While hardly significant in the grand scheme of things given that the arrangement only lasts a week, this is interesting nonetheless: Finnair and LOT Polish Airlines have signed an agreement by which Finnair’s New York route will be operated by one of LOT's almost brand new Boeing 787 aircraft from December, 27 2013 to January…
Continue reading: Finnair Wet Leasing A LOT 787
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It represents a very significant drop in J capacity on the route. LOT only has 18 J seats on their 787s. They are fully flat, but the window seats do not offer direct access to the aisles.
Finnair seems to be bleeding money -- if this helps their bottom line a bit, I'm all for it.
@ Ryan -- Though in fairness this is over the holidays, when premium cabin demand is extremely low.
@ Lucky -- Fair point. I look at this from the perspective of someone who often needs to buy (or change) J class tix at the last minute, so reductions in capacity have the potential to limit my options when I need to be somewhere in a hurry. Finnair is a good lower cost J class option from JFK to Eastern Europe and Asia, assuming availability.
I flew LOT ORD-WAW a couple weeks ago on the 787, and thought it was great. I think it was a much better experience than you had, Lucky! The food was fine, and the service was really good. Smiling, friendly, attentive FA's.
We flew LH's new business class on the way home, and I've got to say, the LOT seat was preferable in a number of ways...felt much more spacious than the LH seat, especially when sleeping.
Well, that short-term leasing is for long-time. LOT Polish Airlines is still operating the Helsinki-JFK route and now it's the middle of July!
@ Mike -- It seems that they actually restarted this for a few weeks. Don't think it has been operating as a 787 all along. More info here:
http://airlineroute.net/2014/06/18/ay-jfk-jun14/