Finnair review - by Kenny Andreasen

30 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DEL-HEL, economy. I was looking forward to this flight with Finnair review - my first experience with this carrier. MD-11, which Finnair claims they will be replacing soon. Thank you very much, then future passengers might get the possibility to communicate onboard. Cabin crew did more internal chatting than working and hardly a smile. They seemingly forgot the time, as suddenly 25 minutes prior to arrival began to serve our breakfast in a kick-and-rush-pace. Many passengers - incl. us - had less than 2 minutes to eat before the plates were collected. When we told this story at Helsinki Vantaa Airport, the hub of Finnair, and kindly asked for a cup of coffee as we didn't have one onboard, the employees - 2 of them from Finnair review - simply smiled at us and said "poor you". A clear 1 star- flight, however they get an extra one because of the cheap price. I would rather pay and extra 100$ and receive just a little higher level of service, though. Things can get too cheap!

Finnair review - by Jani Elasmaa

27 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-CAN and PVG-HEL with Finnair, economy class. The old MD-11 are showing their age - extremely noisy and outdated. Seat 51A HEL-CAN, service friendly and effective, stewardesses went back and forth constantly with water and drink cart came at least 2 times after meal service. Snack bar open in rear galley. Ticket price cheapest from Europe to Asia. PVG-HEL, seat 45K (overwing) and this time almost unbearable noise, extra resonation from wall panels. Had to keep earplugs to keep headache away. Cannot hear announcements unless using headset plugged to your seat. Again efficient service but it seemed little bit tense amongst cabin crew. No extra smiles. Meal was good standard. I would take Finnair again because price/quality-ratio is good.

Finnair review - by Vasilis Meschinis

19 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-DEL-HEL. Planes (MD-11 both ways) were really old and extremely uncomfortable. Personnel was ok on the outward flight. There was one elder flight-attendant that seemed to have experience on long- haul flights. The rest could not care less. On the inward flight the personnel was unfriendly, to say the least. It seems that the word "smile" is not familiar to the Finnair flight attendants. They "threw" us the food trays and then they completely vanished for the rest of the flight. My wife pressed the flight-attendant button but nobody cared to answer. After waiting for almost 20 minutes, she finally went to get her glass of water by herself. The flight attendants were just chatting in the back of the plane. The whole experience reminded me of long-haul flights I flew back in the 80's. IFE is a joke. Is this a northern European airline? Hard to believe. It is fine to fly Finnair within Europe but, believe me, it would be a mistake to fly them long-haul. We were both extremely disappointed. The only plus thing was the ticket price.

Finnair review - by Saptarshi Chakraborty

19 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-HEL-BOM. Flight Helsinki to Mumbai was cancelled after more than 5 hours of "waiting and updates" at the airport. No managers available at Helsinki airport. Late night bus trip to a nearby hotel, a sleep for a few hours and had to check out at 12 next day. Since flight was at 8 pm, had to wait in the airport for many hours. The food offered was horrible. However it was the cheapest ticket available flying anywhere from Western Europe to India. The only good thing during the wait over 2 days were the vouchers which could be used at the restaurants or duty free shops.

Finnair review - by G Palmer

26 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-HEL-LHR in economy over the recent weekend. Booked through BA website, which meant no online check-in it seems - instead spent 45 minutes on Friday morning at LHR in a check-in queue. But seat for both legs reserved at time of booking and honoured at check-in, so at least no scramble to avoid dreaded middle seat. Flights excellent. Cabins clean and in good condition. Overhead screens showed external views from nose during takeoff and then switched to underside in ascent. Same again for landing. Service with a smile and professional on both flights. Hot meals served - no starter or dessert but still nice to have on a European flight - TTasty too, which was just as rare. Very good with the beverage service - flight out had drinks, then served meal with comp wine or beer, tea/coffee or drinks refreshed after lunch, and another quick drinks round around 45 mins before landing. Flight back similar except 1st round drinks served with meal, but again still had another drinks round before landing. Bags off quickly on both legs. Also worth noting that return journey from Helsinki on Sunday evening, it took 10 minutes to check-in and go through security - like a dream. Helsinki airport doesn't seem to have too many sky bridges, so both flights in and out used buses - fine for this time of year, but can't imagine doing it in their deep winter. Overall extremely impressed with their European economy product.

