REVIEW | Finnair | Helsinki (HEL) - Los Angeles (LAX) | Airbus A350-900 | Economy

Welcome to another flight experience! Today, I'm departing from the chilly city of Helsinki, Finland and heading west to the sunshine state of California. I'll be flying on Finnair after an exciting week-long adventure across Europe.
Join me on this transatlantic journey, as we navigate through the impressive Helsinki Vantaa Airport, breeze through security thanks to my OneWorld Ruby status, and board our A350-900 from gate 47. Despite being my first time at this airport, I'm already taken with its modern and cozy feel, a great alternative to some of the larger European hubs.
Once onboard, we'll do a deep dive into the economy class seating and amenities offered by Finnair. Will they live up to my 2022 experience from NYC to Stockholm? We'll find out together!
Along our journey, we'll explore the inflight entertainment system, comment on the onboard Wifi, and have an honest review of the inflight meal service. Prepare for the surprising combo of Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Quinoa for dinner, and a peculiar Vegetarian Lasagna with Apple and Parsnip for pre-landing meal.
Get ready for beautiful aerial views, comprehensive insights, and an honest look at what transatlantic flying with Finnair is truly like. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts on this Finnair experience in the comments below. Let's get flying!
-- FLIGHT INFORMATION --
Airline: Finnair
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Registration: OH-LWH
Flight Time: 10hrs 44min
Seat: 56A - Economy Class
From: Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)
To: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Date: March 12th, 2023
-- RATING POINTS BREAKDOWN --
Airport Experience: 10/10
Crew: 7/10
Seat: 8/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Inflight Service: 4/10
Overall: 37/50 (74%)
-- PRICE BREAKDOWN --
Flight Price: $447.54
Ticket Type: Economy Class
Total Routing: LAX-LHR-KRK, TLL-HEL-LAX
Booked Through: Finnair Website
Booking Made: January 2023

[@aservantofjesus7648]

I've flown Finnair across the Atlantic 4 times, and getting ready for another trip to Lithuania in about 1 1/2 months. I've had a great experience every time - this is perhaps my favorite airline. Helsinki Vantaa is a beautiful, quiet airport. Renovations were underway when I first went through in 2019. They're finished now and the terminal is very nice.

[@mstuomel]

Really nice video and great views you had from the window! Also great that you didn't add any music.

[@noob.168]

It's wild how your plane departed 8 minutes late and arrived 9 minutes late. This means it was within 1 minute of schedule duration. Insane.

[@heidiluotolahti4305]

It is flying, not eating. Flying must be safe. With Finnair it is. Always.

[@jacobs4985]

but eating is part of flying experience. people will remember it

[@PilotKev170]

Nice review! I’m shocked how much the onboard meal in economy has gone downhill over the past few years

[@GlobalAviationTravel]

And sadly Finnair is not the only airline where the inflight meals have gone way downhill!

[@KaiMartonen]

I agree with all the points in this video, especially the food that has gone downhill from a few years ago and also compared to many other carriers.

[@tahtitaivas.]

Why did you cut the announcement of landing

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

We've had excellent experiences trans Atlantic with Finnair & can say Helsinki is probably our fave airport so far. We also like Iceland air. If you prefer break up a long flight into 2 shorter ones and have an hour back on ground to use a real bathroom and eat real food again, it's a no brainer. Not sure if they still offer no charge lay overs up to 5 nights built into your fare, if you want to explore Iceland between destinations. Cheers!!

[@brandoninhofer6592]

You can fly directly from Seattle to Helsinki (or vice versa) with Finnair... only 9 hours.

[@andrewterrell9306]

I’ve only flown transatlantic on Delta and BA, I thought BA had a really solid product. They brought their 787-10 to PDX and it’s a nice plane

[@spark_6710]

Very nice landing !! 👌 💜🥁🐉🎤🎶✈️🇫🇮💞

[@Tuukkohakee]

Flew HEL-NYC last week (on the 330), the food wasn’t amazing but looked better than yours by a lot, it was chicken and rice and had at least some flavour, the pasta salad was the same. I was fine with it but you could see the cost cutting. Otherwise the flight was pleasant and the crew were nice. Will fly them back soon so will be interesting to see how the catering is from us. The pillows were also removed. Still, I wish Finnair can make it through the harsh times they are facing even if it means cost cutting, as I find their special, quite finnish things lovely, but hope that Finnair will someday return to it’s better service, especially as HEL is such a lovely airport.

