Blue sky thinking (Finnair)

Member Name: Morgenhund

Product:	Finnair
Date:	30/10/05 (2078 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Alternative approach to tariffs is customer-friendly.

Disadvantages: none

When a last minute business trip to Helsinki meant I had to grab a flight, I had the opportunity to fly Finnair. Normally I always fly with Austrian, but because I was booking only 48 hours before take off, and did not want to pay the €850 that Austrian wanted for a direct flight between Vienna and Helsinki, I had a look around and flew Finnair instead. I paid out €335, which was somewhat embarrassing for my boss who had shelled out the €850 and whose flights were both delayed, whilst I arrived on time both coming and going. As well as the price advantage, there was another motive - it meant that I could accumulate points on my British Airways frequent flyer card, as Finnair is part of the OneWorld alliance (and get points on my Miles and More card from my hotel stay!).

I am of the belief that there is no such thing as a good flight – apart from one where the plane takes off and lands without incident, and tend if possible to sleep through flights – when on business if possible this has an added bonus of the fact that I am being paid to sleep, and if flying on a Sunday am being paid double time to sleep. However, given the attentive service on my 2h30m flight from Vienna to Helsinki, I didn't sleep on the way there – mind you the generosity regarding alcoholic drinks might have been a reason for this.

As the national carrier of Finland – I believe it is still mainly state-owned – the airline has a large number of internal flights around Finland, as well as flights around Europe and longer haul flights. I intend to use them again next summer, when I plan another odyssey through Finland and Russia – the thought of taking the train between Rovaniemi and Helsinki does not appeal when Finnair fly between the two. One of the appeals of flying with them is that they have a blue sky approach to ticket pricing - their prices do not increase on flights between 60 days and 3 days before the flight goes and they also believe that off-peak flights should be cheaper. Add this to the fact that Internet bookings (from Austria at least) only have an €8 service fee – most airlines are closer to €20 and you can start to make a healthy saving. I always take a eTix and Finnair also offer them – paper tickets are available for a surcharge.

Their booking portal for example also offers you a choice of flights around the date so you can easily make a saving if you are willing to be flexible. As a hypothetical example I entered flights for next summer flying out and returning on a Saturday. When calculating the fare it showed me what I would pay as well as if I was flexible about the dates that I was flying out and back on - the difference in price was up to €100 - certainly good to know for leisure flights. Moreover, the possibility to have open-jawed tickets was a very welcome thing – not many airlines offer this, and there are also low prices on single internal flights. In a word – they understand the need for people to move around freely and not have their movements dictated by price.

In flight, the catering was good - a more generous meal than on Austrian over a comparable route - by flying for just longer than 2h30 minutes there are different requirements than flying for less than that time. The alcohol flowed and the flight attendants seemed very happy to top up my coffee at regular intervals too - great! Announcements are generally given in Finnish and English on all flights – there were also announcements in German to given the flight’s originating in Vienna. It was a pleasant change to the usual in-flight "silent entertainment" that the monitors were showing the flight from the outside of the plane – including the take off and landing – so we could see ourselves landing - a novel concept. The in-flight magazine Blue Wings was informative and interesting – there was an article about Brussels which I had to rip out as I am heading to Brussels next month. The magazine is in English and Finnish and well a quick leaf through. Cattle class (economy) was comfortable enough – although wherever possible this is due to the fact that I tend to sit by the emergency exit – first class leg room in economy class...

All in all I found the service entirely satisfactory and particularly appreciate their policy on ticket pricing – what a shame that not all airlines have the same blue sky thinking approach as Finnair. I'll be flying on them again - especially as their flights are at more agreeable times than Austrian's for the Vienna-Helsinki route.

Summary: A good experience - thanks to refreshing blue sky thinking