Now you can fly Finnair business class from Sydney to London
Experience a great business class seat plus some great lounges into the bargain.
By David Flynn, May 22 2023
Finnair is among the world-class international airlines which don’t fly to Australia. The Oneworld member stops short at several Asian hubs such as Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, and in the past they’ve all proven popular places for Australians to connect to a Finnair flight to Helsinki and beyond.
But due to a novel aircraft leasing arrangement struck between Qantas and Finnair, Finnair’s Airbus A330 jets will soon be flown on Qantas’ Sydney-Singapore and Sydney-Bangkok routes for the next several years
And those A330s will be fitted with Finnair’s latest business class seats: the radical but highly-praised ‘AirLounge’ design, which is more like an over-sized cocooning sofa.
Finnair's latest business class seat is more like a lounge.
Unlike all other conventional business class seats, this one doesn’t recline – instead, the entirety of the seat is a single space which the passenger is invited to treat like a sofa in the sky and find their own comfort zone in any position they like.
Comfort your way on Finnair's latest business class seat.
Of course, this sofa also serves as a wide straight fully flat bed, with your feet tucked into a recess beneath the shelf of the seat in front of you.
As you'd expect, Finnair's business class still becomes a long lie-flat bed.
Flying Finnair from Sydney
The Finnair A330 will begin flying from Sydney to Singapore and back on October 30 2023, although only on selected dates: some days will see the usual Qantas A330 as QF81/QF82, while others will feature the Finnair A330 as flights QF291/QF292.
Beginning March 31 2024, the Finnair A330 and its brilliant business class will take over Qantas’ Sydney-Bangkok route, running every day of the week under flight numbers QF295/QF296.
The flights will even be operated by Finnair crew wearing their smart Nordic blue uniforms, although travellers will see familiar Qantas catering, bedding and inflight entertainment.
“Welcome
Either way, from Singapore or Bangkok you can catch the Finnair’s more modern Airbus A350s – also with the same business class – and continue all the way to Helsinki.
And from there, Finnair has several daily flights to London, some of which also feature the twin-aisle A350 with this same international-grade business class even on that quick three-hour jaunt.
(The give-away is that the seatmap for this ‘AirLounge’ A350 shows the first row as only the middle seats of 1D and 1H, with the window seats beginning in row 2.)
We’re not suggesting this two-stop Kangaroo Route (or should that be Reindeer Route?) is for those in a hurry – it’ll take at least 32 hours from start to finish, compared to a baseline of 24 hours on single-stop treks via the likes of Singapore, Doha, Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
And we would definitely recommend breaking your journey at Helsinki and taking a few days to explore this Nordic gem.
But the Qantas-Finnair leasing deal has no doubt resulted in a pleasing new twist for travellers eager to try something different, including what we regard as a star among the world’s best business class.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Sep 2017
Total posts 164
I’ve heard some good reports about the hard product and some poor ones about the soft product. Sounds like you may not necessarily meet a Finnish crew on board, more likely an outsourced one.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jan 2018
Total posts 59
When I flew SIN-HEL, most, if not, all of the crew seemed to be of Asian descent. Cabin announcement happened in both Finnish and English. Whether the crew are Finnish or not is anybody's guess, esp. in today's globalized world.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Mar 2017
Total posts 19
Most of the Finnair crews to/from HKG, BKK and SIN are based in the Asian hubs. Like all crews, most are adequate, some are fantastic, and some are pretty ordinary.
I've had some awful native Finnish crews on my flights with them, and my most recent flight to/from SIN and HKG were excellent.
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 526
If the crew are all Asian, they're definitely not Finnish. Otherwise, you'd get a crew that is mostly European, with the odd Asian or other non-white minority mixed in, reflecting the general demographics of Finland.
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 1024
I'd do London via Helsinki from Sydney, but I also do Sydney New York via Singapore.
Its about the experience not the shortest distance.
08 Feb 2018
Total posts 165
A search on the QF website revealed very few Qantas (Finnair) to Finnair (Finnair) connections over SIN or BKK, and the few that did connect had astronomical prices. Not sure why ET bothers 'advertising' something that is over 3x the prices of other options.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Mar 2017
Total posts 19
QF won't sell you a LHR fare via a competitor.
You need to book a Finnair flight from SYD-LHR, and pick the corresponding QF flight to get you to SIN or BKK. Just make sure you don't pick a BA flight to SIN.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Jul 2017
Total posts 20
Have flown Finnair many times in business class including a number of flights on the A350. The comfort, food and drink offerings are all very good indeed. The cabin crew experience is a bit varied from very good indeed to a bit over the top officious .
Helsinki airport and the Finnair !st lounge is outstanding, really lovely showers etc. The business lounge also good with some sleeping pods but drinks service a bit slow. If you have the time stop for a day or two in Helsinki. Train connection is like they one from Sydney airport , regular trains and 20 mins or so later you are in the Central Station. Love flying Finnair, planes are new and smart, highly recommended!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Mar 2017
Total posts 19
I've sampled this seat to/from Europe in the last few days, and I agree with the reviews - it is my new favourite business class seat. Waaaaaaay better than the QF J seats. No recline is not a problem.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Feb 2021
Total posts 21
When living in HKG, I knew some local crews working for BA and KL till they were retrenched and then were contracted to Finnair so sure they would be professional and great crews but as stated there is always a luck of the draw on all airlines even in premium SQ.
GB
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Jul 2020
Total posts 8
Via Helsinki with Finnair at any opportunity is my preferred. The longer my journey using AY, the better!
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 526
Headline should have been "Now you can fly Finnair business class from Sydney to Europe" seeing that one of the main selling points of flying Finnair are its many destinations across Europe. For someone wanting to get to London as quickly as possible from Sydney, one of the many one stop services on Qantas via Perth or Singapore, or any of the Asian carriers (Singapore Airlines, Malaysian, Cathay, THAI Airways, Vietnam Airlines and many others) makes more sense than stopping over twice (once in Bangkok or Singapore and again in Helsinki).
02 Nov 2017
Total posts 22
I flew Finnair PE last year. It’s an okay product but not QF standard. The A330 Neo is very nice with window in lavatory
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