Melbourne to Hamburg J status run Qantas/Finnair

[HockeyMonkey]

About to board the final leg of my MEL-SYD-HKG-HEL-HAM DSC trip in J

Qantas domestic was severely disrupted on Saturday due to Sydney storms so our 11am MEL-SYD flight was delayed around an hour which unfortunately resulted in skipping the QF SYD F lounge. Originally booked a 2 hour connection in SYD which in hindsight was probably too short to enjoy the lounge experience anyway however the 10am MEL-SYD was also cancelled so wouldn’t have helped anyway. CSM mentioned all MEL-SYD flights were booked out until 8pm due to the cancellations.

The domestic J flight itself was uninspiring. I would never pay for MEL-SYD J on its own, but for $70 added to the coat of the rest of my trip, the DSC earn made it worthwhile.

SYD-HKG in J on the A330 was good although hard product a bit dated compared to the A350. Really enjoyed the kebabs and pork cutlet.

CSM was great, introduced himself and kept checking up on me throughout the flight.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Had a short sleep in the Regal airport hotel in HKG. Really helped break up the trip.

Breakfast in the Pier F lounge was good although I was a bit underwhelmed based on reviews stating it was the best lounge in the world. I prefer the QF and EK first lounges more.

The Finnair A350 hard product was great. Loved the sense of space from the removal of the centre overhead bins in J and really do notice the lesser jet lag in these modern jets with better humidity and lower cabin altitude.

Had read reports that the Finnair herringbone seats were on too tight an angle making leg room difficult. I’m 180cm and found them great.

Staff were attentive and as a WP took my food order before other passengers even though I was in 5L. Food was good but it was the wine list that really stood out. Got a bit carried away trying 6 different wines throughout the flight. I have a sweet tooth so particularly liked the Reisling and Ice Wine.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Had some time to kill in Helsinki so spent a little time in the Finnair premium lounge on the non schengen side. Food and drink offerings were great but the place was very busy. Was surprised how many OWE there must have been.

Wasn’t game to try the sauna

Now waiting in the Schengen lounge for my Embraer 190 on Nordic Regional Airlines for the last hop to Hamburg.

 

[Major]

How did you find the Regal ? We are booked there next month

 

[HockeyMonkey]

How did you find the Regal ? We are booked there next month

It was fine. Great location, clean room,

We were only there for about 7 hours for a quick sleep to then maximize our time at the Pier First lounge.

The only improvement would be to move it airside

 

[kermatu]

Keen to see the rest of your report.

I agree the Pier F is a little underwhelming given the hype. But the restaurant is excellent and it has in my experience always been very quiet and peaceful.

I've been very well looked after on Finnair and it's a solid option for J travel.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

I was in Hamburg for a business trip so not a lot or report on that front. We stayed at the top end the Reeperbahn district from where we could walk to lots of good restaurants at night. The hotel was Arcotel Onyx and had a great rooftop bar next door called Clouds with great views of the river.

The Reeperbahn is where the Beatles played a bunch of residencies before they were famous and a bit on the seedy side. I preferred staying closer to the old town of Hamburg in a previous trip with the more traditional restaurants and bars.

Two days out from departure Qantas cancelled the HKG-SYD leg due to Typhoon Mangkhut with their initial offer to rebook us on the same fight 4 days later.

I didn’t fancy being stuck in a typhoon for 4 days and had a colleague who needed to be home for a wedding so after some negotiation with QF got rebooked on a JQ HKG-SIN flight to enable onward travel. At this time AY we’re still showing the HEL-HKG leg as unchanged.

On the morning of our departure, both the JQ and AY flights were cancelled. My colleague who was flying in Y was rerouted HEL-SIN-MEL same day but it was looking like I’d be getting a 1 night stopover in HEL due to the lack of J seats.

On arrival in HEL I went straight to the transfer desk to ask to be put on standby for the same fight as my colleague and the lovely lady had a better offer of a HEL-NRT-MEL fight departing in 1 hours time. A quick dash through passport control, dropping my colleague off at the F lounge and I was on my way.

AY continued to impress on the HEL-NRT leg in J with very attentive cabin staff, good food and a great wine list. The signature blueberry coughtail was also delicious. I would definitely fly them again if the price was right given the extra stop in HEL.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

 

[HockeyMonkey]

The rerouting meant missing my opportunity to fly upstairs on a QF 747 but did allow for another set of firsts
- First time to Japan
- First time to the NRT F lounge
- First time flying JAL

After a quick sushi for breakfast and a long wait for a shower, we were away on JAL.



At first on seat guru it looked like seating would be on the window without aisle access but once onboard I realized JAL has an interesting offset seating layout allowing aisle access from the window.



Only downside was the adjacent passengers smelly socks right next to my head. This was solved after takeoff by raising the partition placing me in a cocoon.

Cabin staff were nice, welcoming me on board and on departure and arrival, bowing and thanking me for choosing JAL, however were not very attentive during the fight. On a number of occasions I had to get out of my seat to order food and drink. This is probably my fault as I’m not inclined to use the call button. I preferred the AY approach. The IFE menu ordering system was disabled and in my cocoon I guess they were leaving me to some peace and quiet.

I was in 1K and was planning to try out the Japanese menu anyway but was surprised to be told the western beef option had already run out shortly into the flight. I think I may have dozed off and they skipped me before returning towards the end of the service.



Japanese menu was a nice change



Arrived in MEL in the evening a day earlier than originally ticketed and got ORC credited within 5 days of submitting, including DSC. An awesome result given the disruptions around the typhoon.

Yesterday the JAL fight also mistakenly credited 120 SC putting the total haul at 1090 SC. When including a 50 SC loyalty bonus carried over from last period this puts me 60SC off retaining WP with 11 months to go

 

[opusman]

Did the DSC for the ORC come through automatically or did you have to ask for that specifically?

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Did the DSC for the ORC come through automatically or did you have to ask for that specifically?

The night I arrived home, I emailed the QFF team specifically requesting ORC with DSC. Not sure if the DSC would have credited on its own.

In my points activity all the sectors and associated DSC lines appear as they would have if flown.

I was sort of expecting the sectors I actually flew to show and then some sort of bulk ORC adjustment line but it makes sense the way they did it as it keeps things like the 4 QF flight count and loyalty bonus calculations in order.