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:
| Flying the Marimekko 350 lying again Finnair's Marimekko-decorated A350, OH-LWL. Nice. Full story July 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Ljubljana Airport What a wonderful airport and mountainous approach! Full story July 2023, Ljubljana Airport, Ljubljana, Slovenia Flying | |
| Walls of Piran Piran is a medieval town on the coast of Slovenia. A wonderful town, clearly retaining its historic parts. The protective walls of the city date back to the 7th century, and can be toured for a nominal fee. Much recommended. Full story July 2023, Walls of Piran, Piran, Slovenia Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles); Flying | |
| For once, a nice airport cart Saw an interesting passenger assistance cart at Heathrow today. Actually, would have wanted that service, given my troubles with my feet... Full story July 2023, Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom Flying | |
| The HOT lounge No, HOT is not a new low-cost airline. It is literally the hottest airport lounge anywhere, ever. True statement! Finnair's Platinum lounge at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport sports a sauna. A dark colored, nice proper sauna. Respect! Full story July 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Sauna (Normal); Flying | |
| May 1st at the Finnair Lounge Wow. Munkkeja (donuts). Traditional May 1st delicacy. Full story May 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Finnair's European A350 routes I've occasionally ended in a wide-body A350 flight flown by Finnair, on an intra-European route. Turned out that this week I got two experience two of them in different cities: Brussels and Amsterdam. The third route that they regularly fly is London Heathrow. Full story May 2023, Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium; Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands Flying; Travel | |
| A Certificate for Visiting the North Pole! Finnair gave me a certificate for being on their flight over the North Pole! When I asked the flight attendant about the coordinates (which are not exactly at North Pole), she promised to check with the crew. When she came back, she said that the captain says he doesn't know what coordinates were on the certificate, but that it was probably the marketing department's idea of the location of the North Pole :-) Full story April 2023, North Pole, International Flying | |
| Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Haneda, Tokyo Internal Airport. Japan Airlines has a very nice lounge... and it was an empty one at the time for the Finnair flight to leave late in the evening. Full story April 2023, Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan Travel; Flying | |
| Trip to the North Pole br Full story March 2023, North Pole, International; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Sauna (Normal) | |
| Caged Finnair Plane The new Berlin airport (Brandenburg Airport, BER) has nice walkways to the plan, with some see-through but not entirely views to the planes. Full story March 2023, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Berlin, Germany Flying; Travel | |
| I love the smell of ... ... ski boots in the morning. Full story February 2023, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Skiing (None); Travel; Flying | |
| Krakow Business Lounge When returning from our trip to the Polish mountain regions, we flew out of Kraków's airport. We ended up waiting in the Business Lounge. It turned out that the wait was actually quite long. Our plane circled near the airport for 90 minutes, waiting for the fog to to dissipate. Full story January 2023, Krakow Airport, Krakow, Poland Flying; Travel | |
| Chopin's Fantazja Executive Lounge After our original flight was cancelled, I ended up leaving Kraków by taking LOT to Warsaw, and then onto a Finnair evening flight. Sorting out the situation was a hassle, but in the end we got home. Full story January 2023, Warsaw Airport, Warsaw, Poland Flying; Travel | |
| Flying on Air Serbia I had a rare opportunity to fly Air Serbia. Not quite Aeroflot level ... but I wouldn't trust them :-) Just kidding it was ok. Full story December 2022, Belgrade Airport, Belgrade, Serbia Flying | |
| Finnair A350 on short haul routes Interesting... ended up on the Finnair A350 on my way back home from London. And they gave me an upgrade! A rare one, but still :-) And the A350 is such a nice airplane. Full story August 2022, Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom Flying | |
| Lounges .. now we are talking... ... or barking? Full story July 2022, Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Travel; Flying | |
| Letecké Muzeum More airplanes Our hotel near Prague was by two smaller, older airport that operates now as a general aviation, military, and museum airports. The Praha-Kbely airport has a truly great aviation museum, the Letecké muzeum Kbely. (Nice, Prague. I wish Helsinki was more clever about retaining historic airports...) Full story July 2022, Letecké Muzeum, Praha, Czech Republic Flying; Travel; History | |
| Reindeer burger and a hot sauna. Airport lounges redefined? Only in Finland, and only in Helsinki, and only with Finnair. Nowhere else can you enjoy a lounge sauna and a reindeer burger in the airline lounge. Not too shitty. But then I had to squeeze myself into a small metal tube for travel. Full story July 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel; Sauna (Normal) | |
