After a productive layover in Copenhagen, it was time for my brief flight to Helsinki, where I would be spending the night. Other than a misplaced meal expectation, my Finnair A321 business class flight was quick and smooth.
Finnair A321 Business Class Review [CPH-HEL]
I booked this flight as part of my 70,000-mile one-way ticket from Doha to Chicago I outlined here.
After departing the Aviator Apartment Business Lounge, I walked over to the nearby A gates where my flight would depart from.
We boarded just 25 minutes before scheduled departure, but there were not more than 40 people on the flight.
Finnair 952
Copenhagen (CPH) – Helsinki (HEL)
Wednesday, March 9
Depart: 8:40 AM
Arrive: 11:15 AM
Duration: 01hr, 35min
Distance: 556 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Seat: 3A (Business Class)
Welcoming me onboard, a flight attendant inspected my boarding pass and greeted me in Finnish.
Seats
If you’re expecting premium seats in intra-Eureopan business class on Finnair you will be disappointed. Instead, like most European carriers, business class is the same seat as economy class, with a blocked middle seat. The upside to that approach, at least from the airline perspective, is that the business class cabin can be variable – if more economy class or more business class seats are needed, the divider and curtain between cabins can simply be moved forward to backward.
Although eight rows had been blocked for business class, so I ended up with the entire row to myself. Finnair uses the Recaro slimline seat on its A321s you’ll find on Austrian, Lufthansa, SWISS, and SAS (among others). The first nine rows do have 32 inches of legroom, while rows 11 to 23 only have 30. Interestingly (at least according to AeroLopa), in rows 25-36, the ABC seats have an extra inch of legroom (31 inches) versus the DEF seats. Unlike my friend Zach Griff, I did not bring the measuring tape, especially considering it was a short flight in intra-Europe J.
There are coat hooks, but no in-seat power.
We left behind a very cloudy morning in Copenhagen but soon were in the bright morning sun.
Food + Drink
We took off on time and a hot towel followed by breakfast was served shortly after. I’ve been on quite a few Finnair flights and business class passengers have always been served a hot meal. I assumed, like Austrian Airlines, that one of the Finnair touches was a hot meal on all flights. But perhaps not within Scandinavia, as my flight only featured a cold breakfast (unless you count the warm croissant).
It included:
- cold cheese and meat slices (turkey and salami)
- fresh-cut fruit
- yogurt
- croissant
The presentation left much to be desired (especially the fruit served in a plastic container), but looked better when “cleaned up.”
As always on Finnair, I enjoyed a glass of blueberry juice and had a couple cups of coffee, which was strong, as well as a bottle of water.
Note that while you can expect the same type of meal if you take this route today, Finnair recently refreshed its tableware and (sadly) removed both the Iittala Ultima Thule glassware and the Marimekko crockery. I have no idea why, but that’s a topic for another time…
IFE + Wi-Fi
There is no in-flight-entertainment screens (beyond the moving map overhead), but wi-fi was available. Business class passengers received 30 minutes free, which was more than enough for the brief flight. A pass would have cost €4.95 for low-speed and €10.95 for high-speed.
We landed to a very snowy day in Helsinki, where I had not even booked a hotel yet.
CONCLUSION
This flight (and hopefully not this review) was about as boring as boring could be. And that’s a good thing for a 556-mile flight on a nippy winter morning. Sure, I would have liked a hot meal but for such a short flight, the meal service was more than adequate. Would I pay extra for Euro business class? Generally not, but I enjoy it when I have it. While this flight was empty in both cabins, the extra space in business class (even with the same seats) makes a difference when the flight is full.
Isn’t this type of meal for a flight of this length typical within Europe?
Not on Finnair or Austrian, which IME always served hot meals, even on the very short flights.
For quite some time Finnair have only served hot food on flights of over three hours duration. HEL-LHR makes it but for instance AMS doesn’t as it’s just under, no where in central Europe qualifies either, in Southern Europe, ATH just does.
There is also no longer a choice of food and very often it’s vegetarian – take it or leave it. This is all because apparently their customers told them to ‘reduce waste’. As a Finnair frequent flyer and knowing many more, I know no one who was asked anything and none would have expressed the wish that resulted in the current standards of non-service.
Very helpful. Thanks for sharing this.
Iberia Express also has a ‘take it or leave it’ menu on some of its flights but it’s rarely vegetarian, which causes me problems. I do eat fish, though, and one of my best airlines meals in a while had a hake main course.
Iberia Express also has a ‘take it or leave it’ menu on some of its flights but it’s rarely vegetarian, which causes me problems. I do eat fish, though, and one of my best airlines meals in a while was on I2 and had a hake main course.
The food that you pay for in Economy when flying over 5 hours is similarly bad.
1. Little choice. None of which are “simple meals” of the type it’s wise to eat on a flight.
2. Even more expensive than before as they now include a compulsory mini bottle of wine and so the price is now just a shade less than €20.
3. The sweet course now consists only of a very small chocolate bar.
4. That chocolate bar was the only thing worth eating last time I flew (Nov 2022) because the hot meal part was disgusting – mini, tough chicken that was almost impossible to cut with the thin wooden fork provided, and “exotic” over-spiced rice and sauce.
Unlike for non -eating passengers who nowadays have to pay for coffee or tea (cash not accepted so tough if your credit card is in your money belt as they will wait while you half strip to dig it out), coffee is provided “free” for food-paying passengers that is they provide hot water to add to the Nescafe Gold sachet included in the meal.
In other words, Finnair standards have slipped dramatically recently (Dec 2021 you still got free tea or coffee even without having ordered a meal)
Correction:
I was of course trying to cut the chicken with a thin wooden knife.
James, what a wonderful comment.
Couldn’t word it better.
This has doubtless been asked before but I don’t recall seeing it – how do you manage to get all these photos of an empty cabin? Do you arrange to pre-board? Stay on till everyone else has left?
Thoughtful write-up, but reviews of intra-European narrow-body business class are hardly worth the effort to write or read. The blocked middle seat and minimal meal service hasn’t changed in 30+ years.
The minimal service has changed markedly in the last 30 years – it has been the subject of further reductions and just when you think they can’t find anything more to cut, they manage it!
Thanks for the review. I’ve taken this flight several times and find the coffee oddly satisfying. Finnair if often the cheapest OW J option for flights to NA or Asia so their flights are useful for me. More generally, these short flights in business are actually some of my favorite. They have all the things I love about flying (take off, food/coffee and landing) with very little time for what I could do without (overhearing conversation of other passengers). Objectively, there is no need for a meal, which makes the service slightly indulgent. Cabin crew tend to be quite pleasant. So did I learn anything from this or nearly any other intra-European flight review? Not really. But it did bring back warm memories.
CPH-HEL isn’t “within Scandinavia,” but I think you know that.
I know there’s some controversy over that, but I tend to count Finland in Scandinavia, especially when Swedish is an official language!
Tell that to a Finn if you dare! The word is Nordic!
Finnair’s blueberry juice is made in Turku. They use wild blueberries, gathered from Finnish forests. Thats why the taste is different (superior) to a “normal” blueberry product.