Finnair Plus - Baby cots/bassinets on Finnair long haul (J)?

Have any of the FlyerTalkers here used baby cots/bassinets on Finnair long haul flights recently (while the current long haul fleet has been operational)? I tried calling Finnair, but the person on the phone didn't sound too sure (had to put me on hold several times to check the answers), so I thought I'd ask about experiences here on FT...

This is mainly about the business cabin, but I suppose the cots are similar so any information from economy would be useful too.

- Are the cots really so small as www.finnair.com seems to say (I think somewhere on the pages they were described as 70 cm long)?

- How is the design of the cot/bassinet positions in general, are they convenient to use, do they hinder any seat adjustments?

- Can you get a cot/bassinet assigned and guaranteed at the time of booking, or how are they given out?

If we fly Finnair we would probably be on an A340 on this route, though it could be one of the other aircraft with fleet rotation.

Luckily it's been a loong time since we've needed bassinets so cannot really comment on the size/usability etc. issues in the new J cabin but you can for sure book the seat in J at the time of booking, including bassinet seats.

AY J crews are usually very accommodating for babies onboard so most likely it'll be an enjoyable flight.

Thanks NWS. Anyone else have any more recent experience about the cots/bassinets?

I'm most concerned about the size (I re-checked at finnair.com and they were indeed described as 70 cm inner length). Whether that's 70 cm actual length from end to end, or sized to accommodate a 70 cm tall infant, it sounds very small for babies older than 6 months or so.

And the availability of cot/bassinet positions in business class - seatguru shows nothing about those (though information there is not always complete), and the sales rep I had on the phone didn't sound that sure either...

We could of course plan to fly BA via LHR, with guaranteed good bassinet seating, but would rather avoid the backtrack (and BA is currently quite a bit more expensive too, unless there will be a sale with our dates and destinations available).

I'd be surprised if the bassinets are bigger today than they were during the M11 days but I remeber one trip when the junior was something like 17-18 months old and there was no way to fit him in to the bassinet..what we did was that we put the bassinet on the floor in front of the bulkhead on the first row (seats 1JK) and his legs were coming over..we put a blanket on top and the flight crew were laughing at the sight, in a positive way..the point being that the bassinets were not very bid/wide back then..also I would not have trusted the mounting on the bulkhead to be strong enough to hold the weight.. ;)

I'd say the bassinets are good for babies until they are 1-1,5 year old..there's a very good reason why 2 year old and above need their own seat :)

I don't have personal use-experience but I can confirm seeing that Finnair has bassinet places in long-haul J in the front-J front row and again in rear-J's first row (and again in the front row of Y). Depending on the plane it might be both front-J and rear-J or one or the other? Anyway, I doubt those wall-mounting bassinets can be used in any other J seats, because the bassinets are connected to the wall in those front rows. On my latest flight (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finnair-plus/1217801-ay-a340-differences-question-4.html#55) on Finnair's AF A340 there was actually a baby bassinet in use in the front row of Y, it attached to the wall just like it would have in J. The bassinet seemed "normal size" on a quick glance (meaning I didn't think it looked abnormal), but probably only for smaller babies. Also, I don't know if they have other kinds of bassinets for other rows, I haven't heard of any.

As a side-note, the new Finnair full-flat business class seats have these airbag seatbelts, that have warnings that special extenders must be used with baby bassinets (that disable the airbags I guess). But Finnair seems to use normal seatbelts on the front bassinet rows in these planes, so I those warnings may be unnecessary in Finnair planes, because in other rows there doesn't seem to be room for bassinets anyway and in the front there are no airbag seatbelts (at least none that I've seen). Perhaps it means some other kind of bassinet or is meant for planes that have airbag seatbelts on bassinet rows. (Due to these airbags Finnair's seat-belt extenders do not seem to be compatible with such seatbelts either. I've seen at least once a fat passenger bumped to row 1 in J - which doesn't have the airbags due to baby bassinet use - for takeoff/landing so that he could use the extender they had.)

They seem to have a harder time confirming bassinets in business class than economy class even when only talking about passengers who have the bulkhead equipped for bassinets. Why is that?

According to understanding the bassinet has to be pre-reserved now-of-days and it is not free of charge. Call to service center and clarify the situation. You are about flying with Finnair, information about this matter effects on your decision on weather to fly with Finnair and Service Center has to provide the info to you.

According to understanding the bassinet has to be pre-reserved now-of-days and it is not free of charge. Call to service center and clarify the situation. You are about flying with Finnair, information about this matter effects on your decision on weather to fly with Finnair and Service Center has to provide the info to you.

Not free for business class customers?

Thank you for the feedback, all. We don't care that much if bassinet reservation costs something (though on principle I agree it shouldn't), just as long as we can have it reserved at the time of booking, and if the actual bassinet is usable.

I'm still most concerned about the size: If he stays on the "growth curve" he's on, Jr. will most certainly be taller than 70 cm by the time we would be traveling. And if the bassinet is too small to be used, I don't really like the thought of long-haul with a lap infant all of the way, even if we would have the extra space of business seats and taking turns with Mrs.

Might still have to look into BA options - though I don't fancy the 3 hour feeder flight or the LHR transit either, guaranteed good seats and bassinet from there on does sound like something to even pay some extra for.

Not free for business class customers?

Free at least for infants ticketed as lap child infants in long-haul business, but it requires getting bulkhead seats.

The bassinet was a tighter fit for a 70 cm baby than the LH bassinets but both are large enough. The issue is that you may not consider it deep enough relative to say the LH bassinets. For much larger infants, AY bassinets would not be a good idea.