miikka

But then there are also flights where FA is giving newspapers almost everyone sitting in the first five rows of Economy.

One of those times, they differentiated the Golds and Platinums by including additional Kauppalehti for Platinums when the Golds got only Iltasanomat.

NoWindowSeat

For sure, one reason is of course that AY automatically assigns elites with front row seats and many don't bother too much, as long as their window/aisle preference is honored.

niksal

I don't know if it's AY or our corporate TA, but I pretty often get 30-something as my row number when booking. Then I go to AY homepage and change.

niksal

Just boarded OSL-HEL. Most rows have empty middle seats, except my row. Annoying.

jouhka

I have consistently had empty seats beside. Lastly on Fri A350 had 21A and 21B was blocked ^

AY these days I think honor very well non-AY elites (which local plats may not like )

miikka

I don't mind it at all, opposite actually. One of the things which makes me sad is that OW doesn't have consistent way to recognize elites across the alliance (yes, certain things are there but rest are based on airline). According to my experience and how I see it, BA is basically avoid as much as possible while AA has been surprisingly positive. CX has lately been a bit varying (on good flights, they are excellent, on bad ones just average).

So, in the end, if AY can actually show an example and make OW elites feel welcome, I hope they continue it. It is not away from us Plats because we are the same OW elite family and in the end, we Plats hope to see the same returned to us when we step into other OW flights (AA completely turned me from negative to positive by showing good OW elite recognition).

Jed

I have been following this thread with interest and I really appreciate AY's recognition of OWE. My 'home' airline BA generally has not provided any on board recognition of BA Gold let alone other OWE. This includes long haul flights I have been on. Whilst not a massive issue, it would be a nice little gesture that breeds loyalty. BA chooses not to provide anything for free to their emerald customers on the short haul economy 'buy on board' services. My choice on LHR-HEL is to AY without doubt. Did it before Christmas on the A350 (whilst still a sapphire) and really appreciated the good service.

Ukki

Today on AY832 LHR-HEL in C. The purser was very pleasant and welcomed warmly. Two different times she came to discuss on frequent flyers' experiences on A350. I am not sure whether her feedback collection was focused only for Plats, and whether it was coordinated. Hopefully this is a sign that (1) Finnair is really collecting focused feedback from FF's, and (2) the feedback will be analyzed and used for decision making.

sakari1707

she was indeed very good and so was the other 3-stripe stewardess....

intuition

Two recent experiences:
AY74 - Purser comes over with a short introduction. Actually, I cut her short as I ask her to look into my food order (I did a pre-order but now the menu has changed). She fixes the situation quickly ^, but that is our last interaction. The FA (male japanese) also is aware of tier and greats me welcome back Mr intuition, and goes on "You already discussed main course with our purser, but let's look into the other choices". And goes on taking very good care of me entire flight.

AY917 - No recognition at all. Seems to be the norm in shorthaul business class?
Papers offered as part of the class, but FA does not understand what paper "Hufvudstadsbladet" is so sign language is needed to communicate it.
Purser is in charge of J service and is better versed. Service is by no means bad, but like I said status counts for nothing.

lkrt

This is the norm, however, it shouldn't be, which I bet we can agree on.

Maybe twice I've been recognized as Plat in SH J, however, it's been in a conversative situation: once I was offered newspapers and asked "Mind if I take two?" and the FA said: "Anything for our Plat". Was nice.

aapee

No recognition on the AY834 last night - quite the opposite.

The FA actually wanted me to pay for the NF. So had a bit of a DYKWIA moment and told her I'm plat. She went "No, we only have two onboard, 5D and 6D". Showed her the card. She went back to check the PAX list.

Got sorta an apology in the, after some excuses. And the NF, with a plastic glass.

remymartin

Just wanted to reiterate given the bad rep of comp WiFi - the free drink still applies to OWE.

FossilFlyer

I know I'm a bit rubbish at customer service, despite having had summer jobs in restaurants/shops etc years ago, but at least I know what to do in situations like that!

- don't disagree with the customer
- do apologise
- cover by saying something like 'I'm really sorry, for some reason you've not been included in the list. I'll go straight away and try to sort this out for you...' (even if you don't believe the customer for some reason and need to check with a list/computer/higher up...)

It seems odd to me that FAs/pursers aren't taught this kind of thing or even monitored when they are learning (or even continuously in work) for how they actually deal with customers, which is kind of the raison d'être of the job...

NoWindowSeat

Excellent "Old school" crew on today's 5, purser greeting all Plats in J cabin with a chat, checking that all works, feels like the good old times. Wish all AY crews were like this 👍👍