FTDI soldering
Back home, I experimented with soldering the 25 mil pitch FTDI chips:
http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/embedded_programming/FTDI/USB-FT230XS-UPDI.jpg
http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/embedded_programming/FTDI/USB-FT230XS-serial.jpg
What worked best for me was a combination of the techniques Jani tried: tin the traces, use hot air reflow to tack the chip down, then use drag soldering to finish.
See how hard that is to reproduce in your labs.
I am also going to test a heated solder sucker.