win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 3836 times:
Hello and welcome to the second part of my trip report to Europe and Russia. This part will cover two flights with Blue1 from Oslo to Helsinki and from Helsinki to Stockholm. I will also include some photos taken during the visit to Helsinki. I hope you enjoy reading.
Flight details of this trip: Part one: Thai Airways 777-200ER BKK-OSL
Part two: Blue1 Boeing 717 OSL-HEL, Blue1 ATR72-500 HEL-ARN
Part three: SAS MD82 ARN-CPH, SAS (turned out to be LH) CRJ700 CPH-MUC
Part four: Air Berlin 737-700 MUC-DME, Niki A320 DME-VIE-HAJ
Part five: Thai Airways 777-300ER FRA-BKK
Details of the second leg:
Date: 12 October 2012
Airline: Blue1
Flight: KF664
Route: OSL-HEL
Aircraft: Boeing 717-200
Registration: OH-BLH
Class: Economy
The flight departure time was 8:30am, we planned to get to the airport two hours before the flight. At 5am, we had early breakfast at the hotel. From our hotel in Karl Johan street, we took a short walk to the National Theatre station and took an airport express train departing the station at just before 6am, arriving Oslo airport 30 minutes later.
National Theatre Station, this is actually not our train to the airport.
Departure area, there were many people queuing for the self service check-in machines. But before we proceeded to check our baggage, we went to the VAT Refund for Tourists counter and claimed the VAT which was done pretty quick.
As Star Alliance elite card holders, we went to the empty Eurobonus Gold counter. We have online-checked-in the night before and have selected to have the seats in the emergency exit row. Our bags got checked to Helsinki and we received our print-out boarding passes, but no information was mentioned about lounge access.
Proceeding to security check, Eurobonus gold cardholder and Business class passengers were entitled to use the fast track lane. We use an Economy line, which got us through in a couple of minutes.
After security check: left turn for Domestic flights and right turn for International departure
Looking left
Looking right
Passing duty free shops
Flight information display
While my brother was looking around duty free shops, I decided to make a visit to the SAS Business lounge.
Just before the entrance of the lounge to the left was this model
Upon entering the lounge, the lounge lady greeted me with a big smile on her face, and immediately offered to take a photo of me with the SAS plane model. After that, I showed my boarding pass together with my Thai Airways Frequent flyer card, and she welcomed me to the lounge. Her colleague probably saw my TG card, and then said ‘Sawatdee krup’ which is Hello in Thai language, and also welcomed me to the lounge.
Lounge is pretty quiet at this time, but it later got quite busy
Breakfast offerings
A few minutes later, my brother joined me. After his quick walk-around, he told me that there is an area for Gold card holder. So we decided to go and see.
The zone is pretty much the same with the Business class zone.
Leaving the lounge for our departure gate, passing another SAS plane model
Departure information
Finnair Embraer 190 to Helsinki
Our gate
The aircraft that would take us to Helsinki
When boarding was called, passengers started to form a line. No priority boarding was called for Premium passengers or *A elite passengers.
At the aircraft door, a female FM welcomed us on board. The seat configuration on this aircraft is 2-3.
When boarding was completed, I noticed the load on this flight was around 50%, with one person in Premium. One of the FAs then came to our row and asked us to familiarise ourselves with the emergency procedures. Then manual safety demonstration was performed
View from the parking position
Pushed back and taxied
Turning for the runway
Took off
When seatbelt sign got switched off, the crew made another announcement saying that complimentary tea and coffee will be served soon as well as the sales of refreshments onboard.
Plenty of space at the exit row
MMMMMMMMenu
Looking outside
When the FA got to my row, I asked for a coffee together with a muffin for 2.50EUR
Looking at the safety card
Cabin view
Before descending to Helsinki, there was a welcome announcement from the flight deck, giving information about the approximate landing time as well as the on-ground temperature.
Descending
Touched down
A short taxi to our parking position
Exiting the plane
Following the baggage claim sign
Baggage claim area, our bags were already on the belt when we arrived.
Exiting Terminal 1
I have arranged an airport-hotel transfer in advance with my hotel. It’s all very convenient to be picked up straight from the arrival hall and dropped off in the hotel front door. But I think the 100EUR price is a little bit too much for a 25-minute drive.
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 3826 times:
The night before our flight, we tried to check-in online on Blue1 website. However, after several times of trying to input our reservation number and our surname, error messages kept popping up. So I decided to go on ‘check my trip’ on the airline website and the error message stated that my reservation may have been cancelled. I made a phone call to Blue1 call centre and it was revealed that my reservation has indeed been cancelled due to my credit card problem, and I was also told that the airline has sent me an e-mail informing me about the cancellation, which I didn’t receive. Now that a slight problem has occurred, I asked what would be the options to get us from Helsinki to Stockholm the next day, the agent advised me to make another booking on Blue1 website.
