Finnair - recommended?

[markis10]

JohnK, u might want to check those etickets, mine came through at 25000THB insted of 12000thb, fixing this up should be fun.

 

[JohnK]

JohnK, u might want to check those etickets, mine came through at 25000THB insted of 12000thb, fixing this up should be fun.

My e-tickets from Finnair show 25,000 baht but my credit card has been charged A$444.50 twice which was 12,735 baht a flight for the 2 BKK-HKG-BKK flights. I have not been charged for the BKK-SIN-BKK flights yet but do not expect that to be more than A$420 as these were only 12,000 baht.

I am sad that there appears to be I class flights available for somewhere between 6,000 to 10,000 baht for the same itinerary.

 

[Mal]

Yeah, weird about the Finnair booking stuff.

I just checked my e-ticket (BKK-SIN-BKK).

AIR FARE : THB 23990
TAX : THB 660YR 525SG
TOTAL : THB 25175

Yet, the confirmation email says:

PRICE: 12085.00 THB including service fee

Hmm. Weird. I'm not worried about it though.

 

[markis10]

Finnair got back to me with the news that the amount on the eticket is a local requirement and is not the actual fee charged to the card, all good!

 

[JohnK]

Well I made a booking through the traveller2000 website and received a booking and price for business class. I asked for BKK-HKG-BKK and BKK-SIN-BKK on 2 consecutive days and the price came to 21,500THB + 1,995THB Taxes & Insurance for a total of 23,495THB. My Finnair bookings for the same days came to a total of 24,810THB. Travel agent cheaper but not worth cancelling current booking.

I queried them on the price of their I class fares on their website and here is their response

Dear Mr. John,

We apologize that there is some mistook in our website at booking class that must be "O" class not "I" class ,those class must be the promotion economy class but there is no mentioned that price are business class in our website.

We apologize again for your inconvenience. Anyway , we have cancelled booking as your request.

Best Regards,
traveller2000

So a mystery on who has the I class fares for Finnair? I think it is all a myth! Anyway found a cheaper source for D class business flex fares for next time.

 

[markis10]

Took my first flight on Finnair yesterday and I was impressed. The cabin was spotless and had a "new" feeling to it as it had the upgraded J seats, although no personal TVs were installed and no phone, so it must have been halfway through an upgrade!

Service was excellent although they tend to leave the seatbelt sign on for a long time after take off, food was very good although it was different to the menu (no prawns :cry: ), wine list was interesting with Candanian and Austrian wines and no Australian wines despite it being a joint service with QF (as announced). Sennheiser noise cancelling headsets are issued to those in J and overall the cabin has a lot of room. In 3A there is actually a foot and a half from the rear of the seat to the bulkhead as wasted space.

The cabin did not have any bassinets, so a lady had her baby on the floor in row 1 for most of the flight which was a bit different. The lie flat seats are not perfectly flat but I got an hours sleep pretty easily which is rare for me, and the blanket is more like a doona which helped.

Visited the Dragonair Lounge which was nice but empty, not much food or drinks on offer but by that stage I was not really looking for much other than some water, would have gone to the CX lounge but did not feel like the walk and instead did a bit of shopping including a visit to the Disney store and also picked up a rugby sevens top which I really liked.

For those of you looking at using these flights for status runs, Singapore is the only option from the end of May as the Hong Kong service becomes a direct service from Helsinki, and the Singapore flight goes daily.

I decided to stay in town rather than near the airport so I had a few more options other than TV for entertainment, the flight arrived on schedule into BKK at 2350 and I was in my hotel at 0030, nothing like carry on to speed you way through the formalities. In HKG they actually had my name up on a board pointing me to the transfer desk to collect my next boarding pass, and at the transfer desk the clerk give me a funny look and said " you earned those miles "

 

[shegotit]

Finnair

In my personal experience Finnair is an awful awful Airline. I flew from Helsinki to Denmark and although it was only a short and simple flight I was really shocked at what I experienced. Firstly the crew were all wearing creased and dirty uniforms, when the flight finally took off I was seriously worried that something was dreadful was going to happen..I dont think i've ever been on a plan that banged and rattled so much in my life! Thirdly, once I collected my baggage I found that my brand new 900 hundred dollar leather bag had been ruined, stained with oil and ripped all over. I had to spend 4 days of my holiday on the phone and walking around Denmark trying to find their office to sort the situation out. Wasnt impressed at all! Oh..and the food was a bread roll and a bit of fish that smelled very suspicious.
I'm not sure if I was just unlucky enough to get their worst flight possible but I definitely wouldnt recommend Finnair after that experience.

