This was a trip with 8 legs, on 3 different airlines, and 6 different
airliners. And it had four firsts for me: JOE, DC, ATR-72, and SAAB
340. The intended trip was BOS-JOE-HEL-EDI-BOS but, due to the lack of
direct flights, I had to do twice as many legs. I'm not complaining:
more take offs, landings, and air miles for me! (Incidentally, JOE is
a small town in Finland about 450km north-east of Helsinki, close to
the Russian border.)

I'll try to keep the narrative more concise than in my previous trip
reports so that it doesn't get too long (hmmm....)

Edit: I noticed that DC was not expanded. It is Golden Air.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, June 30, 2004, BOS

I reached Boston Logan's Terminal E 3.5h before the flight. I managed
to check-in without standing in line at all. It was very early and
only 3-4 people were checking in at the time. This was fine by me.
The check-in agent was very polite and helpful. I asked her whether I
could check my luggage through to JOE. First, she wondered where JOE
was (I don't blame her!). Then, she did some typing and she said that,
yes, that should be OK. I would find out the next day whether she was
right.

I then walked up to Terminal C and Legal Seafoods (the dining
"options" at Terminal E are pretty grim). I had a light clam chowder,
a grilled fillet of alaskan salmon, and a glass of wine. Lovely.

By the time I got back to Terminal E the security line was
non-existent. I was catching the secong LH flight to Fra and, this
late, the terminal is always pretty quiet. After security, I went
straight to the LH lounge (I have an AC/Star Alliance Gold card),
which is a bit small and has a limited selection of refreshments. But
it beats sitting at the terminal any day. I helped myself to apple
juice and a bit more wine.

We started boarding on time. When pre-boarding was announced, a large
number of people waiting near the gate rushed towards it... only to be
promptly turned back one-by-one by the LH staff. Some people just do
not listen. Idiots.

LH421, BOS 940pm to Fra 1045am (next day), A340-300, gate E5, seat 33K

We pushed back 5 mins early. My last transatlantic trip was in AC's
Executive First. Boy did the LH Y leg room felt miserable in
comparison... The flight was, as always, full. The captain said that
the estimated flight time was 6h15m. That's fast! I enjoyed the
take off very much. The sky was pretty clear and the moon very bright
and shone on the water. That, combined with the city lights, made for
a very pretty, even a bit nostalgic, view out of the window.

After the flaps were retracted, I took off my shoes, put on my
noise-cancelling headphones and my sleeping mask, fired my i-river mp3
player (I had on it the latest albums of Evergray, Opeth, and
Kamelot---has anybody here heard of them?  ), and tried to get some
sleep. I think I managed around 4 hours on and off and I woke up fully
about 30 mins before breakfast was served. I have no idea what was
served for dinner or what the movie was because I, thankfully, slept
through both events. Breakfast consisted of a non-fat yoghurt, a small
ham/cheese sandwich, and a granola bar. I also had some coffee which
was terrible.  

Looking at the moving map, our flight path was quite unusual. When I
had taken the same flight in the past, we had flown across the UK
(about half-way through). This time we flew south of the UK and over
Paris. We eventually started our decent but we overshot Fra and did a
big u-turn before our final approach (I assume this was due to the
wind conditions at Fra). Because of this, we probably wasted 10-15
mins. A young kid in the row in front of me, who was sitting next to
his dad, kept crying throughout the final approach. The landing was
smooth.

We taxied to our gate but stopped short, as the plane that was there
hadn't pushed back yet (we had landed 20-25 mins early). While we were
waiting, the kid at the row in front of me, who was crying earlier,
threw up violently. I did hear the distinct sound of a barf bag being
handled so I assumed that the mess was not too bad.   A flight
attendant came along, looked at the kid, said "oh, no!", and
came back with a bottle of water, freshly made tea, and towels. Well
done to her for helping out very quickly and without being explicitly
called.

We eventually taxied to our gate and reached it only 10 mins earlier
than planned. On the way out I walked through the F class cabin. I
will be flying in it in less than two months!

