The inability to fly over Russia turned Finnair’s biggest advantage in connecting Europe with Asia into a disadvantage resulting in hours of extra flying time. That said, oftentimes it still is a viable option on those routes and might also pop up when you search for flights between the United States and Europe, for example.
If you are not sure whether Finnair is the best option for you, make sure to continue reading. Below, I will look at whether Finnair is a good airline to fly it – at what its cabins and onboard service are like among other things.
Is Finnair a Good Airline?
Recently, Finnair has implemented a number of cost-cutting (or additional revenue-generating) measures such as charging for seat selection even at check-in and switching from champagne to sparkling wine in short-haul business class. That said, overall, it remains a solid airline to fly with if they are well-priced and offer good schedules for the dates and routes you need to be traveling on.
In business class – on both short- and long-haul flights, Finnair offers decent service. On long-haul flights, it offers competitive seats too. On short-haul flights, it more or less offers the same “Euro business” style seating that other European airlines do (with a small caveat that I will talk about later, though).
In premium economy a competitive product. In economy class, a recent change to only having one meal “option” long-haul flights, Finnair is far from airlines which offer excellent economy class product like Emirates and Qatar Airways, and even from the likes of Lufthansa. That said, if you do not care about the meal too much then Finair’s economy class is perfectly fine.
Finnair Punctuality & Reliability: Will You Arrive on Time?
Having first flown with Finnair about 30 years ago, it was one of the first airlines that I tried. While I don’t remember what the onboard service was like or whether the flight was on-time – I was probably two years old back then after all – I can say with certainty that none of the 10 Finnair flights I took over the last six years or so was delayed significantly.
That’s a small sample size, though, and – at 77.36% of its flights in 2022 arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time according to data provider OAG – Finnair’s on-time record is far from perfect. That said, Finnair still ranked seventh in OAG’s list of European airlines’ on-time performance. A similar performance only secured the airline 19th place in 2019, though.
For comparison, airlines like American Airlines (77.38%), Emirates (81.13%), and Austrian (81.05%) had better on-time performance in 2022 while the likes of Air France (72.10%), British Airways (64.07%), and KLM (73.06%) performed worse.
In 2022, 0.51% of Finnair’s flights were canceled which is about on par with Austrian (0.58%) and KLM (0.54%).
Overall, while Finnair is not perfect in terms of punctuality, you can expect to arrive on time in most cases, and the odds of you experiencing a significant delay are not too different than what they are on other European airlines.
Flying with Finnair: What Is It Like?
Naturally, your experience when flying with Finnair will vary greatly depending on which class you travel in. Additionally, the type of aircraft you are flying on – and even a specific configuration – will affect what your flight will be like considerably, especially in business class where the seat is the most important part of the product.
Ground Service
Finnair operates three lounges at its hub in Helsinki:
- Finnair Lounge (Schengen): Lounge for Finnair’s (and other oneworld) business class passengers and frequent flyer status holders departing on flights within the Schengen area. While it offers decent food and drinks selection, it was extremely crowded during my visit.
- Finnair Business Lounge (Non-Schengen): Lounge for Finnair’s (and other oneworld) business class passengers and most frequent flyer status holders eligible for lounge access. The lounge provided a nice place to relax before my flights both times I visited it.
- Finnair Platinum Wing (Non-Schengen): This is a premium lounge available only for Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo and Platinum members, and for oneworld Emerald members. While in many ways similar to the Finnair Business Lounge, the Platinum Wing Lounge also offers a la carte dining and – more interestingly – a sauna.
It’s worth noting here that passengers who booked a Business Saver fare are not eligible for lounge access other than when flying to Japan. That said, those who are not eligible for lounge access – regardless of their class of travel – can pay
At airports other than Helsinki, Finnair provides eligible passengers with access to oneworld partner lounges or third-party contract lounges.
Seats
On long-haul flights, Finnair uses Airbus A350-900s and A330-300s. The aircraft are equipped with three different types of business class seats:
- Staggered: These seats provide a good amount of privacy and can be found on Finnair’s non-refurbished A330s. That said, not all seats offer direct aisle access. They alternate between being in 2-2-1 and 1-2-2 layouts. Some of the single window seats are “throne seats” with a console table on either side of the seat.
- Reverse herringbone: All of these seats which are in a 1-2-1 layout offer direct aisle access. They can be found on non-refurbished A350s.
- AirLounge: These seats can be found on refurbished A330s and A350s and are Finnair’s new business class seats that will be rolled out long-haul fleet-wide. They were designed exclusively for Finnair and, for better or worse, cannot be reclined.
Having flown on both a refurbished and non-refurbished Finnair A350 in business class, I found both to be comfortable enough and while I liked the new AirLounge seat, I didn’t find it to be an exponential improvement over the original staggered seat. While I haven’t flown on the Finnair A330 in business class, having flown in the same type of seat on other airlines, I’d say it’s my least favorite type of the three but still perfectly fine even for Finnair’s longest flights.
In economy class, Finnair’s non-refurbished A350s provide USB ports at each seat but no universal power outlets. The situation is reversed on the non-refurbished A330s which provide a universal power outlet between each pair of seats but do not offer USB ports.
While I haven’t flown in economy class on the refurbished aircraft, the seats do not appear to offer power outlets though they seem to offer USB ports. The seats also come with improved screens. Lastly, Finnair’s refurbished A330s and A350s are also equipped with premium economy class product which is similar to the products offered on other airlines. Each of the seats in premium economy have both USB-A and USB-C ports, as well as a universal power outlet.
