AY1332 LHR-HEL

December 10th, 2023

Posts in this series:

Introduction - Island Hopping in Southeast Asia

Review - British Airways Business Class B777-200 Toronto Pearson to London Heathrow

Review - Finnair Business Class A350-900 London Heathrow to Helsinki

Review - Finnair Business Class A350-900 Helsinki to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi

Review - Conrad Bangkok

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Langkawi

Review - Firefly Economy Class ATR72-500 Langkawi to Subang

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur

Review - Malaysia Airlines Economy Class B737-800 Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar

Review - Alila Villas Uluwatu

Review - TransNusa Economy Class A320 Denpasar to Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta

Review - The Hermitage, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Jakarta

Review - Qatar Airways Business Class A350-900 Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta to Doha

Review - Qatar Airways Business Class B777-300ER Doha to New York Kennedy

In-transit:

To continue my journey to Thailand, my second flight was on Finnair from Heathrow to Helsinki. A minor grievance - LHR used to have fast track at transit security, but this time I was told it’s no longer available? Anyways, while I generally prefer the Cathay Pacific Lounge at LHR (well, really anywhere that has a Cathay lounge), I figured I’d mix things up a bit and review the Qantas Lounge instead. For review of Cathay’s wonderful first and business class lounge, head over here.

Lounge:

I’ve only been to Australia once, and I’ve never flown on Qantas. I have been to a few of Roo’s lounges, though. London is obviously an important market for Qantas, which is why I find it a bit odd that it didn’t operate a separate first class lounge. Maybe Qantas didn’t see the value of that when they could just send eligible passengers to the BA first class lounge. Now that I think about it, the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge didn’t have a first class section either, given whoever eligible could just go to the Wing or the Pier.

Behind the lounge reception was a giant Qantas logo, which I found to be quite striking.

The lounge spanned across two floors, with the first floor exclusively consisting of à la carte dining. It’s really a restaurant given it only opened prior to Qantas departures.

Following the stairs would take you to the second floor, where you could find more traditional lounge seating, another bar, buffet, showers and etc.

I thought the design was modern and stylish, even years after opening. It did feel a bit more corporate though, compared to the Cathay lounge next door.

The first thing you’d see upstairs was the circular marble bar.

Surrounding the bar were a bunch of sofas and arm chairs.

Last in the lounge was a small but decent quality buffet, which was tucked away in the very back of the lounge. This would be the only food option if you visit outside the Qantas departure hours.

I found myself a table in the downstairs restaurant. The wait staff came around to distribute menus and take drink orders about 5 minutes ahead of the posted opening time. The menu reads as follows:

Since it’s an Aussie lounge, I felt confident ordering a piccolo. It was fantastic, just as I expected.

I wasn’t the slightest peckish, but I had to order the obligatory salt and pepper squid, a staple dish in Qantas lounges.

For fried food, the key to successful execution is freshness. And this dish nailed that. When I took my first bite, steam was coming out of the crust. Bonza!

To wash it all down, I got another flat white. When in Rome, you know.

Inarguably the restaurant was the best amenity of the Qantas International Lounge. I’d definitely recommend stopping by if your schedule overlaps with the meal hours. It’s otherwise a good lounge too. On one of my previous visits the bartender offered me an Aussie gin tasting, so needless to say I have quite fond memories of this place.

Boarding:

Soon it was time to board my first ever Finnair flight, and it didn’t exactly start off on a high note. We boarded the A350 via a remote stand. While it made for an absolutely stunning photoshoot, the boarding gate was sheer anarchy. There were only two lanes for boarding, but one lane was bottlenecked by a family with some document issues. The gate agents could not be less bothered and didn’t even move them to the side. As a result, all 300+ passengers were funneled through the other open lane. Unsurprisingly, there was no priority boarding.

I hung back and people watched. It didn’t take long for people to grow impatient. After group 5 was called, a middle-aged man with his family approached the podium and demanded priority boarding. That’s when I swiftly lined up behind them. I wagered my bets on my jockey, and the odds ended up in my favor. Now we get to be stuck on a shuttle bus and wait for the commoners!

Joking aside, let’s take a moment to appreciate this looker.

A tranquil sanctuary awaited me once I made a left turn at the door. In true Nordic fashion, Finnair concealed all galley equipment behind minimalistic paneling.

Finnair business class was a unique product, in the sense that it was the world’s first business class seat that could not recline.

As you can see, the seat was essentially built into the shell. When sleeping, you just scoot down, and the footrest would come up to fill the gap for the bed.

One significant drawback of this seat was the lack of storage. There wasn’t even a place to put a bottle of water, so the flight attendant placed it next to my lap prior to takeoff.

On a positive note, the shells of these seats were really tall, and therefore enhanced privacy.

Common on the A350s were the high resolution tail and belly cams. Absent in the cabin were the center luggage bins and air nozzles.

On this intra-European flight, no menu was provided. The crew came by with a bottle of water and disposable headsets.

They later returned to offer pre-departure drinks, which I selected another water and Finnair’s famous blueberry juice.

Inflight:

A quick lunch was served on this flight, with the only option being the beef goulash. Everything came on one tray, including a carrot muffin, some pickled radish and some bread. The only thing worth eating was this Finnish rye bread.

I didn’t have a chance to try out the seat in bed mode on this short flight, so I will review that in the next segment. Soon enough we commenced our descent into the winter wonderland.

On Arrival:

Objectively speaking, it’s a treat to fly a widebody aircraft in business class within Europe, given your alternative would otherwise be economy seats with a blocked middle seat. On this exact route, Finnair also operated A321s on other frequencies. The crew was reserved but friendly. The catering and boarding process left much to be desired, but I’m reserving judgement on Finnair until my next flight to Bangkok.