Blue1 flight KF 428 ARN-HEL

Departure: 18.05 (18.05)
Arrival: 20.05 (20.05)
Inflight service: Coffee on the house
Landing: Kinda Blueish

Blue1 should definitely change the marketing agency / copy writer! First they came up with the name Blue1 and now this found on Blue1's B.O.B* menu:

"Hunger is the BEST sauce in the world."! What the heck are they trying to say? Are the products really so bad that you have to be hungry to enjoy them...?

Blue1 flight KF 425 HEL-ARN

Departure: 7.52 (8.00)
Arrival: 7.58 (8.00)
Inflight service: Coffee
Landing: A little bit shaky

Calm and quiet when getting to the airport at 7.00. I guess there must have been some Christmas hangover in the air? At least I found this at Gate 14...

For a change I flew Blue1 today. The after math of yesterday's storm was still noticeable, which meant a lot of bumps in the road but the flight was on time, and that's what matters the most.

I wonder what on earth the branding agency was thinking of when they came up with the name Blue1? 

Is it Blue as in depressing??? Adding number 1 doesn't help a bit, that just makes it the most depressing!

According to me Blue1 must be one of the worst airline names around. What about you, do you have similar examples or can we unanimously vote Blue1 as the most depressing airline name ever?

Finnair flight AY 650 ARN-HEL

Departure: 20.40 (20.37)
Arrival: 22.45 (22.25)
Inflight service: Coffee
Landing: Kangarooish

The lack of Christmas spirit onboard Santa's official airline is striking! It's really strange that Finnair doesn't take more advantage of a superbrand like Santa???

Enough of grumpy comments. Xmas is anyways over in a few days and you can find my earlier comments on the topic here and here.

Finnair - What do you say about spicing up next Christmas with a little bit more of this?

Picture: http://blogs.finnair.com

F as in Fashionable

Finally I know what F I N N A I R stands for!

F = Fashionable   I = Ingenious   N = New Thinking   N = Nordic   A = Appealing
I = Inspiring   R = Retro

Picture: https://gallery.finnair.com

Finnair's new cabin crew uniforms were launched last week, and the buzz surrounding the launch indicated that something big was going on. Seeing them live for the first time, made me understand what the buzz was all about. The new uniforms simply looks amazing. To be honest - they do look much better live than in pictures.

A big ovation for Finnair and Ritva-Liisa Pohjalainen, being bold enough to create something that sticks out in a fashionable, ingenious, new thinking, nordic, appealing, inspiring and "retroish" way!

Finnair flight AY 643 HEL-ARN

Departure: 8.30 (8.00)
Arrival: 8.20 (8.00)
Inflight service: Coffee...where's the Glögi, it's Christmas and everything?
Landing: Did we land already?

Really crowded in the departure hall but the Fast Track did its magic, due to 2 screening devices in use (earlier comments regarding the Oneworld fast track can be found here).

Pre-flight visit to the Schengen lounge. Hardly noticeable that Christmas is a few days away???? Finnair's official Santa airline profile is taking a hit here. On top of that, no Cristmas music and greetings like on the Norwegian flights last week.

Note to Finnair: With being the "Official Santa Airline", comes great responsibilities, e.g. spreading the Xmas spirit! Santa is not happy with you right now ;-)

Picture: http://terrygrayshon.blogspot.com/

When in London...

... use the underground - the fastest and most environmentally friendly way to take you around London!

If you're not a frequent user of the tube, finding your way around can be tricky. But don' t worry, there's is an app that will make your next trip on the tube hassle free, in terms of navigation.

This little app is plain and simply called London Underground. What this app gives you is a complete map of London's underground where you can choose your start station and end station - the app will then tell you the smartest way to get from point A to point B. With smartest I mean either the quickest route or the one with fewest changes. After you've done your selections your smartphone screen could look like this:

Here I've selected South Kensington as my starting point and Euston Square as my end station. The stations where one is supposed to do something (e.g change of line) are numbered. If the map view seems confusing then there's another feature in the app that shows you the proposed route as text:

In this overview you get to know the names of the lines you should take and the directions (eastbound, westbound etc.). When you have this information all you have to do is to follow the signs on the train and stations  - easy as pie!