Finnair review - by Harry Johns

23 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HKI-HKG Finnair continues to disappoint. I usually travel Business Class and have done many times with Finnair review - this time I was in economy. As usual Finnair considers entertainment as way down the list of priorities. All seats on Finnair long haul are below standard. No in-seat screens, even in business class (Personal DVD player 4 inch screen). Seats must be 10 years old. Lie flat must translate differently in Finnish because in Business Class they are 70 % flat but still old seats. No service to seats after meals as the crew is asleep and you have to struggle your way to the servery bar which only has bread and orange juice. Finnair are picking up a lot of business via transits from Europe to Asia and the Helsinki airport is now overcrowded and delays are regular and loss of luggage common. However Finnair will not change until there is a lot of pressure put on them as they are making lots of money at present and delivering below standard service.

Finnair review - by Tapani Utunen

23 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-HKG-HEL in Economy (MD11). Flights late (1-2 hrs) both ways. Finnair seems to have improved their service onboard in the past 12 months (better meals but no meal choice!) and crew are usually good on long-haul flights. However, MD11´s are showing their age and the fact that Finnair is expanding their Asian services rapidly allows 1-2 hours turning time at each destination, which in turn results in delays more frequently and the much advertised asset of Helsinki Airport as an easy transfer point is easily lost. To me Finnair is a 3-star performer but increasing delays are annoying. These things count when one pays for flights oneself and attempts to find the best price-quality ratio for each trip.

Finnair review - by A Liao

23 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-HEL-LHR in Business Class: I frequently travel on this route and have to say that the services are good. Flight Attendants are friendly and food excellent when compared with BA. I have no hesitation to use Finnair again.

Finnair review - by L Preo

9 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Moscow - Helsinki - Beijing A320 / MD-11 Business Class. A 3 star airline with a 3 star rating. Friendly and fast check in and FAs. European seating typically cramped and uncomfortable on the A320, no IFE. Intercontinental leg seating comfortable and you have room for your things. Watch out for the 2-3-2 arrangement. However angled lie flat seat is lumpy and uncomfortable as a bed. Better than the uncomfortable plank on Austrian, but not as comfortable as the Qantas skybed (the most comfortable angled business sleeper we've tried - Qantas' seat is not a well designed seat in itself). The food out of Helsinki was passable at best, hot breakfast totally inedible. Didn't bother with amenity kit. Long haul business lounge at Helsinki is sub standard compared to oneworld lounges in Singapore/Sydney/London on all counts, comfort, privacy, facilities, food & alcohol, magazines, service. Especially after the new Qantas First lounge. Would fly again if I had to but SIA/CX products are a better way from Aus to Europe.

Finnair review - by B Crowley

5 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Flew 3 European sectors plus one long-haul in September. Check-in efficient. Food minimal, but reasonable quality. Inflight service not bad. Inflight Entertainment - largely absent on European flights, main screen only on the MD-11 long-haul. Seating quite comfortable on European flights (A321, EMB170, A319). Not as good on MD-11 but not the worst I have seen - the forward economy cabin was laid out 3-4-2 at 31" pitch, the rear cabin 3-4-3 with what looked like a more generous pitch.

Finnair review - by Paul Jacobsen

5 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

ARN-HEL-RIX and return in Economy. Online check-in available 36 hours before departure, easy to use and allowed me to choose the first rows of Economy. All flights on-time with a professional but not overfriendly crew. On each leg of the trip, lasting only 35-45 mins, I was offered a mini-tray with water/juice, chocolate and a large sandwich, followed by coffee or tea. RIX-HEL at lunch time: I even got a small meal comprising of roast beef and potato salad! All in all, for travel to Finland and the Baltics, Finnair is much more enjoyable than the SAS-owned competitor Blue1.

Finnair review - by Matthew Omatic

23 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Business Class JFK-HEL-LHR on and LHR-HEL-HKG. The European LHR-HEL legs were economy seats with economy pitch and room. No entertainment was provided on a 3 hour flight. While the food was good, this level of seating and entertainment on an international 3 hour flight is the same as economy; why would anyone therefore pay to be in business class? International sectors were better on the lie flat seats. Food was okay, but Qantas is much superior in the way the food is heated and served on plates. Entertainment variety was very, very limited.

