FinnAir (AY81): Helsinki to Singapore

FinnAir — no concept of business class

July 2015

The flight from Helsinki to Singapore (FinnAir: AY81) was not much better than the London to Helsinki flight.

Again I was flying business class (paid for by someone else), and again it wasn’t very pleasant, especially when compared to Emirates or Qatar Airlines.

The plane was old, and the cabin looked tired and worn. The seats were uncomfortable (mine even felt lumpy). When converted into ‘bed mode’, the seat was not flat, and it felt like I was trying to sleep on a small mountain range. The seat was also narrow — I had to hang one arm in the aisle when I was trying to sleep. The ‘bed’ was too short for someone over 6 feet (1.83 m); it was impossible to lie flat, and I felt like I was standing up whilst lying down. There wasn’t great climate control in the cabin; one minute, it was pretty hot, and the next chilly. This, along with the uncomfortable seat/‘bed’ didn’t give a restful flight.

The food on the plane was mediocre. It was edible, but it wasn’t as good as on other airlines; Air Bagan in Myanmar (Burma) serves better food.

The entertainment system was laughable for a modern long-haul flight. The screen was tiny, and there was a choice of only nine movies. The headphones were poor, and their noise cancellation feature didn't work. On my set of headphones, I had only one channel working.

The seat booking system also needed looking at, as I was a lone traveller in an aisle seat, and they put another solo traveller next to me in the window seat. Why not put lone travellers in middle seats so that they both have an aisle exit and don’t have to disturb their fellow passengers if they need to go to the bathroom?

Summary

Overall, I was not impressed with FinnAir Business Class. I would go as far as to say that Economy on many airlines is better than FinnAir Business Class. I wonder what FinnAir Economy is like? I would have been very unhappy if I had been paying for this flight.