American Airlines AAdvantage
Aeromexico Rewards
Air Canada Aeroplan
Alaska MileagePlan
Azul Fidelidade
Delta SkyMiles
Etihad Guest
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Jetblue TrueBlue
SAS EuroBonus
GOL Smiles
Turkish Miles&Smiles
United MileagePlus
Virgin Australia Velocity
Traveling back from Japan recently I had the opportunity to fly Finnair’s Premium Economy from Tokyo Narita to Helsinki. Here’s a review of my experience.
| Route | NRT-HEL |
| Flight | AY74 |
| Cabin | Premium Economy |
| Equipment | A350-900 |
| Aircraft | OH-LWN |
| Seat | 23L |
| Flight Time | 12h 36m |
How I Booked This Flight
The flight was a regular revenue ticket booked through Finnair’s website. I tried to get an upgrade to business class using my upgrade vouchers, however it didn’t go through. Finnair opens up 1-2 seats in advance for upgrades, these are guaranteed upgrades which can be done during booking. These are shown by availability in the U booking class. Normally you can only see these seats if you have Finnair Plus Gold or above, however with the AwardFares Schedule tool you can see these seats without status. Simply search for a date and route and look for the U class.
However in my case I was too late to grab these upgrades which means you get put on a waiting list where customers are upgraded in an unknown order.
Seat and Cabin
The seat was by far the best Premium Economy seat I’ve flown! It was very comfortable seat although the seat pitch is a bit on the small side. The seat had a footrest, legrest, and a surprisingly large recline which made it easy to sleep. The seat features some smart storage space for laptops and other items, in a hardened compartment under the screen.
<img src=”/assets/img/finnair-premeco/cabin.webp” alt=”Finnair’s A350-900 Premium Economy cabin”./>
The cabin is in a 2-4-2 layout which I can imagine makes the middle seats feel quite cramped. I was in a window seat which meant only one neighbor which was nice. The cabin was very clean and the seats were in good condition.
Bathroom
The bathroom was a standard economy class bathroom with nothing special to mention. Since the Premium Economy cabin is located right behind business class but the toilets are in the middle of the Economy cabin, it was a bit of a walk to get there.
IFE and WIFI
The IFE is the same as in Business Class, although the screen is a bit smaller. The selection of movies was good and the system was responsive. The WIFI was fast and easy to connect to. As a Gold member one hour was free, which I think is a bit on the low end when many airlines offer free WIFI for the entire flight, at the very least for their status passengers.
Amenity Kit
The amenity kit was great considering it’s Premium Economy. It even came with a nice neck pillow! Apart from that the kit included the basics, toothbrush, earplugs, and an eye mask.
Menu
The food and drink selection was quite basic, as expected, however everything was good. The main course was a choice between chicken, beef, and vegetarian, the drink selection offered two different Finnair branded wines as well as beers and a selection of cocktails (Pre-mixed) and soft drinks.
Meal 1 (Dinner)
I opted for the beef stew which was great! I always think any type of stew is a great choice for inflight meals as it’s hard to mess up. The dessert was a blueberry bread, similar to a muffin but in a different form, good but nothing special.
Meal 2 (Breakfast)
The breakfast before landing was the traditional eggs, bacon and sausage. All in all quite tasty but as I had a layover in Helsinki I was looking forward to a proper breakfast in the lounge.
Summary
All in all, I was very happy with my flight. The seat was very comfortable, the service was great, and the food was good. I would definitely rate Finnair’s Premium Economy as the best I’ve tried. They also tend to have quite competitive pricing compared to most other airlines which makes it a great value.
Multiply 2x-7x The Value Of Your Miles
Did you know that our customers save over USD $2000 a year thanks to AwardFares? By getting better redemptions, they increase their points and miles value from 1 cent to over 7 cents!
You can try AwardFares for free. With our Gold and Diamond tiers, you can access premium features such as unlimited daily searches, alerts, seat maps, flight schedules, and more!
Read More
Our guides have all the information you need to be a pro travel hacker and explore the world on points. Here are some related posts you might enjoy: