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Finnair – first or second tier Business Class
Finnair has always been an interesting European airline and I have flown mostly intra-Asian (when it flew between BKK and HKG/SIN a decade ago) and intra-European flights, and my last Finnair long haul flight was earlier in the 2006 when it has begun a nonstop flight between HKG and HEL using MD-11s. My impression of Finnair was interesting and my impression was that it provided an acceptable business class experience. It is definitely more practical than fancy and its main meal service is okay, but its pre-arrival meal aims to be on the “light” side with no choice. However its business class fares are always on the low side, so I guess you can’t expect too much. I have decided to give it a try again, as its new business class seats look pretty good. Due to my particular routing, my choice is British Airways’ Club World or Finnair’s new business class. Since I hate BA’s Club World seats, I decide to go for Finnair and Bangkok is one of Finnair’s destinations that will consistently have the new full flat business class seats. In some way, I am impressed with the cabin, and Finnair’s version of seats is definitely better than SN Brussels Airlines’ version, which I will explain a bit towards that section, and I have photo evidence too. Its cabin service is efficient and its catering remains average, nothing too fancy. BTW, since I have posted detail information on Finnair’s long-haul lounge before, I decide to skip taking photos, as the lounge is very busy during the late afternoon hours with eight departures to Asia between 4 and 6pm.
Beautiful day here at Helsinki – it seems that AY 832 always uses a bus gate, but good opportunity to take a picture of the beautiful A321 – filled with passengers connecting to Asia.
May 3, 2013
AY 89 HEL-BKK Lv1710 Arr0715+1 Airbus A330-300X OH-LTU
Lounge
No photo about the lounge (but I have done an extensive AY F lounge report before), but just want to share a few observations – Finnair really tries to sell many “premium” products in the lounge, such as premium wines and champagne, as well as fancy food like caviar and a four course full dinner. It even tries to sell sushi. In some ways, Americans have been selling food and premium alcohols in its lounges for decades, but most European airlines lounges don’t do it. To give Finnair credits, it has a decent complimentary food buffet with the usual soup bar, a salad bar with assorted bread rolls, as well as one kind of hot snacks (today’s choice is spring roll), assorted light snacks with pretzels, and some light desserts. I love the Organic mushroom soup, which I happen to crave most of the times. However I don’t really find selling fancy food and/or wines an overly premium experience. Most European airlines don’t do it and I just personally find it rather cheap for an airline to post advertisement and even making audio announcements to sell food and drinks in a supposedly top business class lounge. There are also too many limitations on who can consume particular alcohol offerings, and all these small things cheapen the premium class experience significantly. From what I can see, no one is really buying anything so it is annoying to passengers and do not really improve Finnair’s cash flow.
Helsinki is very busy at this afternoon hour and for those aviation enthusiasts, I actually jog down the following information:
OH-LTN (333) to Chongqing, OH-LTP (333) to Pudong, OH-LTR (333) to Kansai, OH-LQF (343) to Beijing, OH-LQD (Marimekko Poppy livery) to Tokyo Narita, OH-LQE to Nagoya, and OH-LTS to Seoul Incheon
Too bad that I can’t take any good airplane photos, due to the design of the airport!
OH-LTU, An Airbus A330-300 with the new business class, is being used for today’s Bangkok flight. I tried to take a picture, but just can’t find a decent one to post. Bangkok airport is even worst in this aspect. Today, we used gate 32, and there was a separate priority boarding line for premium passengers. It is also strictly enforced, unlike typical intra-European flights.
Boarding began at 4:28pm and I was the first one to board, as I wanted to take some good cabin pictures. I actually had a good amount of time to do so, as the loading in business class was very light this afternoon, while economy was very full.
Cabin:
The new business class is actually a major improvement from the sliding seats that Finnair is still using on other A340s and older A330s. The seats are configured in an alternate four and five abreast arrangement, and all the “L” seats are solo, which I choose. Many passengers prefer 2C, 4C, or 6C, as they have two giant side tables, but I am very concerned that those seats will have very narrow space for feet, which are the main downfall on these kinds of business class seats. Here is the smartly looking cabin and I like the lighter shade of blue that Finnair uses now.
During boarding, the F/As offered a choice of orange juice, water or champagne (served in real glasses), as well as newspapers and noise-canceling headsets.
Door was closed early at 4:57pm and it continued to amaze me how Europeans were able to board in an orderly fashion and how a reasonable hand carry policy can make the boarding experience so much better.
