To SMD2 and back on KF/AC/OS in C
 

The original StarMegaDo in November of 2009 was great fun so immediately after Tommy777 announced that there would be a repeat I started planning in order to attend again. There was speculation on where it would take place, I especially liked the RTW-plan, but during spring it got clear that SMD 2 would mainly take place in the U.S. I was tempted to join the fun in FRA but as I already had visited FRA/LH last year I decided to first visit family in Toronto and then join the fun in IAH.

I looked at a few alternative ways of travelling and then booked an all *A-trip in C flying HEL-CPH-YYZ on KF and AC, then after a few days YYZ-IAH on AC (Jazz). After SMD 2-fun I’d fly back home SEA-YYZ-CPH-HEL on AC and KF. During summer though AC reduced their frequency to CPH so I had to change my TATL flight home. I was offered OS where I would instead fly SEA-YYZ on AC and then YYZ-VIE-HEL on OS. I had heard great reports on OS catering by DO & Co but the hardware wasn’t supposed to be as good. As I had never flown on OS before I didn’t mind the change too much though.

I had an excellent dinner with my wife in a new restaurant in Helsinki the night before - I’ll gladly recommend http://chefetsommelier.fi/en/ to anybody visiting Helsinki wanting a great dinner! That really started my vacation in a great way. Finland changed back to normal time from daylight savings the same morning as I was leaving for my trip so I was supposed to be able sleep an extra hour which of course would have been very nice. Note that I was supposed to sleep - was a bit excited to start my trip so I woke up really early and couldn’t fall asleep again… so I browsed on FlyerTalk instead ;)

I took a taxi to the airport and proceeded then to leave my bags at the baggage drop as I had already checked in online. I didn’t get printed priority tags even though I was flying in C on CPH-YYZ (Y on HEL-CPH as KF doesn’t have C) - asked about that but didn’t really get any other answer than the system said so… The check-in agent added red tags though, don’t know if they’ll make any difference. There was no queue to the security so I was through in no time. After buying some chocolates I entered the SK lounge.

SK lounge in HEL

SAS lounge in Helsinki is decorated in the usual Nordic minimalistic way. Breakfast offering is nothing special, but the wireless internet works and it’s nice and quiet in there - I prefer being in the lounge to not being there.

KF 653 (Avro RJ85) HEL-CPH in Y+

Quick boarding as the flight wasn’t full. KF’s Premium class (Economy Extra) was just one row and I was the only passenger there - (originally I had booked 1C with unlimited legroom but changed onboard to 1A to be by the window) - this was my new record. Others were flying regular economy. Flight was very uneventful, it was very cloudy so we didn’t get any view either. Flying time was 1 hour 33 minutes and we landed in time to CPH. In Y+ I was served a simple breakfast with juice, coffee/tea, bread roll, yoghurt, cheese and some veggies. I've taken this flight many times so it's nothing special, just a nice commute. Service was very friendly too.

Novia lounge in CPH

As I had almost four hours between flights I decided to do some lounge hopping in CPH. I visited Novia lounge first - entered with my Priority Pass. That lounge is nothing special, I much prefer the SK Business lounge as it is roomier and more comfortable, looks much better and has better offerings (except that Novia lounge also offers spirits which SK Business lounge doesn’t have. Novia lounge is a bit of a mess with used plates and glasses everywhere and a weak magazine/newspaper selection.

SK Business lounge in CPH

After Novia lounge I spent some time at the SK Business lounge. I prefer sitting in the area furthest back with windows, it’s usually quieter there. Newspaper selection is also excellent in the lounge, I find all my favorite Finnish and Swedish papers there - took DN and SvD with me to my flight as I guessed (rightly) that AC wouldn’t have a good newspaper selection.

50 minutes before scheduled departure time I exited the lounge on my way to the C-pier. The lines to the passport control were horrendous - there are 4 TATL-flights among others leaving within 30 minutes of each other and the border police don’t seem to be capable of handling that well. I don’t understand why there aren’t separate lines for EU nationals either…
Queues continued at gate C28, it took over 10 minutes to enter the gate. I had booked seat 08A but it was changed to 07A - during flight 08A was used as crew rest.

