Trying out a new airline and a new style of business class seat
Back in 2022, Finnair launched a business class seat that broke the mould: it didn’t recline. What you get is something akin to a small sofa that acts as a comfortable seat when you want to eat or watch TV, and then, when you’re ready to sleep, a bed. It generated a lot of interest in the airline, and it’s certainly the main reason why we wanted to try them out. And why not give it a go on one of their longest flights?
Quick Summary
- An excellent ultra-long-haul flight with a great crew, and decent food
- The Finnair business class seat did not blow me away. It was comfortable, but not amazing.
- I did get a good night’s sleep on this overnight flight.
- Don’t expect a big amenity kit. Finnair are “eco-conscious” when it comes to handing out toiletries.
How did we book Finnair business class to Japan?
This flight was the second leg of our outbound journey from Manchester to Japan. I wrote a separate review on our first leg, a short-haul flight from MAN to Helsinki in business class on their A321.
We used 80,500 Avios points and paid £386.37 on taxes and carrier-imposed surcharges, per person. That’s for the longer leg from Helsinki to Tokyo, and the first leg from Manchester to Helsinki.
I don’t consider this a cheap deal. Factoring it out, that would be 322,000 Avios and £1,544 for two people, if it were a return flight. That’s on par with what we would have paid with British Airways, perhaps less on the taxes, but at least with BA, we could have used a companion voucher to cut the Avios in half.
Ultimately, we wanted to try Finnair’s business-class seat, and so it was worth using the extra points. We’ve overspent on flights before because we wanted the experience. Our recent First flight with Singapore Airlines is a good example of this: a high number of points needed for a “once in a lifetime” trip. I say that knowing full well that we came home and then booked another flight on the Singapore A380 in First.
Checking in for this Finnair flight
Our check-in started in Manchester, on the first leg. Check-in at MAN was fast and easy, aided by the plane being half empty, but also made better by two great staff members.
Once we landed in Helsinki, we were deposited at the main terminal (after a short bus ride since we ended up on a remote stand). That meant we didn’t have to go through any security or check-in at Helsinki.
As we’d landed from a non-Schengen country, and were heading out to another non-Schengen country, we could exist in that half of the airport without any need to show a passport, or get a bag scanned. It made the transfer feel incredibly easy.
If you’re unfamiliar with Schengen, it’s a border-free travel zone across Europe that does not include the UK. It allows you to move between countries without showing a passport. European airports need to be split into Schengen and non-Schengen to avoid the mixing of passengers.
The Finnair lounge at Helsinki
Finnair operate two lounges in the non-Schengen part of the airport. Both share the same entrance, and our Business Class ticket gave us access to the Finnair Business Class lounge. There’s also the Premium Wing, which we could not use.
The Premium Wing lounge is better. Given that Finnair doesn’t have a higher cabin than Business, you might be wondering how you gain entry. You have to be a oneworld Emerald (or on Finnair, a Platinum or Platinum Lumo member) to get access. It’s there for the truly frequent flyers.
The Finnair Business Class lounge is big and divided into multiple spaces. As you enter, there’s a small self-service food and drink area to your left, and comfortable seating runs along the right-hand side.
This is not the primary food area; you access that by walking straight ahead, past the showers. You’ll then find yourself in a large space with restaurant-style seating, some more comfortable pods at the far left, and a decent self-service buffet.
Right at the back of the lounge is a quieter area. It’s not designated as quiet (you’ll still get people in there conducting phone calls), but it is the last part of the lounge, meaning most people won’t find their way there. There are small semi-enclosed pods with side tables between them.
The Finnair Business lounge
It’s a nice, clean, modern space that sits at the middle of what a Business Class lounge should be. The food is good but not luxurious, and there’s not a huge amount of choice, but it’s absolutely fine. The lounge has a big footprint, but it can still get very busy in there. It looks exactly like you would expect a Finnair lounge to look: clean, modern, light colours, comfy seating. I did write up a lot more on this lounge in my full review of the Finnair Business lounge.
There is a manned bar at the side of the food area, and it operates a set menu of cocktails and mocktails. We ended up having the Bluesinki (blueberry juice, ginger beer, lime) because we’d bought into the Finnair blueberry obsession. It was a pleasant drink that we expertly paired with a bowl of mini cookies.
Sadly, the Business class lounge does not have a sauna. You’ll need to gain access to the Finnair Premium Wing to use that, and I really wish we could have experienced a sauna in an airport. I’m not even that big a fan of saunas; it just feels like a unique and interesting thing to do. There are showers in the main business class lounge, so you could always run that for half an hour if you want to try to recreate the experience.
