davidgrahammd

Introduction

Since acquiring an ex-wife whos idea of vacation was to sit on a beach for days on end, I have taken up solo traveling. I try to get away a couple of times a year as much as stress relief from my job (Oncologist) as a desire to see history. I have meant to do more than lurk in the past but I�ve never been quite as diligent in pictures of the planes as many on here. This is my attempt to come into the light.

This time it�s off to Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. I begin in Charlotte (well not exactly but I�ll explain that in a moment) to JFK in US J, then travel to HEL on AY J, and finally get to LJU on AY in economy (there is no J or F on that flight).

davidgrahammd

CLT to JFK
UA 639 F
Departure
Scheduled 1320 Actual 1336

Arrival
Scheduled 1516 Actual 1533

Sooooo...I actually started the day at DCA, having been at a session to establish the content for our national annual meeting. This session was set after I made my trip plans so I had to miss the last day. I checked in at US Air in DCA at 0700 for my 0915 flight. I went that early because I hoped to combine my two itineraries (both stating on US Air flights) and avoid having to exit security in CLT, claim my bags and immediately go back up the escalator and check in for this trip. When I approached the US Air main check in counter at DCA and asked to do this, the immediate blank face I saw clued me in pretty quickly that this wasn�t going to happen. She quickly confirmed verbally what her face was telling me...�We can�t do that�. I didn�t feel like arguing and that flight to CLT had an impressive on time rate listed on Flight Track Pro so I just sucked it up. TSA Precheck let me get into the lounge at DCA pretty quickly.

Why I love TSA Precheck
image by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Deplaning in CLT was easy and it only took 20 minutes or so to get checked in for the international trip and back through TSA Precheck (have I mentioned that I love TSA precheck?). The US Air lounge in the CDE section was fairly empty this time of day.

CLT main concourse
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US Air club in CLT
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Planes ready to go
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Boarding was on time and then...1 hour ground delay. I had already been told that my flight to HEL was delayed by 1 hour 50 minutes so this was ok. Besides, PDB turned into a couple of rounds


Not much to say about the flight itself. Fairly standard US Air A321. Beverage service with packaged snacks on the 1 hour 30 minute flight. Deplaned into Terminal 8 Concourse C. Looked into the Admirals club there which looked fairly nice but I then found out that AY 6 would be leaving from gate 4 so I trundled off to the Admirals Club in the B concourse. Massively packed with a line 8-10 deep at the bar to use their premium drink coupons. No place to sit but I lucked into a seat at the bar when someone left. The lounge cleared quite a bit by 1700 but was still far from empty.

davidgrahammd

JFK to HEL
AY6 J
Departure
Scheduled 1740 Actual 1930

Arrival
Scheduled 0850 +1 Actual 1011+1

Finnair boarding was Business first. Plane was an A333 with an interesting configuration in business. Middle rows were all 2. Right side (facing cockpit) was all single with alternating window and aisle locations. Left side alternates 1 and 2. Even rows on the left have thrones and that�s what I was in. A downside of this seat is that it is a bit distant from the window. If you really like windows I would recommend sitting on the right side in an appropriate row

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Pre-departure beverage was offered in Finnair�s usual unique glasses

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Plenty of legroom
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The captain made a pre-departure announcement apologizing for the delay. It seems it was an equipment change made at Finnair. He was very clear that it was not his call. First time I�ve ever heard a captain make that sort of statement. Menus were quickly distributed and meals out apace. Interestingly enough, there was no wine menu and the food menus were collected prior to landing. I had ordered prior my main prior to the flight so I guess the menus were particularly needed.

Amouse bouche of prawn and mushroom
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Appetizer of veal carpaccio
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Main of steak � usual in flight level of doneness but not horrendous
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Finished with cheese, ice cream, and a very reasonable port
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The amenity bags leave a lot to be desired
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What wasn't in the bag was stocked in the bathroom
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Sunrise approaching Finland
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Breakfast was cold meats and cheeses and was actually pretty tasty
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davidgrahammd

Landing in Helsinki was uneventful. A small note of trivia � landing on a flight that was US based means no clearing security in HEL. They trust ours well enough. HEL is organized into Schengen and Non-Schengen sides. Finnair maintains two lounges, one on each side. The Schengen side lounge was closed during my visit for renovations. The Non-Schengen side lounge was recently reopened after renovations and it is pretty impressive. Nice layout of nibbles and drinks. Showers had reasonable pressure but I couldn�t bring myself to hit the sauna at 0900. Really comfortable chairs with a view over the tarmac as well as a separate Resting Area curtained off with chairs that looked very appealing for a nap. After a few hours here, I decided to check out the Schengen area Priority Pass lounge...not my best choice. Cramped...minimal food and drinks. Showers were available but cost 10 Euros.

Finnair Schengen Lounge
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Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

The shower
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davidgrahammd

HEL to LJU
AY 723
Departure
Scheduled 1650 Actual 1820
Arrival
Scheduled 1830 Actual 1943

You may have noticed that I am now 3 for 3 in flight delays on this trip. This is a flight with no separate business section and it was packed full. When we boarded the captain kindly informed us that we would be waiting another 30 minutes or so for a group of connecting passengers. It seems a tour group from Seoul, Korea was delayed in getting to HEL. As we departed there were no Asian based airlines so I can only think that they came in on a FInnair flight and the company decided it was better to delay the flight that to put them all up in a hotel for the night.

