Continuation of my trip to Helsinki.
Flight routing
- 1
I have only a short connection and I had no lunch. So heading directly to the Business & Senator lounges in the central area. The entrance is common and crowded. Still don't get why they are no self-checkin machines as for other airlines. The other better SEN lounge is still closed at that time on the MUC platform. Direction the 1st floor for the Business lounge and ground floor for the SEN one. I don't see a real difference between the two of them but I am not that used to the Business option as I entered the lounges mostly through Star Alliance Gold card that give access to the SEN one (=better).
This lounge has the worse layout I've seen in a lounge, is small, full and without natural light. But the food offer is pretty decent.
Now heading to the other end of the Schengen terminal (G gates).
Our flight is delayed by just a few minutes. This is a very good performance for end of june in Europe as otherwise many passengers remains stranded for hours in FRA, AMS or LHR.
I'm surprised to see a United parked just next to us.
Let's go. This time, priorities are called.
I was in the front of the cabin, row 7 or 8. The pitch is very good. The seat remains hard but is fully okay. We have a pretty new A320neo and no power outlets at all, even no USB-sockets. Com'on LH!
The middle seat remains unused on this flight. One of the very few seat empty on today's flight. Maybe a benefit for SEN passengers.
A bottle of water is present at each seat in Economy.
My front neighbor has the outfit to go to HEL…
Adios B787 UA.
The water comes from Danemark. No deposit (pfand) on it, I could have improved the fare I paid by 25cts ^^
The side curtain remove in place during taxi and take-off.
Take-off which happens without wait.
For Jules ;) Yes it is in Germany!!!
Kidding mode ON - The service arrives - Kidding mode OFF
Yes 10g of a bad chocolate on a 2.5 hours flight.
But if you need more you have the buy-on-board options which is now the norm. Personally I prefer to pay less my tickets and have no service. Just in that case… if you want to distribute a chocolate, give a good one!
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The offer is large. Not sure if they have everything on all flights though.
I was expecting a beautiful landing and it was the case. On the right Estonia.
And approaching the coast from the Baltic Sea.
Intricate coastline
Green surroundings of Helsinki
Some construction at the airport
We park next to a Finnair A320.
The terminal is made of glass and wood. It is a very nice place.
A the exit a big food court with the preferred restaurant of my dear friend Bénichou, the bacon lover.
The train station has been build in the rock several 10-meters under the ground, impressive!
Hi AB, thank you for sharing this FR!
As far as I have seen at MUC, there is no difference in offering other than slightly different seating areas. Both share the same bathrooms/showers so it's really not too distinguishing. Depending on time of day, Business side can actually be quieter than Senator side. IMO, the MUC lounges are worse than FRA, MUC only has the advantage of being smaller with easier connections.
Catering is a joke, clearly LH (like a lot of airlines) leveraged the pandemic as an excuse to degrade service and keep as the new status quo. It's good to see that beer is still the cheapest drink option on the BOB, keeping to their German roots^^ Excellent aerials on arrival in HEL.
Ah, too bad you got one of the "older" A320neo with the NEK seats without USB ports! LH are taking their sweet old time updating cabins with the new Geven seats with USB ports, so I'd expect there not-so-old NEO NEK cabins to stick around for a while. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this FR.
the preferred restaurant of my dear friend Bénichou, the bacon lover. => it's so cute my dear.?
Thanks for sharing my dear Vinvent !
Lufthansa has become a low cost carrier since COVID. Very disappointing indeed, and customer service is even worse than Ryanair!! Not to mention the lack of advantages in Europe for their top tier status holders.
Na ja, Energiewende at its worst!!
He actually has signed up for the FFP of McDonalds :)