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Free drinks for AY Plats [and other experience reports of Plat recognition]

Free drinks for AY Plats [and other experience reports of Plat recognition]

Old May 28, 2018, 10:10 am
  #631  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Vantaa, Finland
Programs: BAEC GGL, Lounge Key, Accor basic, AY basic, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 163
Originally Posted by Mike P
Does this policy apply to other OWE too? Always like flying with AY, particularly on the A350.
Yes it does. Usually they call us platinums as well.
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Old May 28, 2018, 11:07 am
  #632  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,668
Originally Posted by WilcoRoger
Wow, you must have been really rolling on that flight!
I wish! I just had a Baileys and multiple blueberry pies... The male couple across the aisle consumed all the Bombays they had on that flight, and a good part of the Beefeater stock, too, up to the point where it began to be a little disturbing, to be honest. I guess they considered upgrades equivalent to ilmaisen viinan bileet.
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Old Jun 9, 2018, 10:33 am
  #633  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,668
I had a very nice, and long, Platsku chat on yesterday’s RHO-HELflight. The purser sounded genuinely interested and also knowledgeable. She started by apologizing that they only had IS on board, and I replied that it was okay and added that they had orange juice instead (they were serving free OJ on HEL-RHO!). But they didn’t! And that’s where it took off…

Apparently they are testing different kind of concepts, one of them being free still and sparkling water, bilberry and orange juice and tea & coffee. But not all flights are loaded with this new selection. We agreed that it won’t actually cost anything extra because people won’t be drinking more just because there are more options. It remained a little unclear to me whether this testing applies to long Euro flights, lomanoloinen Euro flights, or all flights.

We also discussed Euro J meals, the fact that they now have two main course choices and a real dessert. According to her, they got a lot of feedback about the missing desserts, which is why they brought them back. Good for us! ^

She told me that AY has put emphasis on longhaul J catering, and now that they’ve improved things there, they are looking at shorthaul J and even Y. I suggested they (re-)introduce menu cards in Euro J, and she thought it was a very good idea and promised to forward it to the people in charge.

She was very service oriented and professional, aged below 40, I’d say. If only AY had more of her kind!

(Oh, and after this conversation my seat neighbour, a very civilized Finnish man in his mid-twenties, asked how you get the Platinum card… )
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Old Jun 9, 2018, 5:23 pm
  #634  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: HEL
Programs: AY GOLD, HH GOLD
Posts: 411
Originally Posted by ffay005
Oh, and after this conversation my seat neighbour, a very civilized Finnish man in his mid-twenties, asked how you get the Platinum card…
Perhaps you showed him the LGG's hunt-thread?
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Old Jun 9, 2018, 5:50 pm
  #635  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 212
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
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Old Jun 9, 2018, 7:16 pm
  #636  
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
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Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
While I can see part of your point, there is sometimes a bit weird feeling to getting these things while the seatmate does not. First time I experienced it on AA where it was a very public announcement it was rather awkward. Usually, it is done discretely enough for most other people not to notice

Am I narcissistic because I recieve these services (some of which are publicly stated benefits)? I don't think so, if I started throwing a tantrum each time I was not addressed by name, or there were no newspaper services then I would say yes. I appreciate when it happens, I ignore it when it does not.

So where is is the line of which benefits are OK to use without being a narcissist?

Going to the lounge?
Boarding before your seatmate?
Your seatmate having waited in line 15 minutes at the gate, and you come a minute before boarding and walk right past them?
When there is a 20 people long line of passengers waiting for irrops handling, and you go to the empty line for priority passengers?
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Old Jun 9, 2018, 11:06 pm
  #637  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: Finnair (AY) Platinum, Air France Silver, Tallink Club One Silver :)
Posts: 1,655
Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
Of course, there can always be someone with narcissistic feelings, but I think most, if not all of us here in FT are far from it. I'm not a finn, but have been living here for more than a decade, so I think I have a relatively good understanding of Finnish people, therefore I see why you would feel that these perks are only beneficial for / appreciated by a narcissist person.

For me, especially the being greeted by name is a sign of being appreciated for my business by the airline. It doesn't make me feel special, but it does make me welcomed BACK. After all, we are FREQUENT flyers, so you are returning to a place (the airplane), you are frequently visiting, where it is normal in real life as well, that ppl greet you by name. If I get my copy of Financial Times, great, I read it, if not, there is my Kindle. Same goes for the champagne, though I'd probably miss that the most. Just like @CPH-Flyer said ti, if I get these I really appreciate them, if not I get on with my life and do not feel like I'm not treated as I "should be". While we do talk a lot about these perks and services here on FT, I don't think that any of us falls into the DYKWIA category. I'd say the discussions are more to talk about the (in)consistency of the service that AY offers and to showcase, how much your experience depends on the crew you are flying with. If the platinum recognition would work the same way 100% of the times, no one would post here....
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Old Jun 10, 2018, 1:18 am
  #638  
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Join Date: May 2011
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Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
After a long hard thinking I also answer no. Steve's answer is very much my own. I appreciate the things that shows the airline recognizes my business, making a bond between me and the staff. It is not about making me look good to the crowd.

