sakari1707

Decent fare and A350 are the reasons why I booked for early February.
I wish it would be a snack after take-off and a proper breakfast before landing, but since it's not, I guess ordering a special meal sounds tempting (maybe a SFML fish dish?).

I suppose there are no snacks available either....

ffay005

I will probably take the risk of ordering a SFML for my next HEL-DXB in January. If it's Baltic herring, I can only blame myself.

I received two extra cookies mid-flight when asking. No official snacks, though.

Kelju

Wow. Looks tempting, also quality breakfast 😂. I guess that best part of that meal must be "the real Valio butter". Wonder when are they going to change that to "vegan friendly" version. Just pathetic, makes me wonder why i also booked and paid for this route.

So Burger king meal to go it is then, goes well with Champagne, if only there was way to reheat it in air.

mcgahat

I am a bit mixed on this particular flight vlogger but found this one interesting. I do not have much long haul experience on AY but do have several flights coming up. What I found interesting was the issue with the mask (are AY particularly strict on style of mask?), the blanket looked disgusting and not having any food choice. Perhaps the food choices were out by the time they got to him in the mini-cabin? I am curious what other think of this review and how fair it is!

miamiflyer8

See the following thread where ffay005 reported his (miserable) experience on the outbound HEL-DXB and we'll probably hear from him about the return as well.
Widebody service to Dubai DXB

There is only one meal choice (or lack thereof) so everyone gets the same veggie vomit which is our term for AY's post-COVID catering enhancement.

AY only accepts KN95 (or whatever höpö these are called) or the blue surgical masks, AY isn't alone in this aspect, Lufthansa does this as well. As far as the enforcement, it is quite strict on AY as somebody here reported being yelled at for using FaceID on their iPhone.

OH-LGG

He didnt know that DXB-HEL is not long haul and probably didnt know AY is 2 star airline nowadays.

TTL

OT (because I do not think there is much interest on QR-forum): Return in QR J HEL-DOH-MLE in beginning of Nov 2021. Paid using excess AY points. Unfortunately the 787 was changed to 320 for the rest of the year in turning of November 2021.

Check-in: Pre-check before getting to actual counter required a form to be filled including a recent (<72 h) covid-PCR test (date). In check-in they checked the PCR-test result, EU-vaccination certificate, resort booking/hotel reservation document in Maldives, and the qr-code of pre-registration for entry to Maldives (required a recent face-photo, vaccination certificate, and PCR-test certificate input <24 h of commencement of travel). For Emeralds, the luggage was tagged with yellow First-tags. For lesser mortals those would have been just plain Business-tags.

Security: Upstairs. Not very fluent. Queue passing by self-made VIPs and RUS.

Lounge: Plaza Premium - almost empty. Did not try AY-non-Shengen, although that was open too - did not know if the Plat-wing was open...

Boarding: Business in separate bin at gate 52. Very orderly.

Seat: Full flat but quite narrow foot well. Large screen and ample selection of entertainment. 12 business seats - all occupied, as was rest of the plane as well. Purser came to chat with emeralds after boarding.

Drinks and meals: Welcome drink champagne or pink champagne. 3 starters, 3 mains, cheese plate, and 2 desserts to select from. 3 whites, 3 reds, and 2 dessert wines to choose from. And good selection of hard liquors. On demand dining is marketed, but it took quite some time to start dining anyhow. Did not have to ring bell for supplements .

DOH-arrival: Bussing - business passengers had their own bus. Missed the DOH-MLE flight because of delays, had 1 h 5 min connection originally. An agent was greeting us upstairs after the bus transit stop escalator, and explained that we would travel onwards next morning. I asked for possibility to take the next flight (just one hour later than the intended) in coach and that was possible. Spouse could even be seated in J (old 2-2-2 configuration of 772) but I was seated in the front row of economy 3-3-3 (and at further back 3-4-3) D-seat with E blocked. 5 hours it only took to see the life of mortals and due to nice drink and even food service, it passed quickly. 5 stars to QR-transfer lady! And the luggage followed, being eventually the first ones on the belt in MLE.

Transfer security: Separate J/F queues. It took 3 minutes to pass. No need to remove anything from the hand baggage, but the belt had to be removed and pockets emptied.

Boarding: The waiting area was divided in Zones 1 to 4. As I had front row seat of economy, I was in the last zone. Spouse boarded "in his own convenience". Boarding was guarded in appropriate manner.

All in all, I would choose to include QR and DOH within my itineraries rather than AY and DXB. /OT (and please indicate if I should write more about DOH-MLE and the return).

kanamurva

Please do! You paid this with ay points? How many points was it? Were there plenty of availibility? How would you consider the destination, eg. Hotel value etc?

This is propably a wrong chain for this but would suit our AY/finnish forum.

ffay005

Not off-topic at all. It's highly relevant to compare AY with FZ/DXB and QR/DOH.

