Finnair surprised me, in a very good way. My A350-900 flight in business class from Helsinki to Beijing was exceptional.
The ground experience, however, could use a little work. After spending some time in both the Finnair Business Class Lounge and Almost@Home Lounge, I proceeded to the boarding gate.
The gate area was crowded and a free-for-all ensued when boarding was announced, despite priority lines indicators.
Our aircraft departed from a remote stand, meaning busses to the aircraft.
AY 0051
Helsinki (HEL) – Beijing (PEK)
Thursday, June 30
Depart: 6:20PM
Arrive: 06:55AM+1
Duration: 7hr35min
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 4A (Business Class)
A FA greeted me onboard and directed me left, where I found my business class seat in 4A.
Finnair A350 Business Class Seat
Finnair uses a reverse herringbone seat on its A350 similar to what I recently reviewed on Qatar Airways. The seat is spacious and contains ample personal storage.
On the left side of my seat was a literature pocket and water bottle holder. Legroom was good inside the cutout. The IFE “remote”, headphone jack, USB plug, and power port were also on the left side at seating level. A cutout with hook was later used to store headphones. Just above, a push-button reading light was available. A generous storage container plus adjustable arm rest was found on the right side of the seat.
While economy class was packed, business class went out less than half full and the entire rear business class cabin remained empty. That gave me the chance to take some additional cabin shots with the lights turned down:
Finnair offers excellent Marimekko bedding in business class wth a colorful design. I, for one, like the Ikea look onboard from a Nordic airline.
Finnair A350 Business Class IFE + Wi-Fi
I loved the IFE system, which not only contained a handful of great movies, TV shows, games, and music, but a nifty map highlighting in-flight service.
Finnair uses Bose noise-calling headphones in business class which worked very well.
Wi-Fi was complimentary for business class passengers and worked well, surprisingly even while we were in Chinese airspace. A unique code was provided for each business class passenger and displayed on the IFE screen:
Finnair A350 Business Class HD Tailcam
My favorite part of the IFE, however, was the high-definition tailcam. I left this on for most of the flight. It is one of my favorite features of the A350.
Finnair A350 Business Class Dining
During boarding, FAs offered a choice of beverage. I had a glass of blueberry juice and sparkling water. Don’t you love the Iittala Ultima Thule glassware? A hot towel was also offered.
After takeoff, another beverage service was offered with an amuse bouche (fennel, apples, peas, whitefish, and caviar). I tired the signature cocktail, called Blue Sky, featuring blueberry liqueur and champagne. It was excellent…an great juxtaposition of sweet and tart tastes.
Menus were placed in a lime-green folder that also contained the safety card and information on duty free shopping. Here’s the full menu:
Breakfast menu cards were also in the folder, which I filled out and returned to the FA:
Dinner
Flight time to Beijing is short…we were in the air for only about seven hours. While Finnair offers a more relaxed meal service on longer Asian routes, it offered a single-tray service on this flight.
The starter contained slices of roast beef in tartar sauce with spinach and nutmeg. For the main course, I chose pike-perch over beef neck or sweet and sour pork. Served with potatoes and lemon, it was an excellent choice and proved light and delicious.
The meal tray also included bread and a small green salad with onions and cucumber.
How good was it? This good:
A cheese course included a selection of tasty Finnish cheeses.
Finally, dessert was Finnish organic ice cream: I tried both vanilla and licorice. The only downside to the entire flight: the cappuccino was powdered.
Mid-Flight Snack
The flight was truly too short to be hungry between meals, but FAs set out a very nice self-serve snack area in the galley between the two business lass cabins.
It contained chips, nuts, chocolate, and a variety of beverages including several wine choices.
Breakfast
Two choices for breakfast: American or Chinese. I chose the American breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, rösti potatoes, and baked beans (which meant this was really an English breakfast). My favorite part, however, was the berry smoothie…I may have had four of them.
Finnair A350 Business Class Service
Service shined on this flight…I wish to commend every single FA on the flight for providing genuinely friendly, caring service.
They were chatty…I like that. But they were also service-oriented. Drinks were refilled, the cabin was monitored often with extra water bottles offered, and one FA proactively offered to make my bed.
Prior to landing, a FA stopped by to thank me for flying Finnair and addressed me by name.
Finnair A350 Business Class Lavatory
I loved the onboard lavatories. With a window above the toilet, the bathroom filled with natural light. The white counter and light woodgrain cabinets accentuated this even more. Real towels were used as well.
Finnair A350 Business Class Amenities
Business class passengers receive an amenity kit (filled with Clarins amenities) and slippers. Both have the Marimekko design.
CONCLUSION
We landed ahead of schedule in Beijing and I was truly sorry the flight had ended. Finnair is now absolutely one of my favorite carriers in business class. With great service, a comfortable seat, tasty food, and free and functioning wi-fi, I’d call this a near flawless business class flight. Fix the cappuccino issue and it would have been flawless.
Good review. I wish Finnair would expand to more North America cities. A solid, good product with excellent connections in Helsinki – a terrific city to visit btw – especially to Central and Eastern Europe. Finnair put its expansion strategy into Asia after the Cold War and with the opening of Russian airspace. A gamble as it requires Finland to stay in good graces with Mother Russia – but Russia profits annually to the tune of over $300 million in overflight fees – all airlines.
