Finnair Plus - Dubai - 75W

I’ve only flown on Finnair twice. CDG-HEL and HEL-LHR in 2010 on A320s in business.
I’m looking at flying HEL-DXB later in the year (AY961) as part of a DONE3. The schedule lists it as a 75W, the seat maps look much like the A320 maps with economy seating for the business “cabin”. What is the service on this 6 hour flight like?

I can't say anything about the service as I haven't flown this route, but the flight is listed as a mono-class Boeing 757-200. The destination is listed as an "Leisure" destination, so I wouldn't expect anything above charter.

IMHO the AY 75W flight experience could be summarized in one word - horrible!

Stay away!

IMHO the AY 75W flight experience could be summarized in one word - horrible!

Stay away!hmm... :/
Any other suggestions for somewhere to visit instead? 'Long' distance from HEL within "Europe" as defined by xONEx fare rules.

Have a look at my post on the Comfort Class on charters (A330 J-class) thread....

757 flights are like charters, you get a meal and free soft drinks, they might or might not give you beer/wine free of charge with the meal, all other drinks probably chargable, like they are on nyc, yyz and bkk flights.

hmm... :/
Any other suggestions for somewhere to visit instead? 'Long' distance from HEL within "Europe" as defined by xONEx fare rules.

If you want direct AY flights, HEL-MAD is four hours and thirty minutes.

I would opt for BCN instead of MAD.

IMHO the AY 75W flight experience could be summarized in one word - horrible!

Stay away!

If you manage to get one of the exit seats, 75W expericence is not so bad. Seat 12A and F offer pretty much unlimited leg space, and row 11 pretty much the same. Service-wise definitely nothing spectacular.

Have used the direct connection to Dubai from HEL, saving many hours instead of connecting via LHR. Children kicking my seat from the back, very cramped, but fast connection. Earlier Finnair was using a terminal in DBX which was for "cheap airlines" but this year they have changed to same terminal that e.g. BA is using.

As others have posted on this thread (+on many others on this forum in the past) all AY 757 services are with charter configurated planes. Some exit seats might be OK in terms of legroom but in a nutshell it's a flying zoo experience.

If they have a special configuration for charter flights, why do they use that configuration for a normal scheduled flight? As the charter configuration appears to be a downgrade on the normal service, those aircraft should only be used on a scheduled service in the event of IRROPS.

If they have a special configuration for charter flights, why do they use that configuration for a normal scheduled flight? As the charter configuration appears to be a downgrade on the normal service, those aircraft should only be used on a scheduled service in the event of IRROPS.

Ah, we may have been confusing here. They are scheduled flights, but considered to be "charter" because AY mostly sells the tickets under their leisure program.

The B757's in AY fleet are used for this purpose, and configured as a "one-class" flight with charter-like service. You can still buy a ticket outside the charter program, and like Laajo said, it can sometimes be preferable (even with charter service) if you save time on the connection.

AY also sometimes uses the A330's for the leisure program, and in those cases the comfort class is the way to go, like sakari1707 reported. In that case you may have even better service on this leisure flight than on regular J flights!

Ah, we may have been confusing here. They are scheduled flights, but considered to be "charter" because AY mostly sells the tickets under their leisure program.

The B757's in AY fleet are used for this purpose, and configured as a "one-class" flight with charter-like service. You can still buy a ticket outside the charter program, and like Laajo said, it can sometimes be preferable (even with charter service) if you save time on the connection.

AY also sometimes uses the A330's for the leisure program, and in those cases the comfort class is the way to go, like sakari1707 reported. In that case you may have even better service on this leisure flight than on regular J flights!

This is totally true what you're saying but I still understand the international pax who are not very familiar with AY and their charter operations...they market these Dubai & Toronto flights as "scheduled flights" with only Y class of service but do not mention anything about them being on a 757 with absolutely horrible 229 pax config (or was it 227 but anyway a flying prison..)

Why 75W with 227 pax is terrible and A321 with 196 pax is not?

And after couple of years 75W's are gone and more A321's coming with 200 seats.

Why 75W with 227 pax is terrible and A321 with 196 pax is not?


