jhm

Thanks - I have 1A/1L booked so should be fine (leaving aside the post by VC10 Boy above ).

It seems that the only A343 operated by AY at the moment (with more on order) is the ex-VS plane with the J2000 seats on the PVG route which I'll be taking. Somewhat lukewarm comments about the VS/J2000 seats here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121913

and another excellent experience by Mr Enigma with AY here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=582203

jhm

Just to say that having tried it on X'mas Day, I fully agree with this! ^

I curled up with two duvets on the seat and managed to get a great night's sleep. The crew just couldn't do enough - probably helped by the fact that there was only 1 other pax in the J cabin! Tasty food including the very more'ish Finnish black bread.

I even got a X'mas gift from AY - typically Finnish I suppose - two shot glasses and a pack of X'mas disposable napkins ?!?

Smirnoff

I'd like to just add 2 more reasons:

1. HEL check-in gave me the BP for my HEL-ARN flight, but could not seem to print the BP for the connecting ARN-LHR flight (BA codeshare). So, I said don't worry, and I went to the lounge. An hour later, I boarded the plane to ARN. Just as we were about to leave, a lovely member of AY ground staff came on board, straight to my seat (no annoucement for Mr S to make himself known...), and hands me the onward BP, saying they managed to print it, and thought I would like to have it before leaving HEL. What great service. ^ ^

2. An hour later, I am in the AY lounge at ARN. The BA flight to LHR is delayed, and the Lounge Lord annouces that the lounge will soon be closing as it only stays open until the last AY flight leaves. He then comes over to me in the Emerald enclave of the lounge and says, feel welcome to stay while they clear up. Great service. ^ ^

jhm

I'm going off on a very rare work jolly next week - AY to HEL in what I'm told will be fully flexible Y.

From a dummy booking on ba.com, it seems that I can upgrade for about �150 to fully flexible J. It'll be booked through a TA.

If the flights are AY flight numbers, can I upgrade online through ba.com within 24 hours of the flight ?

Thanks in advance for any response!

Smirnoff

If you are booked with AY (AY flight number on BA metal?), you will need to contact AY to upgrade. You can only use MMB to select a seat and order SPMLs.

Or did you mean, booked with BA on AY metal?

frankvb

And remember you can only do this if the TA books it in a proper Y fare without discount (so the fare must not be marked 'IT'). Though people have reported exceptions on this I think.

Smirnoff

A full fare Y fare on BA is £736 + £48 tax = £784.

This is upgradeable for £152 to J.

The I class however is only £334 +£63 tax = £397.

AY has similar fares, although the cheapest J fares are around £600. I class is only for connecting flights IIRC.

Also of interest - AY has special fares LHR-HEL at the moment for £90 + tax in Y (books into O class), which is quite a bargain.

jhm

Thanks for the replies. The TA originally suggested a range of flights with different times so given my schedule, I chose the AY ones on AY metal.

However, this morning, he's come back to say that booking the same flights but on the BA codeshares would be about �90 cheaper. ^ (Plus get me my tier bonus! ) Fully flexible AY Y is �910 and fully flexible BA Y is �823 - I assume the difference between that and the price Smirnoff helpfully quoted are TA fees etc but not my problem as I'm not paying.

Once booked, I assume I can go into MMB within 24 hours of departure and upgrade to J; or alternatively phone up. (At any time ? With a charge ?)

LHR Tim

I find online upgrading hit or miss. If you can, I just phone up our TA and they generally have no problem with taking payment and upgrading the ticket. YMMV.

jhm

I phoned up BA but they said that they can't touch the booking (either online or over the phone) because it's booked through a TA. The work TA was happy to upgrade the booking to fully flexible J for £152 plus another service charge! Anyway, I need the TPs (now only 140 remaining to UK gold) so all done.

Reading the above, I'm a bit confused about the lounge at HEL. When I flew AY last month, I used the longhaul lounge even prior to my flight to LHR coming from SIN, i.e. the section to the right if standing in front of the desk at the entrance to the lounge.

I'd assumed the section to the left of the desk is the emerald section or is that for shorthaul ?

G-BOAC

Shorthaul business/Silver plebs is on the left. Emerald/longhaul business on the right. Presumably they let you in the right side having landed from SIN in business?

jhm

Yes, I explained that I was going on to LHR but had just come from SIN and they said I was entitled to use the lounge and pointed to the right.

AJLondon

Am booked on AY flight numbers & metal on a BA issued (125 stock) e-ticket for LHR-HEL/x-DEL.

1. Would I be able to OLCI using MMB? Or the AY website equivalent?

2. MMB has automatically allocated me seats. (Change option greyed out though.) In order to change those can I call the BA Gold line, or would I need to call AY?

3. With a 2 hour connection at HEL, is there much to do at the airport? Any interesting shops or bargains? Or should I just drink myself silly in the lounge!?

G-BOAC

Interesting. How did you get it on BA stock? I recall (albeit through a fug of ManFlu this morning) reading somewhere BA were to stop issuing tickets which didn't contain at least one BA flight (i.e. basically acting as a TA)? Or maybe it was always/was changed to 'just OW flights'?

Anyway:

1) AY operated flight = no OLCI ex-LHR (the recent changes meant AY flight number on BA flight = OK to OLCI. It's all about who operates it)

2) It would have been AY who auto-allocated seats rather than MMB. You'll need to call AY to change them. They are very nice and jolly Finnish ladies on the phone in my experience and will be happy to help There is IIRC a non 0870 number on www.saynoto0870.co.uk

3) This will be the easiest connection of your life probably You will land at the far end of the terminal at an International gate (or if you're unlucky, get bussed to there). Dead ahead you see the lounge. Simply go there, drink, exit and board the DEL flight a bit later You can literally make sub-5min connections at HEL! There is a duty free shop in the International area but the prices have never been that great I've thought (and it's standard DF booze/chocolate/food style not a huge selection of 'stuff'). I only use it to buy things I can't easily get elsewhere (e.g. Mesimarja). There are a couple of places to eat and a Travelex too. Head for the lounge and don't look back I say!

If you clear passport control and follow the connecting pax route (i.e. don't go down the escalators to baggage) there are more shops in the Shengen area (and several lounges - if you're bored, go lounge hopping and try for a drink in each ). You'll have to come back via passport control with your DEL BP, but not re-clear security ^

AJLondon

Cheers, my dear! ^ I have my sources. And what's this ManFlu you speak of? Something you get when you have too much of Boddies...??
Ahh perfect! Will do that.

So are those lounges any better, bigger or more interesting than the Emerald bit of the non-schengen lounge?


Also any advice of AY longhaul J anyone? The seats seem quite nice on the MD-11, but the IFE seems rather hit and miss. Food & booze??