NoRRA | E190 | Helsinki – Geneva, Economy
Previous parts of this report:
- Introduction: USA, September 2019
- Trip Report: TAP Portugal | Airbus A330 | London Heathrow – Lisbon
- Trip Report: TAP Portugal | Airbus A320 | Lisbon – Geneva
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, Geneva Airport
- Trip Report: Iberia | Airbus A320 | Geneva – Madrid
- Trip Report: Iberia | Airbus A350 | Madrid – New York JFK
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, HY36 Midtown Manhattan
- In Pictures: New York
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | B737 | New York – Miami
- Hotel Review: Holiday Inn, Port of Miami Downtown
- In Pictures: Miami
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Miami-Dallas
- Hotel Review: Hotel Indigo, Dallas Downtown
- In Pictures: Dallas
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Dallas – Chicago
- Hotel Review: Kimpton Gray Hotel, Chicago
- In Pictures: Chicago
- Trip Report: Delta Airlines First Class | Boeing 717 | Chicago – Detroit
- Trip Report: Delta Airlines Airbus A220 | First Class | Detroit – Newark
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, Times Square
- In Pictures: New York 2
- Trip Report: Finnair | Airbus A330 | New York – Helsinki
- In Pictures: Helsinki
- Trip Report: NoRRA | Embraer E190 | Helsinki – Geneva
The second half of the journey back from the USA involved a flight with Finnair’s regional division, NORRA.
After a walk around Helsinki, it was back to the airport.
Priority security was deserted and I was through in a matter of minutes. Despite NoRRA being a separate airline, they operate flights on behalf of Finnair, meaning you get all the usual OneWorld benefits when flying them. In fact, they’re now so tied in with Finnair that their fleet of ATR’s are currently being repainted into full Finnair livery.
From security, it’s a short walk to the lounge.
Finnair Schengen Lounge
Finnair operate the better lounges on the OneWorld network, and this one is no exception. Whilst the food options aren’t quite up to the standards of some others, the seating and décor make it a very pleasant place to wait.
After a couple of hours in the lounge, I made my way down to the gate, which was quite a walk from the lounge
Boarding
Boarding started around 20 minutes prior to departure. No idea how it went because as soon as the announcement started (in Finnish) I was being shoved forward by some guy in a suit. Who just happened to end up being my seat mate.
Luckily, boarding was completed and he moved to the empty row in front, meaning an empty seat next to me for this 2h40 flight.
Departure
Pushback came more than a few minutes behind schedule. At 7 minutes past our departure time, a catering truck rolled up:
That would explain the slight delay then. Once we did get going, it was a quick journey over to the runway..
Onboard service
After around 30 minutes, the onboard service began. On Finnair, this consists oh either tea, coffee, juice or water.
There were snacks available to buy:
For much of the flight I slept – the previous Trans Atlantic flight catching up with me.
One thing I did notice when I woke up however was quite how business oriented this flight was. I’m pretty sure I was the only person on board who didn’t have a laptop out!
Arrival
There wasn’t too much to be seen on approach, due to quite a bit of cloud cover.
This is the first time I’d arrived into Geneva during the hours of daylight in quite a while – normally it’s a case of arrive late at night, head off to the Holiday Inn Express at the airport, and then leave again early the next morning.
As I’d checked in my bag in New York in order to avoid having to carry it around on my layover in Helsinki, I had to actually stop at baggage claim this time around. Whilst I was waiting, I grabbed a free public transport ticket.
My bag came out reasonably quickly, although still behind a load that didn’t have priority tags on. Either way, it wasn’t a major issue as I wasn’t waiting too long.
It was then on to the train to make the six minute journey into town.
My Thoughts
Much like the Iberia flight earlier on this trip, it’s a little hard to make a conclusion from this flight. Although not due to the lack of service. This time around it was because I was asleep for most of the flight!
NoRRA provide an identical service to Finnair, so there’s no difference when flying them compared to the mainline.
The Finnair lounges in Helsinki are great, even though when I was leaving, it was a little on the busy side. In fact, people were queuing to get in!
