Finnair Airbus A321, Stockholm Arlanda – Helsinki
Introduction
With my brief trip over to Japan at an end, it was time to head home. Once more, Finnair would be doing the honours. This meant that 2019 would be ending with 4 straight Finnair flights. Although not quite the 8 consecutive sectorts with Lufthansa that ended 2018.
Stockholm Arlanda airport is situated quite a distance from Stockholm itself. There are well run Express coaches from the city to the airport, which means that it’s not too much hassle.
Also available is an express train, although the high price has always put me off.
Arrival at terminal 2 was around 40 minutes later.
Arlanda terminal 2 is home to most European airlines that aren’t SAS. As such, it’s not the biggest terminal out there by a long way.
Security wasn’t too busy, and I was airside in a few minutes.
Following this, it was up to the only lounge in the terminal, the Menzies run Aurora Lounge. I took a closer look at this visit previously, so won’t repeat myself.
This Trip:
- Introduction: One Night In Nagoya
- British Airways Club Europe, London Heathrow – Copenhagen
- Copenhagen: In Pictures
- Norwegian Boeing 737, Copenhagen – Oslo
- Radisson Blu Airport Hotel, Oslo Gardermoen
- NoRRA Embraer E190, Oslo – Helsinki
- Japan Airlines Boeing 787-9, Helsinki – Tokyo Narita
- Tokyo: In Pictures
- JAL, Boeing 787-8, Tokyo Narita – Nagoya
- Four Points by Sheraton Nagoya, Chubu International Airport
- Japan Airlines, Boeing 787-8 Nagoya – Tokyo Narita
- Japan Airlines First Class Lounge, Tokyo Narita
- Finnair Airbus A350, Tokyo Narita – Helsinki
- Finnair Airbus A320, Helsinki – Stockholm Arlanda
- Sheraton Stockholm Hotel
- Stockholm: In Pictures
- Aurora Lounge, Stockholm Arlanda T2
- Finnair Airbus A321, Stockholm Arlanda – Helsinki
- Finnair Airbus A321, Helsinki – London Heathrow
AY810
Stockholm Arlanda – Helsinki
Airbus A321 OH-LZE
Seat 6A
December 2019
Boarding
Boarding came from gate 64, which was just a short walk from the lounge. When I arrived, it was a little busy to say the least. And the plane had only just landed! In fact, it wasn’t even on stand at this point.
When boarding did begin, group 1 was called but it was a bit of a free for all. As such I made my way to the front, where a pretty loud mouthed woman decided that I wasn’t in group 1 and that I needed to join the back of the line. I replied that I didn’t, and then ended up with egg on my face as the automated gate threw up a big red X and told me to seek assistance. Turns out my passport needed to be checked.
By the time I fought my way through a few more people and probably stepped on a few toes along the way in order to get my passport checked, it turned out that it was a case of #boardingnotboarding anyway.
Departure
There were more fun and games when it came to departure. In the seat behind me, it appeared that there were two people with identical boarding passes. This obviously had to be sorted before we went anywhere, and my already tight connection got a bit tighter.
Pushback eventually came around 15 minutes behind schedule.
The taxi to the active wasn’t too long, and we took off just a few minutes later.
Onboard Service
Like the flight to Stockholm, there was a more basic service on board this flight due to it being less than an hours flying time. Just the free tea, coffee or water.
WiFi
As with much of the fleet, this aircraft featured WiFi. Although due to the short flight time, I didn’t feel any need to purchase it.
Despite this, you can still track the progress of your flight.
Arrival
On descent, there were some great views of both the airport and the city of Helsinki.
A little over 40 minutes after departure, touchdown into Helsinki was made. Luckily we were assigned gate 28, which was much nearer to passport control than some of the other gates.
Although the final delay was only 11 minutes, with a 40 minute connection, this meant I arrived on to stand as my next flight started boarding…
Verdict
Much like the previous days sector between Helsinki and Stockholm, there wasn’t too much to say about this flight. Service wise, it was identical.
One nagging factor that I’ve noticed with all of my Finnair flights of late, is that once more, this flight was delayed. Not by too much, but the fact that the airline advertises a minimum connection time of 35 minutes at Helsinki, just a few minutes can make all the difference when you’re tight on time anyway.
