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The Finnair’s introduction of the Airbus A350 into their fleet was very good news for OneWorld flyers. Finnair offers some of the best value Business Class fares between Europe and Asia but, before the introduction of the A350, their Business Class offering was still being upgraded throughout their fleet and passengers could find themselves in old-style Business Class seats.
The brand new A350, together with some ongoing and much needed upgrades to their existing aircraft, changed all of that and OneWorld flyers now have the best of both worlds – good Business Class fares and a good Business Class product too.
Finnair Business Class seat on the Airbus A350
In November 2015 Finnair commenced A350 service between Helsinki and Shanghai before adding Bangkok in late December 2015 and Beijing in early January 2016. Because of delays with the A350 the Beijing service came at the expense of the A350 service to Shanghai with that route being taken over by A330 and A340 aircraft.
The Finnair A350 was supposed to return to the Shanghai route from 1 February and, as of 3 February, Finnair was scheduled to introduce A350 service to Hong Kong – both of these dates have now been pushed back.
Finnair’s Airbus A350 to Shanghai and the new service to Hong Kong are now scheduled for 2 March 2016 – 4 weeks later than originally planned.
Finnair A350 On Short-Haul Routes
In addition to those two long-haul routes, Finnair had planned a number of A350 flights between Helsinki and Brussels from 3 February but this has now been pushed back to 3 March.
Planned Finnair A350 service between Helsinki and London during February has been cancelled altogether with no indication given if/when these flights may rescheduled.
Finnair A350 Unaltered Schedule
The current Finnair A350 operations on the Helsinki/Beijing and Helsinki/Bangkok route are unaffected as is the New York service which is operating a limited season (12 – 20 January).
Finnair A350 at New York JFK last week
Bottom Line
If you booked a cheap Finnair Business Class fare to Shanghai or Hong Kong, for travel before March 2016, it looks like you will be out of luck if you were hoping to get the A350. Fortunately, as far as I can work out, Finnair has completed the refurbishment of their A330 and A340 aircraft so at least passengers won’t be swapping an A350 for an antiquated offering.
Having said that, the most important thing right now is for passengers to check their seating assignments if they’re booked on any of the routes with delayed/cancelled A350 service. The seat maps for the A350 are very different to those on the aircraft that will replace it, so exit row seats may have been reallocated and seats that are desirable on the A350 may not be so desirable on the older aircraft.
Don’t expect the airline to do your work for you. If you want to have a good chance of snagging the better seats on the plane, head over to Finnair.com and check the seat maps for your flights right now.
[HT: airlineroute.net]