What’s Helsinki airport like?
Helsinki airport, or at least the non-Schengen part of it, is a nice, bright and calm transportation hub. You may hear bird noises as you walk through the terminal; these are piped in to relax you. There’s also a space in the centre of the airport that has screens showing forest scenery.
We sat here for five minutes, taking in the visuals and sounds of a forest, alongside a gentleman conducting a call on speakerphone who decided that the best place to do this was in this quiet zone. You cannot make this stuff up.
There’s a reasonable selection of shops and restaurants in the terminal, and they’re spread out rather than being in one central shopping cluster. Some are very on-brand for Finland, like a shop that stocks only Moomin-related items.
Boarding our Finnair long-haul in Helsinki
The Finnair boarding process started early and was incredibly efficient. The first passengers boarded at 5:05pm, and the plane pushed back at 5:30pm.
Once we were settled, we were offered a welcome drink, and we, of course, went for the blueberry juice. It really was a delicious, refreshing drink that, despite our best efforts, we did not get sick of ordering and drinking.
The cabin was clean and the area around the seat was in perfect condition with no scuffs or marks. The cabin itself is a combination of whites and blues, matching the Finnair colour scheme, which itself feels very Finnish.
There are overhead bins above every seat, including the middle seats, so there are plenty of storage options in business that are outside the seat. The suite has one large storage bin, plus a small amount of storage in the vanity cupboard.
When you board, you’ll find two pillows on the seat, plus slippers, a blanket and a mattress topper for turning the seat into a bed. There’s also a bottle of water in the larger storage unit.
The Finnair business class seat
This is what we came for. We were sitting in the business mini-cabin, which is towards the middle of the plane and in front of premium economy. It’s smaller, with just three full rows and one extra row at the front with just one seat. We chose the window seats, with my wife in 10A and I was in 11A.
I was not blown away by the seat. That’s not to say it’s bad; it just wasn’t the revelation I thought it would. be. Despite it being known as a fixed seat, there is actually a part of it that moves. When you want to go to sleep, part of it folds up to create a single flat surface, filling in the area that your legs were at. This is effectively a leg rest that rotates ninety degrees.
There is then a smaller flap that you manually fold upwards. I couldn’t work out how to do this, so I left it down the whole flight. This left a small, but barely noticeable, gap in the bed.
Ultimately, I had a good night’s sleep in the Finnair seat. I also found it comfortable to sit in. It didn’t blow my mind.
Seat controls and storage
There is a batch of controls that run alongside the side of the table. You might be wondering what these do if the seat doesn’t move. Well, the only button that relates to the seat itself will raise or lower the leg support. That is used when you convert the seat into a bed.
The remaining controls adjust the lighting, open the tray table, and there’s a final button for calling a crew member.
The seat has three areas to store items. Firstly, there’s a vanity cupboard behind you that has space in it for smaller items. Within that, you have a remote for the IFE, and USB-A and USB-C power options. The main power socket, which is a universal type, is located at foot height on the opposite side of the suite entrance.
There is also a wireless charging pad on the surface next to the seat.
Above this small storage space you have an attractive reading light. There’s a second dedicated storage space, which is in front of the side table.
This bin has something I haven’t seen before on a flight: a narrow, deep area that allows you to drop a laptop into it. It’s a great idea, but getting your laptop back out of there is a little tricky. There’s another wider storage area in this bin that doesn’t run as deep, but can take a water bottle.
Finally, you can store items under the seat in front. As there’s no real movement in your seat, you’re not risking your items being crushed or stopping the seat from turning into a bed. It’s a good-sized space that you can fit your shoes under.
The Finnair IFE
The evolution of the IFE has levelled out. Gone are the tiny touchscreens that you have to stab your finger at. What most airlines now have is a large, high-resolution screen that works the same as an iPad. Typically, you’ll also get a remote control; sometimes, you even get two. The vast majority of business class suites and seats have a similar setup, and comparable technology.
Finnair has those and some useful features. The 18-inch screen isn’t the largest, but can you really tell the difference between that and a 22inch? The TV shows and movies on offer were fine – a mix of some classic shows and some movies that were out recently. There was nothing that really stood out to me as “must watch”. I’ve noticed recently that the range of media on flights is getting worse.
What the IFE system did have was a nice timeline showing when food would be served and when the best time to get sleep was. Given that we’d already changed the time zone once and were about to do it multiple times again, it was a really useful screen.
The IFE also alerted you to when the cabin lights are being dimmed, and the Northern Lights experience begins.
You can also see the menu for your flight on the IFE, which is useful, although you do get a paper menu. I’m not sure why Finnair still have the paper menu given how focused they are on reducing waste.