Finnair review - by Mark Suva

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-NRT-HEL Economy. HEL-NRT quite good, Airbus 340-300 with good choice of IFE and quite new movies. Leg back to Finland - older Airbus with lower quality IFE screens, plane was late for 45 minutes, my friends IFE screen didnt work.

Finnair review - by Charles Kivio

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-VCE return Economy. Their internet booking is very good and allows for checkin and seating 36 hours in advance. A mother with baby can not be checked in via internet though and as the preseating had put the mother and baby off by several seats from the others we called their checkin number. Fast baggage drop at Vantaa worked fine though we could not bring the baby-stroller to the gate, there are shopping carts where you can put a child when they are too tired to walk. Our strategy of having the child walking "off her legs" before boarding worked wonderful and the onboard service was very good. Finnair provided hot food and free refreshments. Return trip also good but the information between Finnair and security had a little hickup as our pre printed boarding cards were accepted only after councelling with security supervisor so beware of using internet checkin on some destinations. Only two counter open for check in at Venice meant a long wait, could have been better. All in all I recommend Finnair and give them a four star for this trip.

Finnair review - by R Müller

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

OUL-HEL with Finnair A320. Bright interior but with cheap looking seats. Seats already look worn at the back even though they are supposedly new. Service not bad and you actually get a sandwich, coffee and soft drinks free of charge on this one hour domestic flight. Crew gives a very professional impression although they are not overly friendly.

Finnair review - by Leszek Skoczylas

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-WAW-HEL. Flying fairly often between Helsinki and Warsaw. The most annoying is the fact that almost every second time the flight is late. Knowing how terrible experience it is to wait at Okecie Airport in Warsaw, you can imagine the pleasure of the entire journey. The plane arrives 30-40 minutes late at Vantaa, then long waiting for the luggage. I choose the airline only because of the suitable timetable and good price ticket. Also, the internet booking system works well. Flight to Bangkok is another issue. Old MD-11, poor food, uncomfortable seats, noise. Lack of entertainment. Take your iPod with you!

Finnair review - by M Harris

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London-Helsinki-Shanghai Y class. A340-300E comfortable on Shanghai leg. Staff pleasant. IFE OK and enjoyed quirky choice. Am assuming that the concept of vegetarianism is known in Finland but not taken that seriously! Our Asian Vegetarian on outward bound harked back to 1970s with rice and a few (tinned?) vegetables and a disastrous curry sauce. Inward bound somewhat better but doesn't say much. Tried to charge £10 for two G&Ts priced at 8 euros! Took a while to sort this out but was done pleasantly and drinks in the end were given complimentary. All-in-all would fly again given competitive price, punctuality and friendly staff. But beware the vegetarian food.

Finnair review - by Petteri Yrjölä

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-BKK-HEL Business Class, MD-11. Service professional and friendly. Food and wines excellent. Extra perk: you can ask Sony PSP from FA's. Had lots of fun playing some games with this excellent device. Noisy and shaky old plane, seats not so good even "lie-flat" (makes you wonder how they really test those seats before purchase) and entertainment. No AVOD and movies were at least 6 months behind their peak. In this long haul business class markets only an average product. Hopefully new Airbus 340/350's will change their direction, which seems to be downwards at the moment.

Finnair review - by Denis Vasilenko

7 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-AMS. Really pleasant flight. Everything was on time. Clean Airbus. Hot meal was served, soft drinks, beer and wine on request. Entertainment program during this 2.5 hours flight was offered. ( on big screens, subtitles, no headphones). Flight attendants very attentive. And the price - 200 Euro for round trip made this flight even more remarkable.

Finnair review - by Tapani Utunen

3 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-DEL-HEL in Economy. MD11 is an old plane with overhead screens but interior seemed clean and the middle seats D-E-G-H in rows 21-29 offered plenty of legroom. Meals were much better than on previous Finnair flights - a meal choice was given on the HEL-DEL sector which is not typical. Crew came out with water & juice rounds in the cabin plus wine & beer available throughout the flight on request. Crew very good both ways with relaxed approach and sense of humour.