In the A321 it's still possible to "enjoy" sitting in bulkhead row with seat blocking and a halfway decent biz class service. As for the rest of the plane (A321), I'd not want to do HEL - BCN/FCO/MAD etc. in economy class on those either.

Why 75W with 227 pax is terrible and A321 with 196 pax is not?

And after couple of years 75W's are gone and more A321's coming with 200 seats.

Point being that A321's are not used on long-haul and you don't expect long-haul configurations. On long-hauls you do expect at least a normal seat pitch and unless you know the 757's are charter configurations, you will be surprised once onboard. Yes, some exit rows have good legroom.

And do not expect any new planes for many years! On the opposite, they are getting rid of some A320's and have nothing to replace them.

This is totally true what you're saying but I still understand the international pax who are not very familiar with AY and their charter operations...they market these Dubai & Toronto flights as "scheduled flights" with only Y class of service but do not mention anything about them being on a 757 with absolutely horrible 229 pax config (or was it 227 but anyway a flying prison..)

Oh yeah - it is confusing. I didn't even know about this myself until I researched what was meant by "one-class"... It is not unheard of in the business, though. I did HKG-OKA on KA recently, and it turned out to be a big route for their charter program (Cathay Holiday/Dragonair Holiday). However, Dragonair still made it a very pleasant flight, recognising my AY status and so on.

Point being that A321's are not used on long-haul and you don't expect long-haul configurations.

HEL-DXB is not a long haul flight. It is only 6 hrs flight. So who says it should be long haul configuration?

HEL-DXB is not a long haul flight. It is only 6 hrs flight. So who says it should be long haul configuration?

Matter of opinion, I personally consider everything outside Europe being long-haul or at least something in the between.... But they fly also YYZ with the 757's. No one says it has to be this or that, but you can expect something more..... Any airline can choose to fly what ever they want to, in the long run it's the customers who bring in the money and if expectations are let down by not telling what the product is, you will loose these customers.

And AY has had one-class flights for a long time, but they all used to be short-haul + some longer European destinations like LIS (where they do not fly anymore). YYZ and DXB used to be called leisure flights, and as that, charter version would have been acceptable. They also fly to Malaga with the 757's, used to call them leisure flights, now scheduled.

I also ment to say, that for instance HELPEK flight is around 7 hrs with good tailwinds and JFKHEL only a bit more..... only one hour difference to HELDXB.
Not to mention some UK-US East coast flights that can be around 6 hours - yet all these are long-haul....

So what is the definition for long-haul?

I also ment to say, that for instance HELPEK flight is around 7 hrs with good tailwinds and JFKHEL only a bit more..... only one hour difference to HELDXB.
Not to mention some UK-US East coast flights that can be around 6 hours - yet all these are long-haul....

So what is the definition for long-haul?

Hehe, I have heard CX-people referring to HKG-AKL (11 hours) as medium-haul, so...:D
Anyway, for AY I would call any flight outside Europe longhaul, mostly because I think intra-euro-travelling is a different market than extra-europe. So in my mind DXB would count as LH.
I am not sure what definiton AY uses, but they do have the upgrade vouchers in 2 categories; Euro-upgrade and longhaul upgrade.

Anything less than half a day <12hrs is medium hauling to me so I'm with OH-LGG on this one... ;)

Try SCL-AKL or SFO-HKG with nice head winds and that's real long hauling...yet to fly SIN-JFK direct, though..

:D

11 hours medium haul? It doesn't leave very many long hauls out there, does it?

Still one more point:
757 seatpitch is 28-29", A321 has 31" and A330/340 has 32" (according to SeatGuru).
So of course med./longhaul 757 is much more uncomfortable compared to shorthaul A321. Even on a 6 hour flight 2-3" makes a difference.

Still one more point:
757 seatpitch is 28-29", A321 has 31" and A330/340 has 32" (according to SeatGuru).
So of course med./longhaul 757 is much more uncomfortable compared to shorthaul A321. Even on a 6 hour flight 2-3" makes a difference.

Well isn't this the one and only point in this whole thread? :)

AY 757 is not made for human travel, period ;)