Couple shots, while taxing to R/W22R
OH-LQD Marimekko Poppy livery to Narita this afternoon
Finnair has always been an interesting European airline and I have flown mostly intra-Asian (when it flew between BKK and HKG/SIN a decade ago) and intra-European flights, and my last Finnair long haul flight was earlier in the 2006 when it has begun a nonstop flight between HKG and HEL using MD-11s. My impression of Finnair was interesting and my impression was that it provided an acceptable business class experience. It is definitely more practical than fancy and its main meal service is okay, but its pre-arrival meal aims to be on the “light” side with no choice. However its business class fares are always on the low side, so I guess you can’t expect too much. I have decided to give it a try again, as its new business class seats look pretty good. Due to my particular routing, my choice is British Airways’ Club World or Finnair’s new business class. Since I hate BA’s Club World seats, I decide to go for Finnair and Bangkok is one of Finnair’s destinations that will consistently have the new full flat business class seats. In some way, I am impressed with the cabin, and Finnair’s version of seats is definitely better than SN Brussels Airlines’ version, which I will explain a bit towards that section, and I have photo evidence too. Its cabin service is efficient and its catering remains average, nothing too fancy. BTW, since I have posted detail information on Finnair’s long-haul lounge before, I decide to skip taking photos, as the lounge is very busy during the late afternoon hours with eight departures to Asia between 4 and 6pm.
Beautiful day here at Helsinki – it seems that AY 832 always uses a bus gate, but good opportunity to take a picture of the beautiful A321 – filled with passengers connecting to Asia.
May 3, 2013
AY 89 HEL-BKK Lv1710 Arr0715+1 Airbus A330-300X OH-LTU
Lounge
No photo about the lounge (but I have done an extensive AY F lounge report before), but just want to share a few observations – Finnair really tries to sell many “premium” products in the lounge, such as premium wines and champagne, as well as fancy food like caviar and a four course full dinner. It even tries to sell sushi. In some ways, Americans have been selling food and premium alcohols in its lounges for decades, but most European airlines lounges don’t do it. To give Finnair credits, it has a decent complimentary food buffet with the usual soup bar, a salad bar with assorted bread rolls, as well as one kind of hot snacks (today’s choice is spring roll), assorted light snacks with pretzels, and some light desserts. I love the Organic mushroom soup, which I happen to crave most of the times. However I don’t really find selling fancy food and/or wines an overly premium experience. Most European airlines don’t do it and I just personally find it rather cheap for an airline to post advertisement and even making audio announcements to sell food and drinks in a supposedly top business class lounge. There are also too many limitations on who can consume particular alcohol offerings, and all these small things cheapen the premium class experience significantly. From what I can see, no one is really buying anything so it is annoying to passengers and do not really improve Finnair’s cash flow.
Helsinki is very busy at this afternoon hour and for those aviation enthusiasts, I actually jog down the following information:
OH-LTN (333) to Chongqing, OH-LTP (333) to Pudong, OH-LTR (333) to Kansai, OH-LQF (343) to Beijing, OH-LQD (Marimekko Poppy livery) to Tokyo Narita, OH-LQE to Nagoya, and OH-LTS to Seoul Incheon
Too bad that I can’t take any good airplane photos, due to the design of the airport!
OH-LTU, An Airbus A330-300 with the new business class, is being used for today’s Bangkok flight. I tried to take a picture, but just can’t find a decent one to post. Bangkok airport is even worst in this aspect. Today, we used gate 32, and there was a separate priority boarding line for premium passengers. It is also strictly enforced, unlike typical intra-European flights.
Boarding began at 4:28pm and I was the first one to board, as I wanted to take some good cabin pictures. I actually had a good amount of time to do so, as the loading in business class was very light this afternoon, while economy was very full.
Cabin:
The new business class is actually a major improvement from the sliding seats that Finnair is still using on other A340s and older A330s. The seats are configured in an alternate four and five abreast arrangement, and all the “L” seats are solo, which I choose. Many passengers prefer 2C, 4C, or 6C, as they have two giant side tables, but I am very concerned that those seats will have very narrow space for feet, which are the main downfall on these kinds of business class seats. Here is the smartly looking cabin and I like the lighter shade of blue that Finnair uses now.
During boarding, the F/As offered a choice of orange juice, water or champagne (served in real glasses), as well as newspapers and noise-canceling headsets.
Door was closed early at 4:57pm and it continued to amaze me how Europeans were able to board in an orderly fashion and how a reasonable hand carry policy can make the boarding experience so much better.
Couple shots, while taxing to R/W22R
OH-LQD Marimekko Poppy livery to Narita this afternoon
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