[@liisabjork76]

Flights in the summer have wavered from $800 back in the 80s and 90s up to about $1200 these days. Summer us the best time to fly to Finland. From JFK

[@marcraharinosy6685]

Hello !! Great video ! Flew with them 1 year ago Helsinki Singapore Helsinki and was extremely disappointed. Same amount of food than you for 13 hour flights which left me hungry. On the main meal like you no choice and for me a chocolate bar is not a desert. Also found the crew to be cold and distant

[@spark_6710]

I love A 350 !!! 👍👍💜🥁🐉🎤🎶✈️💞

[@nightrider8908]

Good points in the review. I agree with almost everything even though I am a Finn. By the way, the plural of aircraft is aircraft.

[@liisabjork76]

Finnair is my favorite. Maybe being biased because I've been flying with them since 1978 or so. My mom is Finnish and I was born in Connecticut. But we moved to Finland when I was going. I have flown with Finnair every time I went to visit my family always leaving from JFK. I have at least a dozen flights under my belt throughout the years growing up. Finnair has always been extremely excellent to fly with. I've flown with air France air Britain ... And I think Iceland air too when I've had a stop over. But each time I went to Finland I used Finnair which is a direct flight. The airport hasn't changed much actually in Helsinki. They've always had a very modern look . The floors are the same since I can remember. It's just that Scandinavian look. But I'll always fly Finnair. I speak Finnish too so it helps. Always flew economy.

[@liisabjork76]

My first passport I was still in a car seat at two months old. 😊and I still own all my passports from throughout the years. I'm 48 now.

[@liisabjork76]

During the 80s we flew the DC 9 overseas to Finland. 😁 I do own a few pair of wings when they game those out. Finnair also has great packages for children on board , coloring papers ... At least they used to when I was young. Mr and my twin flew alone on Finnair as they accommodated us for this. We did have a close friend who was the head of boarding back then. I flew alone to Finland starting in early grade school. It's very safe.

[@spark_6710]

I'd love to fly on Finnair to Finland 🇫🇮 😍 👍💜🥁🐉🎤🎶✈️💞

[@Bodneyblue]

Watching this is so familiar..reason being..I have just (today) returned to Scotland after being stranded at Helsinki airport for 4 days..I missing my conecting flight from Japan. I just totally forgot to take in consideration the time difference betwen the UK and Finland...So missed my flight by 2 hrs.....I then had to get the same flight rebooked (at a cost), it was wasn't for like 4 days..(Weds to Sunday morn).

[@Bodneyblue]

Ha!....you show gate 40 which is where I eventually flew back to Scotland from!.

[@blechtic]

Did you explore the city? It's only 30-40 minutes away by train.

[@Bodneyblue]

@@blechtic No...I know I should have..but I am not a very confident person. ...I was worried I wouldn't be allowed back into the airport especially if I lost my boarding pass...( I lost one when I was in Helsinki earlier in the year on same trip)...I'm not an experienced traveler.

[@blechtic]

@@Bodneyblue Presumably they have all that information on their computers too, so they can simply print a new one if one is needed. Having a photo of the old one on your phone may help - or even negate the need. All they really need is the QR code that's bound to be on it, right? And you can ask these things beforehand. With 4 days you could have even made day trips elsewhere. It probably helps if you have a pocket or pockets, or some other place, that you normally dedicate to and trust with important stuff, like the inside pockets of your jacket for your wallet, that have zippers or buttons. Or since wallet may get used a lot, taken out and put back in, you might have a pocket for less-used important stuff like tickets that you just keep closed. You'll then automatically put and search for the stuff you want to keep safe there and you'll pat it regularly to make sure and take extra care when using it. It's when you put stuff in random places that you can't find them or accidentally drop them, because you don't remember or expect them to be there. Also, always do only one thing at a time even if it is stupid and slow unless you have the time to do it properly and space to spread it all out in one confined place. Juggling is great way to lose things.

