Finnair

✅ Verified Review | Why is Finnair not transporting luggage properly on its flights? If you fly directly from Helsinki to Heathrow you do not expect to receive a message saying your bag is delayed and will be on the last flight of the day. A business colleague flew back the previous day and her bag was delayed until the following day as well. They also seem to have taken the art of overbooking to the next level as each time you check-in online you get a message saying the flight is overbooked - do you want to go on a later flight? I failed to check in online on the outward bound flight and when I checked in at the airport they couldn't allocate me a seat and gave me a ticket with stand-by on it and was told to see an attendant at the gate. It's a lovely way of raising the stress levels when you have a business meeting to attend. All in all its totally unsatisfactory when on a simple flight your luggage gets delayed to the next day - after having checked in with three hours to spare. Someone isn't doing their job right.

✅ Verified Review | Madrid to Helsinki with Finnair. In transit in Madrid Barajas I enjoyed a good shower and breakfast at the Iberia Business Lounge and headed on time to the gate for boarding. Boarding was by bus, as seems to be the routine for Finnair in Madrid (wonder, why, with most jet bridges totally empty). No point in Priority Boarding as you just get first to the bus, where you wait at least 15 minutes to fill it up. After a decent long-haul Business Class seat, the A321 seating seemed cramped. As soon as the person ahead of me reclined his seat, no way to read a newspaper. Following the captain's welcome announcement in Finnish, Swedish and English, all cabin announcements were made again in Spanish and English. Apparently, nobody in the cabin spoke Finnish or Swedish! Pre-lunch drinks served in designer glassware and soon the lunch was served. Sad to see that in Business Class, Finnair now serves a very basic lunch - Pork Patty which is basically a hamburger made of minced pork, full of flour, swimming in a heavy creamy sauce. What happened to all those specialities Finnair Business Class was once famous of, such as reindeer, venison, or arctic char? Above all, why on earth would an international airline serve pork as the single dish on such a long flight in Business Class? To wrap up the lunch only a horrible instant coffee was served. Not good. Landed on time, but had a long walk through the terminal to the baggage hall, which was a struggle to find. Apparently, there was information on a monitor when we deplaned, but if you missed it, like many of us did, you have no idea when walking through the endless crowded corridors of HEL airport, where to take the stairs down for the correct baggage hall.

✅ Verified Review | Helsinki to Malaga with Finnair. Helsinki Airport was rather quiet at the time of our flight. There weren't queues anywhere and it didn't take long to reach our gate. However, boarding was quite chaotic and unorganized. Boarding groups weren't enforced and some passengers were cutting others. Fully booked flight didn't made things better. We had prebooked seats from row 7, which definitely had more legroom than seats after row 10. Flight took off about 10 minutes after schedule. Seat belt (or safety belt as Finnair calls it) sign was switched off 10 minutes after takeoff. Around the same time captain made announcement in Finnish, and briefly in English and Spanish. It soon became clear that cancelling the flight was really close. Captain explained to us that he was called to work from his birthday party as a last resort. He also gave information about the route (there aren't any monitors for the airshow in these newer A321s) and weather in Malaga. In-flight service began after this with pre-ordered meals. From three of the current choices, the penne pasta bolognese was a clear winner. Unlike Chicken breast and vegetable masala, the pasta wasn't overcooked and it didn't taste bland like airplane food tends to. If your flight is operated with bigger plane, such as A321, consider pre-booked meals. Sky Bistro service is extremely slow, for this flight it took almost two hours to finish. It's also expensive and running out of options is apparently common. Three economy lavatories at the back of the plane were kept on an acceptable clean level. About one hour before arrival, crew came on another drink service offering coffee, tea, water and blueberry juice (these are the only options served free of charge). Just before landing captain made a brief announcement that we would approach Malaga airport from southwest. Plane landed on time. Baggage took about 20+ minutes to arrive - this seems to be average time at Malaga. Overall, very pleasant experience on plane, average on the ground.

