Season 04, episode 03
The season stories so far has covered almost every trip but I will skip ahead a bit now. Partly because the first years were the most remarkable and partly because memory becomes more hazy when you visit the same place for the umpteenth time. Also, some trips have already been reported on and to prevent myself from committing perjury I better not try to write those stories again...

For Chinese new year I went to HKG and CAN. Lantern festival was nice, but not much on that trip is worth a mention on FT. Perhaps the taking revenge on the "rats of the air" is - eating everything on the menu at the local dove shack, where they serve anything from Dove risotto to salted fried dove. Good to know the menace of the air can be useful, but I am glad I never asked where the doves came from.


Easter 2013 I went to Japan for my usual Sakura holiday and it became A Finnair irrop story.

Let's skip ahead:

Season ending - Hitting it off in Okinawa
Where in I actually start to book open-jaws and I make my first ever positioning flight.

June 2013
Up to this point, I was rather a vanilla flyer. Sure, I did fly a lot more than the regular guy, but I did so mostly by vanilla return tickets.
Somewhere around this time, there was a change in AY+ earnings table. Europe got split up in "Northern Europe" (basically Scandinavia) and "Europe". Before the split, all European Scandinavian flights had a 1500 points basis, making a trivial r/t GOT-HEL e.g. earning a very decent 7500 points. The new table decreased base points to 1000 for Northern Europe, and while the new band structure for longhaul destinations in some cases compensated for the change, it irked me. Or perhaps better put, the flip side of it allured me: While earnings in northern Europe was lowered, the rest of Europe increased to a 2000 points basis, ie 10k for a J return. A simple ... how should I put this ... re-positioning of myself to "Europe" before take-off would improve the end result by as much as 5 000 points.

I ended up with a PRG-HKG/BKK-AMS on Finnair. Once that was booked I got a DY to PRG and SK from AMS to make sure my body was in the right place at the right time (the so called positioning). Of course I made the rookie mistake not to check the positioning before buying the longhaul. Positioning can be pricey and/or add long layovers, but I guess I was motivated by principle to really do this. In the end, the cost wasn't horrendous and schedule not bad but there was a moment of "stupid me" before I found the right positions.
Receipts are gone, but I am pretty sure I fell in love with PRG already when booking: CZK pegged to EUR was a dream when SEK was strong. Combined with the ≈36k CZK J-fare to HKG and an open jaw.. need I say more?

OK, let's see if I can relay out of HKG in some interesting way. Well, yes, how about going to Okinawa? That is always fun. There is of course the direct 2h flight, but who in their right mind wants to pay the premium associated with directs? Ah see, I told you so! This CX codeshare on JL via HND is much cheaper! And it is just 3 times longer.

OK, one more hole in my itinerary (HKG-BKK) to plug. Let's sample some more airlines. Don't do a vanilla CX flight, when you can sample a RJ x-freedom flight on the HKG-BKK route. (I seriously did look at relaying via Australia. Sometimes it works but not this time around).

OK, itinerary done: CPH-PRG-HEL-HKG-HND-OKA-HKG-BKK-HEL-AMS-CPH. Let's go fly!

Leg 1:
DY is not too bad, I like the leather seats. I try to get the free wi-fi working but log-on is so slow I just manage to get online (outside their portal) when it is time to prepare the cabin for landing.

Leg 2:
PRG-HEL is a winner in many ways. One is that they still have the menu cards I've missed so much!





Also, the 2 hours flight is just long enough for me to enjoy the service fully. (the Nordic flights are just a bit short for a slow drinker)
Tomato mozzarella starter is lovely.



This is also the time when the barter deal with Marimekko started and menus and china draws some attention. I get mixed feelings about the project (mostly because the inconsistency with not all elements getting design makeover) but snap a few pics anyway.



Alone in C cabin, so I can snap pics of the marimekko head rests.



HEL lounge is depleted. In these days it was rather poorly run. Food items not replenished, mess not cleaned.






Anyway, AY69 is soon ready and I will enjoy a proper meal onboard. I'm a bit exited, I have pre-ordered the novelty "Chef's delight?" which is a sausage mix. The designed for you concept has been going on for awhile by now, but this is my first non-reindeer try of the concept.

Onboard, the FA comes by and ask my meal preferences.
- Well, I have a pre-order. So that is my preference!
- Oh, I didn't know.

She goes away, and comes back.
- We don't have your pre-order loaded. So what do you like from the menu?

