Short review
Lounge (Qantas Business Lounge in Singapore): 4/5
Cabin: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Food and beverages: 3.5/5
Pros:
- Shower suites in Qantas Business Lounge in Singapore
- Nice amenity bag and glassware designs
Cons:
- Service was not as refined as other premium airlines
- Small and low-resolution entertainment screen
- Not all seats had direct access to aisle
Long review
I just arrived in Singapore from Sydney with Qantas business class (QF5) in my previous review. This Finnair flight AY82 was the second leg of my trip from Australia to Finland. The now retired A340-300 was schedule to leave Singapore before midnight at 23:35 and to arrive in Helsinki at 6:35 the next day.
Upon arriving in Singapore, I went directly to the Qantas lounge in the Changi International Airport. The entrance to the lounge was rather hidden since it was located at the end of a corridor, so it was not clearly apparent from the main walkway. The lounge itself was surprisingly spacious. There were the usual areas, such as the dining, lounging, and bar. The food offering was reasonably good, while the drink options were excellent. I took a shower here before a long flight to Helsinki. There were 20 shower suites in this lounge. Quite remarkable.
By the way, this was my boarding pass. Apparently, the wage of sin is indeed hell. I have always wanted to fly on this route because of this, haha.
The seat arrangement in Finnair A340-300 business class cabin was alternating between 2-2-1 and 1-2-1. The cabin was predominantly light blue with bright spots of light green from the pillows and blankets. The beautiful photo of the cabin below was taken from One Mile at a Time (Ben also reviewed the flight in detail). The seat could be converted into a fully-flat bed, although it was a bit narrow. The entertainment screen, however, was small. The resolution was not great either. I was struggling to read the movie titles when I was in the main menu.
A flight attendant soon offered me a welcome drink and I chose a glass of champagne as usual. The Ultima Thule glass design by Iitala was gorgeous. It was designed to resemble the ice in Finland’s northern Lapland.
The wine menu was already placed on the seat, but, surprisingly, there was no dining menu. A flight attendant walked around and took orders from passengers on a piece of dodgy-looking paper. For breakfast, passengers were given options either to sleep and skip breakfast, or be woken up for breakfast. Just an observation, I was also surprised to see that all the flight attendants were, I think, Singaporeans (based on their accent). Nothing wrong with that obviously, but, at first, I expected a more Finnish crew.
The amenity bag was designed by Marimekko, a Finnish lifestyle design company founded in 1951. I like the design of the bag, although I’m curious why they gave me the one with a flowery pattern. Well, suitable for my wife I suppose. The slippers also had colour patterns similar to those on the bag (luckily, they were not flowery).
Dinner service commenced about an hour after take-off. I ordered a fish dish for dinner and it came on a tray, which was not as refined as the business class service offered by premium airlines. The taste was reasonably good though. Dessert was a Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, which was yummy, but again it was served in its container. It seems like they focused more on efficiency than being polished.
After finishing a movie, I went to sleep for about 6 hours. Since I told a flight attendant that I wanted to have breakfast, I was woken up about 2.5 hours before landing. I noticed that some passengers chose to skip breakfast, although the noises generated by breakfast could be quite disturbing if ones did not wear ear plugs. I ordered stir-fried noodles with beef brisket for breakfast. Like dinner, it also came on a tray. The taste was just ok.
After breakfast, I spent the remaining flight time watching movies and enjoying the view from the window. In one occasion, the clouds seemed to follow the shape of the land.
Overall, it was just an ok flight, nothing to rave about. In some previous flights, I wanted the flights to be longer because they were enjoyable, but I didn’t have this feeling in this flight. This business class may be quite good some time ago, but now it lags behind other business class offerings out there. I will have a more detailed review of the return flight from Helsinki to Singapore in the near future.
