bhomburg

I'd second this. 2/4/6/8 A throne seats for most space, 2/4/6/9 L for most privacy (the other L seats are open to the aisle, not as good). The seats themselves are the widely-used Thompson Vantage seats, and basically identical to what you'd find on Swiss, Delta or an AA 767. They are narrower than the A350 seats, especially evident in the foot cubby area.
The A330 doesn't offer WiFi and is generally noisier than the A350.
On Finnair, service always goes front-to-back, so get a seat towards the front if you want to be served first.
I've sat in the last row a few times (10A is good with a dog), and disturbance from the economy cabin was not an issue. There's no bassinets in row21.

lkrt

I think there's more room in the A330 foot cubby than in the A350 one.

Also, all A330 birds are equipped with Wi-fi.

heatsink

IMHO, this is perfect. I sleep better on A350 flights, but on day flights the A330's seat is both much more comfortable and closer to the window (if you pick an L-seat from rows 2,4,6,9 as mentioned).

intuition

OH-LTM, OH-LTN, OH-LTO and OH-LTP where delivered in 2009 and was originally equipped with 2-2-2 angled lie-flats. They were refurbished to full-flat staggered layout 2-2-1/1-2-1 in 2014.

From OH-LTR (dec 2009) and onwards, the full-flat 2-2-1/1-2-1 was original cabin layout. But for 5 years there were 4 A330 flying with 2-2-2 J cabin.

Great_circle

For what it's worth, I was in 2A and 4L on an A330 and I liked L4 more. I suppose because of the better window view. All L seats have aisle-access but some have the table on the window-side and others on the aisle side.

Leaping_Deere

HEL was designed for connecting passengers, it's small and compact so I wouldn't worry about transferring at all, it's its bread and butter.

I like the A350,its quiet and feels spacious. the only major downside is that if you are over 6ft you may find that the only way to sleep comfortably is on your side and facing the aisle. They have tapered the footwell quite a lot and you have to curve your knees around the console. I find that quite a natural position to sleep but some might not.

LoungeEnthusiast

Thanks intuition, I hadn't really realized that! Apparently I was lucky then, managed to avoid those birds completely at that time.

bhomburg

Really? I've had two A330 flights last winter where there was no WiFi.

Levi Maeschan

What seat did you have on the L side with the 2 windows on the a350???

nutwpinut

2L

Levi Maeschan

Thanks for that info! Was making some decisions on which seats to choose for an upcoming RT from HEL>HKG, appreciate it!

Steve_Hun

They've just recently finished installing WiFi on the last of the A330s.

Ed Size

Actually, in my opinion the short leg is never bad, most of the time its nice. HEL these days is really crowded (compared to the past) and it makes it hard to go fast from one gate to another - and if a chinese tourist group is in front of you when you want to clear security it slow down even worse.

What really sucks is the service concept on board of the A 350 - it s all good if you are seated in row 1 - 3 - but after that, it becomes way to slow.

I m just back from a BKK - HEL flight, was the first person on the plane, seated in row 6 (as my wife did) - the first active contact with the FA was 1:40h after boarding (so no pre departure drinks for us, no one took care about the jackets) and this if even both of us tried to get in contact with them.

Then again the service starts well over an hour after take off and it finished three hours after take off - OK it s an day flight and you may not want to sleep so you may like it (I did not),i got the second meal (lunch/pre-landing whatever) 58 Minutes before landing (that would be OK on a night flight - but on a day flight could be earlier) anyhow just the minute they take away my tray the captain turns on the seatbelt sign.

I now did about 10 returns on the AY A 350 to BKK, and every time the seat become worse to me, nor room for the feet, a table you can t move, you can t get out of the seat unless you put it up again, you can t tilt the screen, so you can t watch movies when in sleeping position etc. etc.

For me there only two reasons why I fly AY 1. the times are perfect to me 2. Most of the time I manage to get the tickets for a very good price.

AY J class on the A 350 for me is more a premium eco then a business class, I just can t understand the rave some people make about it.

The A 350 is a very nice and quiet plane - but thats it.

aama

No wifi for the OWEs. Tried this many times for the past few months on my LHs. It seems that even the FAs hate the rule 😒

WilcoRoger

Ed, I think that you are too harsh on the A350 and on AY J. The service issues are real, goes to show that AY service can be real hit and miss - but that's not aircraft type specific. I had my grumblings here about the very long meal service on the HKG route, these days I have dinner at home, go to the airport around 10:30pm, fall asleep by 1 am, meal service or not.

The seat issues you mentioned I filed under "minor annoyances" - but I may suffer from "Stockholm syndrome" on the A350 The legroom on the first few flights felt really cramped, now I sleep 8+ hours without issues or interruptions from HKG or SIN. And that's a major, major advantage over any ME routing.

Let's face it - the direct flights to most of my Asian destinations are such a boon, that it would take a very large incentive to do it any other way.