Finnair review - by Marko Pajunen

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-MAN and DUB-HEL. E190 cabin felt roomy and legroom was comfortable. Meals are often AY's weak point and on their Embraers only cold meals are available in Y, but the chicken salad was good. Wine and beer are free also in Y class. My return flight from Dublin went fine too, though the warm meal was not very tempting. A319 was full and crew was busy, but was happy with the service. I think Finnair has a good intra- European product: comfortable modern fleet, free meals (though not always tasty) and drinks served and generally a friendly service.

Finnair review - by Gregory Rump

31 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-HEL-NRT on July 28. Aircraft an ER9 on FRA-HEL and new A340-300E (which Finnair boasts on their website) on HEL-NRT. About the planes in themselves: nothing much to add. Reasonably comfortable although there are better ones in Europe and Asia. Only negative point: AY finally did put in IFE even in Y class, but the selection is really not good. What a waste of money. However, big problems when booking: I booked through www.finnair.com. Reservation confirmation came through ok, but no ticket was issued and I ended up calling them twice to discover what happened. But no reaction from their side. Given that the checkin staff in FRA could not care less, if I would not have called them the day before, I probably would have totally missed the flight. So the trip started not too good. Second point: cabin attendants are a disaster. Friendliness unknown, smiling - what's that? After take off came the nice message "you will be allowed one free beer or soft drink with your meal" (great! on the inflight magazine it is written drink at least 2dl per hour). I don't mind paying for beer, alcohol or wine (although I think it is peanuts for them and the charge does not reflect the actual costs of the drinks. But I was upset at the "one drink" (not two) and the way/tone it was said. Meal was really poor, and they did not even offer a choice. Travelling long haul numerous times a year, I must add that meals are never really good on airlines, but that this was worse than on any flight I did in the past ten years. Japanese FAs were better, but did care more about the Japanese passengers than the other passengers, making me feel somehow discriminated. Overall very disappointing experience. Saved 150 EUR flying AY instead of BA, OS or Asiana. Still it is not cheap for the quality you get. Seems Finnair staff does not know they are part of Oneworld (and given their substandard quality they should not be either).

Finnair review - byG Lindholm

19 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

ARN-BOS in Economy. This is what Finnair sells as a "vacation flight" so the product is cheaper and lower quality than their regular offering. Hot meal included and acceptable, soft drinks included, alcoholic beverages of OK quality and cost. Seating on this 757 was very dense, less pitch than usual and almost no lean-back capability of the seats. Finnair cancelled the original ARN-BOS flight and forced us to fly two days earlier. They have so far refused to pay hotel for these two days.

Finnair review - by Andrew Kelly

15 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Manchester-Tokyo in Economy. My outward flight wasn't too bad. Although very cramped. On my return journey things were awful. We were 5 hours late arriving and did not see our bags for almost 4 days. Before I had even checked in at Narita Tokyo, the delay to the plane was known by Finnair ground staff. This delay was longer than the connection allowed for in Helsinki, which was incidentally at the time of booking impossible to achieve due to the security checks in place. I understand that the primary function of the cabin crew is safety, however I feel it is not unreasonable to expect them to pass on information to passengers about connecting flights. After all they had the duration of the flight, a mere 8-9 hours in which to do this. Finnair appear not to care about the UK market as they have virtually no presence at any of the UK airports and instead rely on other airlines (who may be part of the same alliance, but compete against them directly) to 'mop up' problems at UK airports. I have experienced directly their uncaring and teflon like attitude to customer service. Consequently will not be flying with Finnair in the future.

Finnair review - by L Fitzpatrick

25 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CPH-HEL-PVG. I was very disappointed with Finnair service. The meals were not tasty and the service was poor at best. Inflight entertainment on economy class was practically non existent: only some old films on small screens. The seating was terrible on the MD11: too small and I'm only 1.75m. Seats didn't lean back much at all. Finally customer service number has a 3.04euros charge plus communication fees.

