Finnair Premium Economy: An Overview

Finnair offers premium economy on both of its long-haul aircraft: the Airbus A330 and A350. While the experience varies between aircraft types in a couple of notable ways, the seats are the same on both aircraft.

Seats are arranged with 38 inches of pitch (the space from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in front of you) which should provide enough legroom for travelers of almost any height. However, seats only recline a modest five inches. That recline is on the lower side of premium economy products.

On both aircraft, Finnair premium economy seats only measure 18 inches between armrests. To give you an idea of how tight this is, the economy seats on Finnair’s Airbus A330 are actually slightly wider. The thick armrests in premium economy are nice for elbow room but I’m sure many passengers would appreciate a wider seat.

Each seat offers a leg rest that extends out from under the seat. However, there’s no footrest for passengers to use. I noticed several passengers avoided using the leg rest so that they could plant their feet on the ground. In my opinion, failing to install footrests is a big miss by Finnair.

Standard-row seats have a seatback monitor which measures around 13 inches diagonally. That’s pretty large but not quite the largest you’ll find in premium economy.

Non-bulkhead seats have a small fold-down tray and stowage area under the inflight entertainment screen. This area offers a USB outlet for charging smaller devices like a cellphone. Beneath that, passengers can stow larger items in a large fold-out seatback compartment.

Bulkhead seats have a larger 15-inch screen fixed to the bulkhead wall (the dividing wall that separates cabins). Although that means the screen is further away, this means bulkhead seat passengers can enjoy entertainment from gate to gate rather than having to stow their entertainment screen during taxi, takeoff and landing. The downside: Bulkhead seats have very little storage—just a small bulkhead-back pocket.

Each seat has a small tray table that folds out of the center armrest, which measures 16 inches by 10.5 inches.

The seat’s headrest can be adjusted upward or downward for comfort, and you can fold out the headrest wings to cradle your head. Next to the headrest, each seat offers a personal reading light.

The main differences between the Airbus A330 and A350 mostly relate to the cabin layout. On the Airbus A330, the premium economy cabin is arranged in a two-three-two configuration with a dedicated bathroom in the front left of the cabin. Notably, you can enjoy the view out the bathroom window.

On the Airbus A350, Finnair arranged the premium economy cabin in a two-four-two configuration and the cabin doesn’t have a nearby bathroom—for better or worse. Premium economy passengers need to head back a dozen rows to go to the bathroom in the economy cabin.

Note that Finnair charges premium economy passengers for seat selection—even if you’re a Oneworld elite member. Finnair confirmed by email that it waives seat selection fees for economy and business class but, puzzlingly, not for premium economy.

Don’t expect a menu laying out the dining or drink options in Finnair premium economy. Instead, be prepared to make a snap decision when the flight attendants come through with the meals.

On all four of my flights, premium economy passengers had a choice between either a beef or fish option for the meal just after takeoff. If neither of those sound good—or you are just looking to cut back on your meat consumption—you’ll need to pre-order a special meal.

Meals were served with tin foil still around the main course and plastic covers on the sides. Nothing wrong with that, just not a very premium look.

The arrival meal varied between flights:

• New York to Helsinki: Cold, plastic-wrapped sandwich.
• Helsinki to Singapore: Warm vegetarian lasagna
• Singapore to Helsinki: Warm omelet with beans, sausage and broccoli
• Helsinki to New York: Warm apple strudel and muffin

In each case, the arrival meal was the exact same in both premium economy and economy. Again, not a very premium experience.

Finnair premium economy passengers get complimentary bar service before the first meal. This includes complimentary beer, wine and spirits along with a bag of nuts.

However, champagne will cost you 14 euros (around $15). To be sure, I played dumb and ordered champagne on one flight. Sure enough, the flight attendant noted that she would have to charge me for it.

Between meals, passengers can get self-service drinks from the galley. The offerings varied between flights but generally offered coffee, tea, juices and water.

Hungry for a bit more? Well, that will cost you. Yes, even premium economy passengers have to pay for mid-flight snacks. However, the cost isn’t very much, ranging from €2.50 for chocolates to €5 for pasta carbonara.

One unexpected pleasantry was the Finnish chocolates offered to passengers shortly before landing. Flight attendants passed through all cabins offering seemingly the same choices.

At boarding, Finnair premium economy seats are stocked with noise-canceling headphones, an amenity kit, a neck pillow and a large blanket.

The neck pillow is a unique amenity that I haven’t seen in premium economy before. Depending on how you like to sleep, you may love or hate this twist. Personally, I prefer getting a small pillow that I can use for lumbar support while I use the headrest to cradle my head. However, some passengers may prefer this neck pillow.

Amenity kits offered the basics: an eye mask, lip balm, earplugs, toothbrush and toothpaste.

Two universal power outlets and two USB-A outlets are located in the center console between each seat pair. If you’re sitting next to a stranger, it’s up to you to decide who gets which one.

Finnair has installed Wi-Fi antennas on its aircraft. However, we found the speeds to generally be unusable—even when the system noted that there were just eight users online. Wi-Fi is free for Finnair Plus Platinum and Platinum Lumo members while Finnair Plus Gold members get one hour free.

All other travelers have three pricing options to connect to the Wi-Fi:

• Entire flight for 24.95 euros (around $27)
• Three hours for 14.95 euros (around $16)
• One hour for 7.95 euros (around $9)

Service quality varied by flight but was generally nothing special. In short, Finnair treats its premium economy cabin as an extension of economy, not as its own cabin. That means there are no dedicated flight attendants—as you’d find in premium economy on top airlines.

On the Airbus A350, the economy crew is located all the way at the back galley. I observed call button requests by fellow premium economy passengers going unanswered for minutes.

This also means very slow meal service. Premium economy passengers are the first to be served and then have to wait for the entire economy cabin to be served before getting their trash collected. On each flight, I found that there was more than 45 minutes between meal service and collection. After a couple of flights, my wife and I deployed a strategy where we’d stack our trays on one tray table so the other could use the bathroom or work on their laptop.

Service ranged from indifferent to actually unfriendly. On my flight from Singapore to Helsinki, I was served a meal with part of the tin foil clearly missing. Upon closer inspection, I found that the foil had been pushed down into the fish, embedding flakes of foil into the meal. When I pointed this out to the flight attendant, he dismissed my concerns and indicated that I should just eat it anyways.

Coming into this trip, I wanted so badly to like Finnair premium economy. Especially as an American Airlines Executive Platinum elite, I’m able to earn a ton of AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points on what can be very reasonable fares. However, Finnair premium economy lacked in so many regards.

The sleek-looking seats provide extra legroom and a bigger in-flight screen than in economy—but no extra seat width. The departure meal is a step above economy. But, you won’t get a menu listing meal options, a pre-departure drink, hot towel service or any other soft amenities often found in premium economy on other airlines. And the arrival meal may be as simple as a plastic-wrapped cold sandwich.

If you’re looking for extra legroom or earning extra miles, upgrading to Finnair premium economy might be worth the price difference. However, all in all, the Finnair premium economy experience lacks much of the premium.