AC883 (763) CPH-YYZ in C

Boarding itself was very fast, a warm welcome entering the plane and I made my way to 07A. My first impression was that the seat was quite narrow and there wasn’t much place to store magazines and other stuff I’d like to have close when flying. The business cabin had a load of about 80%. Soon I was offered a glass of sparkling wine and got myself settled. We were also asked our meal choices - I chose veal steak (other options were salmon, chicken and vegetarian pasta). Boarding took a long while and we finally left the gate about 25 minutes late. A quick taxi to the runway and then we were off!

Soon the IFE was switched on and we were offered drinks. I chose a gin tonic and was also given a glass of nuts and almonds. Lunch followed soon after. Parma ham, cantaloupe and parmesan appetizer was very nice, and the salad with sun-dried and cherry tomatoes was also quite tasty. Mozzarella-crusted veal steak with noodles was nothing special, I didn’t even really manage to find the mozzarella… Cheese selection was nice, I liked it with the port wine AC served. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was supposed to be warm - it wasn’t - but it was still very nice.

I managed to make myself very comfortable on the seat and relaxed with a few movies. I very much like the fact that the seat goes full flat, compared to my previous C flight a few months back on LH (HKG-FRA) the AC hard product is miles better! Little before arrival we were given a cold plate with salami, pastrami, cheese and greens which was ok. During flight the cabin crew made numerous water runs, that was nice. The service was better than I expected, I was made feel very welcome.

The flight took exactly 8 hours and we landed about ten minutes before schedule at YYZ. Immigration was fast but I had to wait a while for luggage and the queue to customs was quite slow as there were a number of flights arriving at the same time. From plane to taxi it took about 50 minutes.

So what did I think of AC in C? I was impressed! I really liked the hard product, pods give you privacy when flying alone and full flat is the way it should be in Business nowadays. When flying with a partner pods are not as nice though. Food was good too and the service friendly - I hope I’ll have as nice a flight on my way back home on OS!

Toronto

Had a nice couple of days visiting family in Toronto. The weather was great although a bit cold, winter is coming I guess... I also had a very nice lunch with fin 645 at Canoe atop the TD Bank Tower - he was having second thoughts about not joining the SMD2 but he had already visited Boeing earlier this year. Canoe has a fantastic view over Lake Ontario and it was fun to watch Porter flights landing at Toronto City airport.

AC8109 (CRA ) YYZ-IAH in C

Alarm went off much too early this morning for a taxi ride to Pearson airport. Traffic was light and queues at Pearson short, with help of priority security I made my way from Yorkville to Maple Leaf Lounge in less than 50 minutes. I was impressed!

One stewardess was missing first so we boarded slightly delayed. Welcome was friendly at aircraft door as I made my way to 3A. Flight seemed to be fully booked, with quite a few upgrades I guess as a couple of days before the business cabin had been quite open. After doors were closed we were served water or orange juice and soon we made our way to runway. We took off towards northeast and had an amazing view over Toronto downtown while turning south.

After reaching our cruising altitude we were served breakfast, two alternatives were a ham and cheese croissant or a fruit plate. I chose a croissant which wasn’t anything special, cold and chewy. Flight time today was 2 hours and 42 minutes, arrived in rainy IAH a few minutes before scheduled arrival time. Service was very friendly but for an almost three hour flight I would expect a bit better food. I guess that CRA’s don’t have ovens? Anyway, finally in Houston and joining StarMegaDo2!

Thanks for the nice report and review of the AC pods in C!

StarMegaDo2

With so many good reports of SMD2 on FT I won’t bother with many details, it’s sufficient to say that I had great fun! Highlights for me were visiting Lufthansa’s training facilities and flying the Beechcraft simulator in Phoenix, and naturally visiting the Boeing factory in Seattle! It really was unbelievable that we got to see the insides of both a Dreamliner and a Dreamlifter! Once more thanks to the organizers - you really went above and beyond once again!

I enjoyed Seattle, had never visited before, and did some shopping too. The U.S. is simply much cheaper so I did my best for the U.S. economy!


AC540 (E90) SEA-YYZ in C

Early Sunday morning I had yet another change from daylight savings. A quick 20 minute car drive from downtown to the airport where I checked-in all the way to Helsinki. Security was quick so I made my way to RCC where I had some breakfast.