Thursday, July 1, 2004, Fra

Our arrival gate was B44 and there's a LH lounge in that area. So,
given that I had a 3.5h layover, I had plenty of time to go and relax.
I asked the LH agent at the entrance about the gate of my next flight
and, as she was looking at my reservation, she also asked me where JOE
was. This started to get very funny!

The shower facilities at the LH lounges at Fra are excellent
and the hot shower, combined with a set of fresh clothes, followed by
a nice cup of coffee and biscuits, was exactly what I needed to
freshen up after the long flight. I then spent some time making phone
calls and bringing this report up-to-date. I had forgotten to put in
my hand luggage my US-Europe power adapter. However, I was pleasently
surprised that there were some US-style plugs at the lounge where I
could plug in my laptop. A very nice touch.

start of bitching
As I have posted in the past on this forum, there's only one downside
to the LH lounges at Fra: smoking.   There are designated
smoking/non-smoking areas but, of course, there are no walls in
between them. And, I quickly got a headache from the smoke that was
reaching me from the smoking area. There was even a guy who was
smoking a bloody cigar, even though there are explicit signs
prohibiting it. Nobody told him anything. This is disgusting,
rude, and inconsiderate. To any LH employees at Fra who
might be reading this: Please do something about it!
end of bitching

About 45 mins before boarding my next flight I started walking towards
the gate. The walk was pretty long and involved lots of stairs (the
alternative was lots of waiting at elevators). At some point, I had to
walk through the very long underground corridor that connects halls A
and B. It had moving walkways and psychedelic colored lighting (red,
blue, purple, you name it), which was being dimmed and brightened at
irregular intervals. Additionally, pieces of ambient music were being
played at different locations. Please, somebody tell me that this does
exist, otherwise my jetlag was far worse than I thought.  

One the way, I visited a LH Senator lounge to get a glass of water and
a couple of small sandwiches. Another snack that they had there was
labelled as "lard with herbs". I decided to give that a miss. The gate
was nearby and we started boarding right on time.

LH3102, Fra 210pm to HEL 535pm, B737-300, gate A32, seat 6A

The flight was about 1/2 to 2/3 full. It was good to be back on a
737-300 again! I have missed those birds! Thankfully, the seat
immediately next to me was not occupied, so I lifted the armrest and
got very confortable. We pushed back a few minutes early and took off
10 mins later. The take off was a bit bumpy but nothing too dramatic.

Much to my surprise, we got a hot meal, tortellini with pesto sauce
(it was only a 2h flight; airlines in the US: take notice!), which was
passable. A cake-like thing was also included, but it looked pretty
dodgy and I didn't touch it. Most people around me seemed to agree.
Alcoholic drinks (beer, wine, and spirits) were also available for
free (airlines in the US: take notice! again!) but I stuck to water
and a coffee. The Finns around me, however, seemed to be taking full
advantage of that aspect of LH's service!     My only complaint
during that flight was that the flight attendents took ages to take
away the empty lunch boxes (about an hour). I felt that they could
have been a bit speedier in that respect.

Thursday, July 1, 2004, HEL

We reached the terminal a few minutes ahead of schedule. I went
directly to the AY transfer desk, got the boarding pass for my next
flight, and asked about my luggage. Apparently, I had to pick it up at
HEL, go through customs, and then recheck it in at the domestic
terminal. By the time I got to the luggage reclaim belt, my suitcase
was already there (for once, the priority tag on it seemed to have
worked). I went through customs, which was deserted, and I walked to
the domestic check-in desks which was around 300m from the customs
exit. That area of the terminal was also deserted, so I quickly gave
them my suitcase, went through security, and had 1.5h to kill without
that much to do. This did get a bit boring, I have to say, since most
of the "action" at HEL is at the international, not the domestic part.

AY491, HEL 805pm to JOE 910pm, ATR-72, gate 14, seat 10A (free seating)

I hadn't been on an ATR before. In fact, I hadn't been on a propeller
plane for 3-4 years. I was feeling brave (and, possibly, stupid) and I
took a window seat right next to the engine. This allowed me to take
some nice pictures of the engine. But, it was also pretty loud.

