Qantas (Finnair) A330-300 Business Class Review

Qantas is currently wet leasing two Finnair Airbus A330s for its Sydney-Singapore and Sydney-Bangkok routes.

I recently flew on QF295 from Sydney to Bangkok, which is one of the daily Qantas flights operated by Finnair. This replaced Qantas’ own QF23 service in March 2024.

This flight is on a Finnair aircraft, with Finnair seats and Finnair staff. However, you still receive the usual Qantas meals, entertainment and amenities on board. This means the overall experience is still relatively similar to flying on a Qantas A330. That said, the Business Class seat itself is quite different… and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Instead of the usual Qantas A330 Business suite, the Finnair A330 features the Finnish airline’s new AirLounge seat. Uniquely, this Business Class seat does not recline. Instead, the idea is to be able to relax at whatever angle suits you best. There’s still plenty of space to lie down, and these seats are lighter, which saves the airline fuel.

In this review, I’ll share my experience flying to Thailand in Finnair’s Airbus A330 Business Class seat, while receiving Qantas service on board.

Flight Details

Flight number	QF295
Route	Sydney (SYD) to Bangkok (BKK)
Aircraft type	Airbus A330-300
Class of travel	Business Class
Seat number	3A
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I booked the Sydney-Bangkok flight covered in this review as part of a return trip from Cairo to Sydney, stopping in Amman and Bangkok in both directions. Starting in Cairo allowed me to nest flights from Europe, and also to take advantage of cheap premium cabin airfares out of Egypt.

I paid $4,151 for the entire trip, which I thought was pretty good value compared to Qantas’ usual return Business Class fare from Sydney to Bangkok of $5,312.

You could also book this flight with points, although availability is often scarce. You’ll need 68,400 Qantas points + ~$250 in taxes and carrier charges to fly Business Class between Sydney and Bangkok on the Qantas A330 operated by Finnair.

Airport Experience

I got to the airport two hours prior to departure, with no line for Qantas Business Class check-in. The agent gave me a boarding pass as well as an Express Path invite for immigration and security.

The Express Path definitely helped, as the morning rush was in full flow, and I was soon in the Qantas Business Lounge.

Qantas international Business Lounge

The Qantas international Business Lounge at Sydney Airport is solid but very crowded in the morning.

While it was a struggle to find a seat, the food and beverage offerings were decent. Barista-made coffee complemented a good range of hot and cold food options at the buffet.

The overall feel of the lounge is somewhat… unremarkable though. There’s natural light, but with a blocked view. The food and beverages offered are good, but not great – with no a la carte menu.

For Qantas’ flagship international Business Class lounge in its busiest hub, it doesn’t quite fit the bill. It’s still a good lounge… it just lacks the wow factor of other Business Class lounges such as Cathay Pacific’s Pier Business Lounge in Hong Kong.

Thankfully, Qantas have put the Sydney International Business Lounge in line for refurbishment. However, despite Qantas previously announcing that work would begin in “early 2024”, no work has begun yet.

Boarding

After a last-minute gate change, I made my way to gate 35 to find that boarding was a bit delayed. When it did start, the gate staff strictly enforced priority boarding, with many directed to the back of the Economy line.

The Hard Product

Finnair equips its Airbus A330-300s with 28 Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Each seat is pretty much the same, with all having direct aisle access.

The AirLounge seat

Despite the lack of privacy doors, the seat felt quite private due to the high walls and “cocooning” of the seat.

The seat itself is extremely wide, and shaped much differently to the normal Qantas A330 Business Class seat. The walls of the seat act as your back support regardless of whether you’re sitting normally or lying down, or anywhere in between. You can use the pillows provided for additional support.

There are two fold-out sections under the seat and under the entertainment screen which you can raise to make the space fully lie-flat. The footwell is large and extends far – perfect for those who are a bit on the taller side.

The seat is extremely comfortable and, with the help of pillows, adapted well to what I wanted at the time.

