Flying with FinnAir — Business class from London Heathrow to Helsinki and on to Singapore (AY840)

The worst business class experience in the world?

July 2015

I’m not a travel snob (well, I don’t think I am), and I will travel from any point A to any point B by whatever means possible; however, when you have a flight booked for you and you are told it is business class, you do have certain expectations.

In July 2015, I took FinnAir AY840 from London Heathrow to Helsinki — a 2-hour 50-minute flight. I was expecting a comfortable seat, some legroom, some form of entertainment (back-of-seat TV with some comedy or music) and a snack. And FinnAir scored 1 out of 4. I did get a snack, which was a pretty tasty chicken curry (there was no choice, so if you didn’t like curry, I guess you went hungry), but there was no comfy seat, legroom, or entertainment.

FinnAir’s idea of Business class is to keep the seat next to you empty.

The only good news is that I didn’t pay for the ticket. Because if I had, I would have been very hacked off.

Admittedly, the lack of entertainment wouldn’t usually be an issue as I would listen to my music, but sadly, my noise-cancelling headphones broke on a recent flight. I was going to buy a new pair at Heathrow but decided against it as goods at the airport were no longer duty-free. My other alternative, of course, was to do some work (well, it is allegedly business class). But the seats were so close together that I could not open my MacBookAir (a computer renowned for taking up a lot of space!). When I did get the computer open, the person in front of me put their seat back with such force that it nearly snapped the screen off the laptop. With the seat in front reclined, it was impossible to work.

I did send a tweet, mentioning @FinnAir (I like to test companies’ social media teams), about the flight. It will be interesting to see if @FinnAir responds. @FinnAir never got back to me.

I can only hope the airline has improved.