The plane was about 1/2 full and, again, I had an empty seat next to
me. We started the engines 5-10 mins ahead of schedule. The vibrations
from the engines were quite unconfortable at the beginning, but they
stabilised when they reached the required rpm. It was really cool to
see that ATR reversing under its own power. As we were taxiing towards
the runway, I saw a LOT Embraer 170; my first 170 "in flesh"!  

This is not a complaint, but I did find quite interesting the fact
that the flight attendants only gave the safety demonstration in
Finnish. They did indicate in English that everything shown was
covered in the safety card and, if we had any questions, we could
simply ask them. I didn't mind, but I do have to admit that I felt a
bit left out.

After we took off, we were offered a refreshment, tea, coffee, or
water, along with a small muffin, which was quite tasty. It was
amusing to see that whatever I placed on the table in front of me
would start moving forward on its own, due to the engine vibrations. I
put my cup in the circular hole in the table, but I literally had hold
on to everything else until I finished my coffee could use the cup as
a small rubbish bin.

Throughout the flight, the sun was quite low and the color of the
cloud formations around the plane was spectacular. The flight only
lasted 50 mins. The approach was quite smooth but, as soon as we
touched down, the plane swerved left and right a few times before the
captain stabilised it.

JOE is a tiny airport with the shortest luggage reclaim belt I have
ever seen (it's not even a loop). My luggage did make it, but came out
last. So, finally, I was there. Trip duration: 21h door-to-door.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, July 4, 2004, JOE

I arrived at the airport about 40 mins before departure time. The
airport is so small that turning up so close to the departure time is
not a problem. AY staff did all the handling for DC. Check-in was very
speedy (at the single check-in desk that was open) and they didn't
give out boarding passes. When boarding was announced, instead of
checking boarding passes they checked IDs instead (my Gold AA card was
enough). The security point was on the way to the sole gate of the
airport. A few minutes later the outside door opened and we walked
towards the plane.

DC303, JOE 1245pm to HEL 155pm, SAAB 340, seat 11D (free sitting)

First time on a SAAB 340 and it was even smaller than the ATR. The
flight was 1/2 full (with exactly 16 passangers) and the flight
attendant asked us to sit passed row 6 (I assume to balance the plane
better?). I sat on the right window of the very last
row. Unfortunately, the window was too dirty to take any decent
pictures through it.

When the engines started I was surprised with how much quieter it was
compared to the ATR. But, I had expected it as the SAAB is the more
modern plane. Shame that they stopped making them. We started taxiing
ahead of schedule and we were in the air a couple of minutes later. It
did get a bit more noisy after we took off, but nothing too dramatic.

The service consisted of tea, coffee, water, or orange juice, a small
ham sandwich (which was very fresh and tasty), and a small
chocolate. Not bad for a 50 min flight! Most of the flight was
smooth. However, it got real bumpy during the approach, with the plane
being pushed left and right by the wind. It was cool to be able to see
the landing gear being lowered and also to throw smoke as we touched
down. We reached our stand on time, then we were allowed to disembark
and walk towards the terminal.

Sunday, July 4, 2004, HEL

By time time I rached the luggage reclaim belt, my luggage was already
there. Well done to the AY/DC staff for being so efficient in
unloading the luggage after both my flights with them. And a few brief
words about HEL. I like it. It looks modern, it's very clean and, when
I was there at least, it was not overcrowded. It's also quite small so
you don't have to walk for miles as in other airports (e.g. Fra or LHR).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, July 7, 2004, HEL

I got to the airport reasonably early and I walked up to the SAS
check-in desks (who, apparently, handle the LH flights). Only one
business class desk was open at the time. The agenet at the desk was
busy dealing with a large Indian family with at least 8 or 9 (large)
pieces of luggage. They were taking so long, that another SAS agent
opened another desk to handle the queue that was steadily
forming. Once I got to the front, check-in was extremely speedy.
Equally speedy was going through security.

I wandered around the duty free and ended up at the SAS lounge (which
happened to be located right over our gate). I thought it was
tastefully decorated, with softer colors than the LH lounges. They
also had workstations and I used one to catch up with the latest
news. Unfortunately, the bathroom facilities really need a fair amount
of renovation.

