Finnair

We booked our flights after reading several reviews on this airline. Flew with code share partners Cathay Pacific from SYD to HKG and then Finnair to LHR. And return with last leg via SIN with BA. Overall Finnair was the best with great service notwithstanding the aircraft on the onward flight was old but very comfortable. Connections were very easy and all flights ran on schedule. Will definitely fly with them again.

AY840 LHR-HEL Business Class and AY81 HEL-SIN Economy. The first leg from Heathrow to Helsinki on their intra- European Business Class product was flawless. The aircraft used was a modern Airbus A320. From start to finish every aspect of the journey was top class. Finnair shares the Business Class lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 with its Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific. The lounge was comfortable with a decent offering of food and a generous offering of alcoholic spirits wine and beer. Boarding was announced in the lounge and by the time I arrived at the gate most passengers had boarded and there was no long queue. No hassle from check in to boarding. Finnair ground crew were brilliant! Flight departed on time. Intra-European Business Class uses the same seats as in economy but with the middle row empty for more space and privacy. The flight attendant in charge of the Business cabin was very attentive and went above and beyond to make passengers comfortable. Dinner was served efficiently although there was only one meal option for Business Class. It was rather odd to find a curry being served in Business Class on an intra-European flight but overall the smoked meats and champagne compensated for this. The crew accommodated passengers who could not eat curry by allowing them to choose meals from the Economy menu. A fine selection of liquors along with coffee and tea service followed dinner. The crew kept refreshing drinks throughout. Arrived in Helsinki on time. Used to flying on Finnair intra-European economy product where it feels more like a budget carrier so it was very refreshing to have such high quality service on their Business Class product. AY 81 HEL-SIN Economy: Had a 2.5 hour layover at Helsinki and used their non-Schengen lounge. It was spacious with light food and snacks and an extensive range of alcoholic and soft drinks. The lounge got a bit crowded after 10 pm with several high capacity flights departing for the Far East at the same time. Could not get an upgrade on this sector. Aircraft used was the ex-Air France Airbus A340-300 (OH-LQG) with its wonderfully dated interior which always brings back fond memories of the 1990s and early 2000s. I've flown on this an OH-LQF many times before and contrary to other reviews I find this aircraft to be up to par. IFC worked properly and there was a decent selection of movies and television shows to keep me occupied on the 11.5 hour flight. The cabin crew were not Finnish but were mostly from Singapore as I came to learn. They were highly attentive and professional always coming around the with water throughout. Meals were a lot better than previously experienced. Seat was very comfortable and the flight arrived in SIN way ahead of schedule. For the amount paid for this flight I got excellent value for money.

We flew HKG-HEL-FRA in economy comfort and return in economy at emergency exit. Both flights had great legroom in economy comfort we had 21A and C (first row) and more then 1m legroom in from of us! Never had more legroom on any other airline. The price you pay for economy comfort is absolutely worth doing. Seats are normal economy seats but the legroom and the small amenity kit and the noise canceling headset are good. The food was good and the entertainment was fair. Screen size was ok and the service was also good. The check-in went smoothly. The aircraft's (A340 HKG-HEL and HEL-HKG A319 HEL-FRA E190 FRA-HEL) were all very clean and seats were comfortable. All flights were on time. We were bit concerned about our transfer time of 50min on our return flight in Helsinki. Finnair mentioned on the phone that there will be no problems to reach the connecting flight to HKG and they were right we managed to arrive at the gate in only 15 min. Helsinki is a great and easy airport for transfer and Finnair give the best value for money. I can definitely recommend Finnair over Cathay Pacific between HKG and FRA. Cathay is way to expensive for what they offer compared to Finnair. I am a frequent traveller on Cathay Pacific and oneworld but for sure I will use Finnair in the future to fly between HKG to FRA.

Singapore - Helsinki - Munich on 22nd May. Airbus A340. Although it is one of the longest long haul night flights the business class was the old style. (No flat bed only angled). The entertainment program was poor (mostly old movies) and no entertainment program was available on board. The screen were very old and small size. Other airlines such as Emirates or Qatar offer a much better value for the money. In my point of view it is just a 3 Star airline and not a 4 Star.

