Finnair

I have nothing but kind words for Finnair staff however during travel from Helsinki to Shanghai on the 21/7/2013 I experienced the most uncomfortable trip in 20 years of frequent travel. The leg room on the economy seat can only be classed as a joke. When the man in front of me attempted to put his seat back it caused me pain. He kindly put the seat upright. The box under the seat in front also does not allow for legs to sit straight causing stress on hips and ankles. Without doubt this cabin set up is the worst of any airline currently flying the seats have obviously been pushed closer together in an attempt to fit in as many people as possible. My sister pre-ordered a diabetic meal imagine our surprise when the meal arrived - potatoes pasta salad corn bread and pineapple. Do they call it a diabetic meal because they want people to become diabetic?

Toronto to Helsinki flight is an ordeal. Planes used are old Boeing 757-200s. These are small narrow body planes three seats each side with a narrow aisle. Seats are extremely narrow and very close together. No leg room. Seats to not recline. A real claustrophobic experience. The planes are old and battered. Staff friendly and food okay. Helsinki airport grossly over-crowded and under serviced. I would never use this airline at least for this route again.

Very pleased with all 4 flights of our travel on Finnair - JFK to Helsinki to Paris and return. The food was very decent cabin was impeccably clean stewards were courteous flights were on-time entertainment had a great variety no luggage was lost or damaged and pillows and blankets were free. Yes the seats are tight together in economy but no worse than other airlines. Everyone's luggage comfortably fit in the overhead bins.

HEL-LHR and return business class. Flights were punctual. Service food and drink were of a high standard but the cabin with its economy class seats was like some thing out of a past era. Taken by bus to and from the aircraft at Helsinki. Vantaa airport which used to be a delight is now grossly overcrowded.

BKK-HEL and return business. Flights were punctual and cabin staff pleasant and efficient. The new business class seats and cabin are excellent and the food and drink of high quality - even a dessert wine. The IFE choice is though still not as good as some other carries economy provision. BKK-HEL now departs at 9 am which means you have lunch at 10.30 am (no dining on demand) and are then required to spend the rest of the day sitting in the dark - something I greatly dislike. Vantaa airport which used to be a delight is now grossly overcrowded. They still work miracles with luggage transfer but passenger circulation is very problematic. Transit passengers now have to go through long security queues. I found it difficult to find the business class check-in got in the wrong queue. There were no staff providing queue management and advice.

Travelled with (2) children aged 5 & 10. Travel from YYZ (Toronto) - DEL (New Delhi) through Helsinki. They did not allow any carry on baggage all had to be checked in. Even after web-check in just to drop the checked in baggage took almost 60 minutes. Flight from Toronto - Helsinki was horrible. Not sufficient leg room. Seats did not recline. Plane was small and very old. No entertainment screen at each seat and travel was not comfortable. In spite of our request the vegetarian meal was not provided. When requested to provide some snacks in-lieu of meal flight crew refused and requested payment. In spite of more than 6 hours stop over no complimentary coupons were issued. Airline staff were not supportive and willing. I will not recommend this flight.

LHR to SIN via HEL. First leg to HEL great service and decent meal. Transfer is easy and lounge pleasant. Flight to SIN full in business but simple meal served quickly and slept 7hrs. Arrived on time and bags waiting at carousel.

Toronto to Helsinki and Slovenia. No room between seats on the flight from Toronto to Helsinki. Much better plane with lots of space between seats on the flight from Helsinki to Ljubljana-Slovenia. Staff not friendly. My husband is very tall and had problems with his legs fitting in the space between seats. I am much shorter than him but had horrible time and did not sleep for the whole flight. The price was great the experience was horrible.

BKK-HEL-TXL-HEL-SIN in Business. Outbound flight in A330. Aircraft had seen better days the same for the crew. The food was acceptable but you would not write home about it. Flight home in an A340 also this aircraft and crew had seen better times. The seats are not flat and remain in an angle position. That is very uncomfortable. Aircraft clean. Meals acceptable but again nothing special. I could see a lot of cost cutting. The lounge at HEL apparently the flagship lounge had only a few salad leaves to eat. I would like to say that it was below basic.

Toronto Pearson - Helsinki - Stockholm and Copenhagen - Helsinki - Pearson. It was clear from check-in at Pearson that in order to offer lower fares they've cut corners. We were there 3 hours ahead of check-in and even though we had done online check-in the process took 50 minutes. They informed us that our carry-on suitcase that met all of the carry-on requirements could not be taken as a carry-on and must be checked. Given that we had one carry-on between 2 people this hardly seemed fair. Flight was like any other cheap charter - no leg room and limited service. Flight from Copenhagen was similar but the check-in process was worse - they open the check-in 2 hours prior to boarding and we made it to the gate with minutes to spare. We noticed that the planes they use within Europe (e.g. Helsinki to Stockholm) were much newer and more spacious. The plane we were on for the Transatlantic flights was very old and dirty. I wouldn't recommend Finair.