intro
Hello amigos!
Welcome to the return part of my 4-flight series between Madrid and Helsinki, via Frankfurt, in LH.
You may find the previous flights here:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
This once, we would be flying business class, so it was a nice chance to see how LH fared compared to Y (where it was basically, just a flying bus).
Reaching and at helsinki vantaa airport
Since we were staying at Helsinki's downtown, we took a tram to the main train station and from there a suburban train to HEL… the ride itself was nothing to write home about.
The train station at HEL is SUPER deep down, you have to take to flights of super long escalators to make it to the ground level, advice for novices: take the lifts!
As T1 was still operating back then, we had to take the long walk to it…as we had risen from the T2 side.
Flying business we had a quick check in for our bags. T1 basically deserted in any case.
No invitation to any lounge as SAS hadn't opened theirs since Covid
Security was a breeze, and then we were bumped airside.
The priority pass lounge was quite far from where we were, so we choce to stay at a bar and have a last Karhu.
Our flight was in time…
This time, we'll be flying an A320 Neo, still in the old livery
onboard lh's a320NEO business
As usual in Europe, business class is basically the same seat as Tourist, but with better service.
enroute to frankfurt
As we were the first to board, we had to wait till the rest of the plane filled up. We weren't offered anything while we waited. At a point, I had forgotten I was flying business class (I just came to terms with that when the FA showed up to ask me if I wanted a beer later on).
We passed by the rather short ATC tower while we taxied to our runway.
Taxi took quite a while as we went to the furthest runway for departure
We had a parallel departure with an AY ATR72
We departed towards the west, allowing for views of Helsinki as we ascended.
Moi Moi Helsinki!
As it was a clear day, we also had a glimpse (with a lot of zoom) of Tallinn
As we cruised over the Baltic, service began
We were also given some desinfecting wipes (covid)…
…and our food. There were two options. Don't recall exactly what they were, but they were well received ( we didn't eat anything in Helsinki knowing that we were going to be fed on the planes). The best part of it was de dessert, it was delicious.
We then cruised over Germany
I had another beer serving,
As we were delighted with views of German fields, towns and cities…
We were also offered some cookies about 30 mins into FRA
Soon we were over Frankfurt
And FRA
The new terminal should be ready by now(?)
Now another turn over the Main to land…
And apparently now closed indefinitely. I hope LH have made other lounge arrangements since...I would assume so. I hated when airlines used Covid as an excuse to have lounges closed...it was dishonest, because it was mostly about lack of staff, resources, and budget during Covid, rather than sanitary reasons.
The legroom actually looks really good for Eurobiz...definitely not that generous on either BA or IB...though I much prefer BA/IB Pinnacle seats over LH NEK seats. Meal also looks quite good. I remember at the time LH were one of the few carriers who continued to have full meals in short-haul J, while others were cutting back.
Thanks for sharing!
I've never really seen any European carrier do this on intra-European Business class, so I don't think it was just a Covid thing, but it should definitely be a thing, especially considering how little of a difference there is between Business and Economy in Europe. It would certainly help to elevate the experience.