To be honest, I must admit that this problem is partly my fault. Cause I made two reservations with Blue1, one from OSL-HEL and one from HEL-ARN. I only received the itinerary to my email inbox on the OSL-HEL sector, but not on HEL-ARN. Instead of contacting the airline back then (one day after the booking), I visited the Blue1 website and entered my reservation number and surname on the ‘check my trip’ page, and the flight confirmation was displayed, thus I treated my reservation as confirmed. This was a big mistake on my part, as it turned out that my reservation was cancelled two days after it was made. But I would have hoped that the airline would successfully contact me about it.
Anyway, I looked at the flight options to Stockholm Arlanda for the next day and most of the flights were pretty expensive. But one appeared particularly favourable: SAS last minutes youth fare, for 105EUR for two people. But this means that departure time would be very late at night, which wasn’t ideal for us. So we ended up making another reservation with Blue1, but instead of going on the mid-day flight as originally booked (and cancelled), we booked an earlier flight, departing at 9:20am, for around 600EUR for two people.
The details of the flight:
Date: 14 October 2012
Airline: Blue1 operated by Golden Air
Flight: KF841
Route: HEL-ARN
Aircraft: ATR72-500
Registration: SE-MDH
Class: Economy
To get from our hotel to the airport, we decided to walk a few blocks to the train central station, where Finnair Bus will be talking us direct to the airport at a cost of 4EUR per person (for a Helsinki pass holder).
Terminal 1
Check-in area, relatively quiet
We went to the Blue1 priority counter, but it was unstaffed, so instead we went to the next counter, LH, to check-in. We were invited to use the SAS lounge and advised of the direction to the lounge, which was to the right after the security checkpoint.
We headed straight to the security screening, it actually took less than 3 minutes to clear
Terminal map
Airside
SAS lounge, located directly opposite our assigned boarding gate 13A
Upon presenting our FFP cards and our boarding passes, we were welcomed by a friendly agent. The lounge was very quiet (on this Sunday morning), there were a few people apart from us when we entered. But most of the times, we were the only ones using the lounge.
Some pictures of the lounge
Breakfast offerings
At around planned boarding time, we left the lounge, and I took a few pictures. Unfortunately, the weather was not perfect
MD11F, OH-LGC, of Nordic Global Airlines
At shortly after the planned boarding time, passengers were invited to proceed with getting our travel documents checked before proceeding to a bus, which would take us to the plane. Once again, no priority boarding was made, which I later found out that there was no Premium passenger on the flight.
Pictures taken on the bus on the way to the aircraft
Arriving at our aircraft
I was the last person to board the plane. As I entered the aircraft using the rear door, one FA stood there counting the number of passengers using a counting device. I proceeded to our allocated seat in row 4, but as I saw many empty seats on the flight, in fact, all the seats in front of row 4 were empty, so I asked the crew if it was ok for me to move to row 4, to which she replied ‘of course’. I reckoned the flight load to be around 35%.
Photo taken from my seat
When the aircraft door was closed, the cabin crew made a standard welcome announcement as well we performing safety demonstration manually. Unfortunately, it was raining earlier in the day and the windows weren’t very clean
Took off and climbing
Shortly after the seatbelt sign was switched off, FAs came over to offer tea or coffee. There was no buy on board service on this flight as the flight duration was only around one hour. I opted for coffee.
Leg room
Safety card
Looking outside
Not long after, a welcome announcement was made from the flight deck, informing us of the expected landing time and the weather condition in Stockholm.
Cabin crew getting ready to landing
Descending to Stockholm Arlanda Airport
Landed
In our parking position
Disembarking was via the rear door
My seat
A short walk to enter the terminal building
Walking to baggage claims area
After a few minutes waiting, our bags came on the belt
In the arrival hall, we bought a train ticket from the airport to Stockholm central station
A few steps out the train station, and we reached our hotel, Nordic Sea Hotel. The queue for the reception was quite long
Our room
In conclusion, I had a good travel experience with Blue1. The flights were more or less on time. Ground agents, especially the lounge agents in OSL and HEL, were particularly nice. Cabin crew were, however, more reserved, but were efficient in their in-flight service.
This will be the end of part 2. I hope you enjoyed reading so far. The next part will cover two flights: SAS from Stockholm to Copenhagen and Lufthansa Cityline from Copenhagen to Munich, as well as some pictures taken during our visit to Stockholm and Copenhagen. All comments/questions are very welcomed and appreciated.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 3253 times:
Nice report Win...looks like you stayed in some nice hotels on your trip. Great that the staff in the lounge in OSL were so freindly!
