EPIC FAIL Finnair! Chronicle of a tragicomic journey in the new premium economy on Finland's A350
It's amazing how things can change in less than 10 minutes. I had just finished praising Finnair for the incredible [...]
Oneworld
SIN
Singapore
Learn more from this trip
It's amazing how things can change in less than 10 minutes. I had just finished praising Finnair for the incredible service provided regarding my reservation, when suddenly everything changed. As the Trap taught, "you should never say cat if you don't have it in the bag."
What happened
In this article:
- Specifications
- Aircraft:
- A350
- Class:
- Premium Economy
- Treat:
- Hel - Sin
- Price:
- 1€
- Book
The best bonuses
When we landed in Helsinki, we received a text message. It was not the one from the phone operator informing us about our roaming tariff, but it was Finnair informing us that due to an aircraft change we had been moved from business class to premium economy.
That something was wrong we had noticed just moments before boarding in Milan. On the Finnair app, where we had failed to check in, and thus had not used, the details of our flight had appeared. Too bad the seats assigned on the APP were different than the ones we had on our paper boarding passes.
We didn't pay much attention to it at the time, confident that it was a bug in the system. Instead, it wasn't.
At the airport
Of the booking of this ticket I have written several articles, then jump directly upon our arrival in Helsinki. We disembarked from the A320 more than 20 minutes late, the airport was practically closed, there were only two more flights departing both bound for Asia.
We went through the whole airport, passed through customs, and arrived at gate B52. Boarding had already begun and chaos already reigned.
The downgrade
There was no way to tell what had happened, or rather it was obvious what had happened. For some technical reason, Finnair had to change planes and replaced the A350 planned with an aircraft of the same type, but with a different layout: a smaller business class cabin, with a total of 11 fewer seats.
Above is the configuration of the two cabins. In one case the seats in business are 43 instead of 30. The seats in PE are 24 instead of 26.
The carrier then decided to move, domino model, 11 passengers from business to premium economy. As many from PE to economy. I have no idea, but I don't think it was necessary to send passengers home since the economy cabin on this model can accommodate 54 more passengers than originally planned.
It was no use having Gold status with British Airways., and thus Emerald in the Oneworld alliance, in this case it seems clear that the choice fell on the basis of the amount paid and not the class of ticket. Even though our armchair neighbors in PE had paid nearly 8 thousand euros for their two tickets and they, too, were sent down to the big leagues.
At the gate, as mentioned, anarchy reigned. No zoned boarding and two unique rows: Priority and Economy. It's just too bad that when the line of priority boarding passengers was still halfway down, the queue of economy passengers was not only already open, but flowing much faster.
The ground staff could not give any explanation other than apologizing for the inconvenience and saying that we would be contacted again within a week (as of today, 4 days have passed, no one has called/written to us yet). What is really unnerving is that the change of aircraft did not happen last minute, but hours before departure.
We could have been informed in time and decided to postpone the trip and not to discover halfway through our itinerary that things had changed.
"If you want to go to Singapore you have to travel in premium economy, otherwise make do." In fact this was the attitude of the ground staff who invited us, if we wanted, to call the call center for further details.
In a deserted airport, in the middle of the night, with no chance of getting home or continuing on to a later flight we had no choice but to get our new boarding passes and leave.
Passenger rights
All these situations are regulated by international regulations, and compensation is set on the basis of different conditions.
Of course, when as in our case you are flying on a ticket paid 1€ plus taxes, the reimbursement will be small and will by no means repay the missed business class experience.
On board
Those who read TFC have already read many reviews of my travels aboard this plane which, in my opinion, is the best wide-body aircraft around, after the A380 of course.
What I like is how the different companies have indulged in configuring it. From the upper class of Virgin Atlantic, which also offers The Loft, the space to socialize. British Airways' Club Wolrd Suite is beautiful, as well as ITA Airways' flagship.
I was very curious to try Finnair's revolutionary business class seat, and instead I ended up at Test the new premium economy seat.
All passengers were boarded from door number two: business passengers invited to turn left toward the front of the plane, while all others were routed in the opposite direction.
The PE cabin is immediately after the entrance. With a 2-4-2 configuration, it offers a handful of inches more to each passenger than the classic 3-3-3 configuration of the tourist class.
The colors are various shades of blue, as in the rest of the plane, only the coffee table breaks up the palette with a faux wood finish and I must say I like it very much.
The chair is comfortable, although there is very little space, and every inch is used to its fullest.
There is a small storage space under the screen, the small door can also serve as a stand, a USB socket is also hidden here.
Also in the seat back is a pocket where not too bulky items can be stored. That's all there is to it, not even a cup holder that avoids keeping the coffee table open.
Hidden in the center armrest is the coffee table, and there are two physical buttons to unlock the backrest and leg rest.
The coffee table is rigid enough to support without flexing too much, which is good for being able to work on the PC without much trouble.
Although this cabin is relatively new, debuting in May, the buttons already have serious operating problems. You have to press very hard to operate the mechanism, in my case no problem, but other passengers had to get help to be able to unlock the movements.
The leg support is comfortable, and because the angle can be set, it allows you to find the best position throughout the flight. Only flaw is that if you want to extend to the maximum, there will be no leg room since it almost touches the seat in front, unless you are a child (not too old) it is therefore useless in that position.
The backrest reclines profusely and I must say that you can find the right position for the various phases of flight.
Very comfortable headrest. Not only can you raise/lower it according to your needs, but the head supports allow you to rest comfortably without ending up on your neighbor's shoulders; less usable is the reading light always inserted in the headrest area. The chair is therefore promoted, although not with flying colors.
Unfortunately, no air intakes, a lack I just can't stomach.
The 26 premium economy passengers are provided with a bathroom; the difference with the economy toilets is the quality of soap and hand cream.
