From Amsterdam to Helsinki I flew on a Finnair A350-900 in business class, my first time flying the Finnair A350 since the premium cabin was retrofitted with new seats….that don’t actually recline.
Finnair A350 Business Class – My First Impressions
I flew on a Finnair A350-900 in business class several years ago from Helsinki to Beijing and thought the reverse herringbone seats were excellent…even today those seats are highly competitive. But Finnair went in a different direction and retrofitted its entire A330 and A350 fleet with a unique seat that’s more like a couch. And of course, couches do not recline…neither does the new seat. It’s quite spacious though, and while sleeping on a couch may conjure up images of college students or martial strife, Finnair has done an excellent job of creating a unique product that is comfortable in the lie-flat position.
But before we get onboard, I encountered a delay…a creeping delay due to a late arrival of the A350 from Helsinki. I was tracking the aircraft on FlightAware so I knew what was going on, but no one else did. The flight still showed “on time” even after our official departure time approached and the contracted gate agents did not even bother to show up early to keep passengers informed.
We ended up boarding about an hour late and taking off close to two hours late…which meant my 90 minute connection was in great danger.
Onboard, the cabin was lightly filled (it is unclear to me why Finnair runs the A350 between HEL and AMS every day) and I settled into my seat for the two-hour flight to Helsinki.
The flight attendants on board were very seasoned…and very lovely. Mature women who loved their job and were very hospitable and friendly.
As you can see, the seat is very spacious and the cabin is attractive.
(I’ll share more about the particulars of the seat and IFE in my full review)
Lunch was served after takeoff: I had pre-ordered a mushroom risotto dish and it was served with a side of beet hummus and dark bread. Delicious!
Dessert was also a treat: it was korvapuusti (I use the Swedish word kanelbullar, but think of a cinnamon roll with cardamom). I had enough coffee on the ground, so I had herbal tea with it.
I was looking forward to a smooth connection home to Los Angeles on another A350-900, but that did not work out according to plan…stay tuned.
You’re SO HANDSOME in that photo. I’m dying!!!
A cinnamon roll with cardamom? Then it’s more typically called a kardemummabullar — distinct from kanelbullar — by Swedes and Finnish Swedes. The former includes cardamom and cinnamon while the latter typically excludes cardamom.
You arrived into HEL late and misconnected to AY1 which doesn’t run daily?
Congrats on the €600 + free paid stopover, and hopefully it didn’t mess up other travel and business.
“martial” strife? Subconscious or deliberate spelling 🙂 ?
I guess they run the A350 to AMS, LHR, etc, instead of having them sit on the ground at HEL all day after their return from North America and Asia. There’s probably also a lot of profitable cargo traffic. The short turnaround trips also help with keeping the pilot’s takeoff/landing skills sharp, and gives them a chance to add some extras to their log books.