Finnair adds a 2nd daily long haul aircraft to Heathrow – Helsinki

[neilri2001]

From the start of the Summer timetable at the end of March, Finnair is adding a 2nd daily long haul aircraft to the Heathrow – Helsinki route.

The 10.20 and 18.10 departures from Heathrow are now scheduled with A350 and A330 aircraft respectively, which means a flat bed in Business Class.  Coming back, you want the 08.00 (A350) and 16.00 (A330) from Helsinki.

Acknowledgement to Head For Points for the info. HFP is the go to site for those of us who like premium travel but prefer not to pay premium prices. Finnair are a good choice for Business class travel to Bangkok and elsewhere in Asia as they have frequent deals and also have the advantage of being able to earn AVIOS points. The one (big ) disadvantage has long been the crappy economy configuration in Business on the LHR-HEL-LHR sectors.

[davidge]

Not having a proper biz seat on the LHR leg has put me off using Finnair. The second option going out is certainly a step up. I think it’s still an issue coming back as you’d have to connect in 45 minutes to get the flight to LHR. Possible, but very tight.

[Bonkabit]

On 26/01/2019 at 20:26, davidge said:

I think it’s still an issue coming back as you’d have to connect in 45 minutes to get the flight to LHR.

I had this problem a few years ago flying Bangkok-Helsinki-Munich; similar 45 minute time to get through Immigration and to the next flight.

The head purser was very helpful, arranged for me to be fast off the plane where a guide was waiting to escort me to the next flight.

I wondered if baggage would be OK. It was, no problem.

Moral: speak to purser in good time for him/her to make arrangements for you.

[davidge]

15 minutes ago, Bonkabit said:

I had this problem a few years ago flying Bangkok-Helsinki-Munich; similar 45 minute time to get through Immigration and to the next flight.

The head purser was very helpful, arranged for me to be fast off the plane where a guide was waiting to escort me to the next flight.

I wondered if baggage would be OK. It was, no problem.

Moral: speak to purser in good time for him/her to make arrangements for you.

Finnair allow you to book the ticket, so yes I’m sure they’d do all they can to help. I guess my concern is, if there was even a relatively short delay on the first flight then you could end up being moved to the next onward flight. A few hours at the airport isn’t an issue, but it would mean a different plane in this instance so no proper biz seats. I know others don’t mind, but I wouldn’t manage 4 hours in, basically, an economy seat. My back is wrecked.

[Kandinski]

16 minutes ago, davidge said:

Finnair allow you to book the ticket, so yes I’m sure they’d do all they can to help. I guess my concern is, if there was even a relatively short delay on the first flight then you could end up being moved to the next onward flight. A few hours at the airport isn’t an issue, but it would mean a different plane in this instance so no proper biz seats. I know others don’t mind, but I wouldn’t manage 4 hours in, basically, an economy seat. My back is wrecked.

iaw Finnair web page they operate the same equipment on both the LHR-HEL and HEL-BKK leg. Priced GDB 1691,- its a great deal but do agree the short connection is a disadvantage

[davidge]

3 minutes ago, Kandinski said:

iaw Finnair web page they operate the same equipment on both the LHR-HEL and HEL-BKK leg. Priced GDB 1691,- its a great deal but do agree the short connection is a disadvantage

Yes, but the next flight out of HEL to LHR is with different equipment. At this point, only 1 of their flights HEL-LHR-HEL has ‘proper’ Biz seats and it doesn’t connect to BKK on the return leg. This new announcement would give a second flight with actual biz seats, and it does connect to BKK, but with only 45 minutes leeway I can’t help thinking there’s a fair chance you’d be put on the next LHR flight a few hours later, rather than holding the first plane, if there was even a slight delay out of BKK.

Finnair fares are very competitive it’s just not really worth the risk for me of ending up in an economy seat (even with an empty middle seat next to me). It’s why I avoid all European airlines, except Turkish, when looking at fares.

[Kandinski]

Iaw Finnair, and on a random choosed day, they operate excact same equipment on LHR -HEL leg as on the HEL - BKK leg - a 350 on the early departure and a 330 on the late. Stop-over in HEL is less than 2 hours and quite often onwards passenger has to wait in the plane. If so its another disadvantage but still very a competative fare

[Shaksey]

The LHR-HEL sector is 2 - 2.5 hours, I've done it a few times now on the A320 in Biz and the lack of flat bed was not an issue for me.

[Geordie59]

When people say it can be basically an economy class seat can you clarify that for me. Is it like KLM where it is an economy seat with an empty seat beside it or more like Eqyptian where there are only 2 seats but they only recline about half way..

also does anyone know what the business class seats are like Edinburgh to Helsinki?

[Shaksey]

4 hours ago, Geordie59 said:

When people say it can be basically an economy class seat can you clarify that for me. Is it like KLM where it is an economy seat with an empty seat beside it or more like Eqyptian where there are only 2 seats but they only recline about half way..

also does anyone know what the business class seats are like Edinburgh to Helsinki?

Yes it's an Eco seat on the A320/1 but the middle seat is not used in the Biz section.

[davidge]

On 08/02/2019 at 18:44, Shaksey said:

The LHR-HEL sector is 2 - 2.5 hours, I've done it a few times now on the A320 in Biz and the lack of flat bed was not an issue for me.

Official flying time is around 3 hours, but then you need to add the time between boarding and take-off and taxiing on landing so add another half hour. The lack of flat bed isn’t an issue for me. It’s the lack of space and legroom even for a shorter flight. I know it would be fine for many people but it’s just not an option for me.

On 08/02/2019 at 22:13, Geordie59 said:

When people say it can be basically an economy class seat can you clarify that for me. Is it like KLM where it is an economy seat with an empty seat beside it or more like Eqyptian where there are only 2 seats but they only recline about half way..

also does anyone know what the business class seats are like Edinburgh to Helsinki?

As far as I can see, the EDI-HEL flights are operated by a subsidiary called Nordic Regional Airlines. They have 2 types of planes in their fleet, the Embraer 190 and the ATR72 turboprop. I can’t find specific seatmaps but these planes are usually Economy only with slightly smaller than usual Economy seats when used by other airlines.