Originally Posted by
aster
What surprised me though is that the HEL-LPA flight was on an A350... and yet we were boarding from gate 31D with buses taking pax to the plane (and then up the stairs you go!). Does this happen often?
Yes, it happens all the time. And wait until you get back to HEL, you'll be deplaning from the rear door, so as a J pax, you'll be the last one off the plane and on the bus.
Some mornings, they do tow the LPA plane to a Schengen gate. Seems to be gate 34 tomorrow. But more often than not, they don't bother. LPA is one of the very few widebody Schengen departures, and great customer service just is not in the AY books so when the plane arrives from a non-Schengen destination, it'll stay at a non-Schengen gate and "we want to offer our pax the opportunity to partake in an exciting joyride on the tarmac and a great opportunity to strech out before the long flight by taking a looong flight of stairs in crisp winter weather" (okay AY, just copy this into your next press release, no commission due).
Originally Posted by
aster
Ironically in LPA we also disembarked via stairs into buses, even though the A350 is probably the largest plane to arrive in LPA all week
And that's why. They can't accommodate widebodies at the gates at LPA, or at least that's what the FAs told me on my flight.