Reviewing Finnair’s A350 Business Class

Boarding the Airbus A350-900

After a short time at the lounge, we headed to the gate for boarding. Some airports don’t conduct any security screening for transfer passengers while others funnel travelers through a centralized facility. However, at Changi and many other airports across Asia, security screening is conducted at the boarding gate. This is exactly what was encountered at gate C25 as we made our way closer to the aircraft.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

 

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

 

Boarding was quick and easy, with the airline calling for Zone 1 passengers first – which included those seated in business class. Assigned the front-right window seat of 2L, I was directed to a separate jetbridge that led to the front of the aircraft. To my surprise, I found a passenger already seated in this seat. After being confronted, this individual apologized for apparently misreading the seat numbers and confusing their premium economy seat at 9L for my business class seat at 2L. I suspect it was an attempted “self-upgrade”, but what do you think?

But ultimately, once seated, myself and other business class passengers were offered a welcome drink. In this case, I went for the airline’s signature blueberry juice.

Cabin space and seating

Moving on to the cabin and seating, there’s just so much to cover with Finnair’s new AirLounge seats by Collins Aerospace. These are a relatively new offering and were designed with input from the airline and unveiled in early 2022. In watching some of the airline’s promotional videos about their new cabins, the theme that comes up over and over again is Nordic style and design.

Similar to Scandinavian design principles, Nordic design – according to Finnair – is all about simplicity, comfort, and functionality. Finnair delivers on this concept by offering a non-reclining business class seat that has a slightly angled back. The seatback blends seamlessly with the sidewall – creating a semi-enclosed space that some refer to as a cocoon-like structure. Both the sidewall and seatback offer firm padding which seem to provide the perfect level of firmness – not overly stiff and dense, but also not too cushy and squishy. For me, one downside of this sweeping sidewall is that it lacks an armrest for one side. While it’s not a dealbreaker by any means, those who want to sit upright might be slightly irritated by this asymmetry and the inability to put one arm up.

The main buttons for controlling the space can be found on the edge of the seat’s side table-armrest. This included a “do-not-disturb” button, as well as buttons to control the brightness of a reading light, as well as lighting in the footwell. The do-not-disturb button turns your illuminated seat number (located on the outside of the pod) red. This is a signal to flight attendants that you’d like to be left alone.

Remote control and USB A and C charging ports were found in a discreet compartment beside where a passenger’s head would be positioned when sitting upright, while down below and closer to the floor is a full AC outlet for charging larger devices. The side-table also features an extremely convenient surface for wireless charging.

A lie-flat seat with no recline?

So why would someone pay for a non-reclining business class seat for a long-haul flight with a full-service airline? Well, the beauty of this novel design is that passengers need only sink themselves down and extend their feet into the deep and spacious foot well in order to get the lie-flat bed experience.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

Where passengers would normally have their legs placed (while seated upright) is a connecting section that can be extended into place with the push of a button. With this section in-place, passengers can quite quickly turn their seat into a bed.

This worked fine for me at first. However, in trying to move back to an upright sitting position, the mechanism or motor seemed to be unresponsive, and thus required assistance from a flight attendant. The problem was quickly solved but it did arise once more during the flight. It would appear that passengers might need to firmly push down on the section while also pushing the button to engage the motor. It’s less than ideal, but hopefully is more of a one-off problem than a common issue with the seats!

One last note about the seating and space is that the width of these business class pods appears to result in a loss of aisle space. While meal carts can still make their way through, it seems to me like passengers will have trouble getting past one another. However, if it’s a decision between aisle space and personal seat space, then the latter would be the obvious choice! Indeed, shoulder space – either for sitting or sleeping – doesn’t seem to be an issue at all – which can’t always be said of lie-flat business class suites.

Inflight entertainment

When it comes to inflight entertainment, an 18-inch screen is your gateway to a plethora of movies, television shows, games, and music. I found that in business class, transit information is displayed in the system and is also personalized to each passenger’s itinerary – something that is extremely nice to have in the case of a tight connection.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

 

Just like my experience in economy class, engaging the system’s moving map feature is a little sluggish. However, once in, moving around the map is fairly smooth and comfortable. Again, just like economy class, passengers are able to look out at the world with the A350’s external cameras – with one being located on the jet’s vertical stabilizer, and another on the aircraft’s belly, behind the front landing gear.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

The airline’s overview feature is another praiseworthy addition. Seemingly simple and yet incredibly helpful, Finnair gives passengers an overview of their flight and the sequence of services that take place during the time in the air. In my case, passengers are served a meal after take-off, which is followed by an opportunity for inflight shopping, and then an extended rest period. Then, just before landing, a second, lighter meal is served.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

Settling in for a late-night dinner

And so, speaking of food, passengers in this class were greeted with a menu located at their seats. This provided a list of options for main courses, desserts, and beverages.