I give this app the highest of recommendations. It's user friendly and saves a lot of time when finding one's way around the London underground.

Norwegian flight DY 5819 LGW-HEL

Depature: 20.18 (18 .45)
Arrival: 00.41 (23.45)
Inflight service: B.O.B* Red wine
Landing: No comments, you can see my last comment here.

On top of being delayed with 1 hour, we got a bonus spelled STAND ARRIVAL. That's it folks, sorry for being grumpy!

High punctuality...

First this:

And then this:

After an autumn with only one delay of 15 minutes, the above situation tend to be quite humorous. It must be Mr. Murphy again...

Key-learning of the day: "Don't count your chickens until they're hatched"

Norwegian flight DY 4459 ARN-LGW

Departure: 18.18 (18.20)
Arrival: 19.47 (19.55)
Inflight service: B.O.B* Red wine
Landing: Come on guys, you have to treat the bird gently. Maybe some "crash courses" at Finnair could make your landings smoother???

Jihaaa - SKY interior, exit row and free WiFi. Doesn't get much better on a budget airline, does it?

Thanks Norwegian for boosting my Christmas spirit! The Christmas music played when boarding and the little Christmas greeting on the screens made me realize that Christmas is just a few days away. This makes me wonder whether Norwegian should be the official Santa airline instead of Finnair?

Burn the itineraries!

I guess we all have experienced the hassle of having all too many itineraries when travelling. Papers all over the place and never the right one at the right time. Does it sound familiar? If it does, then I now the cure - it's called Tripit.

Personally i hate the fuss with sorting out the right itineraries, when for example checking in. OK I have to admit it, I'm not the most well organized traveller around. However, a couple of months back I found an app that has made the old travel documents unnecessary, and me better prepared when travelling. Imagine no need of printing itineraries or booking confirmations before you head out on a trip. It sounds amazing, and so it is!

The use of Tripit is as simple as could be. All you have to do is to get an account on Tripit and download the app to your smartphone. When you've done that, your'e almost ready to rock. After this you can either allow Tripit to scan your mail for itineraries/bookings or mail them to plans@tripit.com. Either way you choose, you will have all your different bookings bundled together into one neat travel plan, like the one below.

   
All of sudden you have all the information regarding your trip on your smartphone's screen. Of course you can drill down for further details regarding for example confirmation numbers, terminals and so forth.

All in all, Tripit works like a dream either you choose the free version or Tripit Pro. Tripit Pro has one feature that I like in particular and that's the fact that it monitors flights on your behalf. E.g. it tells you when web check.in may be available or if there are any delays to expect.

This may sound like an advertisement for Tripit, but it's not. I'm just a very happy user, that can't imagine going back to the time when I had to print all my bookings.

Norwegian flight DY 4280 HEL-ARN

Departure: 6.50 (6.50)
Arrival: 6.50 (6.50)
Inflight service: B.O.B (buy onboard) Nescafé
Landing: Well, let's wait and see (posted up in the air)

Have to say that I really like the new SKY interior onboard Boeing 737-800. It really makes the cabin feel light and spacious.

Picture: www.nowegian.com

The draw back of no newspapers onboard is more than compensated with free inflight WIFI. Thumbs-up for Norwegian on this point, I like :-)))

A humble question to Norwegian: it seems you're into high-tech...but why no web check-in? It is year 2011, right???

Finnair flight AY 634 HEL-ARN

Departure: 13.00 (13.00)
Arrival: 14.55 (15.00)
Inflight service: What, no coffee???
Landing: Soft as cotton

Got a bit grumpy due to lack of coffee onboard. Only juice and water served...strange I must say.

Thumbs-up for the professional Miss Sunshine, greeting everybody traveling in coach. A smile and a friendly welcome onboard can really light up even the darkest of days. Thanks, you made my day!

Welcome Home

"I am the passenger, and I ride and I ride"

Life in the Fast Track

Fast track is indeed a great invention that saves much time when it works, but can also be a real time thief when it doesn't.

Since I’m using Finnair’s / Oneworld’s fast track at Helsinki Airport more or less every week, I thought I would share a tip on when it makes sense to use the fast track and when not. In fact the efficiency of the fast track has puzzled me a lot over the years, because sometimes it’s faster than the regular security screening and sometimes it’s much slower.

