Hey folks,

As the title suggests, I have two options to travel to from LHR to BKK in economy with almost identical fares. The Finnair option arrives at HEL at 23:00 and I have an overnight stopover (which I'm fine with as the HEL Holiday Inn looks cheap) before hopping on the AY141 leaving at 15:00. On the way back I'd be on the AY142 leaving BKK at 07:15 which means a 4 hour layover at HEL before connecting on AY1339 arriving at LHR at 20:40.

The other option is to go Gulf Air which allows an overnight stopover in Bahrain before heading to BKK the next day. I am BAEC silver and so can benefit from a free checked bag and seat selection with Finnair although the GulfAir option also includes a free checked bag. Fares are pretty much the same. The good thing about the GulfAir option is that it breaks the journey up as I'm not a big fan of long haul flights. The upside with Finnair is that I'd be on the A350 and can select seats with extra legroom for free although Gulf would be the 787 on both flights so not too much of a step down.

Does anyone have any recommendations on which I should go for based on the above? Bizarrely I've never flown with Finnair or Gulf and so have no idea on the service, entertainment etc.

Thanks!