 

[shillard]

Re: Finnair

Thirdly, once I collected my baggage I found that my brand new 900 hundred dollar leather bag had been ruined, stained with oil and ripped all over. I had to spend 4 days of my holiday on the phone and walking around Denmark trying to find their office to sort the situation out.

Oh yeah, I'd spend $900 on a leather bag and check it through......

LOMBARD.

 

[JohnK]

For those of you looking at using these flights for status runs, Singapore is the only option from the end of May as the Hong Kong service becomes a direct service from Helsinki, and the Singapore flight goes daily.

The HKG service via BKK returns end October 3 days a week, at least that is what Finnair website shows, and SIN goes back to 4 days a week.

I decided to stay in town rather than near the airport so I had a few more options other than TV for entertainment, the flight arrived on schedule into BKK at 2350 and I was in my hotel at 0030....

Out for entertainment after 00:30 :wink:

 

[markis10]

Done my second run, this time had a personal TV, same menu on both legs although this was to SIN rather than HKG and still no prawns :cry: .

Again the crew were fantastic, on the return leg I did not feel like an entree and was asked what i wanted for a main, went for the eye fillet and it was brought to me a minute later, so that I was able to conclude the meal service quickly, the plane had catering boxes still loaded from Helsinki so perhaps they load the whole lot up in Helsinki rather than Bangkok??

Both flights also arrived back at BKK before the midnight rush so it was a quick run through immigration both times which is a refreshing change, I am surprised I did not get questioned on my unusual travel patterns but perhaps these are not that unusual!

 

[markis10]

Third run done, same aircraft as the first hence no personal TV and no airvents in ceiling, and service is a lot different in second half of the cabin, seemed to take forever to get a meal as the crew concentrated on the rows 1-3!

John K, as for entertainment in BKK, it consisted of working out which was the fastest taxi down the freeway to and from the airport that I travelled in, and the winner was 149km/h!

 

[JohnK]

John K, as for entertainment in BKK, it consisted of working out which was the fastest taxi down the freeway to and from the airport that I travelled in, and the winner was 149km/h!

A few basic thai phrases would have been very helpful in this situation.

Slow down          Cha cha
Slowly please      Bi cha cha
Understand         Kao jai mai
Stop               Yut yut

You would be surprised how it works!

 

[tallboy]

Does anyoine have an opinion or experience on Finnair? Safe/Unsafe?

I be be doing a number of runs between BKK, HKG & SIN and their business seats are quite cheap.......good for SC.

Thanks

JJ

Finnair are a solid and safe operator. I work in air safety and would not hesitate to use them. The service is, naturally, more European than Asian, but it is still quite adequate and their airfares offer good value for money. By the way, HEL is also an excellent airport from which to connect with the rest of Europe.

 

[JohnK]

I did 2 status runs in business class, Wednesday BKK-SIN-BKK and had seat 1A for both flights and Thursday BKK-HKG-BKK and had seat 1L for both flights.

I am very happy with the service received especially when they see you again for the return journey, in fact some of them went out of their way to be very attentive to me. The seats although old are very comfortable and had no complaints there. Plenty of leg room, no one can recline into your lap like the 777-300, I wasn't in the mood for sleep but I believe the seats and now lie flat seats.

My only gripe with them is the no show on Tuesday 11 April which apparently arrived 9 hours late and the cancellation again on Friday 21 April. Speaking with the check-in staff in BKK at length over the last 2 weeks these are not isolated incidents. They are constantly running late from HEL and have had more cancellations than usual. The fleet is probably getting old and is now very tired.

Hopefully they can improve on this aspect otherwise a very respectable product in business class especially for the price paid.

 

[tallboy]

Surprised

They are constantly running late from HEL and have had more cancellations than usual. The fleet is probably getting old and is now very tired.