TTL, on the return, I woud like to hear whether the Maldives have some exit requirements, like a mandatory PCR for all departing pax (some countries in Africa do), or are they (& QR) happy with Finnish requirements.

Enjoy your holiday!

TTL

OT part II. So in 777 to MLE. The offerings in Y were a meal and drinks (three courses indeed with a single tray service after asking the choices). The flight took place between local 02:00 and local 08:00 so I did not investigate too much of the drinks selection. In MLE bussing to immigration - although they seem to have another BER in construction - along the bussing route. Immigration hassle took about 30 minutes as all the major airlines including SU seem to land in the morning (QR has 3 777s and 1 320 daily) around same time. Immigration was a snap to show the qr-code and stamping the passport. The luggage arrived shortly, as stated earlier.

At the airport, Conrad Maldives reception guys took over. They sprayed our luggage for viruses , directed us to the seaplane (Trans Maldivian Airways - flying 48 DHC-6-300 Twin Otter s, maximum 15 passengers) desks, cleared the luggage onwards, and took us to the Conrad lobby by the seaplane terminal to wait for the connection flight to hotel islands. Shower facilities and snacks/drinks were offered. The inter-island transit commenced in less than 2 hours. Our seaplane touched down by Radisson Blue resort (less than 1 year old) and we were taken to Conrad somewhat more north by a speed boat (2 x 250 hp Mercury outboards behind). Quite splashy overseas operation! Do not forget to take along ear plugs, as the noise level in those seaplanes succeeds 100 dBs. The transfer costs 950 USD p/p return.

And for Kanamurva's questions: reservations were made on 06/2021 and the cost was KUO-HEL-DOH return and DOH-MLE return 215 000 and 120 000 points per person, there were to be two bookings. Reservation took place via AY platinum e-mail and response time was only a few days (after I had made direct bookings with QR that could be refunded - with 10% premium for future travel ).

I will comment on the hotel stay in Hilton-area.

OT part III. Happily leaving the resort on Transmaldivian. They decided to stop in middle of the Indian ocean on an anchored platform 10x10 meters with nothing else visible. Waves were almost tilting the Twin Otter over. It so happened that from a nearby island two people would adjoin the route to MLE. At the seaplane terminal in MLE the Conrad guy again took over. Airconditioned drive to the main terminal and personal guidance to check-in and "exitration", even helping in avoiding the line skipping (as some of the customers to MAD did not like wait their turn, but were directed to do so at check-in desk). Luggage was checked in to KUO without further questions. EU vaccination certificates and <72 hour PCR-tests (in Conrad) were checked. QR required the PCR-tests. There was no interest for those either in DOH, or particularly in HEL domestic section!!!

At the airport, a large and serene Leeli-lounge with refreshments and nibbles was available for QR J passengers. No congestion and nice atmosphere. No alcoholic drinks. Our QR 777 boarded at gate 2, another QR 777 was boarding to leave 20 mins earlier at gate 1, and QR 320 would board again at gate 1. There were no fuzz in either case. Bussing took place as expected and it was calming to be Q-suited in 10D and 11B (although we had reserved 2B and 3A initially). Five hours between 20:00 and 22:00 local times were well consumed. To be continued...

mpkz

Basically the big issue is that he didn't know that HEL-DXB is classified as short haul (a classification which only benefits savy FFs who can upgrade for the same amount of points as HEL-FRA, though you have to want to fly to DXB which isn't great). AY's short haul service isn't great in either class (on European J routes the reduced service makes sense, on a 6 hour flight less so), it is even worse in Y where you don't even get your choice of drinks (other than juice or water) on this 6 hour flight.

Extra Mile

An extremely interesting trip report, thank you!

MaxFlyer

I just can’t fathom how AY can class Dubai as a short haul route. I’m what geographic world is a 6+ hour flight short haul?!

mpkz

That's about the same as flights to the Canaries. It used to be flown on an A321 like those flights. I guess the fact that it used to be (and still occasionally is) a narrowbody flight led to the classification.

Finnair also used to have 757s fly to touristy but far destinations (Goa?) with a horrible service concept.

ffay005

The logic here is that for Finns, DXB is mostly a leisure destination. Traditionally, these flights have been filled with charter tourists. Schedules haven't enabled many, if any, connections from abroad. The flying time is the same as to the Canary islands. So AY has treated these flights in a similar way, meaning they enhanced complimentary food away many years ago.

When FZ started nonstop flights to HEL, AY decided to start operating a few widebodies on the DXB route and during the first season, service in J was actually quite good, as was the schedule. Now the widebodies seem more like a necessity as AY for some reason flies a big detour via Egypt contrary to the competition, which makes it out of range for the A32B.

The new schedule also enables connections, and I heard quite a few foreign languages, Estonian, Swedish and others.