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• DaveP says:

  26 Jul26 July 05:13

  Travelling in the A350 to/from Helsinki is a great experience as it has the ‘new’ design seating in the business cabin. The only downside is the cost of the flights now BA has withdrawn from the route.

  • G says:

    26 Jul26 July 06:29

    That said, 160 tier points at about 3.5 tp per avios (£550 for business light) is not absolutely awful when considering you’d be connecting in HEL for an equally well priced (vs other oneworld options) or good value avios redemption.

    0955 and 1310 departures both sound great, allowing evening connections at HEL to all of its Japan destinations, Seoul and Hong Kong and Singapore.

    • Scott says:

      26 Jul26 July 07:37

      Sometimes, it can be slightly cheaper to book a flight to say ARN.
      From MAN, at least, it can be £180 o/w to HEL, but £50 if you add a connecting flight to ARN, GOT or OSL for example.
      Then accidently miss that connection.

      I.e.
      Mon Sept 22nd in economy
      MAN-HEL £172
      MAN-HEL-ARN £128

      LHR-HEL £162 (A350 at 10:20am)
      LHR-HEL-ARN £117

      Business doesn’t seem to have too much of a price difference, although maybe £10-20 more for a 20TP? connecting flight.

      Usually cheaper flying business back from HEL-LHR. £240? for 80TP.

      Really depends on Asian traffic that seems to the £288 o/w price up to say £688 on especially the A350 flights.

      I sometimes catch the 6pm flight to HEL and arrive around 10-11pm. Stay overnight at the HI at Vantaa and then a lunchtime connection to Stockholm or Oslo.
      Handy after finishing work and popping to LHR or MAN for the evening flight.

  • JamesT says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:26

    We just did Business Class Bangkok > Helsinki in the new setup. It was an outstanding experience.

• Stuart says:

  26 Jul26 July 07:20

  Where are the additional slots coming from?

  • Rob says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:07

    BA, at a guess.

  • ADS says:

    26 Jul26 July 16:27

    AA are reducing their ORD and PHX flights

    https://x.com/WandrMe/status/1815345832306131440

• Paul says:

  26 Jul26 July 07:22

  BA don’t operate as they get a share of the route revenue thanks to one of their many anti competitive revenue sharing agreements. It is not a good position for consumers

  • riku says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:31

    BA would only get some revenue if the ticket is for transatlantic or japan routes. I don’t think many will fly from LHR to North America via Helsinki. When i’m on the 1810 flight to Helsinki the passengers are mostly either connecting to Singapore or actually live in Finland (like I do).

• Barry says:

  26 Jul26 July 07:57

  Where did Finnair get their Heathrow slots from?

  • John G says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:21

    BA, at a guess.

• Scott says:

  26 Jul26 July 08:18

  Does seem strange having a 9:55am departure and then another 25 mins later.
  Perhaps that’s the peak time for (connecting) traffic and AY feel they can fill an A320 etc. plus an A350.

  • Scott says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:26

    Had a quick look at the first Monday in Nov, and the 9:55am on an A321 is a good £40 more in (superlight) economy than the 10:20am A350. Business pretty much the same.

    Not sure if the 25 mins difference would benefit non-Schengen to Schrngen connections as 45 mins is sometimes pushing it at HEL.

• Toby says:

  26 Jul26 July 09:10

  I often travel this route with Finnair, however, the prices are outrageous. Flying one way to Helsinki in Economy end of this month is over £400 vs SAS in Economy Pro, which essentially gives you a Business Class product was less than half the price. Finnair with their ridiculous cabin bag policy is now never a first option for me to Hel.

  • Scott says:

    26 Jul26 July 09:23

    If you’ve status with BA, then the cabin bag policy isn’t too much of an issue on say superlight tickets.
    Most of the time, it’s not enforced that much anyway.