| ORD flagship lounge I had a layover in Chicago on my way to a meeting... it turned out to be a long layover due to planes being late, and everything being super-crowded. But this also meant that I had time to visit the American Airlines Flagship Lounge in Terminal 3. Not bad, particularly liked the well-working WiFi and the mushroom pasta. Full story July 2022, Chicago O'Hare Airport, Chicago, USA Travel; Flying | |
| DFW! I'm on my way back from a work trip in the US, and making a rare stop (for me) at DFW. Interesting place, and the airport seems to work well, changing from flight to another is easy, etc. Full story May 2022, Dallas Fort Worth airport, Dallas, USA Travel; Flying | |
| LAX how I have missed you! Oh, I missed you so so much, LAX! It has been YEARS. But upon arrival, I tried to follow your signage to change to another terminal and ... Full story May 2022, Los Angeles International airport, Los Angeles, USA Travel; Flying | |
| New airport check-in at HEL! I've travelled a few times since the opening of the new Helsinki-Vantaa terminal, the expansion of T2 which is the main terminal. However, until now the actual check-in and security still used the old facilities. But now in May they had actually opened the full services in the new expansion. Quite exciting, and difficult to figure out where to go. What a wonderful new security they have, with NO NEED TO TAKE LIQUIDS OR COMPUTERS OUT!!! Full story April 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Empty lounge Crotia's Split has a very nice and modern airport. Still relatively small though, particularly for the big crowds that use it during the summer. But during the spring... pretty empty. There's only one lounge, before passport check and with very minimal services. But still very nice: quiet, there's power, drinks, clean and modern toilets, Internet... nice! Full story April 2022, Split Airport, Split, Croatia Flying | |
| Mini-lounge? What's this? They are making the lounges really small now? Full story March 2022, Flughafen Wien-Schwechat, Vienna, Austria Flying | |
| Ice on the plane??? Is it normal that after de-icing and take-off, you can still see ice stuck to the plane's windows? Felt odd to me... Full story February 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| HEL morning views For once I'm flying on Lufthansa. Felt a bit like ... not using my own airline. But there was no option for this trip to Cyprus. And therefore, no breakfast at the lounge. However, the morning views as we lifted off from Helsinki-Vantaa airport (HEL) were spectacular! Full story February 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Lounge closed SAS, what did you do??? Full story February 2022, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim I had not known about this: Deutsches Museum has a wonderful other side outside Munich, for aviation. Full story January 2022, Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim, Munich, Germany Flying | |
| Airplane meal... on the ground! I've been missing this... or have I? Full story May 2021, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Flying | |
| First flight during the pandemic I took my first flight during the pandemic. Nervous. Full story August 2020, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Returning to the airport after Covid-19 This isn't a busy place. In fact, on my first visit I didn't see a single person on my way in through one terminal and half-way on the walkway to the other one where I needed to pick up a rental car. Full story June 2020, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Miracle in Kayseri Despite one diversion, one unplanned return to origin, one cancellation, and one delay, our ski bags arrived in Kayseri. What a miracle in the airline system! Full story February 2020, Kayseri Airport, Kayseri, Turkey Travel; Flying | |
| Today's busses Today's busses are #350 and then #380. Full story October 2019, Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom Travel; Flying | |
| Iljushin playground Returning back from Budapest, Janne and I found a small but remarkable aviation museum next to the Ferenc Liszt airport. A different museum, at least from our point because it featured more of the eastern aircraft than the western ones we've seen more often. Iljushin, Tupolev, Yak, etc. Full story August 2019, Budapest Aero Park, Budapest, Hungary Flying; Travel | |
| Welcome to KAINUU Quiet place, green grass, views, a rocking chair... at an airport. Hard to believe, but there is this lounge at HEL called KAINUU. Full story June 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Hot as HEL Well, it isn't really a sauna, except that it is hot, it is packed with people. And it is a decorated bus at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, affectionately known as HEL. Full story June 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| The new A220 I had a chance to fly the new Airbus A220 plane the other day. Wonderful, efficient, hi-tech plane! And new airplane smell! Full story April 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Keflavik airport The Keflavik airport in Iceland had a very beautiful roof. Full story March 2019, Keflavik airport, Keflavik, Iceland Flying | |
| Building HEL Building the future of HEL... yeah right. It is hellish right now, as the traffic to the airport and parking arrangements are pretty unbearable. Full story March 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Not MAX Two crashes within few months have put the Boeing 737 MAX airplanes into doubt. I'm flying today, not on a MAX due to a world-wide grounding of the plane. I sometimes flew MAXes, as Norwegian flies them between Helsinki and Stockholm. Full story March 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying | |
