Cookie travels

As India becomes a popular exotic travel destination, Blue1 and SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) announced that it is opening up a new route to Delhi, India on October 27, 2008 from Helsinki. The new service will operate three times a week via Copenhagen on Mon, Wed and Sat and return flights on Sun, Tue and Thu in both directions.

The opening offer from Helsinki to Delhi is from 665 € and you have to book your trip no later than August 31, 2008! The following rules apply in relation to this new flight opening offer:
1. Travel period is from 1 Nov – 13 Dec 2008, journey has to be completed not later than 13 Dec 2008.
2. Minimum stay during weekends only: Sat-Sun.
3. Child discount policy applies as follows:
- children aged 2-15 get a 25 % discount and
- infants below 2 years old get a 90 % discount on the flight price.
- Taxes and fees will still be added.

Hmm this is a good time to escape the cold winter in Finland. So book your Delhi trip now before the opening offer expires.

Now to continue my post on non stop flight from Bangkok to Finland -1/2…

After taking the 1150 flight from Bangkok, we landed Helsinki-Vantaa Airport at 1815 local time. It took us a flight time of 10 hours and 25 minutes. That’s according to our itinerary. I still have our e-ticket.

At Helsinki airport, we waited over 4 hours for our connecting flight to Pori. Four hours! But I couldn’t remember the kids getting bored. Maybe it was the excitement of moving to another place or too tired or possibly sleepy…or already asleep. I had a terrible headache that time from nights of packing.

Our local flight to Pori was at 2340. After a flight time of 40 minutes, we reached Pori Airport at 0020 on 11th August, exactly a year ago plus one day today. That’s why I am musing about it here.

We didn’t encounter any difficulty during check-in and at the immigration. The only problem we faced was with the timing of our flight to Pori coz the kids were really sleepy. We had to wake them up during departure and arrival at Pori. But now we’re here. Glad to have safely arrived after a long tiresome journey. And as I previously mentioned, a year has just past.

Snack at Finncomm Airlines, it might look strange but its a sandwich, stuffed with veggies

Pori at last…

A year ago, we left Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport for Helsinki via Finnair. That was on 10th August. The travel agency that took care of our flight reservation recommended Finnair coz he can book a connecting flight for us from Bangkok to Helsinki until Pori City. Our connecting flight from Helsinki to Pori was via Finncomm (Finnish Commuter Airlines).

The problem though was the availability seats. There were not enough seats for the whole family on the date we wanted. So I suggested other major airlines.

But according to Mr. travel agent if we choose other major airlines, he can book us until Helsinki only so we have to book for our local connecting flight, and there is a big possibility of a stopover at another airport. I checked the timetable it will be long hours of waiting at another airport. With kids in mind, luggage to carry, unfinished packing and other concerns, I did not argue more with Mr. travel agent. We just hoped that we could get available seats. Few days before our flight, he gave us a call that all seats were confirmed.  So we were just happy for the news.

If you are planning to visit other cities in Finland from Bangkok, you can fly via Finnair and get a connecting flight thru Finncomm. This is a convenient option if you are traveling with children coz Finnair is a non stop flight from Bangkok to Helsinki. Another benefit is if you have lots of luggage to check-in coz in this way you can take advantage of luggage check-thru. In other words, you check-in your luggage at Bangkok and claim them at your last destination. You can check www.finnair.com and finncomm airlines for flight timetable, prices, and online reservation.

To be continued…