LH3105, HEL 940am to Fra 1110am, A320, gate 26, seat 6F

My reservation information indicated that it was going to be an A321,
but we ended up on an A320 (wouldn't care either way, to be
honest). We boarded on time. The flight attendant did the
introductions in German and English, followed by recorded messages in
Finnish and Japanese (there was a Japanese group in the plane).

We pushed back early and we took off less than 5 mins after our
scheduled departure time. As soon as the wheels left the ground
(literally), the person in front of me reclined his seat to the
maximum.   How inconsiderate and rude is that? Apart from the
fact that it is against the rules, couldn't he have waited for a
minute or two so that we could gain some altitude? Was reclining his
seat so much more confortable than not reclining it (it's not)?
Passangers that behave like that really piss me off.  

Once we reached our cruising altitude, we were served breakfast: a hot
omelette with vegetables and a fresh roll. It was OK, but it would
have been nice if we had actually got some butter for the roll (do I
sound too demanding?). I also had some coffee and apple juice.

The entire flight was pretty smooth. During the approach, when we were
instructed to bring our seats into the upright position, the person in
front of me only raised it by a little bit. A bit later, the flight
attendant hassled him about it and he did move it all the way, but
only after mumbling some grumpy complaint. I really hope he also
pissed off the customs officers at Fra and received a body cavity
search. We landed at Fra on time (again!).

Wednesday, July 7, 2004, Fra

For some reason, we parked at a stand away from the terminal and we
had to get on a bus. It was not a big deal, as I had over four hours
until boarding of my next flight. The terminal was very busy. I spent
some time at a LH lounge, mainly working on this report.
Unfortunately, I got a headache, again, due to the smoke. Two LH
A340-600s taxied outside the window towards the runway. Despite being
a Boeing fan, I have to admit that the four fat engines improve the
lines of the A340 by quite a lot (but I will stop short of actually
admitting that I like it though!  ). I then wandered around the
terminal a bit and I came across another parked -600. I was amused to
see that, despite being quite new, its body was quite dirty. LH
obviously uses the same cleaners as AF! 

LH5974, Fra 425pm to EDI 530pm, B737-500, gate B24, seat 7F

It was scheduled to be an Avro RJ70, but there was an equipment change
and, thankfully, it was a B737 again, a -500 this time (sixth leg,
sixth different plane type!  ). I was glad to see the B737, as LH's
RJ70s have a 3-3 seating configuration and are extremely unconfortable.

The gate was obviously designed for wide bodies, as it was too big for
our flight. I'm convinced I had taken a flight to US from the same
gate before. When I reached the gate, our B737 had just arrived and it
was being unloaded. The screens showed that there was an expected
20-min delay.

We boarded only a few mins before our scheduled departure but boarding
was completed very quickly. There was a Italian group in the plane and
our flight attendant did the introductions in German, English, and,
also, Italian. I was impressed.

We eventually pushed back and took off. The flight was pretty
uneventful. We got a snack that consisted of a small sandwich, with a
stale roll and some ham-thing, that was terrible. Thankfully, we also
got a nice nutty chocolate that was actually pretty good.

We must have picked up time on the way, as we ended up landing at EDI
slightly ahead of schedule.

Wednesday, July 7, 2004, EDI

I like flying into EDI, as it is a nice small airport. The terminal
was mostly empty and the luggage reclaim area deserted. My luggage
arrived very speedily (I was the first person through customs) and I
was on my way.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, July 11, 2004, EDI

I reached the airport, again, very early. BD does the handling for LH
at EDI and they have the annoying habit of opening a flight for
check-in only two hours before departure. So, I ended up having a
coffee while waiting. Eventually, two check-in desks opened for our
flight. Unfortunately, this was the second or third time that BD
doesn't open a priority check-in desk for the EDI-Fra flight. I asked
them why, and they said that they were short of staff. Normally, it
wouldn't be a huge deal. But, there was a group in front of me who
were getting checked in and it took a bit of time. The agent who
checked me in was very pleasant and efficient.

A bit later I went through security and spent a bit of time at the BD
lounge. I've never seen it overly busy and it's very spacious and
tastefully decorated. I like it.

