Round The World and other travels

Flight Log: AY74

Tokyo Narita (NRT) - Helsinki (HEL)

My first long-haul experience of Finnair began with a visit to the Sakura Lounge, operated by Finnair's Oneworld partner airline, JAL. At this time of day, the lounge was delightfully quiet and provided a genuinely relaxing refuge where I could wait for boarding time. Boarding was in fact delayed until 1045 due to late arrival of the aircraft. Eventually walking down the jet bridge, I was well aware of the '1+2+1 reverse herringbone' cabin layout that I was about to experience, but I was nevertheless looking forward to seeing Finnair's implementation of the concept 'in the flesh' for the first time.

Amost as soon as I had sat down in seat 1A, I was offered a choice of champagne, water or blueberry juice as my welcome drink. I noticed that Finnair required that the surface areas around my seat be kept clear for take-off; luckily there was a convenient cubby-hole - complete with lid - available next to the aisle. Menus, a water bottle and bedding were already in place in my seat area, while my headset had a storage compartment of its own.

The Purser made a tour of the cabin to give each passenger an individual welcome. This included the reassuring information that with an expected flight time of only 9hrs 20mins, the crew were hoping that we would soon be back on schedule. It was also good to see that boarding was completed just after the scheduled departure time of 1100. Pushback came at 13 minutes past the hour, with take-off following at 1139. It was a fairly bumpy climb to cruising altitude.

I noted that on this flight of over 5,000 miles, mostly over land, we would be flying over just four countries: Japan, Russia, Mongolia, (Russia again) and Finland.

As I intended to make good use of the in-flight entertainment on this flight, I wasted no time in starting up my first movie, The Shape of Water (2017). Cabin service got underway with hot towels and these were rapidly followed by a beatifully presented amuse-bouche, served with my choice of the Chardonnay and some ice water. Orders for lunch were taken at the same time.

Around thirty minutes later, I was tucking into the main meal of the flight, which for me began with the salmon starter, with a top-up of the pleasant French Chardonnay that I was already enjoying. I had the beef main course with a glass of the Merlot-Cabernet blend from Saint-Émilion, one of my 2017 destinations. Finally, I had everything listed under the 'Desserts' heading above.   Overall, I thought it was a very enjoyable midday meal, and was feeling particularly satisfied as I settled down to watch another well regarded movie from 2017, The Greatest Showman. I got a big surprise when the Purser visited a little later to ask if everything had been okay with the lunch service: "For my young colleague, it's her first time in Business Class". I replied immediately, and meant it, that I would genuinely never have guessed!

Some time later - I think I had just woken up from a short snooze - there was a mid-flight snack service from a service cart that was loaded with tea and coffee, together with a selection of sweet treats. I had a cinnamon bun, a few choccies and a cup of coffee. Feeling that a third movie might perhaps be overdoing it, I listened to a Classical Calm selection for a while before putting on a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

2hrs and 20mins prior to the scheduled arrival time, it was time for the second meal of the flight. This turned out to be different from what was listed on the menu, so I'll present what was actually offered:

I enjoyed the above with a nice, cold Asahi beer, which also looked attractive in the Finnair signature glassware. After eating, I read for a bit. About 40 minutes prior to expected arrival, we were offered sweets from a tray. The captain announced that we would be making a direct approach to the airport, arriving towards the southwest and proceeding to a remote stand. In line with earlier practice, I had a nice farewell visit from the Purser, who made particular reference to my connecting flight.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky as we made our final approach in brilliant sunshine. We touched down on Finnish soil at exactly 1500 local time and were parked up within five minutes. True to predictions, we had arrived comfortably ahead of schedule despite leaving late. Overall, I thought my first long-haul flight with Finnair was excellent, the combination of a state-of-the-art seat, tasteful cabin décor, nice food and friendly, attentive service really hitting the spot for me.

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