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Finnair upgrading long haul seating


Stillearly

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Tell you what, Finnair are rapidly consolidating a decent share of the market. I've heard nothing but good reports from them, @john lukeI think uses them a lot.

The new seats, especially in PE look great. Of course it depends upon price point and timings (specifically to BKK) but if they are halfway decent, then they may steal a chunk of business from some of the ME 1 stop operators.

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I will be traveling economy comfort in July and the timings are good, their prices are probably some of the cheapest for connecting flights to Thailand from UK except probably for Scoot. Looking forward to my trip via Helsinki as have not been in Finland before. They were also offering double miles when I booked so a pretty good deal.

Saw the video on DailyMail.com and it looked OK but needs a little effort to set up the sleeper position in business..

Edited by Horizondave
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2 hours ago, Stillearly said:

Oh nice...I am a gold member and hope to travel to Thailand again before they replace the new seats

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Well i flew for the first time in December back to the UK with Finnair with a changeover in Helsinki to LHR, never again, the chaos in Helsinki was incredible, no info on the departure board for my flight to LHR, no assistance available from any airport staff.

I very nearly missed the flight to LHR, Finnair can shove their flights where the sun don't shine, now Scoot was a totally different experience, totally professional in every respect.  

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Whenever I have flow business with them I liked their single seat option. Having said that, on one occasion during champagne and orange juice time I was asked to move to the other side of the aircraft....then after a long cabin crew discussion was asked to move back to t'other side again. Apparently there were passengers with young children and there were safety issues....I refuse to believe that it was a ballast issue!!! 

I have never used them from LHR but always from OSL. Each time I was disappointed with the Business lounge in Helsinki when I was asked to pay for my wine ( I refused and it was agreed!)

During the flight it was excellent so I'm interested in PE if the price is right !!!

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7 hours ago, john luke said:

One tip which worked for me with Finnair is worth trying, if you have gold or platinum with any other airline is to send KLM an E mail basically asking if they will match that status with their frequent flyer scheme.

It worked for me.

 

Is Finnair connected to KLM?

Edited by boydeste
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I used them a few years ago for LHR-BKK via HEL and back. The business class from HEL to BKK was fine, not up to Qatar or Oman's high standards, but perfectly acceptable. The food was probably the best I've had in BC on any airline, the meals were designed by a Swedish chef with a chain of up-market eateries in Scandinavia and used fresh veggies and herbs to reflect the season. Delicious, not like airline food at all. The downer is that you have to fly for 3 hours from LHR to HEL (and back again if you booked a return ticket) on a creaky old Airbus A320 with only economy class seating. They get around this by leaving the middle seat in every three empty, so at least you're not rubbing elbows with your neighbour. For an hour's flight it would be no worse than, say, taking the KLM Cityhopper from CWL to AMS to connect with the AMS-BKK flight, but for 3 hours it's a bit OTT. One positive, though, on the flight back from HEL to LHR I got bored with champagne and asked for a G&T. They served me Finnish Arctic Blue, one of the best gins I've ever had, with Fever Tree tonic, of course. For that one I could forgive them the inadequate seating on the A320.

One other interesting thing was that my return flight was when India and Pakistan were throwing lunches in Kashmir, or wherever, so the air space up there was closed and that was causing all manner of problems and delays. Somehow, Finnair got around this by being allowed to fly straight north over China all the way to Siberia, and then fly to HEL across almost the whole of Russia. Now that was an interesting flight, really glad I had a window seat.

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The one big plus for me with Finnair is the fact that Helsinki is a relatively small airport; indeed they boast of a minimum connection time of 25 minutes.

 

Unfortunately at the moment all Finnair flights from Bangkok to Manchester have a long transfer time with the total journey time being around 30 hours.

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I flew home and back with them last year and although it was satisfactory it wasn't Emirates or Qatar or the like.  The old seat was a bit awkward in that it had no real arm rests and this one looks the same.

The big plus for me was that they are part of the Oneworld alliance so I could buy the cheapest package (Business Lite) which doesn't include any hold bags or lounge access, but I could still take a suitcase and enter the lounges due to my Oneworld status on Qatar.

I'm booked with them again in a couple of months so it will be interesting if I get this new cabin.

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10 hours ago, KWA said:

I flew home and back with them last year and although it was satisfactory it wasn't Emirates or Qatar or the like.  The old seat was a bit awkward in that it had no real arm rests and this one looks the same.

