Finnair has announced some changes to its inflight product, which will kick in for flights as of April 19, 2023. Finnair executives describe these changes as being necessary to restore the carrier’s profitability.
Finnair has been hit especially hard by the closure of Russian airspace, given that the oneworld carrier’s long haul route network previously consisted primarily of flights between Helsinki and Asia. Let’s go over the changes.
In this post:
Finnair’s inflight service changes
Finnair is making several changes to its inflight service, impacting both short and long haul flights. There are three changes that are most noteworthy:
- In long haul economy, Finnair will no longer offer pillows; the airline justifies this by explaining that “many customers already travel with their own travel pillow, and on long-haul flights, the neck rest supports your head”
- On some of the shorter long haul routes, including to & from New York and Dubai, Finnair will no longer offer a second meal service, though snacks and drinks can be purchased; Finnair justifies this by reminding people that “granola bars, crackers, or cookies are handy because they don’t take up much space or need cold storage and can be carried through security”
- In short haul business class, Finnair will be replacing champagne with sparkling wine
My take on these inflight service changes
Finnair has had a really rough few years, given its focus on Asia service. First the airline struggled because there was virtually no demand between Europe and Asia, given that China, Japan, Thailand, etc., weren’t open to tourists.
Now the airline can finally restore its network to Asia, but is dealing with significantly longer flights than pre-pandemic, turning the carrier’s geographical advantage into a disadvantage.
Finnair has been doing everything it can to cut costs, from trying to renegotiate labor contracts, to inflight service cuts. The airline has never exactly been the most full service legacy carrier, and has always been stingy with inflight service in some ways. However, some of the changes here really seem like penny pinching.
Ironically, Finnair is investing in new cabins on long haul aircraft, which are currently being rolled out. This includes Finnair’s new no-recline business class seat. While those cabins can’t be cheap to install, they will lead to long-term cost savings, as the business class seats are much lighter and have fewer electronic components, so will be cheaper to maintain.
Bottom line
Finnair is looking to return to profitability through cost cutting, as the airline will be making several service cuts as of April 2023. Among these, Finnair is eliminating pillows in economy on long haul flights, eliminating the second meal in economy on shorter long haul flights, and eliminating champagne in short haul business class.
What do you make of these Finnair service changes?
Flew for the very first time in Finnair’s economy from VNO to HND via HEL back in February 2023… And yet I am sure it was the last time as I will never fly Finnair again… Finnair is a long haul Ryanair in disguise but with prices very similar to JAL on Tokyo route. There is no free seat selection at check in, they just allocate you a specific seat but of course you can...
Flew for the very first time in Finnair’s economy from VNO to HND via HEL back in February 2023… And yet I am sure it was the last time as I will never fly Finnair again… Finnair is a long haul Ryanair in disguise but with prices very similar to JAL on Tokyo route. There is no free seat selection at check in, they just allocate you a specific seat but of course you can change it for a fee; check-in at VNO took forever because they were checking weight of every carry on item of every passenger and making fuss about 1kg over the limit… no amenity kits offered, food on-board was limited and mediocre (esp. for a flight that is nearly 14 hours long), drinks had to be purchased (I admit my mistake as I didn’t ask for wine during the meal service but then asked for a glass shortly after which had to be paid for), economy seats were in a typical dense arrangement and even in their new A350 not all screens were working. Given their product is already a basic no thrills experience taking away pillows is a new low and their excuse is funny… Passengers already bring their pillows?! With this trend you will soon have to bring your own cup, your own cutlery and your own everything to fly Finnair… JAL on my return flight was an entirely opposite experience… and yet the price difference was a mere €150 (with pillows, blankets, amenity kits, extremely comfortable seat, delicious food / drinks and top class service)!
Just read the original communication. I think an importat positive change got lost in the discussion: Hot meals will be back short haul flights in J (except for the very short ones). This is great news!
I personally prefer a good cava/prosecco, so definitely an improvement.
Finnair made no less than 18 changes to our schedule in the months before.
Most heinous of which was to cancel the BKK-HEL-AMS night flight home whilst knowing we had a connecting AMS-LGW flight on a separate ticket which they did..... ....31 days out. Absolving them of overnight BKK hotel, missed connection and an overnight AMS hotel stay.
We got an amazing deal of £1680 J return for two booked in Jan 22...
Finnair made no less than 18 changes to our schedule in the months before.
Most heinous of which was to cancel the BKK-HEL-AMS night flight home whilst knowing we had a connecting AMS-LGW flight on a separate ticket which they did..... ....31 days out. Absolving them of overnight BKK hotel, missed connection and an overnight AMS hotel stay.
We got an amazing deal of £1680 J return for two booked in Jan 22 & they did everything they could to make us cancel. Literally their only response ever during all those changes was "We'd be happy to refund the entire fare for you"
7 days before departure they were selling our flights for £14270!
