The Finnair höpö-höpö (nonsense) thread
Feb 18, 2018, 10:00 am
#2386
Join Date: May 2014
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+Plat, ALL Plat, Scandic L2
Posts: 3,620
Blue Wings magazine did advertise Lille a few years back. It said fly to CDG and buy TGV ticket separately.However, to be fair:
- Last time I checked, no European carriers other than AirFrance provides that service. All the other ones are for long-haul connections only.
- The rail segments are only available a few months ahead, much later than flights. And I tend to book too early anyway due to high travel seasons (Xmas, Easter).
- The cheaper rail prices do not seem to be available to airlines. CDG-XDB can often be had for 35-45€/RT if booked early.
Feb 19, 2018, 8:25 am
#2387
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,128
Nope; you have to buy the AirFrance codeshare if you want TGV'Air from Helsinki. This is one of my pet peeve Blue Wings magazine did advertise Lille a few years back. It said fly to CDG and buy TGV ticket separately.
However, to be fair:
Blue Wings magazine did advertise Lille a few years back. It said fly to CDG and buy TGV ticket separately.However, to be fair:
- Last time I checked, no European carriers other than AirFrance provides that service. All the other ones are for long-haul connections only.
- The rail segments are only available a few months ahead, much later than flights. And I tend to book too early anyway due to high travel seasons (Xmas, Easter).
- The cheaper rail prices do not seem to be available to airlines. CDG-XDB can often be had for 35-45€/RT if booked early.
LH has been offering AirRail (now LH Express Rail) on LH flight numbers from/to FRA and Köln, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Karlsruhe & Mannheim.
Feb 19, 2018, 9:53 am
#2389
Join Date: May 2014
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+Plat, ALL Plat, Scandic L2
Posts: 3,620
In Germany most airlines arriving in FRA offer rail & fly, where for a small addition of 35-40€ you can go to QYG, ie to all of Germany in 1st or 2nd class.: https://accesrail.com/products/db-rail-fly/
LH has been offering AirRail (now LH Express Rail) on LH flight numbers from/to FRA and Köln, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Karlsruhe & Mannheim.
LH has been offering AirRail (now LH Express Rail) on LH flight numbers from/to FRA and Köln, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Karlsruhe & Mannheim.
I don't think Rail&Fly will get you to XDB from any airport.
Feb 19, 2018, 1:10 pm
#2390
Moderator, Finnair
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,164
This ticketing practice was however mostly driven by VAT rules. By selling a SK-ticket starting in Sweden they could charge a lower VAT. That also changed and SK dropped the train ride from the ticket after only a year or so, IIRC.
I have a few of those trips on my belt from 2001.
-- Added
That train-station was/is one of the ugliest. Starting your international trip by driving to a "station" that had nothing but a parking and tracks, situated all alone in the middle of a field of crops.
Last edited by intuition; Feb 19, 2018 at 1:20 pm
Feb 19, 2018, 10:34 pm
#2391
Join Date: May 2016
Location: BLL
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, HHonors Silver
Posts: 405
Well what do you expect of a station named ”Svågertorp” (brother-in-law’s leased cottage)?
Feb 20, 2018, 12:43 pm
#2392
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Programs: Marriott Platinum - LT Gold
Posts: 688
Finnair please get rid of your valentines marketing on your website and bring in a new sale. Valentine's day was last week.
Currently watching a flight to Japan for spring end of march. 10% of the flight is sold out but Finnair insist with 200% price tags on their tickets. Come on Finnair..
Currently watching a flight to Japan for spring end of march. 10% of the flight is sold out but Finnair insist with 200% price tags on their tickets. Come on Finnair..
Feb 20, 2018, 12:48 pm
#2393
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
Posts: 2,953
Feb 21, 2018, 4:20 am
#2394
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: Finnair (AY) Platinum, Air France Silver, Tallink Club One Silver :)
Posts: 1,655
Apparently Finnair has rescheduled the delivery of one of their A350 from 2023 to 2019 (Finnair beschleunigt Aufbau der A350-Flotte) and wants to make an (internal) decision during this year about ordering 20-30 narrow body aircraft (Finnair considers narrowbody replacement plans | Airlines content from ATWOnline).
Feb 21, 2018, 5:56 am
#2395
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HEL
Programs: lots of shiny metal cards
Posts: 14,103
How do you book First awards with AY+ ?
While I was looking for PremEco awards, I noticed that QF had F-award availability (F as in First) but how would one go about booking it online? The AY booking engine surprisingly allowed to input SYD-SIN, but showed only Eco and Business availability (or lack of it.)
Ended up quickly emptying my AA and BA accounts to snag those two (!) tickets before they were gone, but the question lingers - how to do it with AY? Only calling in? BTW also PremEco is unknown for the AY booking engine, as is for the AA one. BA seemed to be able to handle it, but came back with an error, while the F booking sailed through.
60€/pax well spent ^
Ended up quickly emptying my AA and BA accounts to snag those two (!) tickets before they were gone, but the question lingers - how to do it with AY? Only calling in? BTW also PremEco is unknown for the AY booking engine, as is for the AA one. BA seemed to be able to handle it, but came back with an error, while the F booking sailed through.
60€/pax well spent ^
Feb 21, 2018, 12:50 pm
#2396
Moderator, Finnair
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,164
-- Added
See attached. AU GST is 10%, so there is something that costs 408,40, probably the ticket cost for AY. They remove the ticket cost as it is an award, but they do not remove the GST. (This is tax fraud).
Always call for awards on QF as CS can price correctly!
Last edited by intuition; Feb 21, 2018 at 1:01 pm
Feb 21, 2018, 1:37 pm
#2397
Moderator, Finnair
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,164
... and there you have it. A revenue ticket has lower GST than a Finnair award (where GST should have been 0, as there are no items to which GST can be applied!)
Also, which seems to be new, Finnair now adds YQ, despite QF not charging any YQ.
Also, which seems to be new, Finnair now adds YQ, despite QF not charging any YQ.
Feb 21, 2018, 4:44 pm
#2399
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,734
I wonder. Maybe two years ago, I used BA miles for Australian domestic awards on QF. As far as I can remember, all "taxes" were about €5 / oneway ticket, but AY's calculation suggests that even the real government-imposed fees are far more than that.