This comment surprises me. I have used Finnair to and from Europe on about half a dozen occasions the past 2 years and can say they have never run more than a few minutes late. This has been partiicularly important when connecting to QF flights in BKK or SIN on the return legs. I have also flown with them extensively within Europe, with no problems re flight delays. HEL is an exceptionally efficient airport, and in my experience AY does not have major problems with on time performance. In fact, some connection times in HEL are as little as 35 minutes and they make it with ease... Re servicability of the MD-11s, I would like to see the stats on reliability but would be surprised if they are as unreliable as you suggest.

 

[Mal]

Re: Surprised

HEL is an exceptionally efficient airport, and in my experience AY does not have major problems with on time performance. In fact, some connection times in HEL are as little as 35 minutes and they make it with ease... Re servicability of the MD-11s, I would like to see the stats on reliability but would be surprised if they are as unreliable as you suggest.

Have a look at this site:

http://www.flightstats.com/go/Fligh...partureAirportCode=BKK&arrivalAirportCode=SIN

According to it, AY097 between Feb 15 and Apr 15 had an ontime rating of only 82%, with an average delay of 47mins, and a max delay of 278 mins.

I'm not entirely sure how accurate the stats are, however I have used the FlightStats site before with fairly good results.

Anecdotally, I did see fairly big delays twice when at BKK airport in the last few weeks. Maybe one of the planes is in for service and thus any issues causes ripple effects...

 

[Mal]

John K, as for entertainment in BKK, it consisted of working out which was the fastest taxi down the freeway to and from the airport that I travelled in, and the winner was 149km/h!

Did you get the same cabbie as me?

Why pay to go to amusement parks when you can be unrestrained in the back of a thai taxi weaving through traffic at 140-160km/h!

 

[JohnK]

Re: Surprised

They are constantly running late from HEL and have had more cancellations than usual. The fleet is probably getting old and is now very tired.

This comment surprises me. I have used Finnair to and from Europe on about half a dozen occasions the past 2 years and can say they have never run more than a few minutes late. This has been partiicularly important when connecting to QF flights in BKK or SIN on the return legs.

Sorry for repeating myself but my status run experience was turned upside down in 2 weeks. The HEL-BKK(-HKG AY091) did not arrive in BKK on the 11th April until 11:30pm and the HEL-BBK(-SIN AY097) was cancelled on 21st April. These are facts not hearsay. The check-in staff in BKK also had mentioned that Finnair has not been very reliable recently. Their words not mine.

I am not sure but Mal quotes some figures on reliability. Not sure what they are like in Europe but their MD-11 fleet seems to be a little tired. It would be interesting to get some statistics on the China and Japan routes.

Does not mean I will not fly with them again, just very poor experience in the last 2 weeks. When I receive credit in my QF account for the EK,CX and LX flights that AY substituted for me I will be even happier.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Surprised

Have a look at this site:

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating/flightRatingByFlight.do?&airline=AY&flightNumber=97&departureAirportCode=BKK&arrivalAirportCode=SIN

According to it, AY097 between Feb 15 and Apr 15 had an ontime rating of only 82%, with an average delay of 47mins, and a max delay of 278 mins.

I'm not entirely sure how accurate the stats are, however I have used the FlightStats site before with fairly good results.

Just out of interest the figures for Mar 15 to May 15 (which includes my flights in April) are now in the database.

AY097 is now at 74% BKK-SIN with 20% (7/35) flights cancelled. :shock:

AY091 is now at 88% BKK-HKG but is only a seasonal service to HKG. There was 26 scheduled flights HEL-BKK with an average delay of 184 minutes and a maximum delay of 590 minutes (I think this was my flight 11th April).

Just a general warning for you mal, markis10 and myself on future status runs with AY in the BKK-SIN-HKG area. I love the short haul flights, price and SC's but is it worth the hassles? I suppose the saving grace is that QF will honour SC's if diverted to another carrier and as they are turn around flights no problem about connection. I just need to be careful using them as my stepping stone BKK-SIN (-BNE/SYD/MEL).

 

[DJ737]

Hi there

Currently posting from the AY lounge in Helsinki, used AY98 SIN-BKK-HEL last night, and the service was on a par with QF in Y although the served the same meal after BKK as they did out of SIN, Copped a ATC delay in BKK due to everything else wanting to go in the same direction.

Got into HEL on time though, made a zero vis landing, first i knew anything of the ground was when the MD-11 hit it

Cheers
DJ737