Review of Finnair flight from London to Helsinki in Economy

A Return to Asia!

Putting together another long-haul adventure to follow up my 2023 trip to Australia, I looked into some options. With my passport due to expire in late-2025, I didn't want to get an ESTA for the US as I would be paying $20 for a 2 year ESTA to use once and need to replace once I acquired a new passport.

Canada also required a tourist visa, but with Canada I thought it would be more appropriate to do that in 2025 due to a personal anniversary. The Middle East is somewhere I'm not in a rush to visit, so I looked back at Asia again.

I quickly found that I could go to Singapore without a visa and the same with Malaysia. I had enough time off work to put a 10 day trip together and I booked a return trip with Finnair from London to Singapore via Helsinki. A similar set up to what I had done in September 2019 with Hong Kong and Taiwan. But this time I was going to be adding to this trip!

I had saved up a lot of Finnair Award Miles (now Avios) on my Finnair Plus account from several years of flying with Finnair and various OneWorld Alliance partners. I had enough frequent flyer miles in my account to upgrade one of my flights between Helsinki and Singapore to Business Class, which I will discuss more on the report for that flight in the future.

Whilst I usually prefer to fly the Airbus A350/A330 operated flights out of London Heathrow, I opted to select a booking with a flight on the Finnair Airbus A320 as it offered the best timing for connections, it was not going to leave me in Helsinki Airport for 8 hours and the other flight only had a 55 minute turn around between flights… Can't have my first long-haul business class flight and not enjoy an Airport Lounge. 

I paid £530 for the return trip of four flights, with one of the long-haul flights upgraded with 60,000 Finnair Award Miles (40,000 Avios), and then proceeded to await for the day of this trip to arrive… Ironically it was also the 1 year anniversary of my Australia Trip starting!

London Heathrow Terminal 3

Finnair as with the majority of the airline's in the OneWorld Alliance fly from Terminal 3 at London Heathrow. Usually I tend to use a travel hack of going to Hatton Cross Station and take a free "tap in-tap out" service which you can use from that train station to get into the Terminals at London Heathrow, however my day didn't work out for that, so I opted to get dropped off at Terminal 3 and pay for the £5 drop-off… Outrageous and something I personally don't have a kind word to say about it!

Terminal 3 arguably gets the best mixtures of airlines at London Heathrow (for now at least) with most OneWorld airlines operating here including Finnair, American, British Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas. SkyTeam is represented by Delta Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, MEA, China Airlines and AeroMexico. Meanwhile LATAM, Emirates & Iran Air are some of the independent names flying from T3!

I was able to use Priority Security, given my OneWorld Ruby status (Finnair Plus Silver) and I got through in about 20 minutes of waiting and being seen to at the security check point. Going airside I didn't have lounge access, so I went off to locate some aircraft to plane spot, there are some nice view points at T3 airside, but not as extensive as the other Terminals. Much as I like Terminal 3, it is really starting to show its age given this Terminal opened in the early 1960s, just as Boeing 707's were becoming the standard on many long-haul flights!

I also saw a recently new face at London Heathrow in the form of a Japan Airlines (JAL) Airbus A350-1000, the first JAL Airbus plane to fly regularly to London Heathrow, having been dominated by Seattle built Boeing 747s, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 Dreamliners the last five decades, barring a few Californian built McDonnell-Douglas built DC-8, DC-10 & MD-11 as well on and off.

My aircraft arrived from Helsinki Vantaa on time, and I caught it arriving on FR24, so I followed it to see where it parked at Terminal 3, I used this to find out which Gate I was flying from. You could say I cheated a bit as I didn't need to consult the departure boards in T3… Technology is very handy when it works!

Finnair A320 Experience in 2024 (LHR-HEL)

My flight with Finnair that evening would be operated by Airbus A320, OH-LXI, A 21 year old plane delivered brand new to Finnair in May 2003. The aircraft was stored for nearly 2 years during the downturn from the pandemic in Finland, France, Czech Republic and Poland from March 20th 2020 to August 2nd 2022. The plane is configured to carry 174 passengers on a full load. 

This flight was nearly full in both cabins, though I did see a small handful of empty seats in economy class during the flight. This flight was likely full as it was a flight with a good arrival time to make a safe connection for passengers travelling onward on the late night flights to Asia (including Singapore where I would be flying to) as well as Finn's returning to Helsinki after a day in London.

I boarded in Group 3, due to my OneWorld Ruby status, I was sat in Seat 9F which is a window seat on the right side of the aircraft right next to Engine 2.

We taxied along passed Terminal 3 and Terminal 2 parallel to the South Runway as we were going to depart off Runway 27L. I saw multiple aircraft take off or taxi past us as we went to the threshold.

