Thanks. I may well take you up on that as I only have 13 days left as a GCH!

I'm based near MAN and, as I hate LHR, I prefer to use only airlines that fly direct eg MAN - ATL. Alternatively I fly via FRA for most point south and have recently switched from KLM via AMS to AY via HEL for flights to BKK and other points east.

The 3 hour flight to HEL from MAN is a bummer but is countered by a good lounge at HEL coupled to the airport's overall efficiency. The AY flight to BKK uses new AB 330s which are excellent (at least in J where the seating has 4 or 5 to a row ie alternate 1-2-1 and 2-1-2 seat rows). I believe it is 3-3-3 in Y.

The seats all face forward and convert into flat beds without the hassle of tripping over the passenger behind as you do when getting up from BA window seats. I read, sleep, or work in-flight so rarely use IFE (I would expect BA to be better). I drink only water on planes and eat sparingly so cannot comment on the food/drink on long haul Finnair either. In-flight toiletries are sparse and come in a paper bag.

On the return I found the lounge used at BKK was not good and the connection time at HEL is too tight for comfort. Overall though I am impressed with long haul AY not least because you can avoid LHR.

My god, I am so so glad I missed this deal. Very witty and well penned TR. thanks for sharing.

A few comments:

- Officially the BA Club Europe product doesn't include wider seats, originally when they changed the product they stopped converting the seats, but after complaints they started converting them once again. Unfortunately some of the more recent Airbus deliveries, have spacesaver seating throughout, the ones in the front are no longer convertible. (that said they're actually quite comfortable)

- As a BA Silver (at the time) could you not have used the BA Galleries lounge in AMS (although you will have needed to leave extra time to get to your gate)?

- Are these still the old AF J seats? I've seen them before, don't look comfortable whatsoever.

- Was your Qantas domestic connection on a separate ticket?

Not sure about the CE seats thing. All seats I've had in CE have been adjustable.

No idea there was a GC at AMS. The lounge on my BP was the one in the TR.

Def the old AF seats. Apparently they only really run on the SIN route.

Yes, it was.

Awesome report

Thank you for a very witty and entertaining read. Had me laughing out loud several times, including the vampire incident and the face contorting champagne.

I am curious at two things:

1 Why were you so angry with the lounge agent who sent you to a less favourable lounge? Was it that big a deal? Perhaps the long journey was fraying your nerves...

2 How do you know what the inside of a false leg smells like?

Great report. Thanks for the good info about AY

Bit of a Negative Nancy, aren't you?

Those "tumblers" you dismiss so rudely are actually a design icon called "Ultima Thule" by Finnish designer and sculptor Tapio Wirkkala. The design dates from the late 1960's I believe. I think they are just gorgeous. The last time I flew AY, they served Joseph Perrier Champagne Cuvee Royale. As champagnes go, it's hardly set-the-world-on-fire stuff, but equally, it is far from awful. It's a bright, refreshing champagne, rather than a fuller, yeasty blanc de blanc. Really, the quality of it is about what I would expect in a J cabin.

Angled seats are angled seats, some people can't cope with them, I accept that. I personally dislike the way BA don't have personal air vents on their Boeing aircraft. Given the choice, if all else was equal, I would choose angled-with-a-vent over flat-without-a-vent. To each his own.

I have never had a problem with AY's food. The reindeer steaks are delicious. I have also never had a problem with AY's service - it has always been attentive.

Given you only paid �1,600 for the fare - that is an astonishingly low figure for J all the way to Australia - when BA/QF regularly are around �4,000, I am amazed that you can find so much to complain about. I think it is a good way to get to SYD. Okay, the diversion to HEL adds time to the journey, but on the other hand, for two people we save �2,000 by choosing AY over BA. That saving buys an awful lot of meals out in Sydney...

It seems to me that the premise of your entire post is that AY and QF are not BA.

They're certainly not.

My opinion:

EY's J product beats BA's hands down. BA beats AY hands down. AY/BA/EY charge very similar prices on most of the routes I fly (though granted the fare in this TR is an exception). I can understand the lure of an alliance drawing people to BA over EY, but how AY expect to tempt people with that 1990s angled lie flat (which even AF decided was just too sh**ty to fly with) is beyond me.

I hear their full flat product is much better, but I haven't tried it and will therefore refrain from commenting.

Most of Finnair's big Buses get the new Business seats by the coming autumn, the oldest ones will leave the fleet when A350 arrives, starting later next year.

The Ultima Thule glassware they use was first designed for their New York route in late 1960's, quite famous design of the era and back in fashion it seems.

I actually had no problem with the AF J seats, though it may have only been the second iteration (of the angled-flat) that I was on. In fact, on a daytime CDG-JFK a few years ago, I passed out for like 5 hours without any chemical assistance (I need pills to sleep on a plane...). Sure, angled flat isn't as nice as full flat, but I've always been able to get comfortable enough on just about any angled-flat I've been on over the years. And I certainly find them better than the old-fashioned 50-60" pitch recliners.

Talk about a DYKWIA... I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If the fare requires I inventory, and there's no I inventory on one segment, then you can't book it (unless the fare lets you downgrade into Y, which apparently this did). If I were AY, I would have told you to suck a lemon as well, and if BA opened up some I inventory then you could try and re-issue the ticket. What made you think you were entitled to browbeat them into moving you into D class?

How about "because the booking engine stated "business" next to ALL my flights on the itinerary and only when the ticket came through and I tried to allocate my seats did I see that the BA seat map was showing Y."

Fortunately I had screenshots of this.

In the same way that you can't sell a 65" LED TV but put a 24" in the box, you can't sell flights as business and then expect someone to sit in economy.

I've tried both (unfortunately), and they are like night and day IMHO.

Belated congrats to a great & funny report!
(just x-referenced from the premium fare deals forum).