Finnair has proudly used a flight number 666 from Copenhagen (CPH) to Helsinki (HEL) since 2006 and today was the last time when this turned out to be Friday the 13th! Finnair has operated this AY666 and Friday the 13 flight combo total of 21 times.
Finns are not superstitious but the airline is reorganizing the flight numbers used for the European flights and the AY666 to HEL will turn to rather boring AY954.
So, last spring I decided to book the last Friday the 13th AY666 to HEL on Finnair that was today. I used BA Avios (read more here) for the award ticket.
I flew from Luxembourg the night before and stayed at the Clarion hotel at the Copenhagen airport (former airport Hilton).
Received exactly the same room that I had received as a Diamond upgrade previously (behind the elevators). The Clarion is the only hotel conveniently connected to the airport in Copenhagen and thus worth paying a premium for.
Check In
Walked to the terminal 2 and Premium Check in. The monitors didn’t show the flight numbers. Chatted with the check in lady that worked for the ground handling agent Aviator. Some passengers hadn’t always been too fond of the flight number (Finnair is strong with Asian connecting traffic).
Gate
The gate changed when the plane arrived from Helsinki to A12 (could have been A13!). At least the gate monitors had the the flight number displayed!
Security Briefing
I was sitting on the first row on the business class (1A) and the 1C passenger was probably connecting to Japan. The video was in English with subtitles in Finnish. Was surprised that there was nothing in the second official language of Finland that is Swedish.
Had a look at the safety cards!
Lunch
The lunch was quite interesting. The appetizer was herring mousse and main entree chicken with potato mash with quite heavy mustard sauce. The dessert was three Karl Fazer chocolates.
The best part of the short-haul service is the drink ware used that is Ittala’s Ultima Thule-series. I wonder how many of these disappear yearly?
Flight Itself
This was probably one of the most uneventful flights that I have been to for a while. I exchanged few words with the purser who had been working for Finnair for 39 years.
Entertainment
Moving map is the only entertainment that Finnair provides on these short-haul planes that do quite long flights as well. You would think that they could invest to offer at least WiFi connectivity?
Well. At least the weather was good and I have some time to watch the skies.
Connecting Gate Info
Finnair advertises itself as the fastest way between Europe and Asia. If you look at flight routes from most Western Europe, the flights usually go over Finland.
Conclusion
Well. I hoped that here had been some turbulence or perhaps medical diversion but it was rather ordinary flight (as expected). I had a quick chat with the captain Mr. Aminoff after the flight was over and he was glad that it was business as usual.
You have to keep in mind, however, that in some cultures 666 is actually a LUCKY number. If you spend some time in Asia, you soon realize that many hotels are actually missing floors 13 and 14. Number 13 us unlucky for westerners and 14 for Chinese.
