Finnair's A350 long-haul business class shines - once you board

 

This Zodiac product is fine: very much nothing to write home about, and the lack of storage, in particular, is a frustration, but the bones of the first outward-facing herringbone have always been good and this implementation on the relatively wide A350 fuselage is certainly comfortable enough for the relatively short overnight to Asia. The A350’s lower cabin altitude — like the Boeing 787, it’s 6000 feet rather than the 8000 feet of previous generation aircraft — makes a remarkable difference on an overnight flight. I turned in shortly after dinner for a few hours’ snooze with the decent pillow and blanket on this nine-hour flight.

Finnair’s food was exemplary: every mouthful was delicious, even if the main course — heated in its own little dish — focussed more on heartiness than presentation. A winter stew like this is always tricky to show well, but fresh herbs and a lack of baked-on sauce would be a start. Surprisingly excellent Finnish cheeses and a huge slab of moreish chocolate cake set me up for a good night’s sleep. The wine list, too, was intriguing enough for this adventurous Western palate yet suited to the sweeter tastes in Japan. Alongside the Joseph Perrier Champagne was an aromatic German Riesling, a buttery Californian Chardonnay, a fresh French rosé, a rather tight Margaux, a robust Montepulciano, and an earthy German Pinot Noir, plus an American ice wine and a ruby Port from Graham’s. I was  woken by the scent of strong Finnish coffee and a robust breakfast that, so soon after a big dinner, I only picked at. The rösti boat was crisp and savory, though, and the eggs with salmon a nice touch. I practically inhaled the light, fresh, semi-sweet blueberry juice Finnair serves, though — so refreshing and unusual.

 

The inflight entertainment screen swings out and works gate-to-gate, although as ever the amount of trilingual (Finnish, Japanese, English) announcements is not ideal as a viewing experience. I know there are options for displaying non-essential announcements (welcome on board, please buy our duty-free, here’s our charity collection, thank you for flying with us) on the screen, so this too is an area to examine. So is the selection of shorter content: there’s not a huge range of the “snackable” videos that make a lot of sense for the airline context. Wifi on board was provided by Panasonic over the Ku-band, with business class passengers getting a free hour. In truth, its performance was slow and jittery, understandable given that I learned from the crew that a full two-thirds of the plane was connected, but really only suitable for emails and very, very light browsing.

All in all, the actual flying on Finnair was superb. The only problem, I’m surprised to conclude, is Helsinki airport, which needs a good hard look at its passenger experience. So much of the Finnair differentiation has been around the previously heavenly HEL experience, especially compared with Heathrow, Frankfurt or Charles de Gaulle, that the hectic squeeze feels like a missed opportunity. John Walton was a guest of Finnair, but all editorial opinions are his own.