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter):
I have arranged an airport-hotel transfer in advance with my hotel. It’s all very convenient to be picked up straight from the arrival hall and dropped off in the hotel front door. But I think the 100EUR price is a little bit too much for a 25-minute drive.
Hmm, yes, that is quite pricey. I think a taxi would have been better for you.
Quoting win1290 (Reply 1):
Anyway, I looked at the flight options to Stockholm Arlanda for the next day and most of the flights were pretty expensive. But one appeared particularly favourable: SAS last minutes youth fare, for 105EUR for two people. But this means that departure time would be very late at night, which wasn’t ideal for us. So we ended up making another reservation with Blue1, but instead of going on the mid-day flight as originally booked (and cancelled), we booked an earlier flight, departing at 9:20am, for around 600EUR for two people.
Ouch. That's expensive. Shame that they couldn't offer you anything seeing a they cancelled your reservation without telling you, or trying to help you buy another fare initally.
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): A few steps out the train station, and we reached our hotel, Nordic Sea Hotel. The queue for the reception was quite long
Wow, that's a long queue for a hotel, never seen anything like it!
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (6 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 3088 times:
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 2): Nice report Win...looks like you stayed in some nice hotels on your trip. Great that the staff in the lounge in OSL were so freindly!
Thanks a lot Gabriel!
I may have spoiled myself a bit, but the locations of our hotel in Helsinki and Stockholm were perfect.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 2):
Hmm, yes, that is quite pricey. I think a taxi would have been better for you.
Thats right, I later found out that a taxi would have costed me around 40 EUR, but the Finnair bus was a lot cheaper at 4 EUR per person
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 2):
Ouch. That's expensive. Shame that they couldn't offer you anything seeing a they cancelled your reservation without telling you, or trying to help you buy another fare initally.
It was a big ouch! The agent on the phone told me that the booking class in my original reservation has been sold out, so what left was more expensive, and he actually quoted me the price. Also, he told me that if I booked through the call centre, there would be an extra charge for it, so he recommended me to buy a new ticket on Blue1 website.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 2):
Wow, that's a long queue for a hotel, never seen anything like it!
Me neither, but at least our room was prepared even when we checked-in at around 10:30am.
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, RR: 14 Reply 6, posted (6 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2922 times:
Hello Win
Great trip report, thanks for sharing!
I'm glad to see you got the old interior on the 717! looks better than the new one!
Great job logging the AT7 as well
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 6): Great trip report, thanks for sharing!
Thanks a lot! glad you like it
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 6): I'm glad to see you got the old interior on the 717! looks better than the new one!
It didn't strike me as it was the older interior when I was on board. But seat was pretty comfortable and there was plenty of space at the exit row too.
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 6): Great job logging the AT7 as well
HELyes From Finland, joined Oct 2010, 643 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 2688 times:
Hi, thanks for the great TR!
Interesting to see my city and other Nordic views through the eyes of a Bangkok resident, thats my favourite Asian city. Hopefully you'll come in summer next time, so much more life and light up here then!
You have found some great hotels. Hotel Kämp in Helsinki is often ranked the best Nordic hotel, the readers of Condé Nast Traveler just voted it the second best in Northern-Europe, after Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin.
FLIEGER67 From Turkey, joined Sep 2003, 4391 posts, RR: 57 Reply 9, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 2688 times:
Hi, Win,
really good to follow you´re impressions about well known places.
Lounges, planes and cities are familiar here.
The Blue 1 717 looks like good, not that really sure with the cancellation of the second leg.
Anyway you reached you´re destination.
Looking for the next part now.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined May 2007, 722 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 2686 times:
Nice continuation there Win. Too bad about the cancelled flight, although at least you managed to get another although it did seem a bit pricey! Good pictures too.
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 2685 times:
Quoting HELyes (Reply 8): Hi, thanks for the great TR!
Hi HELyes! You are most welcome
Quoting HELyes (Reply 8): Interesting to see my city and other Nordic views through the eyes of a Bangkok resident,
Quoting HELyes (Reply 8): Hopefully you'll come in summer next time, so much more life and light up here then!
That's very nice to know. We absolutely enjoyed our first visit to Helsinki. In fact, it was actually sunny on our secend day in the city, but when I have the opportunity, I will definitely visit it again in summer!
Quoting HELyes (Reply 8): thats my favourite Asian city
Cheers!
Quoting HELyes (Reply 8): You have found some great hotels. Hotel Kämp in Helsinki is often ranked the best Nordic hotel, the readers of Condé Nast Traveler just voted it the second best in Northern-Europe, after Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin.
Thanks for the link and the information, the hotel was indeed super!
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 9):
really good to follow you´re impressions about well known places.
Lounges, planes and cities are familiar here.
