Intra-Europe business class is usually not much to speak of. Typically, carriers will offer an economy class aisle or window seat with the middle blocked. A meal will be served, but it tends to be light and cold on shorter flights. For my Meal of the Week feature this week, I want to focus on one carrier that manages a hot meal on every meal flight: Finnair.
Flight time was under 2hrs so I was not expecting much. But as we took off the smell of baked schnitzel wafted through the cabin. After takeoff, FAs sprang to action and offered each passenger lunch.
In my experience, Finnair always offers a hot meal but does not offer a choice. This was at least true on this flight. First came the meal, rapidly served via cart. FAs did remove the foil wrappers off the main course before serving. The main course was indeed schnitzel served in a creamy, spicy white sauce with green beans and mashed potatoes. Bread was offered from a basket.
Next came beverages. My friend John had champagne while I had water to drink. I love the distinctive Finnish glassware and crockery used on Finnair.
How was the food? Very, very tasty. The schnitzel was piping hot and perfectly seasoned. I ordered tea with lemon after the meal was cleared away.
We would connect later that day to Beijing (trip report is in the queue).
CONCLUSION
If you’re flying Finnair within Europe, there is no need to eat at home or in the lounge unless you have strict dietary requirements. I was a bit surprised that the only option was pork, but I again underscore how delicious it was.
Kinda off track, but when does Finair usually release long-haul business seats? I’m looking specifically at ORD-HEL next year and haven’t had much luck. I’ve read they occasionally show up as phantom space on AA.com, but at this point I haven’t even seen that. Any thoughts appreciated.
Longhaul award space is often released right at the opening of the window, about 330 days prior to departure.
Then it may not appear again, though if it does it is often two weeks or so before.
Once in a while they open the floodgates, but rarely (not once this year). Definitely don’t rely on aa.com to search for space, but the BA tool is accurate.
Yum! That schnitzel looks delicious! Though I suppose it would have been more authentically Finnish if they’d served reindeer…
@MeanMeosh – Indeed Finnair served Reindeer on my flight from Helsinki to Seoul a couple of years ago. Will be flying from HEL to BKK next year so will see whether it was a one-off
Look forward to Barcelona-Helsinki flight which at 4 hrs should give ample time for an enjoyable lunch 🙂
Meat, souce and potatoes is actually very typical Finnish meal, reindeer is very special, except in Lapland. Meals on Finnair are often tasty and I like very much the blueberry juice they serve even in economy class without cost.