Boarding the Embraer went quickly and I made my way to seat 2A. It was a quiet Sunday morning in Seattle so we were up in the air in no time. Unfortunately it was cloudy first but as the flight progressed the weather got clearer and I got to see Rocky Mountains from above. Beautiful!

Breakfast was a choice of waffles or an omelet, I chose waffles which really wasn’t anything special. After breakfast I watched Toy Story 3 - a great movie for adults too by the way! As a snack we were offered cookies and ice cream, very nice.

Had a great view of downtown Toronto as we landed from the east, total flying time was 3hrs 58 minutes.

I hadn’t known that I would need to fill out immigration forms to Canada as I was not going to stay in Canada but heading straight to the international gates. Luckily the immigration officer didn’t mind me coming without the form, I quickly filled one, was admitted to Canada and made my way to the Maple Leaf Lounge at international gates. I liked the lounge, good offerings of drinks and some food, and the atmosphere in general was very nice. I stayed at the lounge for an hour and made my way to the gates.


OS72 (763) YYZ-VIE in C

I asked the gate attendant if the flight was full in C. It wasn’t, so I asked to change my seat from 4D to 5A, I like having a window with an empty aisle. Then I made my way onboard the plane. I had heard of interesting color choices onboard and it really looked strange. Blue seats with wooden panels in the back, and floors were ugly green.

Before taking off the chef came around to present the dinner and asked for orders. After a quick taxi we were soon up in the air and were quickly served a prawn amuse bouche with a glass of champagne. As dinner I had first excellent gravad lax, then a tasty and warm tomato/pepper soup and as a main course I had a fillet of beef café de paris which luckily was not over-cooked. For dessert I had strawberry ice cream with strawberries - very nice!

Seats seemed really old and trying to sleep on them fully flat (non-horizontal) it proved impossible as I really was falling forward all the time. Sleeping in a cradle position proved to be a good choice, fell asleep immediately after dinner and woke up first when breakfast was served. Unfortunately we had very strong tailwind to Europe so I got to sleep only for 3,5 hours.

I had an excellent breakfast with fruit, corn flakes, smoothie, croissant and scrambled eggs! After breakfast we quickly landed about one hour ahead of schedule. I would rather have flown for an hour longer, would have been able to sleep more as I now had three hours in Vienna. The flight time was 7hrs 33mins.

Flying Austrian intercontinental in business was interesting. I really really liked the food - the best I have ever had in business class, almost as good as first class on LX. Hardware though was old and uncomfortable, my outbound flight on AC was much more comfortable.

After passport control and security I made my way to the main OS business lounge in Schengen area. I asked for showers but unfortunately they didn’t have any… Only the non-Schengen lounge would have had showers. As I had already made my way from there I couldn’t be bothered to go back - not sure if I would have been allowed back there either. I stayed in the lounge for about two hours and then made my way to the gates.


OS345 (F100) VIE-HEL in C

Gate area was full and after a while we were bused to the plane. I don’t recall ever having flown a Fokker 100 before, always nice to try new planes. Economy class seemed to be full, business had three rows and only three people. I moved from 1D to 1A in order to sit by the window, the left side seemed to provide some more leg space too.

We were served a warm lunch which was ok, as I was quite tired at this point I forgot to write down the meal so I can’t be more specific on what I was served.

The weather was clear and sunny all the way from Lithuania to Finland, I had fantastic view of Tallinn and then Southern Coast of Finland as we were approaching Helsinki. I must have landed in Helsinki hundreds of times but the view had never been this good. I would have loved to be in the cockpit, the view from there must have been amazing!

Total flight time was 2 hrs 12 mins. For once in Helsinki the luggage started to arrive soon after I arrived at the luggage claim. Both my bags had made their way from Seattle to Helsinki, I grabbed them and took a quick taxi home.

It felt good to come home but also a bit sad that this great trip had to end. I got to do a lot of flying in first and in business, met great people - thanks everybody! - and got to see things that regular travelers never get to see. So now I am following thread Ideas for StarMegaDO3 closely so that I won’t miss out on StarMegaDo3!