Is helsinki still standing?

This is a 'live' trip report... right?

Sorry about the delay in the report. Had a bit of a good night out in London and New York! Sat in the flagship now so will try catch up.

I was up at 0330 for a quick shower and leave my box of a hotel room for the trip to LHR T5. N550 to Trafalgar Square followed by the N9 got me to T5 in just about 2hrs. I proceeded to the Flounge and had some breakfast where I was able to guest in heman.

After a quick chat I was off to gate A13 for my flight to CPH. This was the first A321 I'd been on for BA as others had been US and American. 23C was my seat and I'd love to report on the flight but I was asleep before takeoff and only woke up for a 10'second drink of water before we touched down. From what I saw this must be one of the best airports for a back2back turn around as we exited right next to the boarding gate. I proceeded to the lounge and sat downs for a long 3 hour wait. The lounge was quite basic but had enough to keep me happy until it was time to head for Helsinki with Finnair in their short haul business class.

We boarded approximately 10 minutes late and departed about 15 minutes late. The flight was really good and the food was delicious. I'm not 100% keen on the champagne but it is better than monopole which is served in the BA Club Europe cabin. I would now rate Finnair and Iberia J above BA's CE and a lot of ppl know I love BA so I guess it shows how far BA's offering has fallen.

Next I'll write about the trip to HEL as I'm currently watching a beautiful sunrise in the AA JFK Flagship lounge before heading down to the gate for my JFK-PHX-LIH flight.

Nicholas Feuillate?

It was Joseph Perrier last time I was on AY shorthaul, but that was over a year ago so may have changed since then.

They had that in F on the AA 77w from dfw the other week. I was in 3f in J, the F Cabin crew chap saw i was thirsty and gave me a fill from his stocks. I think i offended him when i said i preferred the lanson we had in J! I've had nf in cayman before, still doesn't float me boat. Anyway! Jamier, good to see you are plowing on, 3am start to get on some london night buses after a night oot.....ouch! I'd be hammering the nurofens! Enjoy the flights to phx/hnl, have a few for me. Us air? If so and it is the old f seats, you know what, i like em. Reminds me of aa's old 737 f/j seats and i have always found them comfy. No plugs though.....

Yes, the champagne which Finnair serves in J both SH/LH and their new premium lounge at HEL has been Nicolas Feuillatte for a while now. It's quite enjoyable IMO, significantly better than Monopole.

That, the superior food, seat comfort and leg room, not to mention more consistent service delivery (Though being Finnish I might be biased ) put AY's SH J product far ahead of BA in my book.

I don't mean to be that guy, but pictures would make me believe that this trip is actually happening!

Hi Jamier45! It was great meeting you on the flight from LCY to JFK yesterday. About 25 of the 32 seats were occupied and by my calculations there were at least 10 FTers (inc. travelling companions) on board. Usual!

Safe travels and enjoy!

James

Likewise. The load on the flight was 22 of 32.

Just arrived in LIH, so will write about the HEL flight then get around the pool.

HEL-LHR was again on Finnair. After arriving at HEL I went to the premium lounge located around gate36/37. Welcomed back and went off to the left hand side.

The lounge had quite a few people in at this point so I set myself down next to a power point and proceeded to charge up my iPhone and iPad as with the tube strike about to start in London it was going to be another long bus ride back to the hotel.

I sampled the small food offerings in the lounge and the salmon was very tasty as was the goulash soup which was on offer. Unfortunately as we began descending into HEL I had a massive amount of pressure build up in my sinus as something had kicked off my hay fever so I was in agony for the last 10 minutes of the descent. Determined to try and alleviate this problem I headed for a shower and managed to make it nice and steamy which seemed to do the trick!

By this point there was only 45 minutes till departure time so I took a very slow walk down to gate 32. Quickly onto the aircraft and settled in. The business cabin was quite full and only remember seeing 2 spare seats, one next to me and one behind me. The main was a trout dish and was really nice. The dessert was to die for and had to stop myself nomming it before I'd taken a picture.

