After a pleasant but short stay in the Finnair Lounge in Helsinki I proceeded to the boarding area for my flight to New York. 

Boarding began 45 minutes before departure. There were four flight attendants in the business class cabin. They immediately took my coat and allowed me to take photos. They then passed pre-departure beverages (PDB) of either sparkling wine, orange juice or water. The crew quickly identified the passengers language and always spoke to each passenger in ...

After finishing at ITB I departed on Air Berlin for Helsinki. The all coach flight was on time and uneventful. I then proceeded through passport control and headed to the FinnAir lounge. 

The lounge for Non-Schengen flights is located near Gate 36 in Terminal 2. The lounge is contemporary and nicely appointed with comfortable chairs, dining tables and showers. The chairs by the windows (not shown) tilt back and feature an ottoman. I think you could easily ...

In completing the Hyatt Diamond challenge, I've spent my share of nights at several different Hyatt Place properties. Hyatt Place, for those that haven't stayed there, is Hyatt's inexpensive franchise that feature the same building layout at each location. Almost all rooms feature a split studio design, with a large L-shaped couch, desk and wet bar with a fridge for your use. The other half of the room features one king size bed or two queen beds and a small bathroom. In some  markets ...

In order to complete my Hyatt Diamond Challenge last year, I booked three nights at the Hyatt Crystal City near Washington DCA Airport.

If you are mileage running and trying to keep your costs down there are two cheap options available to get to the hotel. Firstly the hotel runs a free shuttle to the airport every 20 minutes. If you are already downtown or have taken the train or bus to Union Station, you can take the Metro service to Crystal City station. The hotel runs ...

Air Berlin is rolling out lie flat business class seats similar to Etihad. I was invited to a press conference in March to highlight the new seat and get a first hand look.

The seats are comfortable and have plenty of length for tall travelers. While I'm average height I spoke with a few other attendees that were at least 6' 2" and they said the seat was very comfortable for them. The specs for the seat mention the length at 182cm (approximately 6') but both people reported ...