Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024: Day 2 – Budapest (BUD) to Helsinki (HEL)

Having turned off the light at around 1:30 a.m., I was awake at around 6:30 a.m., thinking about whether Mango had allowed her mum to get some sleep last night.

She had been naughty over the previous few nights, waking us at all hours by meowing and scratching outside our bedroom door.

By the time we spoke later on, Vick confirmed she had enjoyed a peaceful night. Whether that was down to Mango being good or the ear plugs that The Vickster had deployed, we were not too sure.

Either way, a good night’s sleep was enjoyed in the Billingham household.

After doing some admin, I packed up and headed back to the airport, looking forward to the real start of my trip.

It was a beautifully sunny day, and Terminal 2B was hectic. Fasttrack Security was open and not too busy, but there was a family with a pushchair and numerous kids ahead of me.

Each had to be patted down individually to make sure they weren’t smuggling something airside at Budapest airport. That delayed things by 10 mins. Consequently, there was a fair queue to go through the scanner by the time we started moving.

Terminal 2B had an airy, clean feel to the departure lounge. It was a pleasure to walk through it.

Having walked through the duty-free shop, the Schengen lounges were to the right and up the escalator on the mezzanine level.

I started in the Plaza Premium Lounge, which was small and desperately dull. I picked up a coffee and debated whether it was worth popping to the Sky Court Lounge to see whether that was any better.

It was hugely better. It was about 3 times bigger and had a more interesting layout. It also had a much better selection of food and it was lighter too. I was pleased I’d made the effort to change lounges.

Although I wanted to abstain from some attractive-looking pastries, my will-power was found wanting yet again. They were very tasty…

The lounge soon filled up to beyond bursting. I was pleased I had a comfy seat and had access to fluffy tasty pastries!

My flight to Helsinki was due to leave from Gate A8, which was no more than 5 mins away.

I headed down there a good 45 mins before departure, and I was pleased to see a well organised gate.

Finnair clearly knew how to manage a boarding area!

There were three clearly separated boarding queues: Priority Boarding for Groups 1 and 2, and then two follow-on queues. The two follow-on queues had a tensa barrier across.

A gate agent checked the boarding passes of those in Priority Boarding. It only took 2-3 mins and it was all very civilised.

Boarding started about 35 mins ahead of departure time, and I got an initial red light since Finnair needed to check my passport and confirm I was travelling under an ESTA.

I should have thought about that and gotten everything checked before boarding commenced. Such is life!

Anyway, on into seat 01F and I had the entire row to myself! Nice!

I was hoping that the flight would arrive into Helsinki earlier than it had previously. I only had 35 mins between flights anyway, so any delay, and I knew I’d be struggling…

It’s recent arrival times showed a consistently late arrival and, in some examples, as late as 4pm.

Looked like the flight into Helsinki was due to arrive into Gate 24 and the flight leaving for Heathrow was likely to be leaving from Gate 46.

That involved getting through Passport Control to enter the non-Schengen area of the airport as well.

That connection was easily doable, but it was going to be tight. The fact that I was hand-luggage only could have been an advantage. More likely that Finnair would have waited for me rather than offloading me.

We pushed back 6 mins late. The captain advised it would be a 2 hr 15 min flight, so how long it was going to take us to taxi might be critical.

We didn’t take off until 12:25, so with a 2 hr 15 min flight time, it seemed highly unlikely that I would make my connection.

Lunch was served soon after taking off. There was no option as such, but nevertheless, it was really tasty.

I received a personal description of the dishes that had been served, and the milk jug was left for my use for my cup of tea.

The starter was a bit odd: pesto and mint covered feta cheese. All I can say is that I tried a bit of it.

The main course was more mainstream: chicken with creamed carrots. Very nice indeed.

It was an excellent service. BA could learn a thing or two from Finnair…

I had a really nice chat with the lead cabin crew member. We talked about my tight connection and how she had crewed some of the BA wet-lease Finnair aircraft a while ago.

I told her that the service she offered was far superior to the service offered by BA. Apparently, Finnair were told off (by BA) for offering a service that was better than BAs.

We landed at around 15:35, and luckily, it was a short taxi into Gate 24.

They were quick in attaching the air bridge, so I had around 15 mins to get to Gate 46.

I estimated it was about half a mile, but I was carrying a heavy rucksack, and I knew there would be plenty of people getting in my way!

I said goodbye to the excellent crew, and I started running up the airbridge and on towards Passport Control.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024