Review of Finnair flight Helsinki → New York in Economy

I have done a good few flights with Finnair since I began flying with them in October 2015.



I had flown the London-Helsinki route & back twice in economy with the Airbus A350 & A320. Plus two economy intra-Nordic flights with the Airbus A320. A third LHR-HEL run was done in Business with the Airbus A350 and this left me two things left in terms of the fleet and airline service. A long-haul experience and a flight an Airbus A330. This would effectively give me a good 360 on the Finnair services until I could cover Nordica and long-haul business which are quite a way off. With the Finnair A340-300 fleet retired, that was one opportunity I would never have the chance to indulge in.



So after my day in Stockholm and my SAS A320-NEO experience I left the JumboStay at 04:00am Stockholm time and caught one of the early BETA Bus services to the Terminal complex.



Vacating at T2 for my Finnair A320 to Helsinki Vantaa.



A short A320 flight from ARN to HEL later I landed at Helsinki Vantaa on time!



Getting off the A330, I had almost four hours layover and I knew exactly what I was going to do in that time!

FINNAIR LOUNGE!



I had seen the place on my October 2015 visit and my May 2017 visits when I was a Finnair Plus "WHITE" member and the cost of visiting this if you were flying Economy was 45 Euro. Not money I was willing to shell on for only 3 hours. Come my January 2018 trip to America, I didn't have time to pay a visit with only 90 minutes connection. Then came March 2018. I had a four hour layover with my OneWorld Ruby tier membership (Finnair Silver) and this meant the Lounge would be 25 Euro. Great value for a full three hour stay!

I used the shower and went for a spot of lunch in the lounge. Which had a good offering of food and drink. It was nice to just sit in the lounge. Have something to eat after freshening up and then having a few power ports to charge up my equipment (GoPro, GoPro power block and phone).



So wrapping up my three hour stay, I made a bolt across the Terminal to where the long-haul flights were loading up for departure.

My flight to New York JFK had just started boarding. My flight was being operated by Airbus A330-300 OH-LTS, which appeared to have done the route 4 out of the previous 7 days according to Flight Radar.



As I was OneWorld Ruby tier through Finnair Silver, I was allowed to board with the Priority groups 1-3. I was in Group 3.

Getting on the A330, I settled into Seat 29A. My home for the next 8 hours and 40 minutes.



Bit of a comparison between the A350 & A330 economy cabins:

#A330


The A330 had the advantage of being 2-3-2 meaning that I would only have 1 neighbour instead of 2 and this would make getting out of my seat easier.
The A350 seats I found to be comfier than the A330. But legroom felt similar. For me there was enough legroom to move around.
IFE would be the same selection.

#A350


We pushed back on time and taxied to the runway. We held for only 2 or 3 planes and very soon we were underway! Climbing through the clouds and onward to New York!



Sitting on the left side of the plane flying to America, I found myself with the sun aiming straight through my window and onto me. Causing me to heat up and making the IFE a bit hard to see.



It was awkward lifting the blind up every now and then to film/photograph. But I made do with the situation.

I got my meal about an hour and a half into the flight. The gentleman sitting next to me ordered a special meal and got served a good 20 minutes before me.



Gaining some useful information: Special meals are often served ahead of the main meal service meaning you get served first. He also suggested ordering a Kosher meal on flights as it means the cold items & hot items are kept separate and both are at their ideal temperatures when you get them. Most airlines offer special meals for free, so its something to note for regular or savvy travellers.

For my basic Finnair Economy meal I went with the Lamb option. The meal contained: Lamb sausage steaks, potato cubes, a warm bread role, a green potato salad, creme brule cake and came with a free beer if you so wanted it. I also got "Ruska" (Valhalla & Cola) as has become somewhat tradition on Finnair flights I take.



After finishing the meal and enjoying a film I got up and went for a walk to the back of the cabin so I could move my legs about.




I spent most the flight watching tv show episodes and films before the next meal service arrived.



I wasn't too impressed by this next item, but I stress it was down to personal taste, I am sure people like it regardless!



The sandwich provided included: Cheese, Mayonnaise, Cucumber and Lettuce. I had about half of it before I gave up with it.



I had a sprite and coffee too, which both slid down alright!

We had a bit of a hold around New York during our decent. Lot of cloud cover that day. So despite all the turns, didn't see a lot…



Eventually we landed at JFK. Landing about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The taxi was a bit pro-longed over to Terminal 8, which was shared with American and various One World partners.



I had decided to stay at an Air BnB only 20 minutes from JFK. So once I cleared the extended line through customs & passport control. I made it through into the USA, and went to my accommodation on 75th Street. Ready to have a full on weekend break in New York!