Finnair’s new business class (LHR-HEL)

It’s been nearly a year since I last flew Finnair, which is one of my favorite airlines, and is my favorite in Europe.  So, I decided to flew with them for the second part of my trip to Europe and booked an award ticket on Finnair from London to Helsinki to Berlin.  Normally, I would strongly prefer to book this ticket with cash so that I could take advantage of the 80 tier points available for flights between London and Helinski.  However, London to Berlin is not a route that has Finnair’s new(ish) policy that one-way flights should cost half of a round-trip in business class, so a one-way flight was very expensive.  However, there was award availability on the date I wanted to fly.

I booked this flight shortly before Finnair’s new (devalued) award pricing structure came into effect.  When I booked this flight, the Finnair connecting flight on this route priced out at 25,000 Finnair points (plus taxes/fees), and the British Airways direct flight priced out at 24,000 Finnair points (plus taxes/fees).  Now, the Finnair flight prices at 30,000 Finnair points (which is 25% more) and the BA flight prices out at 40,000 Finnair points (which is 67% more). At least Finnair was honest about the reason for the devaluation: it’s trying to cut its losses that it has experienced from the pandemic and the closure of Russian airspace.  I no longer collect Finnair points, so I have a balance that I need to burn down anyway.  Devaluations like this one are why you should never hoard points.

What would have made sense in the absence of wanting to fly Finnair would’ve been to fly British Airways from London City Airport to Berlin directly, but instead I dragged myself out to Heathrow. Finnair uses Heathrow’s Terminal 3, which is the best terminal for Oneworld status lounges. It offers the choice of the Cathay Pacific Business and First Class lounges, the Qantas Lounge, the (one-of-a-kind) American International First lounge, a British Airways Galleries and Galleries First lounge, and a few non-affiliated lounges like the Centurion lounge.

I have previously flown Finnair’s older A350 business class and their even older A330 business class previously between London and Helsinki. However, I have very poor luck trying to fly Finnair long-haul. Despite trying 4 times, I’ve only succeeded one time, and that was my first attempt in 2018 in coach. I guess that was beginner’s luck.
I selected the Cathay Pacific First lounge as I often do. This was my first visit in nearly a year, and nothing had changed for better or worse.

I love the views offered by the lounge, but since I tend to be there at off times for the lounge, it’s uncommon that I see any Cathay Pacific planes from the lounge.

The main area was as comfortable as ever; I really like their choice in tables.

The refreshments offered were relatively light given the early time.

But they did have their standard bar available.

I selected a pastry at first but then just decided to head over to the Business Class part of the lounge instead because I wanted a booth to work on my laptop in.

The Business Class side had a breakfast buffet set up, which offered a build-your-own full English breakfast.

This side also had pastries set up in a similar manner to the First Class side.

I put together a small breakfast.

I left the lounge a bit early to go check out some planes, and I saw a Japan Airlines aircraft:

By the time I got to the gate, boarding was already underway with passports being checked and then automated gates checking the ticket.

Once on the plane, I turned left and headed to my seat of 2L. I had seen pictures and videos of Finnair’s new seats, but WOW. The cabin is absolutely stunning and both the cabin and the seats are extremely spacious.

Despite being in “row 2”, 2A and 2L are bulkhead seats, and the amount of person space is huge. I don’t actually think these seats take up much (if any?) more space than a normal business class pod, but since you sit directly in the case instead of in a seat inside the case, the amount of space you have is just huge.

I’m pleased that Finnair opted for the fabric on the seats to be blue instead of gray. Although I love Finnair’s clean, gray look, I think with seats this big, it wouldn’t work that well. The pillows, however, were a more muted color than Finnair usually offers from Marimekko.

When viewed from above, the little hole for your legs and feet while sitting up is kind of funny. But wow, the TV is also huge.

Even though the hole seems small compared to the seat, it actually has plenty of space.

Sitting directly against the shell is an interesting experience.

I can understand that it might be uncomfortable for some people to sit directly against the shell because it does not have the most padding. However, I like firm cushions, so it worked for me.

Waiting at my seat was a water bottle and some cheap headphones.

There is a compartment in the casing that I thought was elegantly included.

It’s relatively small but can hold a phone or the water bottle.

(())

The screen was great but a bit reflective.

The way the cabin is set up, you can’t see anyone else from your seat, which is great.

Shortly after takeoff, service began with a hot towel.

I then ordered champagne and was given a small bottle of Brut.

The tray table is very cutely shaped, folds in half, and swivels out from the side.

It’s very sturdy, and the small intra-European business class meal tray easily fit on the table. As is standard within Europe, I was served a “three-course meal” that consisted of a small appetizer of peas, feta, and sunflower seeds. The dish was light and refreshing as one would expect for a cold Finnish appetizer course. The main was chicken in cranberry sauce (yeah I was also skeptical of it being cranberry) served with root vegetables. This main was decent but pretty simple (and also very Finnish). They also came around with a bread basket, and I selected the rye bread. Finally, there was a small muffin, which was unremarkable.

I got a bit unlucky because the seat I had selected, 2L, had no power to it. The IFE worked, but the adjustment for the footrest didn’t. I wanted to nap, so the flight attendant directed me to an empty seat for my short nap. The interior seats actually feel even bigger than the window seats because of the way the divider is set up.

There definitely is no lack of space, even for your feet in these seats.

In summary, Finnair’s wide-body flights between London and Helsinki are still some of my favorite short-haul flights.  Finnair does not have much control over the ground experience at Heathrow, but terminal 3 has some of the best lounge options for Oneworld elite members (4/5).  Finnair’s new business class seat is phenomenal (5/5), and I have no complaints about the service (4/5).  The food service was unremarkable but fine (3/5).  The IFE was the most I could ask for: free wi-fi for half the flight and a great movie selection (5/5).  Overall, this Finnair flight gets a strong 21/25, which reflects that Finnair treats this route as one of its flagship routes.

I paid 25,000 Finnair points plus $69 in taxes/fees for this ticket, which I put on my Amex Platinum card.  I generally value Finnair points at around 1 ¢/point, so the overall cost of this flight was around $319, compared to over $600 if I had paid cash, which is a pretty good deal.  I only earned Amex points off this flight and no Avios or Tier Points on BA.