The flight departed from Runway 27L, rotating and departing as we passed Terminal 5 providing a really amazing departure view of the Western-side of London Heathrow. We turned right, heading slightly north to give us the right heading for a Northerly departure toward Helsinki. We even flew over my old stomping grounds, I recognised the Slough Trading Estate, which was almost next to where I used to live.

This flight was going to be mostly in darkness, but I used this to showcase the internet situation at Finnair. You can get free Wi-Fi for streaming if you have Status or a business class ticket. But to cover the full flight otherwise you need to pay up. A basic website works through the Nordic-Sky portal, a flight map was one of the free things you can enjoy which is great for travel enthusiasts as most airlines have dispatched the maps on IFE Screens in the 21st Century.

I screenshotted the screen showcasing the prices for late 2024, which should be similar for 2025. This is for full internet access on Finnair. As I said earlier, Status holders and business class passengers get free Wi-Fi packages for an hour or the whole flight. Wi-Fi is charged in either Avios or Euros.

Finnair via Nordic-Sky has this really cool little game where you can guide planes into land at Helsinki Vantaa, as well as restock the flights at the Gate and push them back. I played it four or five times during the flight, my best score being 138 out of a possible 180. It is free to play and can be enjoyed by people of all ages!

Finnair's buy on board product is available both as a paperback menu card and online through the Finnair App or Nordic-Sky portal. There is a nice selection on European flights, however some items aren't available on Nordic, Domestic or Baltic flights. But flights to London & by extension the UK & Ireland should have everything subject to stock. Prices are what you'd expect from an airline buy-on-board, but I noticed the hot drinks were better value than other airlines, with alcoholic beverages being the most "extortionate".

It should be noted Water & Blueberry Juice are still complimentary, the buy on board offerings is different on long-haul flights, but I'll cover that in a different Flight Report!

I pre-ordered a meal as Finnair offers some more substantial options on longer European flights before you fly. I opted to pre-order a pizza with pepperoni, which I was allowed to have a soft-drink off the menu to go with it. I picked a can of cola to round it off, as well as a cup of the already complimentary Blueberry Juice which was served before my items arrived.

The pizza was tasty and just what I expected, its a safe option as you really can't mess a pizza up when it comes pre-packaged and just requires heating up… I'm looking at you Vueling!

Inflight images out of the plane were non-existent for the most part as we were flying at night over the North Sea, with my side facing away from the cities and land.

I used the lavatory on the flight, the loo is what you'd expect from an Airbus A320ceo, a bit more spacious than what you'd find on an incoming Airbus A320neo. On the way back I stopped at the A320 exit door to get this pretty cool photo overlooking Denmark as we flew over.

The rest of the flight went past pretty uneventfully. Another drinks round with water on offer was made, so I had a quick cup of water. I checked the app about 45 minutes from landing and found that the App had updated to give Gate information for my onward flight to Singapore. Which was very handy as it gave me plenty of information I needed in advance of us arriving.

I also noted the Gate was also right next to the Finnair Lounge in the non-Schengen Area, which was ideal news for me!

Eventually the flight passed and it was time to land in Helsinki Vantaa, we arrived into Helsinki Vantaa on Runway 04R, coming in from the South-West of the Airport. As we slowed up, I got a good view of the non-Schengen Terminal area at Helsinki Vantaa, with the Air Traffic Control area.

As I was connecting flights, I stood back and waited for most of the other passengers to get off the plane, it amazes me how people try to rush off these things once the plane is parked and the seat belt sign is deactivated… As I studied my arrival and transfer information before landing, I didn't need to rush thankfully.

These Finnair A320ceo will be plying the skies over Europe for a number of years to come, most the planes are from the early 2000's (except a handful of A321ceo from 2014/2017), Finnair doesn't seem to be rushing to replace its current Airbus fleet as they're the only major European flag carrier which hasn't ordered either the Airbus A320neo-Family, Boeing 737-MAX or Airbus A220-family. I'm not entirely sure where Finnair is going with this as the A320neo backlog is getting longer and I'm not sure they're interested in the Boeing 737-MAX given the all-Airbus fleet?

I exited the A320 giving the two cabin crew on the front door a "Kittos" for a good flight, and exited into the main Terminal facility. Overall it was a good flight on the Finnair A320, Finnair is one of my favourite airlines to fly on. Whilst I prefer the A350 flights on the London LHR route, this A320 flight made sense for the better Helsinki connection time. The economy product is in line with other Nordic/Baltic airlines based in the region, mainly SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle & Air Baltic. OneWorld status benefits can make flying Finnair slightly nicer with perks like priority boarding, priority security, better Wi-Fi benefits. Personally the only thing I'd want Finnair to review on the onboard service is to reintroduce free Tea & Filtered Coffee alongside the Water and Blueberry Juice, similar to what SAS offers.