On short-haul flights, Finnair uses a fleet of Airbus A319/A320/A321, Embraer E190, and ATR 72 aircraft, all of which offer standard economy class seats like more or less any other European airline. Just like any other European airline, the aircraft also lack proper business class and offer business class passengers economy class seats with an empty middle seat instead.
Unfortunately, while in the past that meant having a pair of seats for yourself on aircraft like the E190 which has seating in a 2-2 layout, I recently read a report about that not being the case anymore. That makes Finnair’s business class seating on the E190 essentially the same as economy class.
Meals and Beverages
Fairly recently, Finnair revamped its onboard meals in both business class and economy class. Having had a chance to try both the old business class dining concept and the new one fairly recently, I can say that the meal service has improved.
The meals on long-haul flights still come on one tray (except for almonds served before the main meal and dessert served after the main meal), but the quality is definitely nicer. Unfortunately, while multiple options are offered for the main meal, there is only one “option” for a long-haul flight’s second meal.
On short-haul flights, on my most recent flight from Vienna to Helsinki, a hot meal was served in business class as opposed to a salad on my previous flight on the same route at the same time.
Premium economy meal offering is fairly standard with two main choices for the main meal and then a lighter second meal. However, in long-haul economy class, as mentioned earlier, Finnair did a considerable downgrade recently. In the name of sustainability and reducing food waste, it went from offering main course options to not offering any choice and just serving the same meal to everyone onboard.
In short-haul economy class, Finnair offers free water and blueberry juice (my favorite!) plus a selection of drinks and food from a buy-on-board menu.
Finnair provides more details about its long-haul meal service including some of the actual menus here. For more details about Finnair’s short-haul meal service, check this page.
In-Flight Entertainment
All of Finnair’s long-haul aircraft – i.e. its A350s and A330s – are equipped with personal entertainment screens in all classes. That said, the user interface and screen quality are better on the aircraft with new cabins.
In additionally to a larger screen than in economy class, you will also be provided with a decent pair of noise-canceling headphones when flying in business class.
In terms of content, while not as extensive as Emirates’, Qatar Airways’, or Turkish Airlines’ offering, for example, there is still more than enough content to keep one busy even on Finnair’s longest flights (and now that the airline can’t fly over Russia, some of the flights are really long…).
There are dozens of movies and TV shows of all genres. While entire seasons of TV shows are not available, there are at least a few episodes of each show. Additionally, there are some music albums to listen to and some games to play. Last but not least there is a customizable in-flight map and, on the A350s, there are two external cameras.
Onboard Wi-Fi
Finnair offers onboard internet on all of its Airbus aircraft – i.e. on all long-haul flights and on short-haul flights operated by Airbus A320 series aircraft. In addition to providing access to the internet, limited entertainment options (audiobooks, etc.) are available through Finnair’s wi-fi portal too.
On short-haul flights, Finnair offers two different wi-fi packages, both providing access to the internet for the duration of the flight:
- Stream (24.95 EUR): Full internet access including audio and video streaming and VPN use
- Browse (9.95 EUR): Internet access without the option of streaming audio and video and using VPN
On long-haul flights, rather than being limited by the use case, Finnair’s wi-fi plans are time-limited:
- Entire flight (24.95 EUR)
- 3 hours (14.95 EUR)
- 1 hour (7.95 EUR)
I’d say Finnair’s wi-fi is reasonably priced on both short-haul (unless you need the streaming/VPN option) and long-haul flights. It is also worth noting that Finnair provides limited free internet access to business class passengers and Finnair frequent flyer status holders as follows:
- Finnair Plus Gold members and business class passengers get 30 minutes of free internet access on short-haul flights and 60 minutes of free internet access on long-haul flights
- Finnair Plus Platinum members get 30 minutes of free internet access on short-haul flights and full-flight free internet access on long-haul flights
- Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo members get full-flight free internet access on both short-haul and long-haul flights
Unfortunately, the class of travel and frequent flyer status benefits don’t stack – e.g. you are limited to 30 minutes of free internet on short-haul flights even if you are a Finnair Plus Gold member flying in business class.
Finnair Flight Reviews
If you want to get a better idea of what flying with Finnair is like, you might also want to read some of my flight reviews including:
- Short-haul economy class (Airbus A321 from Budapest to Helsinki)
- Short-haul business class (Airbus A319 from Vienna to Helsinki)
- Short-haul business class (Embraer E190 from Vienna to Helsinki)
- Long-haul economy class (Airbus A330-300 from Nagoya Centrair to Helsinki)
- Long-haul business class (Airbus A350-900 from Helsinki to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi)
- Long-haul business class (Airbus A350-900 from Helsinki to Tokyo Narita)
Summary
With access to Russian airspace restricted, Finnair is in a tough spot. What used to be sub-14-hour flights from Helsinki to Tokyo, for example, are now closer to 14-hour flights.
Because of the increase in costs associated with that, Finnair is forced to find ways to save money in other areas and that, unfortunately, reflects in the recent changes for the worse – whether in the form of additional fees or downgraded meal service. As such, Finnair is far from being the best airline – whether in economy class or business class.
That said, it is also far from being the worst and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly it again if the price was right.
