This text is a part of the Flight Opinions sequence, by which I evaluation the onboard product supplied by airways throughout a wide range of plane varieties and routes. These first-person stories evaluation a selected flight — a novel mixture of things together with working airline, plane sort, route and sophistication of service.

Final summer season, I took a monthlong journey to Europe for just a few talking engagements and a few much-needed trip time. My first cease was Riga, Latvia, making the journey an ideal alternative to fly Finnair’s new enterprise class product. Listed here are some fundamental flight particulars to get began:

Airline/Flight: Finnair, AY20
Route: DFW-HEL — Dallas, Texas to Helsinki, Finland
Flight Date: Might 1, 2022
Scheduled Departure: 4:55 p.m.
Scheduled Arrival: 11:10 a.m.
Plane: Airbus A350-900 XWB
Registration: OH-LWE
Seat: 06A

Most of Finnair’s Airbus A350 and A330 plane function the brand new enterprise class product reviewed on this article. Inside modifications on these long-haul plane that haven’t but acquired the up to date enterprise class will probably be accomplished by the tip of 2023, based on Finnair.

How I booked the flight

This flight was half of a bigger itinerary that took me from Gainesville, Florida to Riga, Latvia, with connections in Dallas and Helsinki. I bought the ticket with American Airways frequent flyer miles — The full price was 57,500 AAdvantage miles plus $12.10 in taxes and charges.

Flying in enterprise class from america to Europe for some airline miles and some bucks is an unbelievable deal. For those who haven’t joined a frequent flyer program but, it’s by no means too late to start out — begin incomes miles in the direction of an elevated journey expertise.

Finnair Airbus A350 Seating Structure

Finnair at the moment has 4 completely different seating configurations on its Airbus A350-900 plane sort, two with the brand new “Airlounge” enterprise class seats and a premium economic system cabin, and two with out.

This specific flight featured 30 Airlounge enterprise class seats organized in a 1-2-1 configuration, 26 Haeco Vector Premium premium economic system seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, and 265 Zodiac Z300 slimline economic system class seats organized 9-abreast in a 3-3-3 configuration. A high-quality seat map of the Finnair A350 is offered from aeroLOPA.

Enterprise Class Seat on the Finnair Airbus A350

Finnair’s Airlounge enterprise class seat, developed on the Collins Aerospace platform, is a major departure from latest enterprise class seat designs. Whereas the seat lays flat into a cushty mattress, it doesn’t recline.

In promotional materials introducing the seat, Finnair describes the shortage of recline as a profit, suggesting that “With no recline and a hard and fast, contoured design, the brand new AirLounge is designed to feel and look extra like a chunk of traditional Nordic furnishings than a easy airline seat.” The seat design permits many passengers to “sit cross legged on the extensive seat, in addition to lie flat comfortably, slide right into a extra relaxed place or use the 2 pillows to sit down upright and create a working setting utilizing the movable desk.”

The seat has acquired combined critiques from vacationers of all sorts and lots of debates have occurred amongst frequent flyers, centered round questions of the seat’s consolation, and whether or not a enterprise class seat that doesn’t recline really offers enterprise class passengers a premium expertise. My perspective on these questions is that the elimination of seat padding in premium cabins, together with Finnair’s new enterprise class, has made them much less comfy. The dearth of a reclining seat again, along with different accessibility boundaries included within the seat’s design, has made this a seating product I’ll attempt to keep away from sooner or later. I’ll talk about the seat’s accessibility, or lack thereof, within the following part.

Analyzing the seat in additional element, there are some spectacular options to focus on.

An 18″ contact display show offers passengers with entry to a big leisure library with motion pictures and TV exhibits, a shifting map to trace flight progress, and one in all my favourite options of the Airbus A350 — a tail digicam feed, appropriate for viewing the outside of the plane throughout takeoff, flight and touchdown. Finnair offers enterprise class passengers with a wired Bose headset to be used throughout the flight.

Overhead lighting may be managed utilizing buttons close to the retractable tray desk and nordic wooden floor/armrest close to the window (or middle console if not in a window seat). A button to increase a portion of the seat for mattress mode is situated on this management panel as effectively. There is no such thing as a recline function, so that’s the solely energy seat adjustment function.

Cable-free charging of smartphones, AirPods and different Qi-enabled gadgets is feasible utilizing the wi-fi charging pad built-in to the picket console. It was under no circumstances a quick cost, although it was handy to not should mess with a charging cable.

A Common AC energy socket, along with USB-A and USB-C charging ports are offered in a small headphone storage cupboard recessed inside the seat again. A distant to manage the leisure options can be saved on this area.

Extra storage is situated subsequent to the seat, with area to carry a water bottle, headphones and laptop computer — the laptop computer storage bin safely held my 14″ MacBook Professional whereas I ate and took a nap. Don’t neglect to gather your gadgets from the varied storage cubbies upon arrival to your vacation spot!

