TTL

Keep in mind that Finland for some odd reasons is rated as one of countries with least corruption, with excellent GINI and HDI indexes. That may reflect to the understanding, that every air passenger is "equal". Forgetting the hard facts of life (i.e., money talks and s-it walks) could be detrimental for the revenues of many international airlines including AY, though, at least in the long run. It would be interesting to read how SU is dealing with their own elites or SkyTeam elites...

And as the UK represents best the societies with lacking or non-existent social class hierarchy, this must be reflected well in the national carrier (fare structure, check-in, lounge, boarding) policies as well - sarcasm alert! All in all, I like the LH practices the best - all is done that is possible to ensure the smooth travel of the HON (& FIRST) and SEN passengers, regarding delays or irrops.

amnicoll

Given the potential cost to the airline of delaying a departure then I do not think that, much as it would be nice, we should not expect a plane to be held and it is not just the passenger it is the luggage as well in many cases.


A year or so ago I was met off a late arriving Qatar flight at Doha and rushed by a Qatar ground staff member to the departure gate for the connection but I would not have expected them to delay the departure for me but was grateful for the personalised service to me as a gold card holder/business class user

TTL

DOH and HEL wrestle on totally different courts, in particular when it comes to the national carrier's domestic networks. Pissing off the domestic passengers is a well known past time recreation of AY-related staff and maybe also AY decision makers. For DOH camels will be freely available?

Echo Sierra

I have on several occasions noted nearly identical service by LH (as a basic M&M member); customers from delayed flight are whisked by ground staff directly to connecting flight, sometimes by the means of individual car transportation. That has been the case at least in MUC, don't use FRA much these days. With AY I have had the case (posted in the EU261 thread) that AY cancelled my ticket due to late arrival in HKG, arrived at the gate before closing, was not admitted on the flight. A person arriving after me was admitted on the flight, no idea whether he was connecting or just late to the gate. So based on my experience LH treats "basic" customers way better in this respect than AY treats its plats.

Ed Size

Also here you can find an easy explanation, the crew was at the end of their shift, and if wait any longer they could not operate the flight, due to the limited time they are allowed to work each shift.

WilcoRoger

Yes, going illegal (if this is the correct expression) of course is a big no-no, but I find it hard to imagine that AY crews would have their shifts so closely shaven that 10-15 minutes would make the difference.

Courmisch

Getting on a side topic, but anyone has an idea how Finnair staffs the non-HEL services, such as next winter's flights between Western Europe and Lapland? As far as I understand the schedule, the plane goes from HEL to KTT/IVL then to Europe, then back to Lapland and finally to HEL. But that seems much too long for one single crew shift?

Ed Size

As you can t imagine that they have such tight schedules, I can t imagine that a pilot will took off instead of waiting another 15 minutes or so if there is no good reason to do so. Since he is producing extra costs to the airline I m sure somebody will review this action, and can course some trouble for the person in charge, if there is no good reason.