My Dilemma In Helsinki

Yesterday I shared how my late-arriving Finnair flight from Amsterdam doomed my connecting flight to Los Angeles, handing me a dilemma in Helsinki. I decided to take a pragmatic approach to rebooking.

Flight Rebooking Dilemma in Helsinki: Get Home Or Free Mini-Vacation?

When I embark on review trips, like the current one to Hong Kong, I make every effort to keep them short and sweet. As much as I would have enjoyed a couple of days in Atlanta to visit relatives, a couple of days in Seoul, a few days in Hong Kong, a couple of days in Amsterdam, and a couple of days in Helsinki, I’m not a single man…I have a wife and kids who depend on me. I also have work obligations that, while remote, require me to work during US business hours each day.

So, extending review trips are not ideal in this season of my life.

Recall yesterday, I sprinted to the AY001 gate for Los Angeles and the plane was still there, but I was told I was a few minutes too late. I ran back to the lounge, where an agent redirected me to the customer service line for rebooking.

Even before reaching the front of the line, I had a couple of options. First would be to take AY001 three days later…since it does not operate every day. Finnair would have had to put me up at a hotel and pay for meals. I also would have received €600 in delay compensation as well.

But I just could not do that…not with a family waiting for me at home. Not with a meeting the following morning that required my in-person presence.

While running from the LAX gate, I passed by the JFK gate…there was a 5:00 pm flight to JFK.

The trouble was it was now 4:25 pm and the customer service line was quite long.

I knew I would not make it to the front of the line in time to be rebooked on the Finnair flight. A supervising agent walked by and I stopped her and explained my predicament. She suggested I immediately go to the JFK gate and see about rebooking.

I did…and the agents were lovely. They immediately rebooked me onto the JFK flight with a connection to Los Angeles on American Airlines, both in business class.

By 4:35 pm I was onboard.

The sad thing, though, is that the JFK flight was operated by an A330 jet, which I have previously reviewed and which is not as spacious as an A350 (the A330 cabin is narrower and yet has the same 1-2-1 seating, with the seats feeling slightly smaller).

But that’s the nature of tight connections and review trips…you don’t always wind up with what you set out to review, though at least here I have a positive story and very positive customer service interaction.

Folishly, I left in my AA number and even though both flights were booked into J (versus U), AA still saw the ticket as an award flight…I bet I would have scored a lot of tier points had I put in my British Airways number instead.

Anyway, I’ll share more about the flight to New York (and another hilarious transcontinental flight on American Airlines) over the next couple of days. A mini-vacation in Helsinki would have been lovely and I still want to take AY001, but this was not the time…