Flying: Finnair A340-300 Economy Class Helsinki to Singapore 2015

The layover at Helsinki airport was a short one with only less than an hour before the boarding time for my next flight, so I was kind of in a rush to clear immigration and save some time for a quick meal and charging my phone.

However, I made a silly mistake at the border control by showing my passport to the immigration officer, without presenting the residence permit issued by the St Gallen cantonal immigration department. So I was admonished by the border guard for nearly activating an alarm for over-stayers.

As usual I was among the last passengers to board the aircraft, though I made it a point to say hi to the pilots when walking down the jet bridge. 

I was greeted at the cabin by a steward and a stewardess. I couldn't help but to notice that unlike my outbound flight in February, this flight was staffed by an all Asian crew.

Finnair 81
Helsinki (HEL) – Singapore (SIN) 
Tuesday, May 31 2015
Depart: 11:55PM
Arrive: 16:40PM (+1)
Flight time: 12hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus A340-300
Seat: 31A

This time round the flight was less full so the crew was making announcements over the PA offering economy plus seats with additional legroom.

We pushed off at 12:04AM, slightly behind schedule. The continuous daylight was indeed fascinating, since it was approaching summer solstice, with the sun still not fully set by mid-night. We had a quick taxi in the continuous daylight and took off at 12:14AM.

Dinner was served about an hour after take-off. The bread was actually delicious, though the main course is only passable. The dessert however, really pales in comparison the blueberry cheesecake on the outbound from Singapore.

Again I had a Finnish beer to accompany. I guess I am beginning to fell in love with this bear brew.

Snacks were set up after meal service at the galley, though I was a little amused by the consistency of the catering both flying into and out of Helsinki.

When I woke up again we have just crossed India, with about 4 hours left before arriving in Singapore. My seat mate glanced over and told me that how amazed he was that I managed to stay asleep for nearly 6 hours continuously. I smirked and told him I managed more than 7 on the outbound from Singapore in February. 

I managed to wash up before the other passengers wake up as the cabin lights were turned on and breakfast was served.

Well, I suppose the only compliment that I can give to the breakfast was that it was perfectly edible and fully heated, which is significantly better than some lukewarm servings elsewhere, or worse cold sandwiches.

As the MBS towers began to appear on the horizon it's again the final descent into Changi. 

Conclusion

From a value for money perspective, I am well-satisfied with the service from Finnair. Granted, the Middle Eastern carriers may offer comparable fares with newer aircraft and sometimes better catering, the value proposition of Finnair is really in the short transit time in its Helsinki hub, as well as the small size and ease of navigation in the airport.

Furthermore, since I cleared Schengen immigration in Helsinki, it saves me the hassle of clearing immigration at my final destination, which can be a huge relief if arriving in CDG or FRA, where immigration queue can sometimes be quite insane. 

In addition, while it can sometimes be quite difficult to credit miles for the Middle Eastern carriers, and often the miles are discounted, I received full credit for the miles flown on Finnair, all duly credited to my American Airlines AAdvantage account.

Flying: Finnair E190 Economy Class Zurich to Helsinki 2015

Arriving at ZRH, bidding my final farewell to the SBB Flughafen Bahnhof, I was pleased to find no one at the Finnair check-in counter. However, the process did not go as smoothly as I had expected, given the counter staff here are a lot more stringent then the ones I was used to at Singapore.

Finnair 864
Zurich (ZRH) – Helsinki (HEL) 
Tuesday, May 31 2015
Depart: 7:10PM
Arrive: 10:50PM 
Flight time: 2hr40min
Aircraft: Embraer 190
Seat: 4F

There was a change of boarding gate from A63 to A62 due to operational reasons, and almost everyone else had boarded by the time I realised the gate has changed. Then again, I never bothered with boarding early.

I can't help but to realise we parked right beside a Swissair 330 and what an apt way it is to say goodbye to this country. Soon the door closed and we pushed off at 7:03PM. 

It was a fairly full load, with all but a handful seats taken up. Then again, the E190 is a small plane.

A 2 hour flight would have called for at least some refreshments such as sandwiches or snacks, and if one were travelling on a full service airline in Asia there might even be a dinner service, albeit truncated. Well, guess I would have to make do with a cup of blueberry juice.

As we started to descent after crossing the Gulf of Finland, it suddenly struck my mind that it was the moon outside the window, not the sun.

Frankly, I was already used to long daylight in summer Europe, with the sunset at 8~9PM in St Gallen. However, as we approached the polar circle, the daylight was almost lasting the entire day.

We landed slightly ahead of schedule at 10:33PM. A couple of months back when I first arrived in Helsinki, the airport was stilled covered in heavy snow, and today it was lush green patches beside the taxiway.

Somehow I just felt that planes taxi faster in Europe than in Asia and we arrived at the terminal after barely 10 minutes of taxiing, pulling over right beside an A340, which is probably the plane that's going to carry me to Singapore later.

Flying: Finnair A319 Economy Class Helsinki to Zurich 2015

After a fairly long queue at the security and a fairly short queue at the boarder control, I was heading towards gate 15 for the second leg of my journey.

