Welcome to the Planetflyer website, with flying-related stories from being a passenger to being an aviation nut and geeking out in museums. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.
The Planetflyer articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, swimming, and saunas.
All flying-related articles:
| Geneva and Ferney-Voltaire - two countries, "one" airport? What an airport! Or two... or two sides maybe. I flew to Genève but wanted to rent a car from the cheaper French side of the airport, so had to change sides. Exit was easy, coming back was quite an adventure. You have to drive to Ferney and take the only road -- a road fenced off from both sides -- to enter the airport to return the car back on the French side. Full story April 2025, Geneva Airport, Genève, Switzerland; Ferney-Voltaire Airport, Ferney-Voltaire, France Flying; Travel | |
| Failing paint on Finnair's A330 I was coming back from a business trip, on a flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki. I was kind of expecting an A350 ... I prefer to fly them if they happen to be on the routes I have to fly. It turned out to be an A330, however, which was very nice, too, and empty seat next to me at the back of the plane. Still wondered about the winglet paint being in less than ideal condition. I realize the paint nor the winglet are actually essential for flying. Full story April 2025, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands Flying | |
| Air France Lounge @ Frankfurt Airport Sigh. Not the greatest lounge. Crowded. Yes there is power and seats are ok, and there's some food. But this lounge is far too overused, so it is always packed -- and several times I have had to wait outside for a permission to come in later. Full story April 2025, Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany Travel; Flying | |
| Unreliable luggage I had a Samsonite hard case for couple of decades, but when the locking mechanism broke I ditched it and got a new modern Samsonite. Nice looking case, but ... unfortunately the quality wasn't what I was used in the previous Samsonites. The case broke on first trip, corner broken. Ok, perhaps the airline mistreated it but still.. then I got a new one on airline's cost. And another one later when it started having zipper problems. Full story April 2025, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| DFW's AA Flagship Lounge vs. Capital One Lounge. Which is better? If you flying to or from the North America on Finnair, the changes are that sooner or later you'll have to fly through Dallas Forth Worth airport. This presents a major first world dilemma: should you use the American Airlines Flagship Lounge or the Capital One Lounge? Both boast to be the best. But what's the truth? Full story March 2025, Dallas Fort Worth airport, Dallas, Texas, USA Flying | |
| DUFRY Business Club lounge in Belgrade Since I had an upgrade on Lufthansa, I got access to another lounge, this time at the Belgrade airport. The DUFRY Business Club. Small but semi functional, and not too packed. Full story March 2025, Belgrade Airport, Belgrade, Serbia Travel; Flying | |
| PLANEWEAR - Best airport shop in the world? I was flying through the Seattle-Tacoma airport, and I run into an unusually interesting airport shop. And maybe not just interesting, possibly the best ever airport shop that I have ever seen, anywhere. At least for plane enthusiasts! Full story March 2025, Seattle-Tacoma Airport, Seattle, Washington, USA Flying | |
| Lufthansa business class upgrade for 55€ Sometimes the flight upgrades can be caught at a reasonable price. I got an offer for an upgrade to business class on a short Lufthansa intra-European flight, for only 55€. Took it. Got a nice meal and space for it, when tourist class would have been packed. Full story March 2025, Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany Travel; Flying | |
| Tire Change Oopsie, this will take some time. Apparently the front tire had to be replaced on my plane. On the gate! Full story January 2025, Belgrade Airport, Belgrade, Serbia Flying; Travel | |
| DAT flight Finnair has a large fleet, but in the last couple of years they seem to be having to lease other planes. Today I was on a Berlin-Helsinki flight that was flown by Danish Air Transport or DAT plane, an A320. Nice seats, decent service (including frequent flyer benefits for Finnair, like a free drink). Full story January 2025, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Berlin, Germany; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Turkish Airlines long haul experience .. in the back This was my first experience flying Turkish Airlines on long-haul flights. I had initially wanted to get the cheap tickets from Frankfurt to Ulaanbaatar on Mongolian Airlines, but they didn't seem to be available on my dates, so I opted for going from Helsinki to Istanbul and then to Ulaanbaatar. The layover in Istanbul was only an hour and five minutes, which was unnerving. But I made it, so did my luggage, and overall had a happy experience with Turkish Airlines. Full, hot meals on intra-European flights, eyeshades for the tourist class passengers, etc. Nice! Full story January 2025, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Istanbul International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey; Chinggis Khaan International Airport, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Flying; Travel | |
| Hattivattis heading for the exit I just love the Moomins. Visited the Moomin World countless times (including going skiing there). This is why I am always delighted when I pass by the Moomin shop at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Although this time, the Hattavattis (Hattifatteners) seemed to be on their way to the exit ... Full story January 2025, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Iberia Business Class We had a four day mini-vacation in Spain, Andorra and France, on Finnair flights. Except that the Finnair flights turned out to be operated by Iberia. Apparently Finnair is wet leasing the Helsinki-Barcelona route flights from Iberia. So, Finnair tickets, lounges, and system, but Iberia service. We managed to upgrade ourselves on one leg of this trip using points that would have expired otherwise. Full story December 2024, ElPrat Airport, Barcelona, Spain Flying | |
| Menolippu kaikkialle - Ticket everywhere I bought Anna-Katri Räihä's book "Menolippu kaikkialle" (one-way ticket to everywhere) for myself this Christmas. Have not read it yet, but looking forward to it! Anna-Katri is the first Finnish woman to have travelled to all countries in the world. That's quite an achievement, the few hardest ones must have been very challenging or even dangerous. Well done! Full story December 2024, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| LOT to Balkans Finnair flies to a lot of destinations, but one thing it does poorly is flying to Greece, islands in the Mediterranean, and countries in the Balkans except for Croatia in the summer. One can use Lufthansa of course, but I've been often disappointed with them canceling and delaying flights left and right. There's also KLM (which I have good experiences of, recently) and Air Baltic (which I have not tried enough, despite their nice new planes). However, combining a Finnair flight to Warsaw and onwards with LOT is also a good option. Full story December 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland; Warsaw Airport, Warsaw, Poland Travel; Flying | |
| Helsinki-Vantaa Special Baggage Helsinki-Vantaa has always been a nice place where your skis can re-unite with you on the regular baggage belt. But no longer! Now you have to go to Special Baggage Belt (belt 1) to get them! Full story December 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, and set 7.