[@Bodneyblue]

@@blechtic The boarding pass was in an inside pocket of my jacket so how I managed to lose it I don't know(trip before)...My own fault for missing the flight this time..I forgot to adjust for the time difference..so my connecting flight home departed long before the time I thought it was..duh!...You learn by mistakes so they say...I hope to fly to Japan again someday ( I doubt it now)..as I loved the country depite being a fish out of water.

[@Gl49ers]

I flew Seattle to Singapore and only got severed a slice of bread.. no butter

[@JexAvation]

Nice

[@GlobalAviationTravel]

thanks for watching!

[@JexAvation]

@@GlobalAviationTravel I love finnair one of the best airlines

[@Anxious-Jay]

Thanks for the video! I'll be flying from Helsinki to Seattle with Finnair in a couple days (basically my first ever flight) to see a friend and I'm starting to get a bit nervous haha The idea of apple pasta sounds disturbing to be honest 😂 I think I'll have to stick with the snack foods and beg my friend for food when I land lol

[@nikolauswolff5791]

Every A 350 is assembled in Hamburg because the front fuselage section and the wings are produced in Emden and Stade Northern Germany. Than the A 350 gets assembled in Hamburg Finkenwerder and gets to Toulouse France where they instal the cabin and everything else. Then they fly it back to Hamburg where it gets its colour sheme. From Hamburg the new A 350 gets picked up by the airline members.

[@kevin19358]

Did you sleep on the plane? If yes, how many hours did you sleep on the plane?

[@Suursaadik]

Nice video! Did you record the Tallinn-Helsinki flight?

[@GlobalAviationTravel]

Yes! That video should come out sometime this summer!

[@agoh.9421]

😂😂😂

[@brandoninhofer6592]

​@@GlobalAviationTravelMust've been like 20 minutes 😂.

[@brandoninhofer6592]

​@@GlobalAviationTravelHey, you should fly Finnair from Seattle to Helsinki... only 9 hours.

[@eddiegenita7179]

The meal served looks “Mehh-ishhh-mmmkay-sad” 😐

[@violetavillegas5451]

Señores de Finnair HELSINKI, puedo describir de muy desagradable la experiencia de viajar con ustedes, al final llegando al aeropuerto, no recibir el equipaje....no entiendo cómo brindan ese servicio... Deben pensar que un pasajero merece atención y respeto.

[@futurecanadian]

sadly, no more pillows

[@ASTERIXIANEWS]

You paid for the Economy Class but wanted to be treated as a Business Class traveller. 🙂

[@colinrenfrew48]

The food?….truly awful. Enjoyed the video though!

[@jimleon7894]

Why would you expect great meal service on an economy flight?😡

[@n00blamer]

I wouldn't expect great but it used to be a lot better.. but weren't things always better back in the good old days, right? =P

[@brandoninhofer6592]

I remember when meals were better. Airlines used to offer hot towels to put on your face on a long haul flight... oh, how I miss the old days

[@blechtic]

@@brandoninhofer6592 Flights used to be a lot more expensive too.

[@EricThire]

aucun interet a voler depuis helsinki compte tenu de la faiblesse dun nombre de vol intercontinental

[@UKabroad1967]

Flying Finnair long haul is just sad and depressing - basically you get ripped off for what is nothing more than a bare bones service. As of this month did you know that they got rid of pillows in economy class? The intelligent management team claims “you can just use the headrest” and that “laundry” costs are too high - what a bunch of cheapskates. The same one-choice only meal (that bland chicken and mushy disgusting quinoa with bland pasta salad as side) has been the same for almost a year now, you would think with only giving out one option the least they could do is make it tasty/rotate the food more often… Alcohol only offered with the 1st meal service 2nd pre landing meal disgusting as always and again no choice…. In summary - Finnair offers the worst value for money amongst All long haul products. They claim to be full service, charging you full service price but delivering on Ryanair quality cost cutting service

[@Ahma000]

Someone’s had a bad journey 😂

[@brandoninhofer6592]

Still better are more reliable than Iceland Air...😂.

[@brandoninhofer6592]

Worst service ever, Icelandair. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I got stuck once flying from Reykjavik to Seattle in Edmonton Canada 🇨🇦. It was an unplanned stop that lasted 3 days. Never again, don't use them. If something goes wrong, you're stuck or screwed since they don't partner with any US airlines. At least Finnair wouldn't do that.