Finnair review - by Matthew Allard

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-HEL-NGO Business. Left Heathrow late so missed the connection to Nagoya. No hesitation on Finnair's part in Helsinki to put me on the next available Asia-bound flight (which they held for our arrival) to Beijing. Cabin was slightly dated, but comfortable with only around 6 PAXs in the biz cabin. On arrival in Beijing I was told to check-in for a connection PEK-NRT (I managed to get re-routed to Tokyo, which was a bonus!). Bit of a nightmare trying to get a seat on China Airlines biz (Finnair hadn't commented that my booking was in biz and Finnair's agents in PEK were not especially helpful). However, after a lengthy delay in Beijing's smoky lounge, onward journey was ok. Return from NRT was perfect - only 3 PAXs in the cabin, perfectly comfortable if a little lacking in IFE. I would consider Finnair Biz again, but definitely not economy, especially given the OneWorld scheme and the "natural" routing from London to Asia.

Finnair review - by C Davis

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Dublin-Helsinki-Dublin. Computer problems delayed check in at Dublin but they opened extra desks to make up time and flight left right on schedule. Crew friendly and attentive! 3 hour flight there was drinks service followed by meal , then shopping. On return leg, crew even managed a second drinks service before landing. Food/soft drinks/beer/wine complementary, charge only for spirits. Food tasty, aircraft and toilets clean, plenty of legroom.

Finnair review - by Karri Ojanen

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Helsinki-Dublin-Helsinki at the end of May. Spacious and clean Airbus A319 both ways, and friendly staff. Food rather unappealing, but tasted okay. I'm really excited about the new Airbus A340-300Es that Finnair has just got for their flights to Asia to replace the aging MD11 fleet. The IFE on board the new A340 in both economy and business sounds amazing and the interior looks good. Hoping to get to fly on one of those birds soon - definitely a big improvement in Finnair's transcontinental services.

Finnair review - by T Hentunen

17 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Helsinki-Delhi-Helsinki. Service was friendly both ways, food certainly edible and wines tasty. Even a lot criticized MD-11 was a nice experience - legroom surprisingly spacious and aircraft was tidy. IFE certainly not up-to-date, but flight time only 6,5 hours, so that was not such a setback. All in all I would recommend Finnair to anyone flying economy class.

Finnair review - by Jan Willem Pronk

10 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

AMS-HEL-PVG economy returns a number of times in the last year. Ticketing through the Finnair website easy and convenient. Unlike many airlines they offer low fares through their site with mileage earned as well. Transfer at Vantaa quick and pleasant although HEL-AMS leg seems to be delayed all the time. European flights spacious, long haul space is just average. Food service in general below par. I actually enjoy an airline meal every now and then but Finnair offerings are not good. FA's usually friendly, available and professional. A340 have individual screens in back of the seats, MD-11 not. Good and recent movies.

Finnair review - by B Shefferly

9 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-HEL-JFK Business Class. FRA-HEL Airbus 319, great aircraft, but poor service. The flight attendants hid in the back galley, children were running back and forth from economy, the business class seats were the same as economy with one center seat blocked. I would not fly AY business in Europe. HEL-JFK on an old MD11 with new cabin, angled lie flat seats, fantastic service. Great entertainment. Movies were not on demand, but good selection. AY also provides personal DVD players for more selection. The food was great, and wine the best I've had on a flight.

Finnair review - by Tapani Vuola

4 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

HEL-LHR-HEL in business class. Friendly smiling crew, nice breakfasts, with warm croissants and rolls. The only complaint was that the plane to HEL had again fixed seats, ie. the layout was 3x3 also in business, even if the middle seat was unoccupied.

Finnair review - by Kim Krister

3 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

HEL-NRT-HEL in economy class with their fleet "newbie" A340-300. Actually this aircraft is ex Virgin with refurbished seat textiles in Finnair colours. Seat very uncomfortable to sit and to fly for 10 hours. No headsupport and poor lumbar support. Impossible to sleep at all and I´m 5´11" tall. AVOD-service was not available on outbound flight. It functioned with some problems on inbound flight. Only half of the movies was able to see on my seat. Food quality was poor. Small portions and no options in menu. Dinner and breakfast. Still wines are free of charge. Cabin had two Japanese flight attendants who were very friendly with good service. Other crew weren´t smiley at all. Sadly I have to admit with previous reviewer here: Finnair is cutting costs heavily nowadays and this experience with their longhaul product made me rethink to spend more money for other carrier to get better comfort and service like Singapore Airlines. I got impression that this Finnair product was more like a low cost airliner than One World carrier. Positive side was that flights were on time and that check-in and security check at Helsinki were efficient. At Narita airport check-in and security check took 1 hour allthoug I was at check in when it opened. There were most of the passengers also. And secondly A340 is much more silent to fly than MD- 11´s as Finnair still has them. Maybe Finnairs new A340 deliveries from Airbus offers better product and comfort for their longhaul network services.