Finnair boasts about their A350 fleet, positioning as a make step up from their ageing fleet of A340/A330s. We were all the more disappointed that they do not yet deploy A350s on the Singapore - Helsinki leg. Instead, we flew on an A340-300, which is an OK aircraft, but starting to show its age when it comes to seats, IFE screens, lighting, and other interiors. Food in economy is a mixed bag, generally edible, but rather small portions and certainly not up to the standards of Singapore Air or Emirates. Flight was punctual, crew were attentive, plenty of water was provided, and the final transit at Helsinki Airport was not stressful. A nice offer on Finnair's part is to allow economy passengers to upgrade to a seat with more legroom for a mere 60 Euros. We took up that offer on the return trip, making it a somewhat more pleasant flight.

✅ Verified Review | Bangkok to Helsinki return, and flew on the new Finnair A350, business class. Everything was excellent. First, Finnair has one of the best websites and mobile applications, very easy to use, obtain current flight information and check-in in advance. Bangkok check-in was very smooth and quick, 3 pieces of luggage allowed for business class, priority fast pass for security, lounge very comfortable, very good selection of food and drinks. The A350 is very quiet, spacious interior cabin, excellent LED mood lighting and a comfortable air flow. The food and selection of courses was very good. Plus lots of great snacks and chocolates throughout the flight. The service was excellent - very attentive. Business class included free WiFi. The sign-in process is a little tedious, but once on, it worked great. I was able to make free Face Time video calls from my iPhone. The entertainment system has a large TV screen and wide variety of viewing options. Overall the inflight experience was excellent and I was able to get a sound sleep. Upon arrival in Helsinki, exiting the plane and going through immigration and customs was very quick. Helsinki airport is easy to connect to other flights in a short period of time. The business class lounges in Helsinki are above average, but can get crowded during peak times. Only negative about Helsinki airport is there is very little seating at the departure gates and the area by each gate is small. So most gates are crowded with standing people close to departure time. Return flight was the same experience. Highly recommend Finnair if you can fly on the new Airbus A350.

✅ Verified Review | Singapore - Helsinki and Amsterdam - Helsinki - Singapore with Finnair in May 2016. Decided to try a different routing to Europe this year and decided to try a European airline again. No problem with the check-in and boarding processes during all legs - this was done professionally and efficiently, with a very useful map at the back of the boarding pass to assist passengers who are transiting in Helsinki. On board the A340 from and to Singapore it was nice to note that the entire cabin crew are Singapore based. The cabin service on board the intercontinental legs was warm and highly efficient. I had fallen asleep before the breakfast service on the flight to Singapore but the cabin crew were very thoughtful to bring a spare meal for me just minutes after I had asked. Meal portions were acceptable and there were plenty of snacks and drinks at the back of the aircraft if you needed more refreshments. IFE was ok for the intercontinental flights - there were always a few new blockbusters bundled with a larger pool of older films, but I suppose this will improve with the introduction of the A350 on the Singapore route. Surprisingly, seats were pretty comfortable on these old planes. For the Amsterdam-Helsinki leg there was an all Finnish crew and they were extremely warm and friendly. It's nice to know they still give out complimentary drinks on short-haul flights, and they did not kick up any fuss when I asked for more than one drink. Transfer from the Amsterdam flight to the long-haul was very good - you arrive at Helsinki past the peak period for flights so immigration checks and walking to the next gate basically took a few minutes. Bags delivered to the belt in under 15 minutes from disembarkation at Helsinki and Singapore. Finnair is certainly very good value for money and I would hope that with the A350 they would be an excellent choice for any Asian traveller heading to Europe.

Extremely disappointed and frustrated after my latest trip to Helsinki from London Heathrow. Finnair is one of the most expensive airlines operating in Europe. I normally fly with BA but have used the Finnair service in the past as it was comfortable and peaceful. That does not apply anymore as Finnair whilst continuing to levy premium rates for its flights now have the audacity to charge you for anything but a tea, murky coffee (disgusting anyway) and some strange concoction described as blueberry juice. If I pay for a cheap flight with a budget airline then I expect it to be a no thrills experience and have no problem paying for some in-flight options. But not with what is supposed to be a quality airline charges the highest prices. I also have to add that the entire flight was invaded by noise pollution, constant and endless announcements, often in a flippant manner, and dumbing down of passengers. When I fly it is an opportunity to have some peaceful time, that I did not get, the incessant noise and announcements about such irrelevant matters relating to duty free and cabin crew personal recommendation (often in a childlike format) was stressful. Until Finnair revert to providing a service commensurate with the fare structure imposed, I will refrain from using the airline as there are plenty of other "good value for money" options that can offer an experience every bit as good as what Finnair was capable of doing in the past.

