Business class – please share your views
 

I’m about to book long-haul business class flights with Finnair.

Can you share your experience?

I read some reviews and they are very mixed.
Flights are significantly cheaper than other airlines so I appreciate the standard might differ.

I hope to get the new flat seat on my way to Hong Kong (going further to Auckland in Cathay or New Zealand air). I called the UK reservations and helpline number to ask about that and the guy barely spoke English. That experience did not give me confidence in general :)

thanks

Better than BA Club World or SK C ;) I think the "new" seats are the same as OS have.

I'd say it's a solid product, but nothing fancy. I do fly them frequently to Asia and even the "dreaded" old-C on the A340 is quite OK for day flights.

AY robs you blind if your origin is in Finland but gives extremely good value for ex-EU (and especially E-Eur EU) origins.

Try to price out WAW-HEL...your destination...-HEL-LHR if you don't want to go back via WAW.

Thanks for the advice – I checked return to LHR on the way back - about gbp680 more (funny thing is it also makes the WAW-AKL leg more expensive…weird)

And luckily, also ex TLL or ex ARN helps. So we in Finland are not quite so doomed point wise and status wise. For clever business inineraries vs. cost we are doomed, however. About Club World, I would not be so pessimistic. Much more widespread infestation to start with.

Those Sales from Eastern EUrope seems to be over.:(

And TLL was good point to start AY trip about 10yrs ago. :)

Flew Finnair J in June/July 2013 and even though it was the old angled seats, I actually had enough sleep to be able to last until check-in time (6:30 am arrival in HEL, hotel check in was 3pm), and vice versa on the way back through HKG.
Service was prompt and enjoyable, but none of the smiles and over-the-top hospitality you find on the Asian carriers. Personally, I'm looking for an excuse to fly Finnair back to Helsinki, but the opportunity hasn't arisen yet.

Luckily not - BUD, WAW, PRG or a combination of them still works well (in the last 3 months I bought excellent NRT ex-PRG, ICN & NRT-SYD ex-BUD and collegue PEK & PVG ex-WAW. They are not sales as such, just the "normal" prices.

Actually until about 3 yrs ago, but yes, TLL just seem to only add to the price these days. Luckily ARN seem to come to the rescue ;)

Hi –

I fly intercontinental business class regularly on various airlines and like AY.

BA vs. AY head-to-head comparison below.

AY
- everything feels generally well-maintained and organized
- Finnair does not have First, and as business class is their best offering, they try hard to please you
- food is Finnair longhaul's weak spot (it's just cheap)
- I personally don't like their seat either (Zodiac Vantage) as it is tiny -- does not provide enough space for legs (to turn when sleeping etc.)
- generally the crew treats you well. However, there is a huge variation in the individual crew members ability to deliver good service (e.g. you have some of the best FAs in the industry whereas there are also bozos who don't care or are lost in what comes to interacting with a customer)

BA
- seat has plenty of space to sleep (I'm 6'1)
- crew hard to approach, but most often they get what you want
- the cabin interior is somewhat clinical and cold vs. the light colors of Finnair
- they spend more on the meals so the food is better on North Atlantic
- the IFE is probably better, but who cares? If you want to watch movie, bring your own iPad...

Don't forget that cozy dorm feeling on BA CW - a hundred like-minded strange people sharing your "bedroom" :-)

Thank you all for your replies! :)

I would say AY longhaul J is for the airline industry what Scandic Hotels are for the hotel industry. They offer you the very bare minimum that is needed and that they get away with to be able to call the product business class.

The seat is OK but far inferior to BA or the new AA seat. The reduced meal is OK but again inferior to their OW competition. Their amenity kit is practically nonexistent. The mid-flight snacks mostly consist of cheap potato crisps and a Fazer bag of candy, all opened and poured into minimal-size glasses. It's like someone told them, you guys need to offer a mid-flight snack since everybody else does, and then they sit down and ponder how to be able to do it without paying anything for it. The cabin crew is usually friendly but not used to offering pampering or anything luxurious and not very good at dealing with demanding passengers. That said, they do get you to your destination relatively reliably.

So if you just need to get reasonably comfortably from A to B, pick AY if the price is right (and if you want to avoid transfering at a big European hub). If you need pampering or want to experience something that hints towards luxury, pick another carrier.

Hey, get serious - BA CW superior to AY's C seat? Already the 8 abreast vs 4/5 abreast arrangement tells the story.

True, but I don't know which EU C product would be luxurious or pampering - LX? OS? (I don't know AF/KL's offering) :confused:

I agree with ffay005's view (as visible above) on the seat, as well as the other points.

I think that the Zodiac seat design does not use the floorspace very well. Yes, Finnair has only 4/5 abreast (vs. 8 on BA C), but the pitch is super dense. The result of this is that in lying position where your feet must fit into a tiny tunnel, with your toes reaching all the way till the next row passenger's knee level. Of course, when you are in upright position, there is plenty of space at the shoulder level, but I don't like sleeping in the Finnair seat. It may be a personal opinion, but I tend to sleep better in other seats.

With the BA, the floorspace is used more effectively: there is not much space at the shoulder level (because 8 abreast), but the pitch is like 2 meters. From passengers point, you have plenty of space for you feet as they are in open space (not height-restricted narrow tunnel as in Zodiac). You can sleep a lot better.

Does this make sense?

On the service, (low quality) food, processed snacks etc. ff005 is spot on.

E.g. if you want to serve ice cream, don't provide Vanilla/Strawberry Haagen-Daz. It's not a premium ice cream that would belong to a fine dining desert menu. If you really want to serve ice-cream (that is not a bad idea, BA serves it in First), I'd suggest going either with some small label artisan ice creams (BA CW) or having the ice-cream custom-made based on each individual passenger's request in the plane (toppings, hot fudge etc. like AA does in domestic premium cabin on their 737s).

May I once again promote my post in the sticky "Rudimentary Finnair Thread Index". In the second post you will find links to AY trip reports posted in flyertalk and airliners.net.

It's of course a matter of opinion, so there's no point in arguing. But I find the BA seat with its full recline and "ottoman" by far more comfortable both for sitting and for sleeping. It's more private (if you don't sit in a one-seater on AY), it's less cramped, it feels more like a real bed, albet a narrow one. And the tray table is usable – with the AY seat you need to sit fully upright in order to operate and use the tray table. Since I'm not dining in a church I end up using the side table for eating and even the FA's don't blink an eyelid when I ask them to put the tray there – they seem used to it.