    Think it’s £20 something to add one on at MAN, so it’s not going to break the bank too much.
    Perhaps better than paying £40 extra for a light ticket if you don’t have a 23kg bag to check in.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:40

    SAS would be a 3-3 layout no? If so, definitely not “essentially” a business class product

• Nick says:

  26 Jul26 July 09:47

  Service is great on Finnair with drinks served in iconic Ultima Thule glasses and excellent Nordic cuisine. However the big downside is that they have removed the previously very comfortable business class seats / flat beds (apparently to reduce weight) and replaced them with uncomfortable fixed pods with a handful of scatter cushions. This is OK for first couple of hours but not for a long haul flight. When trying to sleep, the foot/ leg wells feature an unfortunately located bar which catches your foot which can be quite painful. It’s also quite difficult to get out of the bed because your lower body is in the recess and there is insufficient space to bend your knees to and use your legs to push yourself out. I saw some people grabbing the flat screen monitor above and using that to try to haul themselves up. I also saw an elderly couple where the man got stuck in the sleeping position and his wife was struggling to get him upright and had to be helped by the cabin crew. On any other airline, the man would have just been able to press a button and the bed would have brought him up to a sitting position. I certainly would not recommend Finnair business class to anyone elderly, overweight or with physical disability.

  • Nick says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:05

    Conversely, I personally think the new seat is the best flying today, bar none. It’s supremely comfortable both in seating and bed mode, the sense of space is incredible, and I would go well out of my way to fly it again.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:41

    The lack of a wipe clean headrest and anti-macassar bothers me greatly about that new Finnair seat

    • meta says:

      26 Jul26 July 11:56

      Just select 2A/K or row 1and you’ll have more space as these seats have more legroom and width. You have to ask for a special extra pillow with good back support. Personally it’s the only business class seat (apart from JAL) that I can comfortably sleep in for almost the entire flight.

• Aston100 says:

  26 Jul26 July 10:20

  Thanks for the Finnair heads-up.
  My April booking is an 09:30 departure. Couldn’t see an 09:55 departure.

  Anyone able to advise how much difference there is likely to be on this route between a narrow and wide body in J?
  Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:27

    The narrowbody is basically BA Club Europe, the widebody is a fully flat, all bells-and-whistle business class seat, massive TV etc. So quite a bit of difference! Same food though ….

    • Aston100 says:

      26 Jul26 July 10:34

      Thanks Rob.
      I just read that row 1 legroom isn’t great.
      Looking at the seat map, I’ve got literally anywhere on the entire plane available to me.
      I note there is an extra legroom row 10, directly in front of economy. Can’t tell if there’s just a curtain or something else separating the cabins.
      Would row 10 be the best choice, or do you think all rows (inc row 1) are acceptable on a 2hr 45min flight on an A321?
      Thanks.

      • Rob says:

        26 Jul26 July 10:44

        I was in a Row 1 on Finnair last year, when they were flying on behalf of BA, and I don’t remember it being a problem.

        Remember that people who say Row 1 legroom isn’t great are actually saying ‘I prefer to be able to stick my legs under the seat in front even though I am risking the person in front reclining their seat in my face for 4 hours’. Personally I’ll take Row 1, not stick my legs out and enjoy the personal space that comes from not having a seat directly in front of my face.

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          26 Jul26 July 15:25

          Ditto!

          I flew HEL-LHR on Monday in row 1 with no issues on an A321.

          I much prefer having the more open feeling in row 1 than in other rows.

          On short haul the leg room is very much of a muchness across numerous airlines operating the same plane.

          I would say that the AY food is better than BAs short haul but it’s very much get what you are given and no choice.

        • Aston100 says:

          26 Jul26 July 15:48

          Thanks both.

    • riku says:

      26 Jul26 July 16:03

      There is a lot more legroom on the Finnair A320’s than on the BA A320’s. BA have packed in as many seats as possible and the business class on BA probably has less legroom than AY in economy. Substantially less comparing AY business vs BA business.

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