✅ Verified Review | The first leg of my itinerary to South America with Iberia took me on board their Oneworld partner, Finnair, from Helsinki to Madrid. Check-in at the Priority counter in Helsinki a breeze, despite all the crowds in the single AY departure hall at something that must be their busiest time of the day. Business Class also gave me the priority line through security which took place in just a minute or two. After the Security Control, you're forced directly to narrow lanes crossing a busy shopping centre full of passengers just trying to get through to their planes, blocking the walkways. Even if shopping in the Schengen area of Helsinki airport is no longer of interest to passengers travelling within EU, the whole airport is now packed with people panicking to reach their departure gates in time. They’ve even cut down the seating areas at all the gates, forcing passengers to hang around, wherever they can. Forget the days, when Helsinki airport was a pleasant experience! Same goes for the Finnair Business Class lounge. Previously, a quiet and pleasant oasis, but now totally packed, with people queuing for food or drinks, not to talk about seats. Not surprising as Finnair now even sells entrance to their Business lounge for its Economy passengers, too. Boarding the A321 went rather smoothly, although the so called Priority boarding was announced so shortly before the general one that most Business Class passengers ended up in the same queue in the jetbridge, as everyone else. The Business cabin on this flight consisted of just three rows and the only difference to Economy was that the middle seat was free and it contained a pillow and a blanket. After the usual pilot's welcome greetings in English, Finnish and Swedish, surprise: all cabin announcements were only made in English and Spanish, to the big surprise of all the Finns on board their national carrier. Later on during the flight it became clear that the entire cabin crew was Spanish, without any notions of Finnish. Soon after take-off the menus were handed out and apéritif was served. Despite all its cost cutting measures, I was pleased to see that Finnair continues to serve all the drinks in Business in design glass ware. Soon, dinner was served on a single tray, which for a four-hour long flight is rather disappointing. The food itself was decent, but nothing to write home about. Champagne, wines and after dinner drinks were kindly offered by the cabin attendants throughout the flight. One major downside, though; the instant coffee served after dinner was totally undrinkable and even the stewardess had to admit. In economy, where coffee is about the only thing served free of charge this could be acceptable, but in Business?! After dinner, the crew showed up every now and then for more drinks. Landed in Madrid well ahead of schedule, but after a long taxi, found ourselves far from the terminal, which meant a transfer by bus. No exclusive one for Business Class passengers, but had to wait for the whole bus to fill up, before we were taken to the terminal. To conclude, Finnair Business Class has certainly seen its best days go by. Considering the price, no surprise that nearly everyone has downgraded to Economy. Shame!

Flew Finnair from Nagoya to Helsinki. A not fully booked A340. Managed to switch seats to one with a bit more legroom, the one I initially was assigned to was a bit cramped (and I am not that tall) with some kind of PSU taking up valuable space under the seat in front of me. Nice, hard working and friendly cabin crew. The food was very poor. Some kind of bland pork with rice, cold noodles and some green tea pudding. Being situated in the back of the aircraft they had ran out of options when it was my turn, but I doubt the other choice were any better. Second dish was even worse. Some fried rice balls. Not sure if the Asian caterers are up to scratch. IFE was kind of limited with very few interesting titles.

Frankfurt to Seoul via Helsinki with Finnair. Connection flight FRA-HEL was good, no complaints. Intercont HEL - Seoul was a disaster. The plane was really old, some parts at my seat seem to be already not attached properly. Appearance was quite dirty. Though the cabin crew was friendly and helpful the seating was awful. Was sitting in 1A, the shapes of the plane hindered me from being able to stand straight. Seating in business 2-2-2, and you need to step over the seat next to you, if you are at window an need to get out. Bay far to narrow seats, am a guy of "normal" size (185cm/82kg) but was not able to find any position to catch a nap. Benotet lactose free meal, taste was ok. IFE was just acceptable, poor quality of the screen, touchscreen had issues to react on commands. As Finnair did well on ground and at the connection flight I think the airline overall is fine and recommendable, but the A330 is really not acceptable any more in Business - at least in comparison to what get get e.g. from QR and so on. Absolute poor business class experience due to the old A330.