FINNAIR - new Business Class AirLounge seat

[clifford]

Oh sad. Flying with them next month.

Yes, but aren't they still serving French Champagne on their long-haul flights, with the Luxembourg sparkling (which I expect will be fine) on short-hauls?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Yes, but aren't they still serving French Champagne on their long-haul flights, with the Luxembourg sparkling (which I expect will be fine) on short-hauls?

Yes they are still serving Champagne on LH.
I have a few LH sectors this month and will report back.

EDIT: Seems that we aren’t the only ones outraged at the loss of Champers from SH.
There’s almost 200 posts on the AY FT thread about it

 

[TheRealTMA]

British Airways Adds English Sparkling Wine In Club World

British Airways is adding English sparkling wine to its Club World business class drink lineup, complementing the Champagne on offer.

onemileatatime.com

While they will be offering English sparkling wine in additional to champagne now, I wonder how long that's going to last.

English sparkling is actually very drinkable!

 

[k_sheep]

I wouldn't have minded trying to get a bottle of bubbles down between ARN and HEL

 

[ANstar]

English sparkling is actually very drinkable!

Delicious actually. Had it on VS a few years ago and it was a step up from the Lanson they were serving.

 

[itchy feet]

Hopefully QF wet lease of aircraft for SYD-BKK will be better than my recent experience on that sector. Very shabby QF metal.
Flew Finnair BKK-HEL and return in J class on their A350. Loved the no-recline seat (and the cabin service). More private and comfortable sitting and lying down than “fully flat bed” eg Emirates A380.

 

[AirportRail]

I flew Finnair Business HEL to NRT with the AirLounge seats in July. Personally, I didn't rate the seat highly for comfort. The seat is on a slight angle which makes it difficult to sit in a straight direction which I found uncomfortable. Additionally, the lack of recline means that you have a limited range of positions you can sit in.

Possibly this is a great seat if you want to sleep flat on a plane, but I can't sleep on planes so want to maximize my comfort in a seated position.

 

[OZDUCK]

I flew Finnair Business HEL to NRT with the AirLounge seats in July. Personally, I didn't rate the seat highly for comfort. The seat is on a slight angle which makes it difficult to sit in a straight direction which I found uncomfortable. Additionally, the lack of recline means that you have a limited range of positions you can sit in.

Possibly this is a great seat if you want to sleep flat on a plane, but I can't sleep on planes so want to maximize my comfort in a seated position.

That has sort of worried me as well. I seem incapable of sleeping in even a good J lie flat seat. Also, I end up doing a lot of adjustments to the seat position in flight.

 

[Oceanic]

I flew HEL to SIN late November Business Class on the A350 and was extremely disappointed with the seat transitioning from upright to flat mode. It wasn't the usual seamless sliding shell type experienced on other carriers. For this reason I would not fly AY again.

 

[glennp]

Flew business PRG-HEL-HKG in May and found Finnair massively underwhelming. A320 business was so pathetic it was laughable. Had the empty middle seat not had "Enjoy your extra space" on the headrest it would have been no different to every economy seat on a half-full flight. Then the flagship Platinum Wing lounge in HEL was closed due to "an exceptional situation" (ie someone was sick). Finnair issued EUR17 vouchers but only one food outlet was open with one overworked employee trying to serve 40+ people lined up for a couple of rolls and yoghurt as their kitchen was already closed. New A350 seats were average but became uncomfortable when trying to bend knees. After a very ordinary Finnair business experience The Pier in HKG was amazing, but that's Cathay's lounge. Finnair business was a massive fail.

 

[jase05]

Had the empty middle seat not had "Enjoy your extra space" on the headrest it would have been no different to every economy seat on a half-full flight.

