HEL

Going to the airport and taking a flight always gets me excited, so I didn’t really mind waking up at 3:00 AM and making my way to Helsinki airport for my flight to Lisbon and onward to Barcelona. I was able to use priority check-in at the airport with my Star Alliance Gold status. The counters for TAP Portugal were located right next to Lufthansa’s. With my bags tagged to Barcelona, I was issued boarding passes for both legs, first to Lisbon and then onward Barcelona. I was offered a complimentary priority seat in forward economy cabin but I was ok with my currently assigned aisle seat at the back so declined (a decision which I questioned later). I made a quick visit to the SAS Lounge before heading to the gate for boarding. ...

There were no connections from Helsinki which would make it in time for the Swiss flight to Mumbai on the same day. So I flew from Helsinki to Oslo on SAS connecting on Swiss to Zurich and I was going to stay at the Zurich airport tonight. Since my flight to Mumbai was the next morning, I wasn’t in any rush to get to Zurich so I choose a long layover in Oslo. ...