BA Club Europe from Helsinki

Krister and I finished up our short weekend trip to Norway and Finland with a Club Europe flight (BA799) from Helsinki to London (from where I then connected to Manchester).

Helsinki’s Vantaa airport is one of my favorites.  It’s well-connected to the city by the I and the P suburban trains.  It took us less than a half hour from the central rail station.  Krister and I took the opportunity to indulge in one of our favorite Finnish snacks, Karelian pies.

Upon arrival to the airport, we checked in at the British Airways desk (which is in the corner of the massive Finnair check in area) in terminal 2.  British Airways doesn’t give its Club Europe passengers or Oneworld sapphire members access to the upstairs premium security line (unlike Finnair which offers it to all its elites and business class passengers).

The Helsinki to London route is one of Finnair’s busiest routes, with 6 flights per day in the winter, 2 of which on wide-body A330/350 aircraft, and Finnair has just recently announced that the summer 2020 season will see 8 daily flights.  Finnair’s Oneworld (and twice joint venture partner) British Airways operates an additional frequency on this route, which is the one Krister and I are taking because British Airways has been having Club Europe business class sales recently and the HEL-LHR route brings in 80 tier points instead of the usual 40 tier points within Europe.

After clearing security and passport control (whose exit gates are under renovation), we made our way to the Finnair business class non-Schengen lounge.  This lounge was recently renovated and is very new and very Nordic.  It’s not quite as nice as the Finnair Platinum lounge that I got access to (from my Finnair gold card) when the lounge was still being rebuilt, but I knew that perk was only very temporary.  Since we there just before lunch during the low season on a Monday, the lounge was very quiet, and we had our choice of places to sit. 

The lounge offered one of Krister’s favorites, Finnish fish soup, as well as Karelian pies, which are one of my favorites.  The buffet also offered a selection of breads and cheeses, as well as a main dish of salmon and various side dishes to go with it, but since we were getting lunch on the plane, I didn’t want to eat anything too heavy.

Boarding began about 45 minutes before departure.  We had seen on the seatmap that there were 12 rows of Club Europe on this flight (including the 2 exit rows in the middle of the plane!).  The seats on this plane are the opposite of those on the Finnair flight the previous day; that is, they’re a sleek black instead of a crisp light gray. 

We were on one of British Airways older A320s, which means that the middle seat still had a tray table in it.  It’s nothing massive or fancy, but it’s pretty helpful for putting a drink on.  I also feel like it gives the impression that we actually are in a different class of service and not just on a less-than-full flight.  That being said, the legroom was not great.  Krister’s knees were almost touching the seat in front of him.

The drinks and meal service began soon after takeoff, but despite there being three flight attendants for the <50 of us in business class, the process was slow and tedious.  When the drink cart got to us about a half hour after take off, we both ordered a gin & tonic.  Krister’s came with ice and a paper coaster.  Mine did not, which was strange.  After another 20 minutes, our meal orders were taken.  They had three options: a shepherd’s pie, gnocchi, or a cold chicken salad.  They had run out of the shepherd’s pie by the time they got to row ten, but I wasn’t going to have it anyway. 

The pasta was alright.  The cheese on it was in clumps, so sometimes my bites were very cheesy, but usually they were mainly pasta.  The couscous starter was good but unremarkable.  The cheese and chutney and the pudding were very good.  I like the Do & Co branding on the pudding; it’s a nice touch.  Coffee and tea were provided later, and Krister enjoyed the proper British tea (in a nice large mug) after having been in the Nordic countries all week. 

So how did British Airways do?  For this 3-hour flight, we got lounge access (5/5), a three-course meal (3/5), inconsistent service (3/5).  The middle table didn’t fully make up for the limited legroom and seats that got a bit uncomfortable after 3 hours (3/5), and unlike on Finnair planes on this route, there is no in-flight WiFi or info screens (0/5).  Overall, the flight gets a 14/25.