Finnair 857
Helsinki (HEL) – Zurich (ZRH) 
Tuesday, Feb 04 2015
Depart: 07:55AM
Arrive: 9:45AM
Flight time: 2hr50min
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Seat: 7D

The seats looked fresh, with a great amount of  leg room, much more comfortable than on the previous aircraft. The load was rather light with about 60% of the seats filled, and I was the only Asian on board.

We pushed off from the gate at 7:55AM and had a long taxi of 20 minutes in the snow before taking off from runway 04R at 8:15AM. I had really wanted to take photos of Helsinki airport in snow but it's kinda dangerous to change seats during taxiing, so I guess I missed the chance.

There were some heavy turbulence 10 minutes into the flight, and so minor turbulence thereafter, but otherwise it was a fairly smooth flight.

I moved to the rear, where most of the seats were empty and snapped a few pictures of rising sun.

Rising sun from starboard side

Rising sun from port side

Soon after I returned to my seat, the crew began serving drinks, with a selection of coffee, tea and blueberry juice. I went with the blueberry juice, which was pretty good. On this flight there was no complimentary meals in economy class, though there were some options available for sale. 

We landed at 9:39AM, had a short taxi to the Schengen terminal and arrived on-time at the gate at 9:45AM. Since I had already clear European immigration at Helsinki, there was no further checks at Zurich on the way to the baggage carousel. It was a 15 minutes wait for the baggage and together with it I headed straight for the train ride to St Gallen.

Conclusion
The seat was pretty good, comfortable with a good amount of leg room. The service was friendly, and the sale of duty-free items was not as aggressive as previously thought. Nevertheless, it would be good if a light snack could be served, considering that the flight was during breakfast time.

Flying: Finnair A340-300 Economy Class Singapore to Helsinki 2015

While checking my self in online, I realised I could only select seats all the way at the rear of the aircraft. So I called the Finnair ticketing office in Singapore and was informed that the flight was fully booked.   

Arriving at the familiar Changi Airport at 9PM, there was a little queue at the check-in counter but no queue at the baggage drop for passengers who had already checked-in online. 

Boarding was from gate D41, which is a fairly short distance from the immigration.

I was busy messaging my family and friends and hence was among the last to board. In fact, I couldn't even manage to post a Facebook status prior to boarding without risking missing the flight. However, I did manage to snap a picture of the aircraft.

Finnair 82
Singapore (SIN) – Helsinki (HEL)
Tuesday, Feb 03 2015
Depart: 11:55PM
Arrive: 6:15AM (+1)
Flight time: 12hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus A340-300
Seat: 52C

The legroom was a little on the tight side, with my knees pressing on the back of the seat in front of me. The cushion on the back and the headrest were reasonably comfortable.

Since I was among the last to board (as usual, I just don't see the  point of boarding early when flying economy class), the door closed right after and we pushed off from the gate at 12:00AM, slightly behind schedule, though the captain assured us we will land ahead of schedule at 6:00AM. After a short taxi, we took off behind a Singapore B777 at 12:05AM. 


Dinner was served an hour into the flight. The salad was fresh but not to my liking. The chicken was rather dry. The dessert, which I presumed to be a blue berry cake, was delicious.

I was rather fascinated by the Finnish beer they served (so was my seatmate, whom the crew had taken the liberty to serve a Calsberg ;-) ).

After the meal service, I reclined the seat and prepared to turn in. In sharp contrast to the restricted leg room, the recline was actually very good. In fact, I thought it was the best I have seen in economy class.


I tried to watch a bed time movie before dozing off, but not only was the seat back screen minuscule, the selection of movies and TV shows was also extremely limited. Thus I resorted to watch the moving map instead.

I dozed off about two and a half hours into the flight, and slept for a solid six hours, which is pretty good on economy class. I woke up with three and a half hours out of Helsinki and decided to stretch out. 

The crew had set up a drink and snack display at the rear galley, which featured a reasonable selection of water, apple, orange and tomato juices.

A tray comprising chocolate wafers,pretzels and muffins was also laid on the counter in the galley.

The snacks were also replenished regularly, and I did not once see an empty tray.

The lights were turned on at 3:37AM, and the passengers began to wake up. Breakfast was served from 4:00AM.

We landed in Helsinki at 5:54AM, had a short taxi and arrived at 6:02AM, parking at gate 33 net to another Finnair A340-300.

Conclusion

Flightwise, this was the smoothest long-haul I have flown, since I did not feel any significant turbulence throughout the flight, and the seat-belt sign was off apart from take-off and landing.

The catering was average, as the norm in economy class. The inflight entertainment was downright disappointing, possibly among the worst on the Kangaroo route, although this was partly mitigated by the timing of Finnair's timing (the flight is a red-eye in both directions).

The crew was attentive and though not as great as Singapore or even Malaysia Airlines, but certainly efficient and reasonably friendly.

Overall, at this price, Finnair has a really value for money product. Considering the fast transit at Helsinki and the convenient timing, it is an efficient way to get to Europe and I would likely fly with them again.