LH5969, EDI 1240pm to Fra 340pm, B737-300, gate 1B, seat 11F

We boarded on time. I was, again, very glad to see a B737 instead of
the scheduled Avro RJ70. The plane was parked on a stand that didn't
have a jetway. So, we had to walk to it, which I always like as I get
a better view of the plane and its undercarriage. It was raining
lightly, but it was not too bad.

The plane was totally packed. We took off on time. Again, the flight
was uneventful. The snack, this time, was yet another small (square
this time) sandwich with stale bread and unimaginative fillings. Why
does LH bother?

The approach to Fra was pretty bumpy, especially when we were flying
through clouds. However, the landing itself was fine and, again, ahead
of schedule! As we were landing, a US C-17 was taking off parallel to
us. It's quite a sight.

Sunday, July 11, 2004, Fra

We, again, parked away from the terminal and we, again, had to be
bused to the building. I, again, spent some time at one of LH lounges
(which I'm now becoming very familiar with!) and I then walked to the
gate. Passing through the extra US security was, for a change, no too
time consuming. In the past, I had got on the BOS flight from the B
gates and I was wondering why they moved it to the A gates this time.
Could it be because there are lots of flights to the US in the
morning, and they need a bigger area, but there are only a few late in
the afternoon?

LH420, Fra 550pm to BOS 755pm, A340-300, gate A62, seat 38K

Boarding started on time. It was interesting to see that they first
invited the first class passangers to board, then everybody else and
no special boarding call for business class passangers.

The plane was, again, totally full. My seat felt very crammed,
considerably more so (in terms of width and, maybe, leg room) than the
B737 that I had flown in earlier that day. Is this right or was it
just me? A biology professor from New York sat next to me. He was
very pleasant and we had a good chat throughout the flight.

The take off was smooth and then the big bore started (I do not like
transatlantic flights during the day; I much prefer the redeyes as I
usually get some sleep). The crew offered drinks and, eventually, a
hot dinner. The choice was between beef goulash and chicken with
spaghetti and tomato sauce. I had the latter and it was, actually, OK.
During this flight I had a new experience with LH: both flight
attendants who were looking after my part of the cabin were very
pleasant, chatty, and smiled a lot! Well done! I hope to see this
trend become the norm in LH flights!

They showed lots of different short features and the movie, Starsky
And Hutch, started after half-way through the flight. I watched it, as
I had nothing better to do, but it was not, how shall I put it?, a
pivotal moment in world cinema. Around this time, we reached
Greenland. We were very lucky, because there were big breaks through
the clouds and we got some stunning views of the snow covered land
below. I managed to get some good pictures.

In the past, when I had taken that flight, the prelanding snack was
usually a stale sandwich with an amasing rice pudding that had lots of
calories but no taste whatsoever. This time, LH surprised me by
serving an option of two hot paninis. I had the pastrami one (the
other option was vegeterian) and it was pretty good. Well done LH.
Much better!

We finally landed at BOS right on time. Interestingly, we took a
totally different approach to what I had seen before.

Sunday, July 11, 2004, BOS

We quickly taxied to our gate at Terminal E. Immigration allowed us to
disembark immediately (they sometimes delay disembarkation to decrease
the long lines in front of the immigration desks). The line was not
too bad and, once I got to the luggage reclaim belt, my suitcase was
already there. It must have come out very early, thanks to the
priority tag, as there were lots of people still standing around the
belt. I even found my bus as soon as I exited the building. It doesn't
get any better than this at BOS!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final Thoughts

This was a tiring trip, in terms of number of legs and amount of time
I spent at airport terminals. However, all my flights landed either on
time or ahead of schedule and my suitcase was also delivered
promptly. So, I have to thank LH, mainly, but AY too, for not making
the flights even more tiresome than they were. And I'm glad I chose LH
for the core of this trip, as I was satisfied with their service, the
facilities at their lounges at Fra (minus the smoking issue!), and
their promptness.

And if you managed to get up to here without snoring loudly, do say
whether you enjoyed the report or whether you found it unnecessarily
long and boring!

Tony

PS Could somebody please fix the AB) (FRA / FRF / EDDF), Germany">FRA problem!

[Edited 2004-07-17 21:30:40]