Review of Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi in Economy

Introduction

Welcome to the third part of this new series of flight reviews!

We always take advantage of my son's breaks from preschool to take a trip. For autumn break this year we decided to go to Finland. I'd never been to Finland–outside of changing planes at Helsinki airport–and I thought it would be a fun experience for my son to meet Santa Claus, at the famous Santa Claus Village in Lapland, just two months before Christmas. I was also crossing my fingers to see some Aurora Borealis, after having missed them in Lofoten, Norway the year before due to overcast skies. 

In this review, we'll take a look at Finnair's domestic service as we head up to Lapland. Being a popular tourist destination, Rovaniemi sees several daily Finnair flights, even in the off-season. During the busier winter season, there are flights on multiple airlines from all over Europe.

There's a short Helsinki tourist bonus as the end of this review for those who may be interested. 

Routing

Booking

Unlike the long-haul flights, which I'd booked through American Airlines to use some flight credits, I booked the domestic flights directly on the Finnair website. Only Economy is sold on domestic flights, with 4 different fare types. 

As we all have oneworld Emerald or Sapphire status in the family, we were able to select the lowest "Superlight" fare as we were entitled to carry-on and checked bags, as well as free seat assignments, with our status. The status perks essentially take away the restrictive nature of the Superlight fares.  Overall, it saved us about 200 Euros, affording us the same level of service as the highest fare brand, minus the ticket flexibility. 

Finnair definitely operate a Low-cost carrier model on domestic and short-haul flights, with all extras like carry-on bags and seat assignments for a fee when selecting the lowest fare types. 

As mentioned above, the oneworld status came in quite handy as we were able to select seats for free–including Front Row seats, which were the most expensive category of seats. 

On-board food is for purchase regardless of fare type. There's a good selection of fresh options, which is nice considering most domestic flights are in the air for only about an hour or less. I found the prices to be decent and I liked the option to pre-order. 

Getting to the Airport

After a few days exploring the beautiful Finnish capital, we headed to the airport to head to Lapland for the second part of our trip!

As with most larger European cities, Helsinki has a great public transit system. Our hotel was in the city centre with a tram stop literally in front of the hotel and only two stops away from Helsinki Central Station. So it took less than 5 minutes from out hotel to the train station door-to-door. 

The trains are comfortable and clean. 

The airport station is the terminus on the route and takes about a half hour from Central Station with only about 2 of 3 stops on the way. 

You can take elevators or escalators up from the airport train station to the departures level. 

Helsinki airport is beautiful and impressive. Very Nordic in its clean, light-filled aesthetic. 

The mesmerising roof pattern continues outside. 

Check-in & Lounge

Check-in at the Priority counters was quick and service was friendly. We'd checked in on the Finnair app 24h ahead, but just needed to drop off checked baggage. 

Security was quick and painless through the dedicated Priority Fast track checkpoint. 

Once airside, we headed to the Finnair Lounge

It was easy to find and we gained access by just scanning our mobile boarding passes at the automated gates. 

The lounge is large with tons of light, consistent with the rest of the terminal. 

There are several seating areas. 

It wasn't very busy so we had no problem finding a quiet place to sit. 

I believe the lounge was renovated recently as everything looked new and the interior design was fresh and modern. 

Checking out the FIDS in the lounge, our flight was showing on time. 

And we could see our A321, OH-LZE, from the lounge.

There was a good selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

No champagne in the Schengen lounge, but a rather decent organic sparkling from Luxembourg. 

The food selection was quite good as well, for a regional lounge. There were many fresh options and several hot dishes. 

I didn't grab anything to eat since I'd pre-ordered lunch for the flight.

Boarding

Since the gate was just downstairs from the lounge, we only left about 5 minutes before boarding was due to begin. 

It was funny to see an automated cleaning robot in the terminal. 

Boarding was just about to begin as we arrived at the gate. 

Being in Group 1 we were among the first to board.

Finnair's narrowbody cabins are very simple with basic Recaro BL3530 seats in a standard 3-3 configuration. While there is no in-seat power on these older style seats, they have better padding than most newer slimline seats flying short-haul in Europe. And with only 209 seats on the A321s, the density is much lower than the typical 220-230 found on most other airlines operating all-Economy A321s. 

Seats in the first 9 rows, which can be converted to Business class on European routes is a spacious 32 inches, above average compared to the 30 inch pitch found in forward rows on most other European carriers. Seat pitch in standard rows is 30-31 inches. 

There was information on accessing the Wi-Fi on the bulkhead

One of the inconvenient aspects of sitting in the front row is the lack of storage space. There was not much space in the overhead bins due to a large area reserved for safety equipment above our side of row 1 on the A-C side, so I had to keep my big winter coat with me. Luckily, there was a coat hook on the bulkhead wall. Though the coat hook could not be used during taxi, take off, or landing, so that added to the inconvenience. Just something to keep in mind about row 1 when travelling in cold-weather months. 

The Flight

As it was a very full flight, boarding took a while. A321s with over 200 seats and only one aisle can be slow to board, especially as overhead bin space ran out quickly. Nevertheless, boarding wrapped up only a few minutes late and the aircraft pushed back from the gate a short time later. 

Taxi time was very short as it seems it was not a busy time, and we were off. 

As mentioned earlier, fresh food like sandwiches can be pre-ordered, but it is also possible to buy snacks on board, though there are less options and no fresh items. Drinks can also be purchased on board. Note that only Coffee, tea, or Blueberry juice–a popular beverage in Finland–are complimentary. 

The Wi-Fi became available shortly after takeoff. 

There is some basic information on arrival time and weather at the destination on the home page. We were due to arrive just 6 minutes behind schedule. 

Messaging is free for Finnair Plus members, while full internet access for the duration of the flight costs 11.95 EUR. 

There is also a digital version of the buy-on-board menu available on the Wi-Fi portal. 

Our pre-ordered items showed in the Finnair app.

Our pre-ordered items were delivered shortly after takeoff with a Blueberry juice. 

The Kids' Combo came with a ham & cheese sandwich, a juice, Moomin candy, and a little Moomin activity booklet with coloured pencils, which was a nice touch. 

I had the Nordic combo, which included a very Nordic sandwich of Smoked salmon and hard-boiled eggs on rye bread, a fruit smoothie, and a chocolate bar. The sandwich was good, like a traditional Smørrebrød but just not open-faced. It was just a tad dry though, so a packet of mayonnaise would have been nice. 

It was a clear late autumn day for most of the route with beautiful scenery below. 

As we approached Rovaniemi, we flew close to the shore over the city of Oulu. One of the larger regional cities in Finland. 

The thousands of lakes throughout the country attest to Finland's glacial past. 

Rovaniemi clearly in view as we descended. 

The runway could be seen in the distance as we lined up for landing. 

Lakes everywhere!

We only landed a few minutes behind schedule. The airport was deserted as we were clearly the only aircraft on the ground at the time. 

Baggage came out quickly and we were on our way to collect the rental car.

Welcome to the Christmas capital of Europe!