CeruleanBlue

MD-11 to Crete in 1995. I sat in the middle, squeezed next to a big man who obviously thought his treasures needed a lot of space, too. And we had to make a go-around as there was one little cloud right above the runway.

juhanh

First L/H was a boring A340 LGW-DOH and A330 DOG-BKK '07 (I wasted a lot of time in Europe before the bug really bit).

But first S/H, that is another matter: Antonov AN-2 EPU-Kihnu (a small Estonian island that doesn't have an IATA code).
I think I was 5. I still vividly remember the tilted floor while on the ground, longitudal bench seats, and a cabin door that had the same lock as our apartment door

Hartsa

My first S/H flight was MHQ-TKU sometime in early 80's on AY DC-9. I was so thrilled about the flight that I forgot my candies (Lakupiippu) on the plane and had to return to pick them up

LoungeEnthusiast

Interesting memories!!

My first short-haul was HEL-KUO in May 1979 as a toddler. It most probably was a DC9. First long-haul came on 20 Oct '93 and the route was HEL-JFK (MD11).

sakari1707

First SH 1969 Antwerp-Amsterdam KLM DC-3, continuing to HEL on AY Super Caravelle via HAM.
First LH 1971 AY DC-8 charter HEL-LAX

Memories.....

teme

First flight at the age of four days in 1976. Helsinki-Savonlinna on Convair Metropolitan. Not that I have any recollection of it...

intuition

In 1978 I flew my first. I remember it was a gigantic airplane, because the entire family of 6 fit in one row. So I guess it was a "gigantic" B720 or so! Light blue chartered Maersk air, MMX-HER or possibly to CHQ.

No recollection of feeling anything special so the flight itself clearly didn't impress me.
The only memory is that the captain filled out a form, that was supposed to be handed from row to row through the entire cabin, telling everyone about altitude, outside temp and cruising speed. Someone stole the form before it was delivered to our row, and my father was very upset about that.

niksal

Rant starts:

4 AY intra-Nordic flights this week, and on 3/4 there has been some jerk close to me.

1. The guy who came on the flight with a trolley, a laptop bag, a tax-free bag, and a long round thing, maybe a poster or something in it? Everything in the overhead bin. I never say anything to people, but to this guy I commented ”quite a lot of stuff you have there”, to which he only replied ”so does everyone else”.

2. The guy who took several minutes in the middle of the aisle during boarding to remove his coat, remove his stuff from his bag, put his phone to airplane mode (yes, while standing), chit-chat with a moderately stressed FA, chat with his friend about how he had not checked his seat assignment and now suffered in the middle seat. As I sat in the aisle seat, I had to get up to let him sit, and he put his bag on to my seat, sat himself and started fiddling with his phone. I had to ask him to move his bag. He was a plat, by the way.

3. The overweight guy who again sat in the middle seat and spread his knees way into my space, not to talk about his elbows. I asked him if he would mind to sit a bit more in his own seat, to which he replied nothing. Deodorant failure.

Please people, where is the consideration for fellow passengers?

Rant over.

Feel much better now!

heatsink

What the hell? Behavior like this should get your plat status revoked...

Jainzar

AY zero-filled today R, Z and O on HEL - FRA between December 9th and January 7th. Yesterday there were still plenty of R tickets. Luckily I booked my ticket yesterday. Too bad I need more for others. So now it seems like it will be SK & BT for them.

lkrt

So... I'm trying to book a multi-city from EU with an open-jaw in Asia, like this
EU1–HEL–AA1 // AA2–HEL–EU1.

However, it says that the multi-city option for these destinations is not available online. Has anyone had any luck getting the phone reservation fee waived for a booking that can't be booked online?

ffay005

I wanted to book HEL-HAV / MIA-HEL. It was available through OTAs but the AY booking engine failed to produce such flights. I called in to make the reservation and the agent, after trying to make the booking on the website himself, waived the fee. I paid the usual €5 online fee ex-Finland.

TTL

Breaking some wind silently (surprised about the number of synonyms for the phenomenon in English language) in a situation like that could be an instant relief?

intuition

HLE just opened. An acronym I sometimes end up with when I am typing too fast...

Who can put together a nice trip HEL-HLE? Bonus if you can get LHE into the mix.

CeruleanBlue

This is on my bucket list. Actually I'd rather take the old royal mail ship, but I guess it won't run much longer. The classical return used to be with boat to Ascension and then with British military plane to Oxford airport. Guess that will stop soon, too.