The Finnair amenity kit
When you arrive at your seat, you’ll find an amenity kit, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you have been handed an empty one. Looking at it, unopened, it appears to be missing anything made of atoms. Inside you’ll find:
- A toothbrush
- An eye mask
- Ear plugs
Finnair is not handing out any fancy aftershaves or eye creams. I’m writing this review on our return flight with Emirates, which has an amenity kit that’s bursting at the seams, including a mid-sized aftershave. You can barely close the zip once you’ve opened it up.
That is not the Finnair way. It’s all about minimising waste, but a great amenity kit feels like a core part of the business class experience. On an overnight flight, it does feel like a requirement rather than a bonus.
The Bathrooms on Finnair’s A350.
There is nothing to note when it comes to the Finnair bathrooms. They’re standard in size, there’s no window, and the sink was a little stained, in that way that beige aeroplane bathrooms start to discolour after a while.
The toiletries were from the Finnish brand Seek, and there was hand soap and hand/body lotion.
These are not the type of aeroplane bathrooms that you spend any more time in than you have to. Go about your business, have a quick stretch, and get back to your seat.
Accessing the Internet on Finnair
You get an hour of basic internet access for free. The best “stream” package costs €19.99 if you’re a Finnair Plus member or €24.99 if not. Given that you can sign up as a member for free, it’s absolutely worth doing this to reduce the cost.
Connectivity during the flight was spotty, and the speed was pretty slow. It’s ok for receiving messages, but beyond that, it was a pretty poor experience. As more airlines adopt Starlink, this will change, but for the moment, I’d score the Finnair connectivity on the A350 low.
Around two hours into the flight, they announced they would have to reboot the entertainment system, which took out internet connectivity, the IFE, and the ability to use the seat controls for about twenty minutes.
Food and drink in Finnair business class
We were on an overnight flight, which meant two meal services: dinner just after take-off and then breakfast when we came in to land at Tokyo.
I skipped dinner as I wanted to get my head down and get some sleep. Kate had the Lamb Shoulder (9/10).
This was served with a Smoked Salmon starter (8/10).
She then had the brownie for desert which got a solid 7/10.
Breakfast was a tray full of different dishes. Two baked options (a croissant and a bread roll), alongside fruit, a yoghurt, a bowl with hot food (sausage, egg) and a final bowl with cheese and meat. It was a generous meal that had enough variety to appease most passengers.
Breakfast is my favourite meal on a flight. Dinner on overnight flights always feels a bit rushed, as you want to get through it and get some sleep. Breakfast, on the other hand, is a meal I wish could go on forever. I do try and drag it out with a request for more coffee and extra pastries.
Throughout the flight, we were given small chocolates from Karl Frazer. I was unfamiliar with the brand and put a picture of it on Threads. It turns out that the Finns are deeply in love with Karl Frazer, and the post had over a thousand likes and a hundred and sixty-two comments. I can highly recommend it, or at least the blue ones that Finnair were foisting upon us.
Cabins dimmed at around 8pm, twenty minutes after the meal service had been cleared away. Before that, the Northern Lights were projected onto the ceiling of the cabin. That’s really just the cabin LED’s moving between blue, purple and green, but it was a nice touch.
The Finnair service and team
The experience on this flight echoed our connecting flight into Helsinki: the Finnair crew were excellent, without being overbearing. Service was quick, and the team were warm and friendly. When we needed something, they were there; when we wanted to watch TV or sleep, they left us alone.
I love the Emirates First experience, but my main (and possibly only) gripe with that is that you feel like someone is always popping in to ask you something or offer you something.
My verdict on Finnair long-haul
A great soft experience, a good seat with the only downside being a noisy cabin for part of the trip. The staff could have done a better job of controlling their passengers, but overall, it was a good experience.
The seat, the real reason we booked Finnair, ended up overpromising. In reality, it felt just like a regular business class seat. It was no more comfortable for sleeping, nor was it any better for sitting. Whilst it was great to try it, it’s not as groundbreaking as I had hoped. It was not a bad seat.
A high point was the food and drink, and the service from the Finnair crew. The team on board the plane can absolutely make or break your experience, and on this flight and our connecting flight into Helsinki, I found the crew to be outstanding. The food on offer was of good quality, although the choice is limited and it is not uber-luxurious.
The lounge at Helsinki was better than we expected, and we already had reasonably high expectations. The airport itself was another high point; it’s beautifully designed, and they have really tried to create a peaceful experience (or at least create pockets of peace). It could do with a few more shops and restaurants, but there was some building work going on, so I think that’s on the cards.
Rating Finnair Long Haul
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