Review about new business class meal service
Finnair new business class AirLounge review part 2 - new inflight dining and entertainment - Turning left for less

It's nice to see warm almonds finally making appearance on AY flights.

Seems they do plate the main course onboard either garnish.

so they offer 2 entrees which is nice but for the more “health” conscious pax maybe a sude
salad will be better. But not complaining when they give you more.

i recall for snacks they offered sandwiches and wraps before also ice cream. Seems these are enhanced away along with soup.

overall looks pretty ok still

This is not nice, can someone confirm there are no more snacks served in longhaul J? (Sandwiches, noodles etc)

Is that starter and main still served on same tray? One would think there is enough time serve them separately. And I guess dine-on-demand is still just a dream...

On HEL-SIN J a few days ago they had at least those cheese sandwiches (not good) and potato chips.

Thx, yeah it’s junk/comfort food but at least keeps the hunger away. The new meny doesn’t seem to mention the snacks anymore, hence a bit worried..

In my opinion offering just one option for the second pre-arrival meal especially on a 13h flight for business class to SIN is just…cheap…and way below the competition. 2nd meal feels more like a PE (or good Y ) meal just “masked” with nicer containers.

the one tray service looks a bit lousy but again lots of carriers get away with it (hint: BA)

Honestly disappointed with all the hype they’ve been mentioning re this “elevated dining experience” looks good on the outside visually but you peel one layer each and it’s got cost cutting written all over it

- no choice of appetiser? Passable as quite the norm these days even on BA…but by no means an “elevated” experience especially in Business Class.
- no choice for 2nd meal…screams cheap in Business class
- dessert portions are super tiny (again, similar to what some other carriers would serve in Y just in a nicer plate)
- no premium selection of lighter meals/snacks (unless I’m missing something…but only Economy quality snacks are on offer)….again just cheap.

I get that Finnair offers a very competitive pricing in J so I can’t really complain with any of the above but to call this an “elevated dining experience with 6-course meal” is just wrong.

It almost feels as if the underlying objective of the whole new menu is “how do we (trick) our customers into thinking they are getting something better while we get to cut our catering costs by X% in business class”………win win

Sorry for the blunt (honest) comments above but it’s hard to call this elevated dining when you get frozen game pie as a second meal and the competition is offering lobster rolls as snack in J lol

They are becoming less competitive on my searches. Looking to travel AMS-BKK in June/July and something like 3500Euro. If they want to charge those prices, they need to up their game. I would deal with average at best food in J when they were cheap but not now...

I had to read that severeal times before I got that you really meant that.
Not sure when you got your ticket and how cheap it was, but at the moment there is nothing competitive with their pricing in J. Maybe on an occasional route on some days there might be a stripped down J-light ticket lurking below 2000€. But generally we are now seeing 3500-4000 € tickets at the low end. And if you want flexibility (not the scam flexibility where fare differences run into the €1000s) then it is even worse.

In the past, AY has offered very competitive prices. In some cases they still do – I find 14000 SEK for a nonstop ARN-LAX-ARN a fair price. The hard product is okay, the soft product isn't (wasn't?), but for that kind of a price, I'll accept it.

If you order a special meal, do they give the same special meal if you would get in Y or provide a more "premium" special meal?

You need to be flexible with the routing, WAW - BKK I booked it for less then 1300€ in J (light). But in general, getting good prices are much harder in 2022 then in 2019, not to speak about 2020 and 2021.

Gosh, don’t give them any further enhancement ideas. 😀

Just thinking…you name it, sustainability has come to customerization as well…no pizzahut/all-u-can-eat pax are welcome no longer but only slimsize fit people are welcome who will take 13 hours with brain food sufficient mastering yoga in that fartyoga cage

All on same tray.

So still going cafeteria style :(

Cafeteria style (HEL-JFK new 330 product). Beef cheeks were tasty but the side and one appetizer was too mushy for my liking. The wine selection was satisfactory. I had a sangiovese and a bordeaux.

On a separate note, staff was friendly and proactive. Got a plat talk from chief purser. Liked the new seat for sleeping. The bathroom between J and PE has wheel chair accessible door and naturally is roomier...

Bathroom onboard AY😁👍 shameful EK showers knees down😉😉

Anyone know if the Cassoulet is vegetarian on the ARN-JFK route? Cassoulets usually have pork but there is no pork in the description.

Yesterday’s servings in the non-Schengen lounge was pure sadness. Dry falafel, “wok vegetables” and rice.

On board…. I don’t find the all-new bistro styled food to be any different than what was served before.

The presentation of the beef cheeks was quite horrendous. A bit of vomit with some extra vomit chunks. I found the dish to be very underwhelming.