Great review, something different. Really like the aesthetic side of Finnair, although perhaps they should bring a little bit more color to the cabin. Hopefully Finnair manages to make SFO a year-round service in the future and upgrades their A330s sooner rather than later. The airport can get a bit crowded during the afternoon rush but I’ve understood expansions are under way.
Absolutely agree re Finnair. I had a fantastic return trip to HKG on their A350. A wonderful plane (my absolute tops) and an excellent product – it’s been such a let down going back to UA business class.
However, I would take issue with it being a British breakfast because of the baked beans. The potatoes make it an American breakfast so, I suppose, properly it should be called an Anglo-American breakfast. Potatoes do not feature for breakfast in GB.
No such thing as a British Breakfast. It’s an English Breakfast (or Scottish or Irish etc. if you are in that neck of the woods at the time)- as Matthew says. Sorry to be pedantic but I didn’t start it…
Not to be confused with a Brexit Breakfast — a stale crust of French bread and a bitter cup of tea.
“Service shined on this flight…I wish to commend every single FA on the flight for providing genuinely friendly, caring service.
They were chatty…I like that. But they were also service-oriented. Drinks were refilled, the cabin was monitored often with extra water bottles offered, and one FA proactively offered to make my bed.”
Ah, so un-Finn but I agree that Finnair crews are changing the stereotypes.
Not so long time ago (2008-2014) Finnair was cutting salaries and staff heavily, having arguments with the unions and it was very visible on the flights. Now they are doing great, adding new flights, hiring new staff (100+ pilots, 350+ stewards, etc) and this shows during the flights. 10 years ago I would avoid Finnair longhaul, today I’m happy to fly them if they are competitive enough.
Also the service on-board is getting better, not being cut and reduced. The did limit the WiFi access though, only 1 hour free in Business class unless you’re top-tier Oneworld flier. I guess it was planned initially, they just made a bit more available at loss first to make people used to it.
That glassware is cool, and looks like a solid product overall. But it’s too bad they didn’t offer reindeer on the menu…
SWISS did in the first class lounge! I’ve had it on Lufthansa before. I preferred the fish!
Not sure if it’s still an option, but at least until December 2017 you could order a special meal, which was reindeer. The name of the special meal was some Chef’s Gourmet Menu or so.
I’m a huge fan of this site, but I think calling Finnair a “Scandinavian” airline is a bit of a misclassification. Finland is Nordic, but not Scandinavian.
My apologies. I fixed it!
Flight say TXL to HEL instead of HEL to PEK
Thanks.
I’ve never flown them so it’s great to see such a thorough review. Thank you! I love anything blueberry so the drinks and smooth look fantastic. Their glassware is gorgeous, and it reminds me of a set my parents used only for company that was a wedding gift. I’m going to have to remember to look for it the next time I visit. 😉
As long as it’s correction time…. Those are radishes, not onions, with your salad.
Thanks! No wonder I liked them. 😉
Any idea why they use that rounded bulkhead between business and economy? It seems a lot of light/noise would come into the business class cabin from economy.
The window in the lavatory is a great touch. Especially when the cabin is dark before landing and you want to freshen/wake up.
Until 2015 I was going to Nordic countries by using *A carriers i.e. SK, AC or LH then I decided to fly AY from YYZ (I was also AC Super Elite). I was literally blown away, both in business and economy class. Never had a bad flight with them, even on the short hops like HEL-ARN. So much that I stopped flying *A and moving most of my business travel to oneWorld (mind you I do avoid British Airways if I can).
Wow..the food looks really good. I love the seats which is bright colour and the cabin is lighten naturally.
Very nice seats as well.
It is a tremendous product overall.
Still the best value for J fares from many cities in Europe to Bangkok, with short and extremely efficient transfers in HEL.
That glassware is nice. I witnessed my seat mate steal 3 of them on the relatively short flight from Moscow to Helsinki. Quite shameless and one suspects that more than a few go missing. IIRC, they are available for purchase in the pre-order shopping catalogue on board.
I’m sure that this is a very common occurrence. It is why there are signs all over the lounge in HEL advising passengers not to steal and that they can buy the stuff online.
Shame no Finnair A350 are flying to the Western Hemisphere.
The A330 and A340 are pretty blah.
But, the staff was always gracious.
Went to the Arctic circle with Finnair. Impressive pilot skills.
Hi Matt,
Very good review and enjoy reading it from start to the end.
Excellent review, thanks, the pics were superb. I’ve flown Finnair many times, but not in Business, and as I’m planning a long haul Business fare now this review was very helpful, assuming they haven’t deteriorated over the past year (and I’ve spent a lot of time in Finland and Scandinavia, so yes, Finland is nordic, but not Scandinavian).
Fantastic review with excellent, excellent pictures. I always appreciate when a reviewer includes a ton of high quality pictures. Can’t wait for my a350 flight in August!
Finnair are the best! Genuinely friendly staff and service exceptional. You didn’t mention that they give the most luggage allowance in Business Class (3 x 32kg) + and extra one if your move up a member tier! Nobody give this much anymore. Their Arctic char was the most tasty fish-dish I have ever tasted on an airline! Generous frequent flyer programme with an annual points sale that can can generate inexpensive awards and upgrades. Upgrades can also be bought at the gates on flight days. Flying again with them this Wednesday… can’t wait .
Good point, though I never check bags.