Seating was 3 and 3
Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr
Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Food was minimal with no choices given. The �salt sticks� � actually pretzels � were purchased separately.
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On landing, passport control was reasonable but no benefit to having priority tags on my suitcase.

davidgrahammd

The capitol of Slovenia...I'll let pictures and a few captions tell the story

There be dragons here
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This is a vending machine that sells fresh, unpasteurized milk stocked by local farmers twice a day
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Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Ljubljana was actually a roman settlement named Eamona. This is part of the original roman walls.
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Metelkova is a section taken over by squatters and artists. It really has kind of a Mad Max vibe to it.
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Lake Bled
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Predjama Castle
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davidgrahammd

LJU to HEL
AY 724
Departure
Scheduled 1930 Actual 1918
Arrival
Scheduled 2305 Actual 2247

Ljubljana may be the capitol of Slovenia but it is only 250,000 people and the airport reflects that. It does have a Priority Pass accessible lounge, which was workable. Checkin opened 2 hours prior to departure and the agent offered to check my bags through to LHR. That struck me as a bit odd since that would mean having to claim and recheck bags in LHR when I was overnighting in HEL. After thanking her I told her that checking to HEL would be fine.
Although not listed as having a business section, there was a curtained divider and the middle row was kept empty. Food was a choice of cold sandwiches and merited no pictures

Ljubljana departure hall
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LJU business lounge
Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr
Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

davidgrahammd

The hotel is about a 10 minute walk from the terminal. The way is fairly well signed but there is an outdoor section. My room was booked with Hhonors points and on checking in I was upgraded onto the Executive floor. Not that I was going to get much use out of it since I would be spending a grand total of about 7-8 hours there. I have to say the room was pretty nice.

Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

davidgrahammd

HEL to LHR
BA 795 CE
Departure
Scheduled 0755 Actual 0810
Arrival
Scheduled 0905 Actual 0901

Checkin at the BA Club Europe desk was smoothly handled and my bags were checked through to CLT. The A320 looked and smelled as if it had just been refurbished. You gotta love that new leather smell. I�m sorry but not a lot of other pics from this leg

Helsinki departure hall
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BA Checkin
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Legroom
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Mmmmm...new leather
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A foggy morning leaking HEL
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davidgrahammd

LHR to ORD
BA 295 CW
Departure
Scheduled 1150 Actual 1158
Arrival
Scheduled 1415 Actual 1439

Flying in CE meant I was basically the 1st off the flight and made the long walk in Terminal 3 to the bus going to Terminal 5. I arrived at the bus as it was just ready to depart so I was into Terminal 5 within 15-20 minutes. Through security? Another 30+ minutes. There was still time to guest a fellow Flyertalk person who had a pretty extended layover into the Galleries lounge. My flight left from the C satellite so I took the opportunity to make the walk instead of taking the train. As other have said, it is kind of a fun feeling to let everybody else get off at -2 for the train and then go down to -4. It is really bizarre to not see a single other person during the walk. To be that alone in Heathrow?

Where is everybody??
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Untitled by davidgrahammd, on Flickr

Finally time to board and get up to the upper deck. I had managed to book that favored seat, 62K. Upper deck crew were fantastic but he food was as expected. An older IFE along with a less than stellar selection of programs meant I spent more time watching shows off my laptop.

The bird
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Going up?
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Plenty of room
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Pre-departure
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Typical amenity kit
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Salad
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Think it was medium to medium rare?....nahhhh
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davidgrahammd

ORD to CLT
US 1919 F
Departure
Scheduled 1600 Actual 1552
Arrival
Scheduled 1855 Actual 1913

With our delayed arrival, my time to get through customs and over to Terminal 3 of ORD was fairly short. On top of that, no TSA-PreCheck on the BA printed boarding pass. I was told I could try and get US Air to re-print the boarding pass but there was no guarantee it would come up on that either. I decided not to take the extra time for possibly no benefit and just went through. Global Entry made passport quick but priority tags did not seem to make any difference in the baggage unloading. As an aside, ORD now has a Global Express area before the usual passport/customs area for those with carry on bags only. Fortunately, the priority security line in Terminal 3 was not too busy although it seemed that the TSA person decided to get chatty with the person in front of me. Figures, right? I made it from landing to my gate in less than an hour. I arrived at H14 just as they were calling first class boarding. By this time I was pretty wiped and didn�t feel like much of a photographer...sorry. The flight was a typical US Air A321 with no food service.

I hope this gives at lease 1 or 2 bits of information that you may not have already known. I haven�t seen a lot of Finnair reports so there is that, anyway. Comments are certainly more than welcome but please remember...this is my first...be kind.

stu1985

Enjoyed your report - thanks for sharing.

Ljubljana looks like a nice city and I love the milk vending machines!

SPBanker

Nice report, thanks.

Small comment: Judging from your pics, you were in the Premium Lounge of HEL non-Schengen side. This is for OWEs and OWSs only. The ordinary, larger biz lounge is next to it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finna...nvited-11.html

AKCuisine

Nice trip report, davidgrahammd. What made you choose Slovenia for your getaway - it's a spot that typically is not on most American's radar.

Ljubljana is an absolutely wonderful city. Where did you stay while you were there?

And a point of clarification for other readers: The town of Bled, Lake Bled, Bled Castle and Predjama Castle are not in Ljubljana. They are spots that can be accessed by road trips to other sections of this (relatively small) country and should not be missed - along with the incredible Postonja Cave in the Karst region.

exilencfc

Very enjoyable TR, nice to see a bit of Slovenia which is high on my to do list.