Finnair review - by Dimitri Alehins

27 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

VNO-HEL operated by Aero, a company of an undisclosed origin. A better impression than some times before on Aero-operated Finnair flights from/to Riga. The aircraft employed on these flights are though a disappointment. No matter what you fly in the Baltics, be it Finnair (or Aero) or airBaltic, you are happy when it is over, you can finally stretch your tense shoulders. Seats on these aircrafts are everything but not a human size. And being 175 cm tall, I am smaller than the average type on the Baltic flights.

Finnair review - by Tapani Utunen

20 March 2007

HEL-Munich in Economy and Frankfurt-HEL in Business, March 2007. Unfortunately Finnair is cutting costs so heavily that flying with them has become the most average experience, to put it mildly. Business Class FRA-HEL (A319) on the way back turned out to be very disappointing: cabin that wasn´t very clean, cramped seating, missing newspapers that "had not been uploaded in Helsinki", meal below average even for airline food (no meal choice) etc. However, the purser was excellent and the flight landed on time. Would I book Finnair Business Class in the future? No, never again. Some airlines seem to do it much better even in Economy so why bother.

Finnair review - by J Turunen

3 March 2007

LHR-HEL-LHR economy last week. My ticket was a BA codeshare and it seems I was not able to check in online via BA. I also discovered that my personal preferences from my Executive Club membership had not been passed on and my meal preferences had not been noted neither on the way out nor on the way back. Thus no food! On return when I queried at Finnair check in I was told they could not arrange any food for me (this was three hours before the flight) not even a small sandwich as they have made cutbacks on food and do not make any extra meals at all. I noticed from fellow passengers in economy that cut backs have changed their once great meals into just very basic. So cut backs have hit this airline just as they have most European national carriers. Crew friendly but appeared embarrassed at lack of being able to offer better service. Mysteriously both ways we were made to exit from back door so those who had paid most for their tickets at the front were the last to be allowed off the plane. I cannot help but feel I wish to avoid Finnair in the future. Both flights were late.

Finnair review - by Jacqui Wade

3 March 2007

Bangkok-Helsinki. The meals were very strange, seats extremely cramped, and frequently had trolleys and staff bumping into my legs as the seat was directly in front of the section between business class. Finnair are the poor relation in the economy class market, and one of the most expensive. And they managed to forget to send my baggage on the connecting flight to Manchester!

Finnair review - by C Lindsay

26 February 2007

BKK-HKG. My first flight with this airline was fine. We were seated against the bulkhead so legroom was good and the food and beverage service (Chicken curry, soft drinks, beer or wine) was also good for a flight that was just under 3 hours long. The service was OK as well, but nothing out of the ordinary. The plane an MD11, was fine as well. I always prefer 2 abreast seating to 3 abreast so this aircraft got a tick for that, but the lack of seat back TV's would be a negative for a long haul flights.

Finnair review - by Nigel Barnsley

19 January 2007

Madrid-Helsinki-Beijing, return, in economy. Checked in online but when we got to Barajas there was no fast bag drop, so we had to join the check-in queue and were given fresh boarding cards for both sectors with different seats from the ones we'd chosen on line. No complaints about the Madrid - Helsinki leg: clean, modern and spacious A320 with reasonable catering and attentive FAs. On time arrival and smooth transfer at Vantaa. On to Beijing in an old MD11with average leg room, but incredibly narrow seats; surprising as many Finns seem to be on the hefty side. Very professional FAs, but laughable IFE on overhead monitors, no newspapers, no amenity kits, a skimpy blanket and shockingly bad food: baked beans, tinned carrots and sweet pancakes for breakfast - served together in the same foil container. But regular water and juice runs and quite generous with the wine. Similar experience on the return. Lunch of Chinese noodles with boiled potatoes, boiled green beans and stale rye bread. Final leg back to Madrid delayed by 45 minutes. Cabin lights on full all the way, despite most passengers having transfered from Asian long hauls and wanting to sleep. Second time I've used Finnair on this route in the last two years, and I won't be giving them the benefit of the doubt again.

