Great post, and let’s hope our friends at AY read it, too! Gives a lot of food for thought, both literally and otherwise.
I wonder to which extent AY is actually geared towards European J customers, Chinese J customers and Chinese Y group customers. If the emphasis is stronly on the latter, then it explains the sometimes modest J performance, eg willingness to invest in catering from (Chinese) outstations etc.
Originally Posted by
intuition
A330 with "old" J cabin. But man, how much space they offer! In my case, A330 with front J cabin 3 rows, 6 abreast plus "mini-cabin" with 2 rows.
So 30 seats in the same space AY had 42 (in the old A330-config)
Yeah, even if I fly alone most of the time, I actually enjoy these seats where you don't have to tuck your feet into a tiny footwell. So much more space, and getting up from that seat to stretch your legs is so much easier.
Originally Posted by
intuition
On AY new J, it must be a nightmare to travel with infants in J. Where do you tuck them? In the foot well?!?
In Y.
Originally Posted by
intuition
By the way, there was garlic bread. Finnair dropped it a few years back and there is a fan base that wants it back. I'm a bit torn, but did enjoy it on this flight.
Count me in the fan base! I actually mentioned this at the AY kitchen event. I still haven’t given up hopes to see it back one day.
Originally Posted by
intuition
Chinese option was excellent and - get this - catered from Copenhagen. They clearly can get great catering at outstations, compared to Finnair that often has mediocre catering on the homebound flights.
The only thing preventing AY from getting good catering from outstations is money. And if there are real issues, they can always cater at HEL both ways.
Originally Posted by
intuition
"You just can't get this kind of service on Finnair. They just throw out the meals and are gone"
”Due to feedback from our most valuable customers, we want to ensure a quiet cabin environment giving you the chance to sleep all afternoon. Therefore, please appreciate that our cabin crew is here primarily for your safety, and to serve you two hours after take-off and 90 minutes before landing…”
To be honest, though, they aren’t that bad. In J, I use the call button if I want something, and they’ll appear if not in a QR-second, then in a AY-five-minutes.
Originally Posted by
intuition
Price for flight was about half of what Finnair offered. At time of purchase (1,5 month ahead of travel) price was comparable to Finnair economy (!). So despite the "old truth" CPH is an expensive airport, it apparently is not true for all airlines.
This is actually pretty revealing. If AY gets away with charging such prices, then clearly they are doing something right (since people want to fly them), or someone/everyone else is doing something wrong, or people have strong prejudices against AY’s competitors and don’t even check their prices.