As my trip to the Arctic came to a close, I needed a positioning flight to get to Frankfurt. (Why? Singapore Airlines Suites Class awaited.) For this short hop, I booked an award ticket Finnair from Rovaniemi. Though Finnair does offer nonstop flights from Rovaniemi to Frankfurt, it doesn’t operate on Mondays. Thus, this required a connection in Helsinki, with the first leg in coach and the second in Business. Finnair A319 Business Class is your typical intra-Europe Business Class, meaning a mediocre seat with decent food. I used 20,000 Alaska Mileage Plan points for this flight, plus $35.20 in taxes and fees.
Note: this post is part of my trip report series about my trip to Finnish Lapland in October, 2022. Click here for the trip report index and introductory post.
Finnair (AY) Flight 1415
- Monday, October 24, 2022
- Depart: Helsinki – Vantaa International Airport (HEL), Terminal 2, Gate 23B, 17:04, 9m late
- Arrive: Flughafen Frankfurt (FRA), Terminal 2, 18:32, 3m early
- Duration: 2 hours 28 minutes
- Seat: 1A
- Equipment: Airbus A319
Check-In and Boarding
Technically, I checked in at Rovaniemi earlier in the day. I expected this to be a small airport, but it’s actually the second busiest airport in Finland behind Helsinki. And I found a surprisingly terrible check-in line for the Finnair desk.
Fortunately, I found an automated kiosk for those willing to self-tag their bags. There was no line at the kiosk, and it worked, allowing me to check my bag to Frankfurt. And so, after just a few minutes, I headed over to the security line. Which looked equally bad, though fortunately, it only took about 15 minutes to clear. Though I found the agents incredibly persnicketty about electronics. They made me take out literally every device, cord, and plug in my bag and send it through separately.
Anyway, my first leg to Helsinki was on a single-class E190.
After driving through snow for a couple hours from Inari, southern Lapland greeted me with relatively warmer weather. We enjoyed a beautiful, sunny autumn day in the taiga as we took off.
And then we made a fly-by of Rovaniemi Airport. Interesting piece of trivia – the Arctic Circle crosses the runway near its northern end (far right of the photo).
I had only an hour and 25 minutes to connect, something that normally makes me really uncomfortable. Helsinki, however, might rate as the easiest airport I’ve seen for connections, especially Schengen-to-Schengen. It features an easy, compact layout, where you can walk from one end to another in maybe 10 minutes. And so, I had plenty of time to visit the (very crowded) Aspire Lounge at Gate 27. Shortly before boarding time, I headed to Gate 23B, a remote stand gate. And encountered the typical fustercluck scrum usually found at bus gates.
Finnair offered no priority boarding for Business Class, not that it matters when taking a bus to the plane. After getting off the bus, I snapped a couple of photos of our plane, and the HEL terminal behind us.
Finally, I headed up the stairs and took my seat at the front of the cabin.
Finnair A319 Business Class – Seating and Interior
Typical of Euro Business, Finnair’s A319 Business Class consists of Economy seats with a blocked middle. This route apparently had exceedingly high demand, with the first ten rows designated as Business. The entire cabin consists of 144 Recaro 3510 seats in a 3×3 configuration.
The seats are 17.7″ wide, with 31 inches of pitch, except 35 inches in the exit rows. Apart from the “Business Class” notation in the center seat, there’s nothing differentiating them from Economy seats. These slimlines aren’t particularly comfortable, though for a 2-hour flight, it doesn’t matter all that much.
I really don’t know why I picked the bulkhead seat, because I truly dislike bulkheads. Best guess, I just wasn’t paying attention. The bulkhead in this configuration substantially constricts legroom. Honestly, it felt more cramped than a standard seat.
Meanwhile, the bulkhead itself features Business Class signage.
Business Class passengers receive a pillow and blanket, a nice touch on such a short flight. The pillow itself looks nice enough with the dark blue and white color scheme. Though admittedly, it does scream Chick-Fil-A to a degree, what with the Holstein cow scheme.
Unfortunately, Finnair didn’t do such a great job washing said pillows. The back of the pillow was full of hair. Yuuuuuuck…
Finnair A319 Business Class – In-Flight Entertainment, Food, and Beverage
No, the A319 fleet doesn’t have any fancy-pants IFE. But Finnair does offer WiFi on short-haul flights, which offers entertainment on your phone even without paying for a connection. Note that there is a free messaging pass available if you don’t pay for WiFi as well. To access options, connect to the “Nordic Sky” network, then click on “Connect to WiFi” on the login page.
Most of what’s available are news magazines and newspapers, along with a few Finnish tabloids and lifestyle magazines.
There’s also a rudimentary moving map feature. It’s nothing fancy, but does provide location, altitude, and estimated arrival information.
But perhaps the coolest option on Airbus aircraft is a 3D aviation game. Basically, you pretend to get Helsinki Airport ready for a Finnair flight’s arrival.
That includes requisitioning enough blueberry juice for the next leg. The object is to complete the assigned task within the allotted amount of time.
As for the in-flight meal, Finnair offered only cold meals on this flight, served about 25 minutes after take-off. Although cold, the meal on this flight was pretty good. It consisted of a mixed greens salad with cantaloupe and smoked meat, along with Finnish rye bread. I found the salad fresh, and the bread quite tasty with some butter. Just like on long-haul flights, beverage are served in Finnair’s unique glassware. I must say, blueberry juice just tastes better in a fancy glass.
Business class passengers also receive a bottle of water upon boarding.
Flightseeing
Our flight just before sunset provided for some nice flightseeing throughout. First, as we headed to the runway, an Iberia A321 started following us.
As we took off, the setting sun really set the fall foliage aglow as we headed out over the Baltic Sea.
The nice thing about flying west is that the sunset goes on for a long time. It was still going as we descended over central Germany nearly two hours later.
The daylight had mostly faded by the time we reached Frankfurt, though I had just enough light to snap a photo of this Condor plane. I think it’s an A321, but I couldn’t tell for sure in the low light. While the new livery gets mixed reviews, I personally think it makes the plane look like a sea snake. And sea snakes are cool. (ALT: the plane looks like a pixie stick, which is kind of weird.)
Final Thoughts
There’s nothing particularly distinctive about Finnair’s intra-Europe Business Class. You get a crappy seat with lounge access and, in this case, a decent meal. It’s fine for a mileage redemption or add-on to a long-haul segment.
