Review of Finnair flight from Helsinki to Paris in Business

FIN

AY - Finnair

Flight taken on 15 November 2016
AY873
16:05 03h 05m 18:10
Model Airbus A321
Class Business
Seat 5F
FlyAlex
1,577 · 16 · 2 · 0

Hello,
I arrived around 2 hours before departure at the very nice and modern Terminal 2 of Helsinki airport.
Security check was very quickly as there are separate Premium passengers security check points at the upper level of the building.
I wanted to visit the Finnair Schengen lounge however the lounge attendant did not allow me to go in.
The reason was that I booked my flight with Air France and therefore had the AF codeshare flight number.
Strangely Air France sold tickets are not allowed to Finnair lounge but those passengers have to visit the Asphire lounge instead. A very strange cooperation between Finnair and Air France - I have never exerienced something like this where Business Class passengers are not given access to the operating carrier's lounge.
So I headed for the rather small and crowded Asphire lounge. It was modern but not to comfortable and offered a basic selection of drinks and snacks.


photo imag3632

Boarding started on time and was very smooth.


photo imag3633

A friendly crew greeted us at the door and also distributed a choice of newspapers once boarding was completed.


photo imag3635photo imag3636

Business Class cabin consisted of 8 rows but only the first 5 rows were occupied with guests. I was seated in 5F so it was nice to have nobody behind me.
Atmosphere on this flight was great: very calm, friendly and extremely relaxed. The cabin looked splendid and very modern with nice cool colours.
Seat pitch was excellent as well. On each middle seat blankets and pillows in great green Nordic design had already been placed.


photo imag3637photo imag3644

We departed on time and left cloudy Helsinki to fly down towards Central Europe always with a nice sunset outside the windows :)


photo imag3640photo imag3643photo imag3657

Cabin crew soon started to hand out menus. This flight would offer a hot dinner however no choice for the main meal.
Meal choice would be a nice touch for a Business Class flight of 3 hours in my opinion.
Afterwards the friendly flight attendant distributed hot towels before starting with aperitif service from a trolley.


photo imag3645

I enjoyed a gin tonic with some pretzels.


photo imag3647

After a while dinner was served including a nice selection of warm breads from a basket.
The meal tasted very good and was served on very nice modern and stylish table ware.


photo imag3650

Afterwards I enjoyed some tea and liqueur. The glasses Finnair uses in Business Class look great and add a very stylish feeling.


photo imag3651photo imag3654

The flight passed by very calm and it was very relaxing on board.


photo imag3665photo imag3666

We started our descend just before sunset and touched down at a foggy and rainy Paris CDG airport before reaching our parking gate at Terminal 2D.

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Finnair 8.5

  • Cabin9.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew9.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering9.0 / 10
Lounge

Aspire Lounge7.0

  • Comfort7.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.0 / 10
  • Services7.0 / 10
Departure airport

Helsinki - HEL10.0

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access10.0 / 10
  • Services10.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness10.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Paris - CDG3.0

  • Efficiency3.0 / 10
  • Access3.0 / 10
  • Services3.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness3.0 / 10

Conclusion

This Finnair flight was a great experience.
I loved the Nordic design and atmosphere on board.
Meal tasted great however a choice between two warm main courses would be a perfect improvement of the already very good service.

Did you enjoy reading this?

Let the author know by sharing a clap! It will be greatly appreciated!

0 Clap

FlyAlex 's latest reviews

Comments (2)

  • Old codeshares agreements between AirFrance and no-Skyteam Airlines always leed to these strange lounge access conditions... Thanks for this report !

  • Thanks for this FR.

    The service definitely seemed better on KL with a choice of main and a tray that seemed to have more things on it.

    Here on AY, the appetizer and dessert appear lost on their big plates.

Login to post a comment.
Flight-Report

Ad Blocker Detected

Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist.

If you enjoy our website, we would greatly appreciate it if you could disable your ad blocker to support us. Thank you for your help and understanding!

How to Allow Flight-Report.com?