The cheesecake with raspberry sauce was absolutely delicious but extremely tiny.

On the other hand what really did surprise me in a positive way was the breakfast! Never had such big breakfast (and good) in the air. Croissant was also delicious.

The crew was friendly and had Plat chats from the purser on my shorthaul and longhaul flights.


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I haven’t noticed that clear glass before. And Yes the breakfast looks great although the plate for the warm dish is a bit crowded.

What time of day was this? From previous posts I planned to eat in the non-Schengen lounge next week but if this is the offering I will definitely plan again, or stick to the drink.

Around 22.00-23.00

The menu on SIN-HEL flight ?
 

Flying soon from SIN and wondering how the menu looks like. Are there 3 choices? Ordinary breakfast before arrival ?
Thx

BKK-HEL menu. What would you choose?
food pics coming soon


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Cold plates sound okay. For main course, I'd have the salmon. The beef doesn't sound bad, either. And for dessert, I would kindly ask for 1+1. They sound good!

Curious about the eggless breakfast. It actually sounds pretty okay.

I'd go for the ribs, as the starters are fish and chicken.

Fish for the main as they are almost always good ex-HEL.

BKK-HEL

The chicken glass noodle cold plate was stunning, the tuna filet cold plate was the exact same they had earlier on this route. Salmon main option was superb. So far, so good.

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Then the breakfast! It was good. The onion and leek pie was however a bit too intense for me this early in the morning. It was however a high quality one and delicious.


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Euroflash - I think you were on my flight, were you on the June 3rd departure from BKK?

I also had the salmon and while the portions seemed tiny in the dishes, actually it was all really tasty and I couldn't finish all the food. Or rather, I didn't want to sit that late at night with a large dinner weighing down my stomach. Same thoughts about the onion pie - it was good but seemed kinda heavy for morning. I actually really liked the egg and sausage thing they served on the way to BKK, and that is coming from someone who doesn't like eggs.

Thinking about the service flow - sure its still on the single tray, but I sort of liked how it was delivered from the tiny aisle trolley along with a dinner beverage. The FA removed the coverings, added a sprig of cilantro to the salad bit, added a drink and offered some bread from the basket. Later they came round with the dessert or cheese and afters drinks. It sure beat the single tray, true cafeteria style of BA - plonk it down and move on - Club World style.

I WAS disappointed not to have seen hide nor hair of a cinnamon bun. Are those gone for good?

I was actually on the Saturday evening flight, June 4th :)

The food from BKK-HEL was by far superior to the beef cheek vomit they served from HEL to BKK - did not enjoy that flight that much.

A matter of taste obviously. I think the beef cheek on HEL - BKK was really tasty and tender, way better than AY long-haul J meals used to be pre-covid. Mrs. r2d2 had the salmon and was also positively impressed (well, her previous experience from longhauls was from AY16 and the infamous chicken caesar salad, so her expectations were low).

The only negative with the dinner was the miniscule piece of cheesecake offered as the other option for dessert. It was good, but super small. And there was no round of drinks (nor peanuts) before the dinner, but it might be because of the late departure.

Hel-Del really disaster. Never eaten so bad a meal on AY. No menus or no explanations. Just the choice of 1 vegetarian or salmon. Had to send the Indian meal back and had the salmon which was so bland. No bread offered. Had to ask for it. Del-Hel was better, 3 CHOICES computer printed menus. I hope they improve with the help of their entire Indian staff.

I am flying JFK-HEL-BOM in November in J and have asked for an Hindu Meal and this does not give me any confidence. Their website states its only Veg meal from HEL, DEL and Goa, wonder why.
I flew Turkish last time and they gave me Sword Fish as my Hindu meal. All the meals I had on Turkish were really bad and to rub salt in the wounds they had excellent Indian food at the Lounge in Istanbul.

You get both starters
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The salmon was excellent. I also liked the mango mousse.

When did you fly? I was on the Friday evening flight

Does the AY crew object/refuse/stumble/choke, when asking to get the official late night "diner" as next mornings' breakfast (and maybe the breakfast as a small supper right after departure) ?

HEL-BKK SFMLs. That's a sliver of salmon (I think) in between the eggs and the potato thing on the early afternoon breakfast. Wasn't too bad overall and I would likely chose it again.

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The breakfast is a combination of short-haul warm breakfast with cold-cuts from the short-haul cold breakfast. Well the fruit is served from a bowl. Rather unimaginateve to always repeat the same dishes

I would say it depends on the crew, on your status and foremost on how you present the idea. I've had crews go out of their way in serving me "dine on demand", some pursers have even suggested it proactively.

But when I ask, I always remind myself that I'm asking for a special favour and am prepared to get a "no", with which I'm then satisfied.