It’s time to embark upon another journey that will take me to Helsinki, Paris, and Toronto. Why? To fly the Finnair A330, Air France A350, and Air Canada 787 of course!
I’m doing my best to diversify my reviews on Live and Let’s Fly in 2020. I want to provide a premium cabin review from every oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance carrier. I’m well on my way toward that goal, but I’ve still got a ways to go…and precious little time to do it in. I’ve got a brief “hall pass” but hate to leave my family and other business behind for very long.
This trip came about months ago when I took advantage of a super deal with Flying Blue and booked a “Special Edition” Promo Award on the new Air France A350-900 for only 32,000 miles in business class. I love Air France and I love the A350. Thankfully, I found a connecting flight from Toronto to Los Angeles on an Air Canada 787-9 using miles. It’s not the best use of miles, but the timing worked perfectly and it will give me five hours to experience Air Canada’s latest premium product.
I’ll leave the outbound a mystery for now, but had the chance to book an A350 or A330 on Finnair and took the A330 because I’ve already provided a detailed Finnair A350 review in business class.
I realize I’m also behind; I owe you full reviews on TAP Air Portugal and Turkish Airlines, reviews that will be published in the days ahead. I’ve also amassed a huge backlog of lounge reviews that I need to slog through and get posted. Those are a challenge because they’re extremely time consuming and not all that popular, but each lounge reviews is like adding a book to a library. Over time, the whole is more valuable than the sum of the parts…
As usual, I’ll provide updates along the way in the form of first impressions then follow with more detailed reviews…hopefully not too much later.
Off I go again…
Looking forward, Matthew! And I actually find the lounge reviews very helpful. That is, should I bother getting to the airport more than an hour ahead of the flight.
That TAP Portugal review get scrapped?
No, it’s coming soon.
Matthew, have fun being in quarantine for 14 days when you get back to the US!
Hey Matthew – I recently flew on a Finnair A330. It’s not as slick as the A350, but the service and catering were great equalizers. Pre-order your meal ex-Helsinki if that’s an option – I chose reindeer and it was fantastic. Love Finnair! (Also – flying to the UK and Spain in two days and coronavirus worries are making me nuts – would you advise your clients to fly, as of 02/27/2020?)
Life goes on. I’m carrying hand sanitizer and washing my hands often. But travel continues including to LHR and CDG.
Matthew, not sure if you saw today but the 20 new cases reported in France all are linked to CDG.
Wow, did not see that. Am here now relaxing in the sauna in the AF 2L lounge…
“But according to France’s Le Monde newspaper, some officials suspect the “orbit” of Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, one of the busiest passenger airports in Europe that also happens to be near the Oise region. Investigators have discovered “exchanges” between soldiers who work at the military base in Creil and personnel who work at the airport but who may live in or commute through Oise, Le Monde reported.” From the WaPo this morning.
Appreciate the level-headed advice. Enjoy Finnair!