There’s plenty of storage at the seat, with a large compartment and laptop space to the left side of my seat.

There’s also a separate headphone storage unit, with USB-A and USB-C charging available. On the side console, there’s even a very good wireless charging spot. AC power is available underneath the seat, although it becomes very difficult to access when in bed mode.

Finnair clearly put a lot of thought into the seat design – it’s a refreshing change of pace for Business Class. I found it extremely comfortable, and enjoyed the ability to relax in what was effectively a lounging chair. However, I can see that it would be hard to get comfortable for some people, especially those who require a bit extra lumbar support.

Entertainment and (lack of) Wi-Fi

The entertainment screen was crisp and responsive, while the selection was extensive.

Qantas provided the entertainment content, although the flight maps were Finnair’s design. There was even music onboard (which isn’t always the case on Qantas flights!) and a collection of audiobooks.

Finnair equips its A330 with Wi-Fi, but Qantas had turned it off for this flight.

The Soft Product

Although the pilots were based in Helsinki, the Finnair flight attendants were all Bangkok-based. This will remain the case until 2025, when the wet lease becomes a “dry lease” and Qantas crew resume operating the Sydney-Bangkok route.

Onboard, the crew were fantastic from start to finish – attentive and generally happy to be there.

After taking my seat, I had the choice of either champagne, still or sparkling water as a welcome drink.

Business Class Amenities

There were pillows, a duvet, a mattress pad, water, an amenity kit and menus waiting for me at my seat. The Qantas amenity kit was from Koskela, an Australian brand:

Even though pyjamas aren’t really necessary for the daytime flight to Bangkok, a flight attendant did offer them around. Qantas has been handing out pyjamas on daytime flights to Asia since earlier this year.

Food and drinks

There were two menu cards – a drinks menu and a food menu. The drinks menu read as following:

And this was the food menu:

A flight attendant came around again to ask for my meal order, including for the mid-flight snack.

The meal service began about an hour after takeoff, with pre-lunch drinks first. I went for a simple ginger beer, which came with warmed almonds.

The entrees soon followed. I ordered the pumpkin and ginger soup, accompanied by a slice of bread and the ever-present Neil’s leaves. I also requested a tiny pour of the red wine (don’t worry, the small pour you see here wasn’t due to Qantas cost-cutting!).

I do generally love soup on planes, and this was no exception. It retained its flavour well, with the ginger giving a little spice to the pumpkin. A simple but great dish onboard – except if there’s turbulence.

For the main, I chose the beef fillet.

This was a bit disappointing. It was basically a small hunk of beef and some roasted, then microwaved vegetables. The overcooked beef was not great, but the wasabi butter at least added some moisture and good flavour.

A dessert trolley came around, with all options available. I chose the chocolate cream, which came with an extra Lindt chocolate.

This was extremely sweet and rich, exactly what I was after. The flight attendants offered coffee and tea as well, although I declined. Service throughout was great, with constant water refills and checks.

After lunch, I watched some movies and set up for a nap.

The bedding is definitely comfortable, with a good mattress pad, thick blanket and two solid pillows.

However, Qantas designed its bedding to be used with the Qantas A330 Business seat, rather than the very different Finnair Business Class seat. This wasn’t a problem for the pillows, or even the blanket, but the mattress pad simply didn’t fit Finnair’s AirLounge seat and footwell. It required a bit of manoeuvring to stretch it all the way down, and to keep it in place (as it can’t wrap around the top of the seat).

At about 2.5 hours prior to arrival, the second meal service began. I chose the fried rice, which also came with a vanilla cheesecake as the “sweet treat”.

The rice was full of flavour, and the prawns were surprisingly juicy. My only complaint is the size – like other Qantas meals at times, it just felt small. The crew did not proactively offer drinks with this meal, although I’m sure I would have received something if I’d asked.

Wilson McTaggart

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.