The big plus for me was that they are part of the Oneworld alliance so I could buy the cheapest package (Business Lite) which doesn't include any hold bags or lounge access, but I could still take a suitcase and enter the lounges due to my Oneworld status on Qatar.

I'm booked with them again in a couple of months so it will be interesting if I get this new cabin.

Were you on an A350 or A320.  The 350's are a much more modern aircraft.

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17 hours ago, john luke said:

Were you on an A350 or A320.  The 350's are a much more modern aircraft.

A350 from BKK-HEL and back.

Sopwith Camel from HEL-EDI and back.  Actually an Embraer 190 but it was a bit of a comedown whatever.

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Finnair are also "upgrading" their food offerings on board to what they're calling "bistro style".  They appear to have gone all woke trendy environmentalist with too much veggy/salad/mung bean nonsense dictating the menu.  Here's a sample of what they call a 7 course Business Class meal.  Since when were side dishes a course?   Nuts used to be served with your drink, now they're a course too.  Cheese used to have biscuits.

finnair business meal.jpg

If you're down the back, this is soon to be an Economy Class main meal, and I believe it'll come with a wooden knife and fork!

finnair economy meal.jpg

To finish off, a Business Class snack which apart from a useless salad might not to be too bad depending on the contents of that pie/quiche/whatever.

finnair business snack.jpg

And remember, these are all carefully shot, professional photos.  Just think what it'll look like on board.

I was pleased enough with my first return trip on them last year and booked another one already, but I don't see them becoming a first choice if this is the direction they're headed.

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2 minutes ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

I thought that airlines had stopped serving nut based food just in case somebody with an allergy forgot their medicine...

Certainly none I've been on.  I think some may make announcements requesting people don't eat nuts if they're told in advance about an allergic passenger, but they're still widely served as standard.

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i flew with them in business last november.  the most uncomfortable almost wooden seating, shit food and missed connector as they couldnt organise a piss up in a brwery at helsinki.  the worst long haul I ever did.  but it was cheap..  but it wasnt.  they did it cheap, then added fees for baggage ffs, on a longhaul flight.  buy online as its double price at the airport.  shit company, worse than f-in ryanair.  iwas looking for the money slot on the bog doors

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2 hours ago, tommy dee said:

i flew with them in business last november.  the most uncomfortable almost wooden seating, shit food and missed connector as they couldnt organise a piss up in a brwery at helsinki.  the worst long haul I ever did.  but it was cheap..  but it wasnt.  they did it cheap, then added fees for baggage ffs, on a longhaul flight.  buy online as its double price at the airport.  shit company, worse than f-in ryanair.  iwas looking for the money slot on the bog doors

Do i take it that one was not over impressed Thomas ????

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On 2/17/2022 at 7:16 AM, tommy dee said:

but it was cheap..  but it wasnt.  they did it cheap, then added fees for baggage ffs, on a longhaul flight.  buy online as its double price at the airport.

Did you buy direct from Finnair or through an agent?  On the Finnair website you can easily see what's included for the different fare types IMO.

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11 hours ago, KWA said:

Did you buy direct from Finnair or through an agent?  On the Finnair website you can easily see what's included for the different fare types IMO.

i didnt buy on their website, I used, I think, agoda.  described as business, its actually a package designed to appear the cheapest, but without, as I later found out, baggage.  that aside the plane was very uncomfortable, seating, and everyones meal choice was the same, a shitty chicken dish or an asian dish.  the only thing good was the booze, and my pal and I made a determined effort to ensure we got our moneys worth thru that.  will never fly with them again.  as to the baggage.  once caught in their snare, you pay double the online price at the ticket counter so beware,  

 

as with most of us, i am a seasoned flier, and was amazed anyone sells business without any baggage allowance at all

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On 2/17/2022 at 7:16 AM, tommy dee said:

i flew with them in business last november.  the most uncomfortable almost wooden seating, shit food and missed connector as they couldnt organise a piss up in a brwery at helsinki.  the worst long haul I ever did.  but it was cheap..  but it wasnt.  they did it cheap, then added fees for baggage ffs, on a longhaul flight.  buy online as its double price at the airport.  shit company, worse than f-in ryanair.  iwas looking for the money slot on the bog doors

Gotta agree flew with them 2019..

 

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