IFE
The screen is a 13″, it is touch, fluid in movement and fast in screen changes.
There are a total of 156 films. From new releases such as Elvis, Top Gun, Jurassic World Dominion, to great classics such as Fast & Furious (the first chapter of the Saga), The Bourne Identity, E.T. And even the movie about the life of Cristiano Ronaldo that I was unaware of. In addition to movies, as per tradition on more modern IFEs, there are also numerous television products. Too bad Finnair also chose to put random episodes rather than complete series.
From the settings menu (settings) it is not possible to choose the Italian language.
It is possible, however, with one click, to switch to kids mode, so doing so will result in content designed solely for children's enjoyment, thus excluding less suitable content.
All very nice, but unusable for us since the seats were completely soundless. I only had to connect my bluetooh adapter to the system to realize that there was absolute silence; we also tried various headphones to no avail.
Also in this case is total disorganization by Finnair on the ground and on board emerged. On the ground because not only did they demote 11 passengers from business to premium economy, but Have sat 4 of these in chairs with obvious problems. The two female passengers behind us did not even have a working screen.
Even the staff on board groped in the dark making classic "turn off turn on" attempts, restarting all the devices in the PE booth twice, providing us with new headsets in case the distributed ones were not working. All in vain, and to understand this, one only needed to check directly through the on-board portal: the previously reported faults Were registered on the tablet. Our seats were non-functional, confirmed.
There is more: the audio malfunction in our seats has been known since October 22, which is one week.
Adding insult to injury, KO also the two power outlets in the seats, resulting in the inability to charge cell phone, tablet or work on the computer.
The only working socket was the USB socket under the monitor, too bad I only have USB-c cables for my electronic devices.
Dulcis in fundo. Connecting to wi-fi was a nightmare, unlike on the flight from Milan to Helsinki it took over an hour for me to connect and start surfing.
The only positive note are the two webcams: one is installed on the tip of the tail rudder and gives a seagull's-eye view above the plane.
The second under the belly of this A350 showing what happens under the plane
Food & Beverage
Immediately after takeoff, the classic wipe was distributed and then a drink was served while waiting for the dinner service to begin.
I would have expected, As a courtesy to demoted guests , to receive the catering provided for business class but no. Again, the crew had no choice but to say "meat or fish."
Unbelievable that the menu is not offered., that the premium economy passenger has no way of knowing what he or she will eat.
On the screen is the section devoted to the on-board dining offerings, but unlike what many airlines do, there is no menu information, or rather there is info on what you can buy for a fee. From champagne to peanuts, from super spirits to candy.
On the screens, Finnair emphasizes PE's culinary offerings with very attractive writing and images. Personally, I find it quite misleading.
"We serve a carefully prepared three-course menu...". I have no idea what Finnair serves in economy, but I recently flew Neos (an Italian airline that mainly offers charter flights, but has scheduled Milan/New York flights) and in economy I was served a three-course tray. A small salad, the main course and a dessert. This is standard on long-haul.
The only difference from the tourist class is that they are not plastic plates, but some ceramic tableware and real cutlery.
The main course choice was meat, later revealed to be veal in an unspecified sauce, with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The alternative was salmon with vegetables. Meat and fish were edible, but the vegetables tasteless.
The biggest flaw, however, was another. In fact, the PE staff is the same one who also takes care of the economy booth, which means that you will have to wait until the end of the service before the tray is cleared, ergo moving becomes difficult.
Between the business class and premium economy cabins, there was a small corner in the galley with snacks and a few drinks. Let's just say that in the dark it was almost invisible and the offering decidedly unappealing.
About 90 minutes after landing, breakfast, or perhaps being the scheduled landing at 6 p.m. (Singapore time), a light lunch was served.
Passengers along with hot tea, coffee and juice a portion of gnocchi puttanesca was served.!! Long live the savory breakfast.
Service
On the seat, when you board, you will find: a blanket, a pillow, headphones, and a small beauty kit.
The pouch contains two creams (face and lips), toothbrush and toothpaste, and eye mask. Cute idea of having 4 different aesthetic declinations of these sachets, you create a hunt to complete the collection.
I just didn't like the pillow. It is not the classic pillow, but it is one of those neck supports that you can carry on board to sleep sitting in the chair. Unfortunately, however, the design chosen is small and not very suitable for the purpose.
Sweetening the pill was the staff on board the A350, even for them it must not have been easy to handle some 20 or so passengers who were justifiably angry about what had happened.
The cabin manager did everything possible to ease the discomfort, he also showed us the report sent to the ground of the various problems encountered on board, to make it up to us he also gave us the voucher to use the internet throughout the flight.
The rest of the staff also did their best, but in situations like these it is difficult with a full plane at 100% to find alternative ways.
On night flights the staff tends to "disappear," I must say that on board this plane this was not the case. They often made rounds in the cabin, offering passengers water and other drinks.
My classic reaction time test was passed brilliantly with an attendant who arrived at my chair less than 35" after pressing the call button.
In conclusion
The overall experience is 3.5 which is a weighted average of the different factors in this flight.
The chaos at boarding with the failure to prioritize boarding deserves a 2, the demotion to premium economy is worth a nice 0, the in-flight service on the other hand deserves a 7.
The seat is very good, and although I am not a big fan of premium economy, at the right price it could be a good compromise. The grade then is 7, unfortunately, however, the IFE only gets a 1 on the report card and the grade is only for the presence of the two cameras that capture the A350 from above and below.
The food offerings would deserve the political six, but the menu is missing and there is no sense of the care with which the menus specifically for premium economy were created, so the final grade is 5.
Pro
- The chair
- The crew
Against
- The ground service
- IFE not working
- Catering not up to expectations