Qantas boosts international capacity, wet lease Finnair aircraft

[elanshin]

Judging by the comments in this thread, maybe I am alone with the experiences I have had. I have only flown Finnair a330 J once and the experience was good. My poor experiences have been in Y and mildly poor in PE. I would agree QF a330s are very tired and the Finnair a330s are certainly better condition.

I would suspect that the majority of flyers are either neutral to the finnair planes in Y, and frequent flyerseither love or hate J. But if you're not a regular J flyer then I'd imagine any J seat would be a good experience.

QF a330 doesn't even have PE so that alone would be a nice.

 

[SYD]

I would suspect that the majority of flyers are either neutral to the finnair planes in Y, and frequent flyerseither love or hate J. But if you're not a regular J flyer then I'd imagine any J seat would be a good experience.

QF a330 doesn't even have PE so that alone would be a nice.

Yes, a pity the QF A330 refurb didn’t include some PE seats…

I’ve actually been pondering checking out the AY PE seat if the opportunity presents itself.

 

[elanshin]

Yes, a pity the QF A330 refurb didn’t include some PE seats…

I’ve actually been pondering checking out the AY PE seat if the opportunity presents itself.

They're solid, relatively typical of PE in the modern day. I got a free OpUp exactly a year ago (technically downgrade as i got CR upgrade to J on QF2) when I shifted from QF2 to 292 following a 18h delay for QF2.

 

[Jacques Vert]

A few more A330s would come in very handy over the next few years.

 

[RooFlyer]

I flew HEL-JFK and it had the new J seats and I was not a fan as very hard to get up from sleeping position. Fine for a day flight inferior to all other lay flat J seats ive tried for overnight.
I'd prefer QF source more aircraft with their usual J seats than more of the Finnair seats that are only suitable for those with perfect mobility i.e no knee or back issues.

I'm old(-er), have 'mobility issues' and yes, one had to think how the getting up from the lying position was going to be achieved, then wriggle a fair bit. But only once or twice during the flight, and that 5 mins of awkwardness more than off set by the comfort of the bed, the seat and the amazing AY service and food. Plenty of lay-flats with tiny footwells, no direct aisle access etc; much worse than AY.

BTW the experience on QF wet-leased AY bird MEL-SIN was vastly inferior to the full AY experience SIN-HEL, and later HEL-MIA

 

[zainman]

I'm old(-er), have 'mobility issues' and yes, one had to think how the getting up from the lying position was going to be achieved, then wriggle a fair bit. But only once or twice during the flight, and that 5 mins of awkwardness more than off set by the comfort of the bed, the seat and the amazing AY service and food. Plenty of lay-flats with tiny footwells, no direct aisle access etc; much worse than AY.

BTW the experience on QF wet-leased AY bird MEL-SIN was vastly inferior to the full AY experience SIN-HEL, and later HEL-MIA

I thought the AY aircraft were only doing routes from SYD? I would like to try it if it's possible to do so from MEL!

 

[RooFlyer]

I thought the AY aircraft were only doing routes from SYD? I would like to try it if it's possible to do so from MEL!

Sorry, my mistake. It was actually SYD – BKK and BKK-HEL

 

[moa999]

A few more A330s would come in very handy over the next few years.

We are only a couple of months away from the first 321XLR which will displace some of the domestic 332s (of which 10 will get a decent upgrade, at least in Y - indeed will probably be QFs best Y product).

And only a year and a bit from the first Sunrise 350 aircraft, which will gradually displace some A380s, plus still two A380s to return from maintenance.

So I think QF Int has plenty of natural growth coming.

 

[kamchatsky]

I've just booked AY BKK-HEL and AY HEL-HKG on awards for family of 4 for end of this year. Just confirming the best J seats are 2A and 2L? I've selected 2A/D/H/L for my flights.

 

[zainman]

I've just booked AY BKK-HEL and AY HEL-HKG on awards for family of 4 for end of this year. Just confirming the best J seats are 2A and 2L? I've selected 2A/D/H/L for my flights.

You got 4 seats in J on awards on both routes? Nice! Using QFF?

 

[kamchatsky]

You got 4 seats in J on awards on both routes? Nice! Using QFF?

Yes. For family of 4, AY seems to have the best J availability right now for OW programs if you book way ahead. I cannot see any other OW airlines that provides 4 * J awards upfront for partner programs. BA sometimes does it on their metal but only for BA Avios and not partners.

4 * AY J BKK-HEL-CPH on Finnair Avios (62.5K each) - Just before Xmas 2025

4 * AY J BER-HEL-HKG on QFF CR (90K each) - late Jan 2026

Probably best value QFF redemption for family of 4 right now from what I can see. I cannot find anything on QR or CX or JL.

 

[RooFlyer]

I've just booked AY BKK-HEL and AY HEL-HKG on awards for family of 4 for end of this year. Just confirming the best J seats are 2A and 2L? I've selected 2A/D/H/L for my flights.

yes, on the A350s at least; they are actually the front seats in that row. Row one only exists in the middle of the aircraft and that’s where the bassinets are so you won't be bumped for a bassinet user.

The footwells are wider in row 2 A and F and there’s no annoying strut on the side of the footwell.

 

[426dfv]

I’m very disappointed to see no return date on HKG<>BNE. I emailed Qantas last week and all I got is a letter with full of PR bs without any solid answers.