Wheelchair Accessibility of the Finnair Airlounge Enterprise Class Seat

Privateness is all the fad in premium airplane cabins today and, though Finnair didn’t decide to put in doorways in its new enterprise class, an immovable shell encloses the seat to limit print eyes.

Like privateness doorways, the seat enclosure sacrifices accessibility to realize that degree of privateness. The shell blocks the seat cushion, stopping passengers who depend on an aisle wheelchair for boarding from executing a secure, unassisted lateral switch into the seat.

In each Dallas and Helsinki, I requested the help contractors engaged on behalf of Finnair if they’d acquired any specialised coaching for helping motionless passengers into and out of the Airlounge enterprise class seat. None of them had, and no further instruments equivalent to a slide board had been out there.

The standard methodology of an assisted switch, lifting the passenger below the arms and knees, was not potential given the seat shell — they’d have wanted arms twice the traditional size to increase over the seat’s enclosure! I as an alternative opted to go it alone, primarily climbing into the seat from the cabin flooring.

As soon as seated, I discovered it extraordinarily tough to maneuver round and modify myself — there isn’t any armrest on the aisle-facing facet of the seat! It’s a horrible oversight and, coupled with the shortage of a seat recline, made it extraordinarily tough to alleviate stress throughout the flight. If I needed to describe the 10-hour journey from Dallas to Helsinki with only one phrase, I might say that it was “painful.”

Meals & Beverage Service

The primary of two meal providers started shortly after the flight’s departure and upon reaching cruising altitude of 41,000 toes.

I chosen the principle course of hen, rice, spinach and inexperienced beans — it was a stable providing that hit the spot, although the hen breast was a bit dry.

The meal’s starter had been a choice of prawns, and I concluded with a chunk of scrumptious cake. Although the principle course was forgettable, the meal service began and ended on a constructive be aware!

Previous to arrival in Helsinki, breakfast was served — it was a sampling of many alternative breakfast meals, together with fruit and yoghurt, cheese, sliced salmon, sausage, juices and extra.

Menus for a few of Finnair’s long-haul enterprise class flights are revealed on-line, so chances are you’ll want to seek the advice of them earlier than reserving a flight.

Accessible Toilet on the Finnair Airbus A350

The “accessible” bathroom appropriate for passengers utilizing the aisle chair on Finnair’s Airbus A350 is situated on the middle of the economic system class cabin, behind row 38. A barely bigger bathroom behind boarding door 2L and row 8 is offered, nevertheless it isn’t massive sufficient to shut the door with the aisle chair inside.

After meal service had concluded, I rang the decision bell and advised the flight attendant that I wanted to make use of the toilet. Some minutes later, he returned with the onboard aisle wheelchair and assisted in maneuvering me to the bigger accessible bathroom.

Given the situation of the bathroom far behind enterprise class, I needed to go by way of each the premium economic system and economic system class cabins to entry it. Even for passengers not seated in enterprise class, the bathroom is 17 seating rows away from the closest boarding door — a failure in planning and design.

Accessible bathrooms are available quite a lot of sizes and styles, and a few are far more accessible than others. If I had been to rank the varied kinds, this one could be on the backside of the record. Two customary bathrooms are successfully mixed into one, by opening the wall between the 2. Though this does present further area for the aisle chair and a companion or care assistant, accessibility options are missing. The aisle chair should be parked perpendicular to the bathroom and there aren’t any horizontal seize bars within the area. A vertical seize bar is beneficial for individuals who can stand, however that isn’t my state of affairs.

Professional-tip: When a flight attendant is helping you to the bathroom utilizing an aisle chair, advise them to drag you backwards — it’s safer, a lot simpler to maneuver and can stop your knees from bumping into seats.

For extra data on attending to and utilizing the toilet on the airplane as a wheelchair consumer, learn the article on wheelchair accessible airplane bathrooms, which accommodates images and descriptions of the varied bathroom kinds.

Backside Line: Is Finnair’s New Enterprise Class Accessible?

No, not by a protracted shot.

Merely put, I don’t view Finnair’s enterprise class as an accessible or secure seating product for full-time wheelchair customers. The lack to regulate the seat for consolation locations an undue burden on disabled vacationers who lack the power or capacity to regulate themselves.

For my part, the accessibility boundaries inherent within the Finnair seat design make it one of many least accessible premium cabin merchandise within the transatlantic air journey market. Disabled vacationers could be higher off making an attempt their luck with extra accessible merchandise, equivalent to American Airways Enterprise Class, the British Airways Membership Suite, and KLM’s World Enterprise Class.

Unquestionably, Finnair has created a visually interesting enterprise class cabin to replicate Nordic design rules and aesthetics — I simply want they’d put some effort, any effort, into offering equal entry for airline passengers with disabilities.