After the service was finished and 2 of the small bottles of champagne bad disappeared the flight seemed to drag and drag. What only was 2h 50m felt like 5 or 6 hours! However that being said the product again was much better than BA CE. The only thing that BA do better is the crew in my opinion.

On arrival it was a quick exit and down to the central bus station. I jumped onto a replacement number 10 service to Hammersmith then another bus heading for kings cross. Got off at tottenham court road and proceeded to wait...and wait...and wait for the number 25 that never turned up there I couldn't catch the last DLR from Bank to Canary Wharf. At this point tired and starting to get hungry I started walking the 5 miles. After about a mile and the uber app no longer showing a fare multiplier I ordered one and jumped in for the 20 minute journey to my box room.

Next...LCY-JFK and my first experience of the babybus.

Pictures will be added later don't worry

Is that no a 24 hr bus service? They must have known you were coming. Smallest room i ever stayed in was first night of our honeymoon at the euston hilton. Frontdesk said oh this is a nice room....it had a bed and the suitcases took up the rest of the space to the wall. Right ye are hilton, right ye are. Thankfully the trafalgar square hilton a year later restored some faith in the city.

How you finding kauai and its (lack of) nightlife? Did you arrange any cessna or helicopter trips over the napali coastline or is this a pool and pina colada stop?

LCY-JFK

This so far has been the absolute highlight of my trip.

I woke up about 0730 feeling refreshed and in a much better mood. Had a shower and made sure my iPad and phone were fully charged. Headed off to catch the DLR to LCY. A QUICK 10 mins and there I was walking into LCY approx 0900 for the 0945 departure. Questioned by the guy policing the LCY JFK line as to where I was travelling when I walked straight past him into the line. As soon as I said New York he signalled the checkin agent and I was invited to go forward in front of other LCY pax who were about to go forward to the check in desk (nice touch)

About 30 seconds later boarding pass in hand I was off to gate 24. Was thrilled to find the fruit smoothie that's served in CW for breakfast so had 2 glasses of that with 2 croissants.

Very soon after that it was time to board and I was sat in 1A. Immediately welcomed back on BA by Jon one of the CC and settled into 1B. No one was sat next to me as teledude was meant to be sat in 1A. No PDB but we were quickly underway and heading towards SNN for US Immigration pre clearance.

Canap�s were served with a glass of tattinger about 15 minutes after departure and dinner orders taken. The crew were very proactive and gemma (who was a star) topped up my glass on her way back. Before I knew it we were descending and landing into SNN and again suffered from a bit of pain in my forehead from the pressure.

Swiftly through pre clearance and we were back onboard heading to JFK. To say I was now excited was an understatement as the crew swiftly got into serving us. A lot of good laughs were had with Phil and Gemma the 2 main serving CC. I believe Jon was doing most of the prep in the galley. More tattinger was poured and I even tried the castlenau rose which I wasn't too keen on.

The main meal was served which was lamb but I found pretty tough to eat however it was all eaten. The full menu will follow later when I'm home and can upload pictures. More tattinger was drank and after that I pretty much spent the whole time chatting to the crew (I get bored very easily when travelling LH by myself) until it was time for afternoon tea was ready to be served. They were a fantastic bunch to chat to and gemma even managed to get me past a level on candy crush I'd been stuck on for at least a week!

The approach into New Yorks JFK was stunning! We followed a Canarsie(sp?) approach and came straight in over the water!!!!! Touchdown and disembarkation was very swift and before I knew it I was in the crowne plaza JFK!!

All in all the best flight I've ever been on and a welldone was submitted as well as a golden ticket awarded!

Next will be my stop at Crowne plaza, night out in New York and onwards JFK-PHX. But for now it's time for the pool and some sun!

This is rather concerning, I hope he's okay. He's not posted on FlyerTalk since April and has not visited the forums since early July. Certainly out of character.

Anyone know teledude and knows if he's okay?

Subscribing ^