My first flight of the day was departing from the C gates, located about 5 minutes away from the lounge. I arrived in front of the gate roughly 35 minutes before scheduled departure and the priority boarding had already started. The priority boarding was enforced by an agent in front of the queue.
AY842 AMS-HEL
Finnair – AY842 – October 9th 2017
Amsterdam Schiphol Intl AMS – 11:55
Helsinki Vantaa Intl HEL – 15:20
Airbus A321 – OH-LZM – Business class, seat 01A, window, seat 01B neutralized
The flight looked quite full and it was a bit tricky to find some overhead bin space, even in the business class cabin. Boarding was completed at 11:45, but we had to wait 10 more minutes for our push back time. Newspapers (1 Dutch and 1 Finnish) were offered during this time. We took off shortly after noon and first dring service began 20 minutes later with some pretzels (AA serves the same in economy…). I opted for a tomato juice – which was served in a very nice glass. Hot towels were also given.
Legroom seat A1 AY 321
First drink AY842
It took quite some time for the crew to reheat the meals and the lunch was offered more than an hour after take off, with a choice of pork stew or mushroom raviolis. I opted for the latter and it was actually pretty good. It came with a piece of salmon as a starter and I asked for some Australian white whine to go with it and both were pretty good. As usual, bread and butter were available. However, I would have liked to see a small dessert to end up this meal – only 3 Fazer chocolates were placed on the tray.
Lunch service AY842
Coffee and tea were provided after the lunch service. Considering the size of the business class cabin (10 rows) and the fact it was full, the crew was quite busy during the entire flight.
Finnish autumn landscapes
We landed in Helsinki on time and were parked at contact of the terminal.
To conclude, I would rate this flight as following (considering this is a European business class route):
Cabin Crew : B-
Seat : C, little legroom despite the fact it was a bulkhead seat – otherwise this is a standard slimline medium-haul seat.
On time performance : A
Meal and beverages : B (Food was allright, a real dessert would not have hurt…)
Overall experience : B