I felt very uncomfortable even just reading about two incidents described here, where seat neighbours saw tier member get drink / paper, asked for it themselves and then was charged. I'd hate to be that other guy, sitting there first feeling happy "hey, i can get a drink for free" then have to play along and cough up the dough and feel like an idiot.

This is why it actually is clever to recognize the tier member in the first place:
"Welcome back Mr FF! As our platinum member you can have a drink for free, what would you like?". Or when serving, saying "that is free of charge as you are platinum member". Again, not with the purpose to make pax A "look good" to the crowd, but to pre-emptively explain why pax A got a special service.
The newspaper they usually hand over discretely, but if another passenger asks "can I have one too?" they should say something to make pax B understand why pax A got it for free.

If staff learns how to do this in a comfortable, relaxed, kind way, there will be less friction and uncomfortable moments.
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Last edited by intuition; Jun 10, 2018 at 1:24 am Reason: spelling
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Old Jun 10, 2018, 2:22 am
  #639  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: TLL
Programs: AY+ Plat, TK Elite
Posts: 233
I am very far from being a narcissist But I enjoy having a meaningful conversation with a FA from time to time - if you only ever fly LH, then feeling like a human vis-a-vis a sardine in a can on a 10h+ flight, makes it just a little more bearable.
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Old Jun 10, 2018, 3:07 am
  #640  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Helsinki-Vantaa APT, Finland
Programs: AY LUMO
Posts: 6,043
Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
Newspaper and drink is a deal and based on customer relationship between AY and Me. I dont care what other passengers think about it and actually my perks are'nt their business at all.
If drink or newspaper is something they want, they'll buy it or they fly Platinum.

Trump and narcissism discussed here are really höpöhöpö.
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Old Jun 10, 2018, 6:14 am
  #641  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Programs: AY Plat Lumo+LTG, FI Gold, DL Silver, BA, SK, AX Plat, Priority Pass, Marriott Ambassador & others
Posts: 634
Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
Judging by this post, the so called Jantelaven (Jante's law) seems to still strive in the Nordics.
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Old Jun 10, 2018, 12:03 pm
  #642  
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: AY Platinum,Marriott Gold,HH Diamond,Sixt Platinum,Hertz PC,AMEX Platinum
Posts: 1,946
Originally Posted by intuition
This is why it actually is clever to recognize the tier member in the first place:
"Welcome back Mr FF! As our platinum member you can have a drink for free, what would you like?". Or when serving, saying "that is free of charge as you are platinum member". Again, not with the purpose to make pax A "look good" to the crowd, but to pre-emptively explain why pax A got a special service.
The newspaper they usually hand over discretely, but if another passenger asks "can I have one too?" they should say something to make pax B understand why pax A got it for free.
This is actually my experience most of the time - they usually handle my freebies just like you described.
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Old Jun 11, 2018, 1:21 pm
  #643  
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Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY, SK, TK
Posts: 7,581
Originally Posted by ylefin
Excuse me very much but sometimes, reading this thread and others, I have a strong feeling that some, maybe many of you are actually narcissist. I would NEVER like to be personally greeted by name or recognised or getting a free paper or even a drink if my neighbour in the next seat does not get it. I would feel embrassed and would like to move to another seat. Any of you who admires the narcissist Trump? Sorry again for this late night postage. What concerns other top tier benefits, they are of course OK and well deserved.
We can see what you were after with this comment but you got it wrong here, therefore I offer, on behalf of all us fellow FT'ers, you to come and join us for a next possible Finnair DO so you will set it right and see that we are far from narcissists, but instead just few idiots who love this game.
There are vast number or other signs of narcissism on flights, which I can never understand and those are far far from me. Quick reference to such things as veeeeeery slow undressing of winter coat when you are in seat 1A while a long queue of plebs are waiting in HELlish cold winter outside aircraft door after waiting 30 mins in a cold bus doors open. Other example might be someone who has had once, or now, multiple gold cards or whatever and love to show them, thus having 3 extra cabin bags and all his/her life's gold tags attached to the bags and slowly waives the bags to overhead bin in a manner that everyone must see those tags. Ah, why do I even exemplify those... let's just say that most of FTers are very discreet in public, while we might sometimes go a bit high and speedy here on the forum
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Old Jun 11, 2018, 1:46 pm
  #644  
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Join Date: May 2011
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Wot? I always thought a slow undressing could be quite entertaining.
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Old Jun 11, 2018, 1:55 pm
  #645  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Helsinki-Vantaa APT, Finland
Programs: AY LUMO
Posts: 6,043
Originally Posted by FFlash
slowly waives the bags to overhead bin in a manner that everyone must see those tags.
Wait I'll fly Lumo and then I have Lumo tags tagged my Alepa plastic bag full of 1 year old Helsingin Sanomat..
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