So now to the point! By observing and trying I’ve come to the following conclusion (my apologies for the bad illustration below, drawing is definitely not one of my core competences).

My intention was to illustrate the queues leading up to the security screening at Helsinki Airport T2, as they looked yesterday morning at 6.50 (no there were no happy gingerbreads standing in line but that was the best illustration I could find in Power Point).

Normally a passenger who’s entitled to use fast track would choose the fast track when evaluating the length of the queues. However, this is not what you should do at Helsinki Airport T2.

The key to success is to spot how many screening devices are in use on the fast track. If it’s only 1, proceed to the slow track, but if there are 2 screening devices in use - use the fast track!

To put it in a nutshell: if both lines start at the same point of the terminal (i.e. same distance to the security screening) and there is only 1 screening device in use on the fast track - choose the slow track!

This may sound strange, but I’ve tested this thesis on several occasions and so far it hasn’t failed.

Finnair flight AY 643 HEL-ARN

Departure: 8.14 (8.00)
Arrival: 8.06 (8.00)
Inflight service: Coffee
Landing: Smooth Finnair standard.
Boarded late so no newspapers available. I wish Post Man Pat would have paid a visit to my seat :-)

I stand corrected

Apparently the elf look is OK! Any thoughts on that, anybody...?

Picture: http://worldscrews.blogspot.com/

Oops they did it again...

Here we go again. Flight looked really full when I checked in yesterday, and as certain as Austrian's corporate colour is red, I received the regular SMS from Finnair Plus.

For my feelings on this topic click here:  "Finnair Plus proposes personal upgrade..."

Tickle all senses

As mentioned in my previous posting, colours plays an esential part in creating corporate identity - for good or bad. Most airlines are well aware of this and do their uttermost to create a visually appealing image onboard their planes.

But since traveling should be a holistic experience I think most airlines could improve alot on the audio side. Creating a corporate sound identity should be as important as creating a visual identity.

Finnair is almost done with their revamping of their visual identity except for the launch of the new crew uniforms that will take place on the 15th of this month. However, i still think Finnair lacks a sound identity.

From my childhood I remember when my family took the big white Silja Line ferries to Sweden. As soon as we entered the big ferry we were met by a really catchy theme song. Even today I connect this  song with happy memories connected to traveling. That is something you can call a good sound identity - if it even 30+ years later brings up good memories.



I'm not saying that Finnair should go in creating an annoying theme song like Turkish Airlines'.



However, I'm sure adding another sense into the travelling experience committs a passenger even more to the airline. What do you think?

Corporate colours shaping identity

As quality hunter Asami Nagai wrote in her posting on the QH webpage; corporate colours surely leaves an impression on its customers.

I remember my first flight with Austrian Airlines a couple of years back. The colours really left an everlasting  impression, an impression I'v been stuck with ever since. Unfortunately the impression wasn't a good one, quite the opposite.

Picture: Austrian Airlines

Either the designer of this interior must have been colour blind or disillusioned. How on earth can someone come up with a colour combination like this? Unfortunately this impression/identity - being shaped by colours - has made me avoid flying with Austrian if other possibilities have been available.


The other day, I was very pleased to find out that Austrian has launched a new cabin interior. I have to say, much more to my liking (maybe I'm being old fashioned here, so be it).

   Picture: Austrian Airlines

Now, I'm in fact looking forward to my next flight with Austrian. Still, I have one humble request for Austrian: Please skip the red pantyhose when you update the uniforms for the cabin crew next time. Red pantyhose may be OK for christmas, but running around looking like a small elf all year round is not OK. Not even if your corporate colour is red.

Picture: http://worldscrews.blogspot.com  

Finnair flight AY 648 ARN-HEL

Departure: 18.34 (18.40)
Arrival: 20.21 ( 20.35)
Inflight service: Coffee, what else???
Seating: Hey, someone nicked my exit seat?

Landing: Some bumps in the road down.

@Finnair, thank you for taking me home, well ahead of schedule. But hey, since you are the official Santa airline, why not serve some Glühwein onboard your shorter flights before christmas? Non-alcoholic of course ;-)