You Might Want To Avoid Finnair’s New York Flight This Winter

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: July 9, 2021
Published: October 27, 2016

16 comments

Finnair ordinarily flies the A330 between New York and Helsinki, which features their staggered, fully flat business class seats.

Finnair-Business-Class-A340 - 3

Unfortunately they don’t regularly fly their A350 to New York, which features their excellent reverse herringbone business class seats. I lucked out last year when I had the chance to fly the A350 between New York and Helsinki, given that Finnair operated the plane in the market for a very limited time.

Finnair-Business-Class-A350 - 1

Instead they choose to fly the A350 primarily to Asia, which is where most of their longhaul flights are to anyway. So far Finnair has seven A350s in their fleet, with another 12 A350s on order, so I hope that eventually they’ll fly the A350 to New York.

While Finnair’s A330 business class isn’t amazing to begin with, it looks like Finnair’s product between New York and Helsinki is about to get even worse. Per @airlineroute, Finnair will be operating a leased plane on their New York to Helsinki route between November 3, 2016, and January 8, 2017.

While it’s normal for airlines to have aircraft shortage due to maintenance, etc., I’m a bit surprised they couldn’t plan this better given that they’re in the process of taking delivery of new planes.

The leased plane that Finnair is using to New York will be a Hi-Fly Airbus A340-300 aircraft, featuring 24 business class seats and 271 economy class seats.

Based on the leasing company’s website, it seems like they’ll be using the plane with the trail number 9H-SUN, which used to be operated by SriLankan. This plane features fully flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration — it’s the same business class I flew on SriLankan early last year.

srilankan-a340-business-class

There shouldn’t be too much difference in terms of the quality of the economy product, though I’m not sure what the inflight entertainment will be like.

a340-economy

Ultimately this plane still has a fully flat business class product, though if you’re booked on the route or planning on booking yourself on the route, it’s at least worth being aware of the different product you’ll receive if flying during the above period.

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JHuPiTer New Member

January 16, 2018, 2:25 am

My ANZ PER-AKL 787-9 will be replaced with HiFly A340-313 (9H-SUN). When I was informed that NZ would be using HiFly aircraft, I was concerned that I wouldn't have a lie-flat. I don't have many options less than 2 weeks before departure. I'm hoping that I'll at least get some decent sleep on the redeye flight, but I don't have no huge hopes for the soft product, based on others' experiences.

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Zowie Guest

July 10, 2017, 7:00 am

Uncomfortable Airline to fly with! flat seats in every cabin! horrible food and terrible service. Not to mention their policy about luggage weights. if slightly heavier then 23 kilos they charge you a fortune!

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AaronP Member

March 17, 2017, 9:20 am

More Finnair drama...I'm booked Business Class on AY8 MIA-HEL on 4.23.17. This flight is now an Iberia codeshare with Iberia A330 and Iberia crew.

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JP Guest

December 16, 2016, 9:11 pm

I have just landed in NYC off Finnair AY05, operated by HiFly. I was in Business Class. Mediocre is the best description. It was the polar opposite of my flight yesterday on Finnair AY090 from Bangkok which was great - love the A350 and the cabin crew were outstanding. They worked hard the entire flight to make sure every passenger was happy even though we were two hours late and the entertainment system packed it just after takeoff. Whilst there are two Finnair representatives on board the flight today, they didnt appear to do anything to add value to what the Portugese crew were doing...which wasnt a lot. We didnt start well. The flight was scheduled to leave Helsinki at 14.10. About 40 minutes prior to that, an announcement was made in the lounge that the flight was delayed and more information would be provided at 14.10. That sounded like a long delay to me so I got some lunch and an espresso. Suddenly, an announcement was made we were boarding at the scheduled time. Great! Abandoned lunch and much needed espresso! We then sat on the plane until well after scheduled departure before the de-icer showed up. We got to JFK an hour late - just in time for rush hour into Manhattan. Fun! Not!! The seat was hard to sit on but not too bad when lowered into a fully flat bed. There was a fearsomely cold air vent at floor level down the side of the plane, so dont select the window or you, like me, will freeze the entire way. I wore boots and the Finnair doona wrapped around me to survive. ;-) Food was a a Finnair menu/wine list but the service of it was atrocious. The meal was served with no care at all. The person seated next to me and I had to ask for a drink with our meal. It was not offered. The first time I asked for a sparkling water with ice and lemon. It came with no lemon. Second time around, with the same request, she repeated I wanted ice. A minute or two later, I got neither ice nor lemon and the sparkling water was pretty flat and warm. At that stage I gave up on the drinks front. Chocolates were dished out hand to hand, not offered on a plate.. Between meals, the cabin crew were gossiping in the galleys or crew seats... There was no personal welcome or attention whatsoever from the Finnair representative in the Business Class at any time.. We were ignored. One would think they would be working to make sure people were happy despite the switcheroo! What has annoyed me was the use of HiFly was not advised until the day before I fly this route regularly and had wondered why the seat selection had changed(!). There is compensation for a return trip so I am out of luck as it was a one way for me.. When I did this run in June this year, their were hints that an A350 would be deployed on this route so hopefully that is the reason why they are chartering from HiFly.

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Jonathan Guest

November 4, 2016, 4:14 am

Hi Ben, In what way do you think the Business Class experience on these HiFly operated flights is going to be more modest compared with the original Finnair product? The catering should be the exactly the same and in your reviews, you seem to give SriLankan Business Class more positive overall feedback than in the Finnair A340 review with the staggered configuration. I have flights booked during this HiFly period and I'm wondering whether to change my flights from direct HEL-JFK-HEL service to BA/AA operated flights via LHR. Finnair doesn't offer any sort of compensation in terms of Finnair Plus Points etc. if you stick to the HiFly service as seems to have been the case with last winters MIA flights, as per to this conversation. Great thanks for your help!

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