For the first time I flew the "northern route," but I didn't realize it
In the past few weeks I took flight LO80, from Tokyo Narita to Warsaw. A flight that was supposed to be one of [...]
LOT Polish Airlines
Star Alliance
WAW
In the past few weeks I took flight LO80, from Tokyo Narita to Warsaw. A flight that was supposed to be one of many that end nowhere, I didn't make videos and I didn't plan to review either. What often happens, however, is that we then get interesting articles out of these flights, such as the review on bento-boxes. In the end it was a special flight, but I didn't notice it and neither did the other passengers (I think).
What is the northern route
In this article:
Due to the closure of Russian airspace and countries affected by the war in Ukraine, companies have had to find alternative routes to fly to the East. In fact, to date, only companies from countries that have not closed their airspace to Russia can fly over Russia. In a nutshell we are talking mainly about the Chinese and Indian carriers and a few others.
All the other companies had to change course and stretch their way to fly to China, Japan, Korea and the rest of Asia. To be affected were mainly those that by geographical location had the shortest route as Finnair and LOT.
If 9 times out of 10 for weather reasons the best trail passes from the south, sometimes it happens that we pass from above, that is, we do the route passing over the arctic circle and disembark over Sweden after crossing the Barents Sea.
Because I didn't realize it
The IFE of LOT's 787/8 is ancient and does not have navigable maps as more modern cabs have. Also no announcement was made by the commander before takeoff, or rather only the usual indications were given i.e. flight duration, expected temperature and the announcement that no turbulence was expected.
All correct and all confirmed, the seat belt sign went off after takeoff and came back on during landing.
What was missing was precisely an announcement about the fact that today, contrary to the usual, the pilots chose to take this route instead of the usual one.
Fortunately, it was nighttime
The only consolation is that being an almost only night flight. I didn't miss the spectacle of admiring the Arctic lands from the plane, a truly unique opportunity to take in a view that you may not necessarily have the chance to see again in a frequent flyer's lifetime.
Finnair and the certificate
That this is special and doesn't happen every day is demonstrated by Finnair which, not only warns passengers, but delivers before landing a certificate to each to celebrate the completion of a special course.
Finnair also warns passengers that, in case "northern lights" are encountered along the flight, a warning will be made in the cabin to allow passengers to admire what is happening outside.
Have you ever done this route? Share your memories in the comments below.