AY are utter scum imho
I think we need to break these changes into two parts:
1. Those that effect Economy. In the end price is the overwhelming factor that drives bookings for Economy passengers. In that sense service cuts are at worst irrelevant if not good for passengers, if they lead to lower prices.
2. Business.
Finnair had awful champagne before. The Luxembourgish Bernard Massard they replacing it with is excellent sparkling wine. I know this...
I think we need to break these changes into two parts:
1. Those that effect Economy. In the end price is the overwhelming factor that drives bookings for Economy passengers. In that sense service cuts are at worst irrelevant if not good for passengers, if they lead to lower prices.
2. Business.
Finnair had awful champagne before. The Luxembourgish Bernard Massard they replacing it with is excellent sparkling wine. I know this because it is what I often by myself. I am very pleased about this change because I was getting really sick of champagne they had before.
#oneworld the amazing race around the globe to mediocrity
Nice. Slashed pillows! Sounds messy...
Given the airspace restrictions unless your destination is to or from Finland then most people would not choose Finnair unless it is very price competitive.
@ iamhere : And in most cases it is not.
I disagree with Ben's comment that Finnair never was at the forefront of full service carriers, they were until some 7 or 8 years ago, especially the wines. Snce 2015 or so, their Business Class service has become awful, even without the new cuts.
This being said, the changes look extremely petty and I don't see how enticing me and many others to avoid or...
@ iamhere : And in most cases it is not.
I disagree with Ben's comment that Finnair never was at the forefront of full service carriers, they were until some 7 or 8 years ago, especially the wines. Snce 2015 or so, their Business Class service has become awful, even without the new cuts.
This being said, the changes look extremely petty and I don't see how enticing me and many others to avoid or keep avoiding the airline will improve their balance sheet.
Finnair's only advantage for me is that they usually have space available for awards when other Oneworld ailines don't. This should generate even better opportunities.
Disgusting. Tickets are 50% more expensive ( or more ) compared to pre Covid era and it looks most airlines try to convert business class to premium economy - from service point of view. Very sad.
I’m looking forward to trying out the new seat in June NRT - HEL then I’ll ask for the ‘champagne’ on the connection to FRA Looking forward to flying close to the North Pole :-)
"We're offering flight times that are 2-3 hours longer than our competition so why don't we solve it by cutting 5€ of the cost per passenger who pays 3000€ for their ticket. It's not like anything could possibly go wrong, right? I mean, we're only competing against Asian airlines who are well-known for treating their passengers like crap too."
Become another trash European airline. I guess only Turkish left with good service in Europe.
It is difficult for airlines to just bump prices to adjust to inflation. The way they can compete and survive is by cutting cost. Airlines are low margine businesses.
This seems to be accepting that the Russia airspace issues are not going away and Finnair's current model - modified even from pre-covid and pre-war - can't be profitable.
Given that Finland is supposed to be accepted into NATO this summer, geopolitics are changing permanently and AY has to adapt to that reality.
Ill paint you a picture about no more 2nd food service on JFK flights. (ok the 2nd is anyway half a sandwich c*ap)
AY15 is scheduled to leave 17:20.
You arrive at HEL 15:00-ish, maybe eat something at airport.
Boarding starts at 16:45, you go sit in you seat.
Oh, its snowing at HEL, after pushback you wait few hours for deicing and finally take off about 19:00.
One hour in,...
Ill paint you a picture about no more 2nd food service on JFK flights. (ok the 2nd is anyway half a sandwich c*ap)
AY15 is scheduled to leave 17:20.
You arrive at HEL 15:00-ish, maybe eat something at airport.
Boarding starts at 16:45, you go sit in you seat.
Oh, its snowing at HEL, after pushback you wait few hours for deicing and finally take off about 19:00.
One hour in, its time for meal service, you eat the small Y dinner (most likely vegetarian because chicken ran out).
Then its still more than 6 hours left on the flight (AY15 averages about 8h 25min past 7 days).
Yippee, you are hungry, but no problem, you have landed at JFK.
Uh oh, theres long q at immigration, you spend more than 1h standing and waiting, hungry.
Finally, you are out with your luggage, time to find something to eat.
Unfortunately T8 at JFK has only Dunkin Donuts landside, so you spend still one more hour hungry in taxi to your Manhattan hotel.
Sounds like a fun trip.
They also really say the following in their press release yesterday:
"or you can also bring your own snacks with you. Granola bars, crackers, or cookies are handy because they don’t take up much space or need cold storage and can be carried through security."
Sounds like a legacy airline to me. Thats alot of cookies you need to bring for a family travelling.
According to the Finnair website…
It is good to know that we have only one menu available onboard in Economy Class of our long-haul flights to minimise food waste.
If you have special dietary requirements, you can pre-select your meal from our special diet options, and we will prepare it in advance for you to savour on board.
Tasty in-flight snacks and drinks are available for purchase during your flight.
So if you...
According to the Finnair website…
It is good to know that we have only one menu available onboard in Economy Class of our long-haul flights to minimise food waste.
