First time on Finnair
International travel for my role has slowed quite a bit, so I've decided to go for new experiences vs giving my loyalty to only Sky Team partners. Looking at fares to FRA and playing with departure dates I was able to find this neat flight albeit a little inconvenient (2 stops vs 1). I've never flown Finnair so figured it was time to try it out!
Greeted by a beautiful 4 year old a359 OH-LWS and a picturesque LAX afternoon. 6:50 scheduled departure for a 10 hour flight
Boarded ahead of schedule and found my seat at the front of the front. First time with this seat and surprised there was no recline feature. The seat was welcomingly wide and had plenty of storage space in a little cubby, underneath the footwell and the footwell itself. Loved the cloth material. Amenity kit was underwhelming and probably the only "downside" of the whole journey
Settled in with some Blueberry Juice and explored the menu. The menu was limited and didn't appear super interesting. The purser was on my side and was incredibly friendly and welcoming
Entertainment system had limited options but was big and clear. Loved the plane tracking feature that was available the entire flight
Not much to write home about when it comes to the movie and series catalog. I ended up watching Nightcrawler and binging The Sopranos
Quick stop to check out the restroom before departure with another nice surprise. The window in the bathroom is such a cool feature that makes you seem more "in the clouds" throughout the flight
Service started almost immediately after we hit cruising altitude. Warmed nuts and their signature cocktail (canned in Denmark) was a nice welcome. Dinner was served all at once and while not the prettiest plating, everything was rich with flavor. I was surprised at the level of seasoning and how each ingredient carried it's own flavor. I thought it was quite nice and ate everything. For dessert, I opted for cheese and the Finnish Cloudberry Desert Wine which was a little on the sour side but enjoyable
Dinner service was very efficient and completed by the time we were over Colorado. The seat came with two types of pillows, a (very soft) comforter and bed padding. I was amazed at how big the footwell was. At 6'1 I had plenty of room beyond my legs when fully laid down and the wide seat made getting comfortable super easy. There was also a separate seat bet for lay flat which made sleeping seat belt checks convenient
I woke up somewhere just past Greenland and was able to get a solid 6 hours of sleep which I've very rarely been able to do. We had some time before breakfast so I grabbed some snacks in the galley and chatted with the purser who was extremely personable and eager to get some coffee going. Breakfast was pretty bare bones for long haul business but fine.
On descent into HEL we had some beautiful views of their recent snow storm. We landed a couple minutes past schedule but the terminal is quite small and easy to navigate making their recommended 45 minute connection time a breeze.