I get pretty annoyed and just pick something. What was an exciting positive thing, to get a special treat, turned into a service failure and a disappointment. I alwyas thought that failing to deliver something extra is always worse than actually never offer anything extra and I'm proven right.

Meal service is now actually starting and something strange is going on. I am not served a meal. I am getting more agitated and am just about to ask for the purser when the FA arrives with a foiled covered plate.
- We managed to recover a meal for you, says the FA and makes it sound like someone else had to give up on it (possibly a staff member) and the foil on top even looks like maybe it has been removed and replaced again.
It is all very odd, there even is a sticker on the foil with my name on it so not sure how it could have been "lost". Meal presentation is very poor, but the taste is actually really good. It doesn't appear to be too much of a second-hand meal, so I devour it.



One of my office friends has started to post pictures of his Stan Smiths in variuos positions; Under the desk ("hard at work"), on the commuter train ("Going home"), at the liqour store ("TGIF"). I annoy the hell out of him letting my brand new, 7,5€ basket-sneakers-wanna-be pose in places like in the shoe-box of A330 ("Going home") and from 33.rd floor looking down on the skyscrapers of Hong Kong ("Hard at work") eating ("Out for lunch")[PICx3]
I win!

Out for lunch!





TGIF!

Going home!




HKG is good to me like always and I spend a night in my beloved Wanchai. The next day I enjoy the detour HKG-HND-OKA. No memories other than the plane is large and old, JL service consistently good but not anything extra.


Back in Okinawa, I got in contact with my friend. Last time was a bit stiff, but this time there is a better flow to things. The cloudberry liqour turned out to be a hit. While the adults found it to be "a little bit" (chotto... the polite expression for turning down something without giving a reason and thus without offending!), it hit home with the teen daughter.


My friend suggests a itzakaya and asks if I mind if they bring a few other friends along?
The evening turns out very nicely and we are a party of six people.
When the night is nearing the end my friend has unnoticeable handled payment and we find ourselves leaving the restaurant without ever knowing when the bill came, how large it was and without any chance of even trying to "go dutch".


Just a simple meal at the local eatery...














It turns out that the other couple stays in the same hotel as me and we can share a taxi back. I am thinking "what are the odds two out-of-towners ending up at the same party have chose the same hotel" and only years later do I realise that was not a coincidence but planned...
For years to come Okinawa will be part of all my Japanese trips and on one of those visits they will tell me that cloudberry turned out to not be there thing, but they gave the bottle to their daughter who became hooked on the stuff. So I guess I am guilty of corrupting a teen. But can cloudberry really be seen as something bad?

Returning to HKG on KA, I get a "seat-upgrade", ie is allowed to pick a seat in the business cabin where I am alone. I think I'm getting Y meal, but it looks like they are "plating" it for a bit of a business class feel. Even the coffee milk looks at me with a happy duckie-face!








My first trip on RJ is a let down. Initially, I like the cabin. Despite being 2-2-2 the leather seats in sand/brown is a nice break from what I'm used to, and FA and purser is dressed in remarkable colourful outfits. However, it turns out meal service is really poor on this segment, probably adapted to the fact that most travellers are with them for the entire trip to AMM. To add insult to injury, the purser chooses to hang with the super-social Aussies in 1A and B the entire flight. And I mean the entire flight. And it is not just that they want to monopolize her time, she is very keen on sharing all and everything with them regarding her own time in Australia. It is extremely unprofessional.




In BKK I do have a overnight. But I know nothing about Thailand and have no interest in finding out either. Besides, the flight out is pretty early. So I have booked the hotel nearest to the airport that has a pick-up service. It takes quite awhile to find the pick-up car and I arrive very late into the hotel. Only to find out that even here, far from city center, there are some party people going all night, but ear plugs gets me through it.


Departing BKK, I am invited to "Lois Tavern First Class Golden" lounge. First and Golden by name but it really is a dump. Sure, compared to my last visit (S01!) I have no walk of shame between lounges that rejects me, and is directed to take the elevator to heaven...eh sorry the First section. I ride the tiny elevator only to find that upstairs has the exact same meagre offer as downstairs. The aircon is broken, and with the open plan and hot air rising, top floor is sauna-like. I endure it for awhile, but makes a decision to jump ship. There is only so much First and Golden I can take. CX lounge isn't far away and while not very well stocked either, real Hong Kong dumplings and working air condition wins every time.




On the flight home I can't ignore how worn the Finnair planes are and take some pics of that too. Food is nice though.