Review of Finnair flight Helsinki → Paris in Economy

Hi again!

Another translation to have some AY European flights in the English database :)

We flew to HEL with my parents and some friends, Sky Team offered the best price, 180€ with a return on AY codeshare AF.

We also took advantage of an upgrade offer for 80€ for the AMS/HEL leg. As three of my friends did not have access to the lounge, this would grant them lounge access in Amsterdam and priority for security and boarding. Furthermore, there is a hotmeal service in J on that flight…

That would then be the routing:

hel AIRPORT

We came back to the airport by taxi, see the snow on the road, in Finland this is perfectly fine. In France it would have been another story.

Helsinki signage:

AY is home in T2

Snow and more snow :)

We used the self ticketing machines:

Inside views:

Security was a bit of a pain. The staff was nice but they were over picky. No lighters in the cabin, phones must be out of the bag and so on. Everyone in my party is smocking apart from me and all their lighters had to be thrown away. The funny thing is that they could buy some again at the duty free.

The FIDS showed our flight on time and it would stay on time.

Terminal view:

I really liked those info boards:

Also the design of the desks is really nice:

CR9 SAS ops by CityJet:

Â350 AY:

Our plane arrived. The A321 is a very elegant aircraft, specially with sharklets:

Docked:

ATR 72 NORRA + 737-300 Smart Wings:

Another A321 but with wingtips:

the flight

Boarding was launched on time. Being in Group 3 we had to wait a bit but not a big deal.

The last time I saw this was in Alaska:

The aircraft door:

Fuselage shoot:

Smiling welcome at the door. This is the Eurobusiness J:

Door 2L:

Door 3RL:

Our seats are good looking but on the hard side. The recline is good, though:

Safety Card:

Outside view:

Front view:

PSU:

Pitch:

The BOB. There isn't a lot of things but you can pre-order (but not if you have a code share ticket.). It is pretty pricey. At least AY has some free options like juices (apple, orange and blueberry, plus water and coffee/tea).

The flight is almost fully booked:

Onboard magazine:

I really liked this info page:

The fleet:

On time push back:

Norwegian:

And we head to our runway:

22R today:

Line up:

And take off:

It is just wonderful:

Climbing:

The sun already set here:

I hope to see Finland soon again:

Toilet visit:

Back to my seat:

The light is just beautiful:

WIFI is available for 7€ and I wanted to try it. Access is super easy and connection is really fast. 

No troubles to connect to Flight-Report:

As we are flying south, the sun begins to rise again:

Juice and coffee are free of charge and we added salmon sandwiches plus some raspberry / licorice chocolates:

The sandwich in detail:

Very good but expensive :(
We are here:

And caught back the day :)

More pictures:

Exit is no more written on the new signs:

There are I-pad holders on each seat:

The flight is pretty smooth and went quickly, thanks to the internet but the seats are not comfortable after a while. AY sends its 321 to DXB also. I would not like to be seated like that for 06H30+

We started our descend with some cloud surfing: 

An landed. Sorry no pictures it was pitch dark outside.

La view of the cabin:

We left the aircraft via jet bridge in terminal 2D:

But then had to go downstairs. WTH ?

OK Paxbus but what for? 

We were driven … 50 meters away to another door where we had to climb back to a … police control. Finland is Schengen, we were not supposed to have any controls. But OK why not.

So we had a passport control and then a new security control and had to go back inside 2D … Just where we came from …. Non sense.

We need to go to 2G but 2G is nowhere stated on the info board…

At least, I am familiar with CDG and knew we had to go this way even if not written on the board. But how will "normal" passengers do?? 

2G isn't directly connected via bus to 2D. You need to make a connection in 2F

Where you can take the bus to 2G:

And then the fun part begins again, a new passport control and a new security control…

At least we didn't have a short connection, all in all this took almost 90 minutes!