SIN-HEL-AMS. HEL sector was operated by a refurbished A343. Seats were fairly comfortable with sufficient legroom and width (I'm a 5'10 for your reference). IFE selection was nothing special but had a good spread of films and TV shows to keep one entertained for 11 hours. Muslim meal consisted of local Singapore food which was alright. My main complaint would be the lack of beverage service throughout the flight. Attendants came out sporadically offering cups of water. Security and passport control in HEL took 15 mins. AMS departure was delayed for 40 mins. Explanations were only given prior to boarding which I felt was unprofessional. Irritatingly it seemed as if there was no effort to speed up the boarding process to make up for lost time. Flight was operated on a new A321. Felt like a low-cost carrier as there were no amenities whatsoever except for free water and juices on this 2.5 hour flight. CDG-HEL-SIN. HEL sector operated by an A321 with no flight amenities again. Flight departed on time and the connection in HEL was very quick. SIN sector operated on a refurbished A343 and was similar to the outbound flight. However the flight was delayed by 1 hour due to broken ground equipment. Updates were given by the captain which was nice. Food was extremely bland. The muslim meal consisted of the same dish for both dinner and breakfast. Overall the experience was nothing to shout about. Finnair got the job done at a significantly lower price. However the delayed flights on both journeys and the no-frills intra-Europe flights may make me hesitant to fly with them again as they were not that much cheaper. Nonetheless if you are on a tight budget I would recommend Finnair.

BKK-MAN. Flight delayed leaving BKK. No reason given. Missed connection in HEL. Given no assistance. Had to make my way to non - Schengen desk. Crowded and one assistant. Eventually put on flight to LHR and then to MAN. I am a frequent flyer with this outfit. No apology given and no written response to my complaint. Food was dreadfu seats uncomfortable and staff less than helpful. Security at HEL were downright rude. I have flown several times in business with them. Never again.

Osaka to Helsinki - the flight was overbooked and I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to business class. I would not be able to afford it normally so I was delighted! The highlight was the seat itself and the sense of personal space it created. The crew were attentive and courteous and seemed to respond promptly when I saw other passengers using their call buttons. It feels bad to complain about anything when I was getting a free upgrade but in the interests of objectivity and honest feedback I would have to say that the food was surprisingly bad. If I had paid full fair I would have felt very let down. The menu looked promising but the dishes did not fulfil that promise. The Japanese options looked better than the more European ones I chose: pasta so overcooked it was to hard to chew tough dry meat overheated rice welded to the dish minimal salad general blandness unappetising presentation. Looking around the cabin the mainly Japanese customers looked happy with their choices!

Trip BKK-HEL. Economy extra seating major disappointment: same seats as economy and very little extra legroom an inch or max two. You'd need a tape measure to see the difference! Very different from some other airlines with economy extra class. The main problem was that my first row econ extra seat selected and paid for a long time before the flight got reassigned during web check in ("Selected seat cannot be confirmed") and the new seat was a regular economy one! It took an expensive phone call to sort this out and some firmness as the Finnair service just wanted to give me another phone number to call and get rid of me. Finally my original seat was back but the lesson learnt is pay attention or Finnair might have a surprise for you!

Flights 2/4/2015 AY834 AY69 AY5005. Return 12/4/2015 flights AY5004 AY82 and AY5905. I will never fly with Finnair again. I have flown to Australia many times and I can honestly say Finnair is definitely the worst flying experience I have had. Through the alliance we also flew with Qantas and BA and what a difference it may to our trip. On the return trip the 11 hour flight was in a Finnair plane that was so old it had ashtrays. The inflight entertainment was laughable and the food awful. We went for the vegetarian option and for some reason all through the flights it was served first and as we were second to last row and we were not given the non veggie option we presumed they had not catered for us. Well that apparently wasn't the case and I was told off by the air stewardess. During the sleep time I had to take my medication and as there was a tray of snacks I presumed that I could take a biscuit as I had to take it with food well the look I got and I then noticed the snacks were removed to obviously make a point. Not only was the trip back very tiring but also a horrible experience. Some of the staff had attitude and their uniforms were worse than some of those worn in supermarkets.

Stockholm - Helsinki - Tokyo return. We paid a bit extra to sit in the Economy Extra zone. It was well worth the money to get some more legroom and the noise-canceling headphones were very nice. However there is some room for improvement when it comes to the new headrests. The service was alright although on the outbound journey they had two meat options for dinner and nothing else. And the new entertainment system is a great improvement but the movie selection could perhaps be a bit larger. Nevertheless it was a very comfortable trip according to the schedule.