An Autumn Escape (part 9: the end/back to work)

Krister and I spent 16 days together in Finland. A large portion of it was spent with both of us working remotely.  We took advantage of Helsinki Airport’s new arrivals testing service. Given how little Krister and I do that involves large groups of people (except flying, but the risk there is quite low), we both tested negative for COVID.  We spent about half of our time on this trip in Helsinki and the other half in Oulu.  We actually took an overnight train from Helsinki to Lapland, which was quite fun, even though we had a room in one of the older carriages.

Finnair, unlike low-cost carriers or U.S. carriers (and some European carriers), still charges more for a one-way flight within Europe than it does for return tickets.  Given the uncertainty surrounding everything, we wanted to avoid trying to guess when we’d want to return, so we instead booked one-way award tickets from Oulu to Manchester via Helsinki.  One-way bookings (on Finnair metal) are actually a really good use of Finnair points.  They cost 19 000 points in economy (probably worth about $120 – $190) or 31000 in business, instead of sometimes upwards of $500 or $700, respectively.  During our trip, Finnair had been having a sale on buying Finnair points.  Knowing that we were about to need some one-way tickets (and because Krister likes business class from London to Helsinki every once in a while), we opted to take advantage of the sale.  I did some math, and we ended up deciding that purchasing 50k points would be the best deal.  Because of the bonus that Finnair was offering, I ended up getting 90k award points and 22.5k tier points (75% of the amount needed for Finnair Silver/Oneworld Ruby). 

Krister and I took a taxi from our Airbnb near Oulu’s train station to get to Oulu airport.  One weird thing about the taxi was that because of the airport surcharge, this 15-minute taxi was only marginally cheaper than the 30+ minute taxi from Helsinki airport.  Oulu airport is the second biggest airport in Finland, after Helsinki-Vantaa airport, but that’s not to say it’s big.  The main destination from Oulu (and only destination currently) is Helsinki.  Normally in November, Finnair has 11 flights per day on mainline A320 series aircraft.  Norwegian also flies the route.  Because of COVID, however, there are only four flights per day on Norra (Finnair’s regional partner).  Half the flights are on ATR-72 turboprops and the other half are on E190s.  We had an ATR-72 (OH-ATE) for this first leg.  Finnair does not offer any business class on domestic flights, and so Oulu has no business class lounges. The flight time is only an hour, so business class isn’t really needed. It’s a bit strange though that Finnair offers business class on the 1 hr flight to Stockholm but not the 1 hr flight to Oulu or the 90+ min flights to Lapland.  But, it has the added advantage of meaning there is no expectation of Finnair maintaining domestic lounges, like how British Airways does for its busier domestic destinations (like in Manchester or Aberdeen, for example).

Oulu Airport, like Helsinki Airport, is run by Finavia, so the interior of the airport looks very similar to Helsinki, but much smaller and cuter.  After security, everyone goes upstairs to the departures area.  Just past our gate was a café/gift shop where Krister and I had a quick lunch before our flight.  We picked a seat that overlooked our gate and so we watched the radar as our plane flew from Helsinki, and then we watched it land and taxi to the gate area.  The way it was parked meant that we would be walking up to it from the outside.  It was a bit cold outside, but my favorite gates are those where you can walk up to the plane (without a bus being needed). 

ATR-72s are fun because they only have a backdoor, so the airplane boards front-to-back with the new COVID rules in place.  The luggage compartment is located between the cockpit and the passenger compartment, so one of the flight attendant jump seats is attached to the cockpit door. For this short domestic flight, the extent of the service was just a beverage cart. 

I really liked the color palette of the ATR-72. Like with most Finnair (and Norra) flights, the predominately color in the cabin was gray. The seats were definitely slimline, mostly just plastic and the covering. Given the flight was only an hour, they were comfortable enough and gave a little bit extra legroom because of their shape. The tray tables were absolutely adorably tiny as well.

There was no in-flight entertainment available, but the views out the window of the Finnish countryside (and of the turboprop engine!) were beautiful.

We landed a few minutes early, which was largely expected given how few flights there were at Helsinki. When booking the flight, we had had the option of a 40-minute or a 5 hour and 40-minute layover. We opted for the former (especially because the Finnair lounge was closed in Helsinki). We actually had quite a walk from our arrival gate to the non-Schengen area, where our aircraft left from. When we arrived at our gate, most people had already had their boarding passes scanned and were in a holding pen before being put on a bus to the aircraft. Finnair advertises that changing planes at Helsinki airport requires a minimum layover of just 35 minutes. Having now done a 40-minute connection, I largely agree that the process is quite smooth. For this second flight to Manchester, we got one of Norra’s E190s (OH-LKF), a type of plane Krister and I are quite familiar with. Not too surprisingly, business class was completely empty on this flight. The first three rows were still blocked off for it, though, which was interesting.

I had an exit row seat for this flight (and Krister sat in front of me).  One (unwritten?) perk of Oneworld emerald is that Finnair/British Airways/American Airlines will block seats next to emerald members flying in economy class if there are enough seats on board.  Spoiler, there were many empty seats because of COVID.  The exit row seat had a ton of legroom, and with no one beside me, the seat was better than non-row 1 business class would’ve been. 

Like the previous flight, the onboard service was minimal. They came around with drinks and a small cookie.  The flight attendant was friendly, but careful with the service.  I think all the international Norra flights get the same cookie, but this is my first economy class flight with them during the pandemic, so if I have another one, I’ll be sure to pay attention to the cookie.  Krister and I bought some food on the way to the gate because the flight would be going during Finnish dinner time. 

WiFi was offered on board, but the best entertainment for me was looking out the window (and just working on my laptop).  Because of the timing of this west-bound flight, we were treated to a view of the sunset for about 2 hours out of the 3 hour flight, which was quite the beautiful view. 

In summary, these economy flights on Norra were unremarkable, except that it marked my first domestic flight within Finland.  The ground experience in Oulu was quite nice; I really liked the airport’s vibe.  A lounge would’ve been nice, but flights from Oulu are always economy-only, and COVID had closed it in Helsinki.  The seats were typical economy seats, but the exit row seat had great leg room (4/5).  The tiny cookies were fun (3/5), and the flight attendants were very friendly (5/5). The limited in-flight entertainment is not surprising for an intra-European flight (3/5).  Overall the flights get a 15/20.  No complaints (or points) here, considering they were award tickets.

Let me know in the comments if you’re interested in more economy class trips.  I personally don’t ever notice much difference between economy flights, but it is main way that one travels.