Richard Simko

Traveling back from Japan recently I had the opportunity to fly Finnair’s Premium Economy from Tokyo Narita to Helsinki. Here’s a review of my experience.

Overall, my experience with Cathay Pacific was good. There are some highlights and some odd downsides. The cabin is comfortable, although not in the greatest of layouts. The food is very good, and the staff is friendly and courteous, although service can sometimes feel a bit rushed. The IFE is really bad on their older 777 models, although it’s been improved on newer planes. They offer plenty of options on board for both food and drinks, all of them of great quality.

SAS launched the conscious traveler program at the beginning of the year, and one of the rewards for completing it was a reusable bag tag. They opened up to order the tag back in June and of course I ordered one as soon as it was available. It took a while for them to be delivered, but they arrived just in time for a recent trip, and while I didn’t need to check in luggage, I took the chance to try out this new system.

While Lufthansa recently started the rollout of their Allegris product, it’s far from done, and in fact, the First Class cabin still needs to be updated. That being said, the current Lufthansa First Class is still a great product, and I was lucky enough to fly it from Munich to Boston.

This review is a bit unusual as we usually review airlines. Still, we figured it would fit the blog since China Rail offers a Business Class product on their high-speed trains, intended to compete with domestic air travel.

United recently finished their Polaris Business rollout to all planes in their fleet. It’s a new concept for their business class product spanning everything from lounges to cabins to food and drink. I recently tried it out on a flight from Washington to São Paulo.