I recently flew with Finnair from Hong Kong to Helsinki and then caught a connecting flight on to Manchester. I checked in for the first leg whilst in Sydney (where I originally started from and flew to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific - see other review!) but they would not let me check in for the Manchester leg. This caused a few problems as there was only 55 minutes between being scheduled to land and take-off on the next flight. Having landed in Helsinki 10 minutes late and having to go through security again when I got to Helsinki airport the check-in desk advised me that check-in for my connecting flight was now closed. However after a quick phone call they just told me to go through and get on the plane which I did. However when I got to Manchester and found my bags hadn't arrived and were still in Helsinki I wasn't exactly surprised considering I only just managed to get off the other plane and on the next one in time. This wasn't really a problem for me as I was going home so had clothes and things there but my luggage wasn't delivered until 2 days after so could be a problem if you are going on holiday or travelling. The lady at the baggage enquiry desk said it was quite common and they were good at getting the people on the plane but the bags didn't always make it so if you are going on holiday just be aware of this and make sure you have enough time between your connecting flights… less than an hour probably isn't enough especially if you still have to check in!
Apart from the luggage problem I found Finnair to be a fantastic airline. We were fed a lovely lunch of pork, rice, salad, vegetables, bread and an ice-cream. It was really good food with a lot of taste that you don't always get on flights but there was no choice of anything else if you don't like pork so if you are a fussy eater it is probably a good idea to tell them about any dislikes before boarding the plane. On the short flight from Helsinki to Manchester we were served with a sandwich, a chocolate bar, a bread roll and some coleslaw. Again this was really tasty and was just enough to stop you being hungry on the three hour flight. Tea and coffee were served after meals and drinks were available throughout the flight. All soft drinks were free, as were one beer and one wine. However spirits and other wine brands cost an extra 4 Euros.
The entertainment on the flight was not as good as other airlines I have flown long haul with. Firstly passengers did not have their own screen so everybody had to watch the one movie that was showing at that time and it was on a big screen in the aisle. At first the movies weren't working but they were fixed and a few good movies were shown. The headphones that were provided were ones that fit into your ears and while I usually use these type of headphones I don't normally use them for long periods and after a while I found them to be quite uncomfortable. This was probably because I had flown all the way from Sydney though so had them in for so long but next time I will be taking my own that fit on my ears and not in them!
The seats were really comfortable, there was plenty of leg room and they reclined backwards really far. The plane was spacious and the staff were very friendly, always willing to help and all of them could speak several languages. All in all a good airline to fly with, I would use them again but they aren't the best long haul airline I have flown with.
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Great Review! I take my hat off to you :D. Craig :♥D
dvdsprks2 22.06.2007 15:34
Enjoyed your review, I shall be writing one on SAS (Swedish Airlines) soon so it was good to see your experiences, SAS were very good but have a monopoly in certain areas so are slightly expensive. David
solamarie 07.03.2007 18:45
Sounds a reasonable deal, good review, shame about the luggage, Sue
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Feb 2nd, 2007
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