If you have special dietary requirements, you can pre-select your meal from our special diet options, and we will prepare it in advance for you to savour on board.
Tasty in-flight snacks and drinks are available for purchase during your flight.
So if you don’t pre-order, you have no choice of menu in economy class…
That was very true for my recent flights from HND to HEL…
I don’t get why taking away pillows seem to be one of the cost cutting measures. Unless many people steal them I don’t get it. I assume they already have the pillows. Are they planning on storing said pillows or selling them? Lol!
They said the washing was too expensive
Finnair are still a lot more premium than SAS
And I thought the Northern European countries were comparatively wealthy…
I'm curious how much they save by cutting the champagne. Certainly proseccos and cavas are a much better value for money. With airplane air, I doubt anyone could even taste the difference in-flight. That said, how many bottles are they really going through on an average flight, where this is an important cost saver? Eliminating the second meal and pillow seems a much more obvious savings.
I appreciate that they are being honest: they cut those things in order to cut cost.
Remember:
Lufthansa, on the other hand, introduced the pay-for-everything concept due to customer demand.
SAS followed a similar approach: third party lounge access was cut to improve customer service.
Talking about intra-Europe business class: neither HOP! nor SAS have a free middle seat.
Agreed. Given how many companies (airlines and others) insult our intelligence by trying to frame service cuts as things we asked for, let's not beat up the rare honest company.
It isn't just inflight product costs they have cut but also crew costs.
I flew London to Singapore Via Helsinki with Finnair and the Finish passenger sat beside me was furious that not a single crew member onboard the flight spoke Finish. The entire cabin crew were based in Singapore and spoke english.
All this will do is mean people will be even less likely fly with them, especially as they can rarely compete on price. Cutting like this is a fools game, and especially in business class - you're sealing your fate for it to get worse with that attitude. You can't nickel and dime like that especially in premium cabin, an especially when the product is so poor in short-haul European Business class already starting with...
All this will do is mean people will be even less likely fly with them, especially as they can rarely compete on price. Cutting like this is a fools game, and especially in business class - you're sealing your fate for it to get worse with that attitude. You can't nickel and dime like that especially in premium cabin, an especially when the product is so poor in short-haul European Business class already starting with the economy seating with middle-seat blocked rubbish.
When flying in business class while being on business within Europe my focus is on schedule, connectivity (and earning miles, but that is a different topic).
My choice of airline will not change because they do not serve champagne.
Besides, I cannot directly chose my airline because my travel is booked via SAP concur. SAP concur does not care about champagne or pillows - booking a flight is based on price and duration...
When flying in business class while being on business within Europe my focus is on schedule, connectivity (and earning miles, but that is a different topic).
My choice of airline will not change because they do not serve champagne.
Besides, I cannot directly chose my airline because my travel is booked via SAP concur. SAP concur does not care about champagne or pillows - booking a flight is based on price and duration of the trip (flight time, stopover etc).
I believe that OMAAT shows one picture of travelers, but not the full picture. I would assume that most travelers in business class travel for work and do not care about the same things that OMAAT readers do.
Business travel has diminished a lot, and is near back to the level before covid as many businesses realised their staff could do a lot of meetings remotely to a good level. Also even before covid, many businesses including fairly large financial ones, were cutting allowing their employees to book business class for short-haul travel only allowing them to claim for economy flights. So really airlines ARE actually more dependent on those that CAN choose...
Business travel has diminished a lot, and is near back to the level before covid as many businesses realised their staff could do a lot of meetings remotely to a good level. Also even before covid, many businesses including fairly large financial ones, were cutting allowing their employees to book business class for short-haul travel only allowing them to claim for economy flights. So really airlines ARE actually more dependent on those that CAN choose how they travel, and those that have a choice will go elsewhere if they don't believe it is worth it.
*not near
In their defense, most passengers wouldn't know the difference between Prosecco and Champagne or if they are drinking Earnest & Julio or Cristal so it's a smart move on the beverage service. I think they would be smart to open up more award seats to partners. It would give some exposure to their product and routes on awards that could lead to cash bookings down the road from customers that might not otherwise engage with...
In their defense, most passengers wouldn't know the difference between Prosecco and Champagne or if they are drinking Earnest & Julio or Cristal so it's a smart move on the beverage service. I think they would be smart to open up more award seats to partners. It would give some exposure to their product and routes on awards that could lead to cash bookings down the road from customers that might not otherwise engage with them. The way it is now it is difficult to find award space with them when booking through AA, BA, etc.
I would bet the average wine drinker can tell the difference between Cristal and prosecco/cava.
This constantly repeated canard that no one can tell the difference in the air is just ridiculous.
Agree totally, we are not all dumb as you think...
I never tried Finnair business class even I am a Sapphire Oneworld because their stupid luggage policy, and to see this kind of cost cutting make me confirm that I was right to don't fly with them now and even more in the future.