The Blue 1 717 looks like good, not that really sure with the cancellation of the second leg.
Anyway you reached you´re destination.
Looking for the next part now.
Thanks a lot for your feedback
Flights with Blue1 were good, especially on a 717 which was a rare flight for me. Yep, the cancellation was a small problem in the trip, but in the end I got to the destination. I will be much more careful with my bookings in the future.
Thats very nice to know, I will finish the report for the next part by the coming week.
Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 10): Nice continuation there Win. Too bad about the cancelled flight, although at least you managed to get another although it did seem a bit pricey! Good pictures too.
Thanks a lot James! Yep, got to Stockholm eventually haha.
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6084 posts, RR: 56 Reply 12, posted (6 months 1 week 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 2685 times:
Hi Win!
Thanks for another great report with great pictures !
Too bad about the problem with your reservation; always make sure you have ticket numbers.....
Flights seem okay and they are short anyway.
Nice for you to go on a 717; Bangkok Air used to have those but perhaps before you became an A.netter..
Looking forward to your next report!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 13, posted (6 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 2685 times:
Hi Win,
really good to see some more Nordic travels here. Congrats on the 717! Was this your first time?
But sorry to hear that you paid so much money for the hotel shuttle and the rebooking. KF should've assisted you at the moment you called them; there must've been cheaper fare classes available somewhere, I suppose. Did you also check your options on DY, BT and OV, who often offer competitive fares.
I flew a Golden Air ATR72 this summer and was not happy about the legroom, but I guess I'm a bit taller then you
Regards
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 782 posts, RR: 2 Reply 15, posted (6 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 2687 times:
Hi Win!
Great continuation to your series here.
Looks like Blue1 did an ok job overall, nothing special. Lounges look quite good and always nice when they are empty
Looks like you stayed at 2 nice hotels and great pictures of Helsinki too
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): But I think the 100EUR price is a little bit too much for a 25-minute drive.
Quoting win1290 (Reply 1): but instead of going on the mid-day flight as originally booked (and cancelled), we booked an earlier flight, departing at 9:20am, for around 600EUR for two people.
Very unfortunate for all that to happen, shame you had to book such pricey tickets
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 16, posted (6 months 1 hour ago) and read 2559 times:
Hi Win!
Nice report again! Good to see that you had a couple of nice flight with KF. I recently flew them myself for the first time as well, the 717 is a great aircraft to fly on!
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): The zone is pretty much the same with the Business class zone.
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 13): really good to see some more Nordic travels here. Congrats on the 717! Was this your first time?
Cheers! it was my first flight on the 717, and also first time in the Nordic countries.
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 13): But sorry to hear that you paid so much money for the hotel shuttle and the rebooking. KF should've assisted you at the moment you called them; there must've been cheaper fare classes available somewhere, I suppose. Did you also check your options on DY, BT and OV, who often offer competitive fares.
Well, I agree, I think KF stafff from the call centre should have assisted me with the rebooking, but all they did was quoting me the prices and suggested I made a booking on its website.
As we only had two days planned in Stockholm, we wanted to get to ARN the most direct ways, so the options were limited to SK, KF and DY, and KF has the best timing.
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 13): I flew a Golden Air ATR72 this summer and was not happy about the legroom, but I guess I'm a bit taller then you
The legroom wasn't great. I am sure you are taller than me, I am only 1.7 metre tall
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 14):
interesting report with good pictures! Good to see you have added the 717 to your log. But it's too bad you had to pay so much for a new flight.
Thank you! I am very happy to get on the 717, I think its quite rare to fine one in Asia.
Yep, one lesson learned, I will be much more careful when booking my future flights.
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 15):
Great continuation to your series here.
Looks like Blue1 did an ok job overall, nothing special. Lounges look quite good and always nice when they are empty
Looks like you stayed at 2 nice hotels and great pictures of Helsinki too
Cheers!
Agreed, but its always special (for me at least) to be on a new airline and new type! Love the lounge when it is quite too.
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 16):
Nice report again! Good to see that you had a couple of nice flight with KF. I recently flew them myself for the first time as well, the 717 is a great aircraft to fly on!
Thanks a lot!
Yep, it was nice experience on Blue1. The 717 is sure special, very rare in Asia.
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 16): Quoting win1290 (Thread starter):
The zone is pretty much the same with the Business class zone.
Yup, but with better drink offerings!
And it also has boiled eggs that Business Class zone doesn't, haha
Sponsor Message: 
From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Dec 2011, 660 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, 
From Finland, joined Oct 2010, 643 posts, 
From Turkey, joined Sep 2003, 4391 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6084 posts, 
From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6191 posts, 
From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, 
, but had I sent it, it would be around 6-7. 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
