took about 50 minutes.

So what did I think of AC in C? I was impressed! I really liked the hard product, pods give you privacy when flying alone and full flat is the way it should be in Business nowadays. When flying with a partner pods are not as nice though. Food was good too and the service friendly - I hope I’ll have as nice a flight on my way back home on OS!