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Heathrow strike called off for entirety
Strikes over proposed outsourcing plans at Heathrow Airport were called off yesterday for the first two days to allow last-minute talks, Unite Union announced. However, the rest of the strike was still due to go ahead.
The strikes were due to take place 7-13 May but have now been completely called off following discussions between Unite and the airport. The strike was due to involve up to 800 airport workers, many customer-facing, but it was not clear what the impact would have been.
Finnair sale
Finnair has launched its summer sale, with deals across its European and Asian network. The new sale includes 18 of the airline’s most popular destinations for travel from the UK. The sale appears to be economy class, which is fine for short haul. However, there are a few decent business-class non-sale prices, which I have included for the long haul.
Finnair customers can make the most of the special fares when booking flights between now and 21 May 2024, for travel during the summer for travel between May 2024 and March 2025. Finnair recently joined Avios making it easier to use Avios to upgrade on Finnair in the future when it becomes fully integrated later this year.
You may just think of Finnair for the long haul or flying to Helsinki, but I have done a number of connecting flights within Europe, which open up destinations for Oneworld Avios earning and spending. They also use up to two A350s per day on the London Helsinki route, which gives you a long haul experience on short haul. Services have been specifically timed to allow for easy connections from Finnair’s UK destinations – including London Heathrow, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
I recently travelled to Vilnius with the airline and absolutely loved the beautiful quaint old town and lively dining scene. The country is due to join the Michelin star program in June 2024. I’ll be writing about my experiences later this week.
I previously had an amazing trip to Bodo in the Arctic Circle and Trondheim in Norway with Finnair. You can read about that trip here.
Another option is Tallin which is also one of my favorite places for a weekend break and can be reached with a very short flight from Helsinki on Finnair.
Short haul sale destinations
- Finnish Lapland – Ivalo, Kittilä and the Official Hometown of Santa Claus, Rovaniemi with one-way fares from £119 in economy
- Nordics – Bergen, Gothenburg, Tromsø, Trondheim.
- Baltic destinations – Tallinn, Riga and Tartu – a European Capital of Culture 2024 – with flights from £109 in economy
Long haul sale destinations
Business class return (non sale)
- Dubai £1293
- Nagoya – set to relaunch on 30 May
- Hong Kong £1946
- Singapore £2564
- Seoul £2097
- Shanghai
- Delhi £1565
- Bangkok £2192
Finnair offers quick transfers between flights from as little as 35 minutes, as all services operate from the same terminal. I proved the point on the way back from Vilnius when we had 40 minutes between flights and were delayed on the first flight as well!
You can find the offer page here.
Melia 25% off hotels
Melia are offering up to 25% off and the first child free in their summer promotion. You can book until 2 June for stays until 31 October 2024.
I recommend the Level or Red Level rooms at Melia and Grand Melia hotels, which are like a Club level and are usually excellent and better than the usual club experience.
2 comments
To endorse Michele’s comment about Finnair making tight connections: last year I was travelling LHR – HEL -ICN. We were 150 minutes late out of LHR and I was very gloomy about the connection. About 30 minutes out of HEL my screen told me that my flight was being held and which Gate it would use. It took 33 minutes from door opening to door closing, and my bag made it to ICN.
Another good point about Finnair it that they will often sell a cancellable fare at a lower cost than BA will sell a non-cancellable fare, or QR will sell a fare that can only be cancelled at a fee of about £300. During Covid I cancelled so many booking with Finnair that I felt guilty, so I was glad eventually to use them.
On our return from Australia with Qatar airways, the last long haul leg from Doha to Stockholm was with Finnair. I was interested to see how I felt about the cabin and the new seat. I loved it. It gives far more privacy than the long sector with Qatar from Perth to Doha in the Airbus A380. There was loads of room in the seat and the fact it didn’t recline was not an issue. My only negative is that the food was, for me, awful. Thankfully I ate in the business class lounge in Doha before boarding. I totally recommend flying with Finnair in these seats. They did change the plane without notifying us so when we boarded we had completely different seats. I would like to have been notified first.
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