Before I return to Switzerland, I’m going to have to make a brief stop in London. Of course, when I checked my options and discovered a flight operated by Finnair’s A 350-900, that was my obvious first choice to take. Unfortunately, though, about two weeks before departure, I receive an email from Finnair informing me that there’s been an aircraft change. The flight will operate with an A 321 instead. Well, ‼️🤬 💀☠️⚡️😡‼️ is what I have to say to that!

Getting to the Airport

Helsinki has some interesting architecture. But my goodness, the weather is terrible. During my entire stay I don’t see the sun once. Most days the fog is so dense you couldn’t even see the tops of some of the buildings. Hopefully, it’ll be better when I get to London.

I check out of the Hotel Kämp just after noon. I spend some time ambling through the streets of Helsinki before eventually I make my way to the railway station.

At 13h16 I catch a train to the airport. The airport trains run on a loop. This train only takes 28 minutes to make the journey out. On its way back it will take 32 minutes.

Finnair Check-In

There is only the one terminal at Helsinki airport. The Finnair Priority counters are at the far end of the terminal. Off to the right is the entrance to the priority lane for the security screening area, which is deserted when I get there.

Once I’m airside, I’m surprised by how quiet the terminal is. I make my way to emigration and here too there is hardly anybody around.

Finnair Non-Schengen Lounge

The Finnair non-Schengen lounge is located near gate 52. It has completely changed since my last visit. I don’t recognize any of it. It’s a nice, spacious lounge with a nordic theme. It reminds me a bit of an IKEA showroom (I know, IKEA is from Sweden…). Initially, it’s quiet in the lounge, but a short while after I get there, a whole group of passengers arrive, presumably connecting off some long-haul flight from Asia.

The lounge’s centerpiece is an attended bar that serves alcoholic drinks and cocktails throughout the day. Especially the cocktails seem to be quite popular and in demand. There’s also a small buffet with a rather limited choice of hot and cold dishes. Quite remarkably, though, nothing looks really appealing.

Boarding

Boarding for my flight starts at 15h30 for a 16h10 departure. When I reach the gate just before 15h30, boarding groups 1 and 2 are already being allowed on the plane. They have an interesting gate layout here in Helsinki that segregates the queue for premium passengers from that for Economy Class, which helps make for a more pleasant boarding experience.

The Finnair Business Class Cabin & Seat

I’m seated on 1A. The first thing I notice is that the seat covers are made of cloth, and not the faux leather most carriers seem to favour these days. And quite frankly, I’m with Finnair on this one – even if it looks a bit retro. Given the choice, I prefer not to have to sit on a fake leather seat – mainly because the plastic makes me sweat. Other than that, the seat is very basic. The pitch on the bulkhead row is okay. On today’s flight there are eight rows of Business Class for a total of 32 seats, of which 31 are occupied.

The Crew & Service

There are two female cabin crew serving the Business Class cabin, and they’re a bit strange. I mean, they’re polite and all, but they don’t show even the slightest bit of personality, taking the notion of being robotic to the next level. During boarding they stand in the galley as though they’re glued to the floor.

There’s a bottle of still water already tucked into the seat pocket in front of me, so that there is no interaction at all with the crew while we’re still on the ground.

At 16h10, our departure time, the captain informs us of a delay of ten minutes while we wait for the last transfer passengers to arrive. We finally push back from our stand at 16h30. By the time we’re accelerating down the runway, it’s 16h55 and we running 45 minutes behind schedule. Our flight time to Heathrow is two hours and 45 minutes, and the crew is expecting an arrival delay of twenty minutes.

Once we’re airborne, the service starts with the distribution of hot towels, which could be a bit wetter and a bit hotter.

The Finnair Business Class Meal – Early Dinner

The meal service begins with an apéritif, so I ask for a glass of the famed Finnair blueberry juice. It has a pleasant enough taste. More than anything, though, it’s just very sweet. With that the crew serve a small packet of pretzels.

A few days before my flight, I received an email from Finnair, inviting me to select a main course. The selection online is quite extensive. I decide to have the orzo pasta risotto, which, technically, is not a risotto. But that’s more semantics than anything else. The dish is served with grilled vegetables on top. It’s not a bad meal, but certainly nothing to write home about either.

The starter is a piece of smoked salmon on a bed of creamy potato salad and garnished with pickled red onion. The crew only make one round with the breadbasket. Full brownie points to Finnair for serving salted butter with the bread roll.

The dessert is some blueberry cream concoction. I try it, but leave most of it. It tastes very generic and is a bit bland and very boring.

The meal concludes with a cup of coffee with milk, which is served with a small milk chocolate.

Arrival in London Heathrow

Thirty minutes out of London we start slowing down. The captain informs us that we can expect to receive clearance for a straight in approach, without having to do a single orbit in a holding pattern, which is highly unusual for Heathrow and probably even more unlikely than the chance of accidentally bumping into a unicorn at Oxford Circus.

Finnair is one of the few European carriers to serve Heathrow’s Terminal 3. We land on runway 27R, which means we have a very short taxi to our stand. The crew do not provide any information to connecting passengers. They don’t even mention what terminal we’re arriving at or the fact that London is two hours behind Helsinki.

Conclusion

I’m not sure what to make of this flight. It was okay, I guess, but it was rather nondescript – from the expressionless cabin crew to the grey in grey cabin interior and the food. All in all, the whole thing reminded me a lot of the dreadful weather during my stay. There was nothing obviously wrong with this flight, there just wasn’t really anything that made it even remotely memorable either.