Unfortunately Euro Business is the norm and this the same setup across all airlines in Europe. It’s a pretty underwhelming product across all airlines and hence why the prices are often quite cheap in J

 

[SYD]

Unfortunately Euro Business is the norm and this the same setup across all airlines in Europe. It’s a pretty underwhelming product across all airlines and hence why the prices are often quite cheap in J

There are a few (very few) where there’s wide body aircraft operating intra Europe flights but they’re the exception rather than the norm. At least one of the AY HEL-LHR daily A350 flights being one of the exceptions.

 

[Rob P]

I read a very positive review of the new seat which you can see here:

Finnair A350 Business Class Review | QFlyer

Finnair A350 Business Class Review

www.qflyer.com.au

I've booked for next year and will be happy to give it a go.

 

[MelbFlyer]

I have a flight on Finnair in Business next month which is scheduled to be an A350 - AY100 from HKG to HEL.

Are all the AY A350s refurbished and therefore have the new Airlounge seat?

If not, I personally don't mind the older style reverse herringbone seats, I sat in this style of seat on CX a few years ago from HKG to EWR and it was pretty comfortable.

I'm in two minds about the Airlounge - lots of reviews stating that it's good for sleeping due to the increased width, but then there's no recline option so therefore you have to use your body and the pillows to get into different positions etc.

Looking at flight tracking, AY100 is pretty much a 100% night flight throughout the 14hrs (leaves HKG around 8:30pm and arrives HEL around 5:30am in the morning (10:30am HKG time)), so I'll be looking to get some sleep after the meal service, then probably stay up for a few hours, then go back to sleep before breakfast / landing.

 

[Danger]

No, I don't believe all the A350s do have the new product.

According to One Mile at a Time, "For the A350, you know it’s the new cabins if the forward business class cabin has seven rows of seats along the windows, rather than eight. Furthermore, the rear business class cabin has three rows of seats on the left side and four rows of seats on the right side."

 

[MelbFlyer]

No, I don't believe all the A350s do have the new product.

According to One Mile at a Time, "For the A350, you know it’s the new cabins if the forward business class cabin has seven rows of seats along the windows, rather than eight. Furthermore, the rear business class cabin has three rows of seats on the left side and four rows of seats on the right side."

Yep, I just checked the seat map in manage my booking - it's exactly as per described above.

The front cabin has 7 rows along the windows, 8 rows in the middle section.
The rear cabin has 3 rows in all sections apart from the right hand side window which has 4 rows.

We're in 7A and 8A in the front cabin. Guess we'll have the newer seats.

 

[moa999]

F1 photographer and vlogger Kym Illman with a travel review of the seat, both in 330 and 350

 

[kpc]

I recently flew the AY J seat on the A350 from Hkg to Hel rtn. The crew were ftom HKG and fantastic, the food was avearge but better than Qf, miserly only 1 hour of free WiFi, movies were limited...oh yes the bed; I like the privacy provided by the large headrests, it was flat and I couldn't touch the end of the wall, but bed was a bit hard and I didnt like area where the feet go into as it was a bit narrow... I give the bed /seat 6 5/10.

 

[OZDUCK]

F1 photographer and vlogger Kym Illman with a travel review of the seat, both in 330 and 350

By coincidenceI watched this a few hours ago. He liked the seat, with reservations about the footwell. But he also echoed complaints that I have seen on here - the seatbelt to use when lying down is uncomfortable and less agile people would struggle to get up from a reclining position.

 

[PERLHR]

By coincidenceI watched this a few hours ago. He liked the seat, with reservations about the footwell. But he also echoed complaints that I have seen on here - the seatbelt to use when lying down is uncomfortable and less agile people would struggle to get up from a reclining position.

Don't think there is an issue with seat belt really because when lying down just use the belt that covers your knees/ankles and.not the shoulder strap. Also I did this when lounging. I think the footwell is fine and also I like snacking and having some drinkies while lounging on the seat watching movies. I slept fine but agree it can take a bit of getting used to. According to one of the cabin service managers I talked to for quite a while said it's like marmite ...you love it or hate it! I think you get used to it.