Trip Report: AMS-HEL, HEL-AMS
I just got back from a short trip to Helsinki, to visit some family. Normally I like to fly Star Alliance carriers, but Lufthansa was over 60% more expensive than Finnair, and SAS was a bit more expensive than Finnair but required lengthy connections and earned only 25% of United miles. My next choice is usually Skyteam since I have some Delta miles from when I lived in Cincinnati. Though KLM also flies nonstop from Amsterdam to Helsinki, KLM was a bit more expensive than Finnair, and earned absolutely no miles because of its fare class. So Finnair it was, with 100% mileage earning on American Airlines.
I came away with a really good impression of Finnair. The flight attendants were all courteous (and well-groomed, unlike some flight attendants in the US), the planes were clean. And we were served a hot meal! AMS-HEL is scheduled for 2 hrs 30 min, but flight time is only 2 hrs. There wasn't any choice, but still getting a spinach risotto meal was nice. On the tray was also a sun-dried tomato roll, small Snickers bar, and water cup. We were also offered other drinks, and coffee and tea came around after lunch.
Helsinki airport was also really nice. Small, it doesn't take a lot of walking to get from one point to another. Bags come out quickly, and windows are large to look at airplanes, like Finnair's "retrojet"!
The return flight was one where I was especially surprised to be served a hot meal. With a departure time of 4:20pm and arrival time of 5:45pm, this really wasn't within dinner hours in any country I know. Still, we got penne with tomato-basil sauce and ham, with the same sun-dried tomato roll (quite good) as AMS-HEL. A small Twix bar and coffee after lunch rounded out the meal.