Finnair review - by Heikki Knuutila

19 January 2007

I returned from Delhi to Helsinki in economy class. The seats were uncomfortrable, MD11 old fashioned, no water bottles were provided as promised in ADs. FA's were mainly hired from Estonia, quite inexperienced in this demanding trade. Food ofpoor quality. The best part of the flight was that it took (direct flight) only 7 hours.

Finnair review - by G Cozic

19 January 2007

Return trips BKK-HEL-PAR. The first time experience was pretty good but the second time return for the Christmas season was a horrible one. Though we were in Business Class BKK to HEL, the cabin does not have private screens for each individual. Food was really average. The breakfast in is always the same horrible cheese, egg and bacon tart. What's more, when we arrive in PARIS, they have lost one of our 4 cases. During the two weeks, no one called to let us know about the status of our luggage and we had to call them often, with a good 10 minutes kept on hold. Even till the day that we're supposed to return back to Bangkok, we have no news of our baggage except a simple email apologising for the lost of the baggage with a document attached for us to fill up.

Finnair review - by Carolina Svedbeck

12 January 2007

HEL-PVG-HEL. I paid a very reasonable price for the ticket, about 850 US Dollars. Certainly, Vantaa may not be the most exciting airport around but you can't blame Finnair for that? My family and I were treated courteously by everyone from check-in to arrival and I would say 90 per cent of the cabin crew were extremely attentive and smiling throughout flights. Two meals served onboard, that were absolutely fine - free wine and beer throughout both flights and during "sleeping" hours the crew went through the cabin offering apple/orange juice and water constantly. The flights lasted about 8.5-9.5 hours and I would say that snacks aren't really needed when you are served two meals in that amount of time. MD11s weren't brand new but well maintained - clean and tv-screens everywhere. No delays what so ever and luggage was delivered promptly. I would not hesitate to fly Finnair again, I was very happy with both service and aircraft and felt very safe and taken care of while my journey lasted.

Finnair review - by Morten Lisse

31 December 2006

CPH-HEL-HKG sectors travelled twice within a few weeks. Both very disappointing. Check-in and boarding in CPH fine, flight to HEL (A319) fine, but parked away from terminal upon arrival in HEL and bussed to the small crowded terminal. I had better memories of Vantaa Airport, but it now seems outdated, expensive and boring. Had 2 very disappointing experiences with very sour and impolite AY ground staff in HEL! Flight to HKG (MD11) both running late (50 mins and 20 mins respectively). Although this was more or less made up en route, no proper explanation was given and the flight deck PA's generally spoken in very poor English. Onboard service appauling, no free alcohol, no before dinner drinks service, you have to buy snacks, and the small amount of food served was horrible. Do remember to bring your sleeping goggles and ear plugs, as this will not be handed out - and trust me, you will need it, as there are no PTV's, but overhead screens flashing etc going on throughout the night. Leg room not impressive. Seats not very comfortable. Cabin crew on second flight started preparing cabin for landing, when seat belt signs came on (for turbulence) more than an hour before landing. When signs switched off again, my wife went to the toilet with our daughter, but was told off by an angry cabin crew member, who had clearly no idea of what was going on onboard her aircraft. For the onboard flight experience, I would rate 2 stars at most! In terms of value for money - I wouldn't even go that high; Do consider that you do not accrue any Asia Miles (or equivalent) on cheapest internet fares. The flight time from Europe to the far east are short via HEL, but do consider the arrival time (in HKG that would be 2 AM European time) and the product you purchase, with reference to the above experiences. Neither can you change or cancel your reservation. When I had to let go of my return flight to CPH and rebook, I lost the tickets, and when asked for a refund of my taxes and fuel surcharges (which I am eligible for, according to EU legislation), this was actually denied by 2 different AY employees - along the lines and standards of poor low cost airlines. When I kept pressing customer relations for a refund of taxes on unused tickets - I was told that there was a fee of 50 Euro's for each ticket - which conveniently happened to be above the price of the refund. What a fraud! For comparison, BA allows rebooking of their cheapest internet offers for a minor fee, and provides a superior service, even though you have to put up with LHR. We shall never again travel Finnair.