| Check-in Moomins Love the new luggage tags Finnair hands out, not to mention the Moomins in their Tokyo check-in desk. Full story January 2019, Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan Flying | |
| Tampere Muumi Airport (TMP) Today I flew to Tampere for the first time, and was happy to find out that they've decorated the airport with Moomin pictures. This makes total sense, given the world's only Moomin museum is in Tampere. Nice! Full story November 2018, Tampere-Pirkkala Airport, Tampere, Finland Flying | |
| Frankfurt is an alien space station I got stuck at an elevator in Frankfurt the other day. Full story October 2018, Frankfurt Airport, Germany Flying | |
| Bromma Airport Many things are better in Sweden than in Finland. Take their appreciation of small city airports, for instance. Bromma is a small but thriving airport in Stockholm. Whereas in Finland... the idiots are tearing down a historic airport. Full story April 2018, Bromma Airport, Stockholm, Sweden Travel; Flying | |
| Back in the U.S.S.R. -- Aeroflot We got a chance to fly Aeroflot on our trip to Kazakhstan... I was hoping for a real historic Soviet experience, and Tupolevs. Or at least a Sukhoi Superjet. But no, sadly I was disappointed. Full story February 2018, Almaty Airport, Almaty, Kazakhstan; Sheremetyevo Airport, Khimki, Russia; Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Convair CV-990 Janne and I visited the Swiss Transport museum in Luzern, and were able to visit the Convair CV-990 "Coronado", in the cabin. Full story January 2018, Swiss Museum of Transport, Luzern, Switzerland Flying | |
| SIN to HEL Made the classic "SIN to HEL" trip again. Full story November 2017, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Flying; Travel | |
| Nextjet The flights from Sweden were incredibly booked this week, so I ended up in returning home on an airline that I've never heard of before, 2N or Nextjet. And interesting routing, via Port. And there was an interesting rust on the airplane... Full story October 2017, Arlanda, Sweden Travel; Flying | |
| Air Force One Classic I never thought I'd visit a presidential library in the US. Couldn't imagine anything more boring. But, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library hosts a VC-137C SAM 27000, or more commonly known as the Air Force One. Full story August 2017, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, USA Flying | |
| Space Shuttle Endeavour Janne and I managed to see yet another space shuttle, the Endeavour at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. They also have the one remaining external fuel tank on display. Full story August 2017, California Science Center, Los Angeles, California, USA Flying; History | |
| Santa Monica and Commercial Aviation's roots I hadn't really known about this, but one of my favourite places in L.A., Santa Monica, played a large role in early commercial aviation. The Douglas Aircraft company was based here, for instance, and many iconic aircraft, DC-3 included, were designed here. Full story August 2017, Museum of Flying, Santa Monica, California, USA Flying | |
| Falcon 9 Booster When Janne and I were in California, we made a pilgrimage to the SpaceX headquarters. In front the building stands a used Falcon 9 booster. Impressive feat of space technology! Full story August 2017, Space X, Hawthorne, California, USA Flying | |
| Airshow in Kaivopuisto On a Friday night I was at the airshow in Kaivopuisto. Full story June 2017, Kaivopuisto, Helsinki, Finland Flying | |
| Skiing with a drone A few weeks ago I got a present from my IETF friends: a Mavic Pro drone. Thank you! We've already played a lot with it, me, Olli, Janne, and many of our friends, with everyone having loads of fun with the device! Full story (TGR version) (Suomenkielinen versio) April 2017, Peuramaa, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kauniainen ski hill, Kauniainen, Finland; Sahara, Kauniainen, Finland Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Equipment; Flying | |
| 25 minutes is enough Apparently you *can* arrive at the airport 25min before intercontinental departure and still make it. Weather, taxi failure, clearing my own car from snow, stuck behind a fallen truck on the highway, not leaving enough time for these troubles, etc. Phew. Full story November 2016, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Travel; Flying | |
| Inverted Heliski Gotta love the French. Masters of bureaucratic directives. Or circumventing them. Take heliski, for instance. Heliski is illegal in France. But here we are, spending a day with skis and helicopters. For only 60€, to boot. It turns out that it is illegal to use a helicopter to take us to a mountain. But there is nothing that prevents using one take us from a mountain. Full story (Suomenkielinen versio) February 2013, Alpe d'Huez, France Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts, Heli, Car); Sauna (Normal); Flying | |
| A Night in the Cockpit of a 747 We lost all the instruments. The engines are not responding. I shout mayday to the radio, but the radio is silent. I curse my decision to ever enter the cockpit of this rusty 747-200. This night is going to end badly. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I decide that it is time to exit the cockpit, run down the stairs, and ... order a drink from the steward. Full story October 2012, Arlanda, Sweden Flying |
A night in the cockpit of a 747 from The Planetskier on Vimeo. |