toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months 3 weeks 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 2321 times:
I am booking a friend a ticket from PDX-HEL. I have not been looking at US carriers...intentionally. He will be flying in Y. I have flown LH previously. They were ok. I haven't flown SK long haul in a while..and I haven't flown BA long haul either but hear they are pretty good.
SK is coming up as cheapest-as usual. BA and LH are about $80 more. Any recommendations? Thanks!
I would check for best connections. LH doesn't fly to PDX, so SEA would be closest. 330 to FRA with AVOD. Or flying to LAX and catch the 748 (flying to LAX soon). Or SFO with A380 (if you want to)...
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2495 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 2280 times:
Although I personally think that BA are the pick of the European carriers, I probably wouldn't recommend them in this case. Looking at ba.com it would appear that they want to route you PDX-DFW-LHR, a pretty lengthy detour. To be honest, I don't that the gap in service offering is worth it that much.
As for SK and LH, it would appear that they would route you on UA to ORD or IAD, and then onwards from there. Since there isn't any difference in routing, I would therefore choose by price and connection times.
skiaplg From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2012, 27 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2251 times:
Is KLM not an option for the dates you are looking at? I was recently talking to a friend here in EDI, who said she frequently flew PDX-AMS-EDI as it only required one connection. There must be a flight from PDX-AMS-HEL. My personal preference would be KLM, although that being said I haven't actually flown SK, nor LH long-haul.
PI4EVER From United States of America, joined May 2009, 599 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 2230 times:
Yes there is a nonstop service PDX-AMS with easy connections on to KL to HEL; however, it does involve flying DL for the PDX-AMS portion and Jani has stated they will not consider US-based airlines. In reality the service on DL is comparable to some degree on the 767-300 from PDX, but price may be the deciding factor.
I would simply consider the DL/KL service in lieu of additional connections or driving to SEA to ride someone else, and consider which airline/alliance the passenger can benefit from due to the miles accrued on this itinerary. I would "endure" DL nonstop from PDX to AMS to reduce my overall travel time to just 14+hours each way if price is reasonable.
I am however, an American citizen, who is accustomed to US-based airline service and otherwise would likely choose BA if I would not consider the DL service.
toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (5 months 3 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 2198 times:
Thanks to all replies!!
Quoting wilco737 (Reply 2): catch the 748 (flying to LAX soon
Oh nice! Im not sure when that is starting but my friend would be traveling around the end of Jan.
Quoting RyanairGuru (Reply 3): Although I personally think that BA are the pick of the European carriers, I probably wouldn't recommend them in this case. Looking at ba.com it would appear that they want to route you PDX-DFW-LHR, a pretty lengthy detour. To be honest, I don't that the gap in service offering is worth it that much.
Exactly what i was thinking! The flights were all around 23-26hrs one way, at least for the more reasonably priced ones..haha i wouldnt do that to my buddy!
Quoting skiaplg (Reply 4): Is KLM not an option for the dates you are looking at?
Yes there is the DL/KL nonstop from PDX-AMS...it is coming up pretty spendy..i shouldve added that cost is an issue..when i have checked it is coming up $400-500 more roundtrip. That is alot for him. This would definately be the most sensible route though!
Quoting PI4EVER (Reply 5): Yes there is a nonstop service PDX-AMS with easy connections on to KL to HEL; however, it does involve flying DL for the PDX-AMS portion and Jani has stated they will not consider US-based airlines. In reality the service on DL is comparable to some degree on the 767-300 from PDX, but price may be the deciding factor.
PI4...haha i am all too familiar with DL 178/179...i nonrev on it about once a month. Its an absolutely great flight and one i am thankful for!! I should clarify the reason i said i was looking at non-US airlines was because he has never been on an international carrier...no disrespect meant to our hard working men and women of our US carriers
i can't wait til we start seeing the newly configured 763ERs here in PDX!!!!
So it seems i should probably just go with the most convenient reasonably priced airline. Seems SK is gonna win that hands down. Now, the last time i flew SK long haul was before the transformation of this LCC that we see today. Am i to understand that they do provide meals/bevs but you pay for beer/wine/cocktails?
copenhagenboy From Denmark, joined Sep 2001, 589 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (5 months 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 1959 times:
Quoting toobz (Reply 6): Seems SK is gonna win that hands down. Now, the last time i flew SK long haul was before the transformation of this LCC that we see today. Am i to understand that they do provide meals/bevs but you pay for beer/wine/cocktails?
I don't think SAS is a LCC on intercontinental flights.
But you should know something.
In economy there is normally only one choice of meal but it is free, and normally in a quite good quality. You will be served 2 meals.
With the meals you can choose 3 different kinds of drinks, soft drinks or alcoholic does not matter. Sometimes there will also be a bottle of water in the seat pocket.
On day flights I normally order a Bloody Mary for pre dinner, a small bottle of red wine for dinner and a cognac for the coffee, you can choose differently.
On night flights I order all my drinks, served with the meal, at the same time.
Coffee and water is free of charge on the whole flight.
rwsea From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3014 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (5 months 2 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1869 times:
I would go with SK given what you are looking for. LH is nothing special and FRA is a mess. BA has better service, but LHR is a mess too. CPH is an easy connecting hub and there's lots of easy flights to HEL from there. SK longhaul service is pretty average, but comparable with LH and BA for the most part.
toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (5 months 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1860 times:
Thanks rwsea! It looks like he will be taking SK. Good fare, good timings (only second to DL/KL taking the nonstop PDX-AMS) and seems the service should b good for him as well. Thanks again to everyone for their input
BlatantEcho From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 1868 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (5 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1846 times:
I'm curious what the routing ends up being here. SK doesn't fly to Seattle anymore (been a few years in fact). So is it a PDX-SFO-CPH-HEL? (I'm not even sure if SAS is flying to SFO yet).
Sounds like you know well the Delta flight, but I also always use that to Europe, just as easy as can be, especially with a transfer in AMS. (I do hate the early departure from AMS to PDX. Makes connections from deep Europe a very very early morning).
toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (5 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1819 times:
Hey Blatant..
the routing seems to be PDX-EWR on UA (737-900), SK EWR-CPH (A340-300) and SK CPH-HEL (B717)
Coming back it looks like it routes through ORD.
Love the PDX-AMS nonstop! I couldnt agree more with you on the early departure out of AMS... i take the morning (6am) KL flight out of HEL to AMS which arrives 1hr10mins before the departure of 179...always worries me lol
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