I was on that flight and there is no reason why it would not qualify. They were short of aircraft at home base.... [Aircrafts going tech is per definition not extraordinary, which was the case of one of their inbound aircraft meant to service another route so as far as I understand from our experts above.]

I have just filed a claim - let's see how fast they are at denying it; or if they have cleaned up their act.

Today/Yesterday AY143 to BKK was delayed overnight and departed 0814 today instead of 2355 last night.

AY99 has been pushed to the morning once again.

However, today there's an extra flight to HKG in the afternoon: AY7211, departing at 1735 (only 40 mins behind AY101). Maybe LWD going to maintenance at HAECO? I wonder what kind of loads they have on AY7211 and would AY be liable for less compensations by delaying it to midnight and filling it by AY99 passengers.

Looked at the loads for AY7211 out of interest. In J only 2 seats available, In Y, a few dozen seats still available.

Maybe LWD needs to be at HAECO on time and AY 99 is too late.

And AY99 aircraft swapped to AY131. For some reason OH-LWI from DXB is not going to SIN as 131 today. AY99 waiting for OH-LWA from HKG.

For those of you who have been on a delayed AY99, leaving in the morning: What is catering like? Will they stick to the original plan and serve you a one-tray midnight menu at 9 am Finnish time, and a pre-arrival breakfast at 9:30 pm HKG time? Or are these two perhaps inverted? Or is there a different concept altogether?

Haven't had this myself, but a friend was on one of those morning flights recently and they started with the breakfast and then main meal closer to landing.

I had a few multi hour delays several years ago. It was original catering for those who left during the night, but I can't recall what happened on the one that was delayed 8h+. They possibly can't keep the same food for such a long delay, could they? I think they need to trash and cater new for such a delay.
(I think someone put that question to the manager of Finnair kitchen on the last meeting, but spoke Finnish so I could not follow the conversation)

Just saw this thread. Out of curiousity, if I don't care for compensation and only want to be back in Asia ASAP, if AY 99 is delayed will AY rebook onto the SIN/ BKK flights?

I don't think such delays are nearly that common anymore? I wouldn't worry about it.

Has AY99 on-time performance really improved? I've always preferred afternoon arrival but never liked the idea that with AY99, more likely than not I have to wait for hours in the middle of the night at HEL (with no lounges) ...

Yes, a quick look at the stats from flightaware for the last 9 months says that AY99 have been delayed more than 60 minutes only 13 times (plus one diversion). Only 8 of them was above 3 hours. When AY69 was the favourite escape-goat for every problem in operations, there was at least two 8h+ delays every month.

Agreed that having a 3h+ delay every month still is in no way acceptable.

Is this due to a spare/extra A359 around or is the plane becoming more reliable? I guess I'm trying to figure out whether the improvement is permanent (due to A359 increase reliability) or temporary (due to spare A359 which will eventually be deployed elsewhere). AY99 is always a gamble :D but with better odds, I may give it a try again.

Has anyone been on HKG flights lately? What have the loads been like now during the Chinese flu?