For the main course of the first meal, I selected the “braised beef cheeks with truffle potato puree and roasted vegetables.” This was accompanied by two side dishes: bamboo prawns with coconut floss, and hummus with baba ganoush and tabbouleh salad. After being given a hot towel, all of this food was enjoyed with a tablecloth covering the tray with full-size plates and elegant and weighted cutlery. A choice of warm bread was also offered with the meal.

Sadly, the beef on this occasion was on the more dry side, and also a little tougher than would be ideal. Redeeming the meal, however, was the delicious truffle mashed potatoes. The side dishes were quite tasty with the coconut prawns really showing off some local Singaporean flavors.

Finally, a cheese plate along with a coconut mousse was served for dessert. Stuffed and satisfied, I declined the offer of trying both dessert options. I did, however, get a close-up shot of the other offering – a grape tart with vanilla sauce.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to comment on the wine offerings in this review as I don’t drink alcohol much. However, it’s worth mentioning that the airline does offer champagne, as well as several red and white wines, as well as beer spirits, and cocktails, in addition to a standard choice of soft drinks and juices.

Settling down for sleep

After the meal, it was time to sleep and the airline signaled this by gently dimming the cabin lights after the dishes were cleared. The seat was converted for lie-flat sleeping and an underlayer was put down. I personally found the cabin to be quite warm and thus didn’t bother opening the packaged blanket.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

 

On top of having a dark and comfortable environment to get some rest, sleep came easy due to the late-night departure of the flight. In addition to being given comfortable dark gray slippers, all business class passengers are provided with an amenity kit, which included a toothbrush with toothpaste, as well as an eyeshade, earplugs, lip balm, and face cream.

Woken up a few hours later due to thirst, I was again reminded that the cabin was warmer than I would have liked while also being quite dry. Indeed, the bottle of water provided in the storage compartment was definitely needed in the middle of the night! The experience of cabin temperature and humidity will certainly vary between passengers, so I don’t feel like this a fault of the airline.

Options for those who stay awake

For passengers who find themselves awake while others are sleeping, there’s the option of heading to the self-service snack bar. There, passengers will find a selection of sandwiches, potato chips, as well as candy, and other light snacks. I spent part of the night watching a movie and was offered a fresh fruit plate by a flight attendant passing by.

Despite this first stint of sleep being rather short, it came at a great time as the aircraft was flying over the Indian subcontinent. Dozens of tiny villages could be seen out the window of the A350, dotting the landscape like stars in the night sky. The aircraft eventually flew over the massive city of Mumbai and the shining lights of India’s towns and cities turned into the darkness of the Arabian sea.

While many travelers will either be seated away from the window or just not care about the view at night, it’s worth mentioning that the A350’s conventional window shades made it possible to enjoy some beautiful night views and low-light photography. I’m quite certain that if I was aboard a Boeing 787, the windows would have been locked to their ‘dark’ setting for much of the night – denying a view of the landscape outside.

Around this time, I also tried out the inflight WiFi provided by the airline. Business class passengers are entitled to one complimentary hour of connectivity during the flight and are welcome to purchase more time if they so desire. The internet was sadly quite slow and wasn’t even capable of sending a photo via a messaging app. While this may have been due to the aircraft’s location in the world, it’s less than ideal and is a quick way to burn up the free hour of internet on nothing at all.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

Pre-arrival meal service

After six or seven hours of quiet time, the mood lighting in the aircraft was gradually raised to gently wake up passengers for the second meal service. Business class passengers were served spinach quiche with bacon and asparagus, along with a meat and cheese plate on the side. A plate of fresh fruit also accompanied this meal while warm bread was offered again.

This meal tasted great and left me stuffed. This is one thing to take note of when flying Finnair’s business class: You won’t ever go hungry! From decently-sized meal portions to the additional offerings of bread and light snacks – even the hungriest of passengers should be satisfied.

Photo: Chris Loh | Simple Flying

Final thoughts

I would say that the business class experience with Finnair’s new AirLounge product is wonderfully comfortable, and would be well worth the extra money on a long-haul service – especially since Finnair also offers some less expensive business class ticket options that exclude checked baggage and lounge access.

On the more critical side, I found the flight attendant call button difficult to find. This is actually located with the stowed-away remote control. In my humble opinion, I think a call button would have been better positioned with the other seat controls – or at least made clear and visible within the IFE. The lack of an armrest on one side is another small thing but worth mentioning nonetheless.

As for service – the crew was professional and caring – and the lavatories in this cabin were kept clean throughout the flight. Attendants took every available opportunity to offer more food and drink to passengers who were awake, and took time to update passengers on tight flight connections closer to landing.

And, finally, I would love to see a free basic messaging option for inflight connectivity. This is something that can be found on at least two other European full-service carriers, as well as other airlines around the world. Of course, it’s likely that those who really need internet will just go ahead and pay for it.

My thanks again to Finnair for having me as a guest to experience this new and special business class product!

So what do you think of Finnair’s newest business class offering? Would you give it a try? Let us know by leaving a comment!