Flying the long way to Tokyo on the Finnair A350
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- Опубліковано 5 чер 2024
- In this video we fly on Finnair's A350 in the new business class, on the recently launched Helsinki to Tokyo Haneda (HND) route. Since the start of the Ukraine war and the closure of Russian airspace to European carriers, this flight, which used to fly over Siberia and take 9 hours on average, now takes 12.5 to 13 hours instead. Along the way we check out Finnair's Platinum Wing lounge and its sauna, test out the newest Finnair business class seat on a much longer route, and look at some of the Flightradar24 data we have for these Finnair flights to Tokyo, what kind of routes they've been taking and how things have changed since the beginning of the year.
AY61 playback Nov 8, 2022: www.flightradar24.com/data/fl...
JetPhotos.com Finnair DC-10 image © Pedro Aragão: www.jetphotos.com/photo/10335242
SECTIONS:
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Stockholm-Helsinki in brief
01:02 Platinum Wing lounge
02:42 Boarding AY61
03:49 Takeoff
04:49 Routing and data
06:53 Dinner service
07:42 Seat impressions
08:01 A few hours in...
08:54 How'd I sleep?
10:04 Breakfast
10:14 Perfect seats for long-haul
10:30 Descent
12:01 Finnair's polar route
13:02 Landing
14:36 Outro
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#finnair #a350 #tokyo
Yeah unfortunately Finnair have lost their short northern route to Japan, that has been their key market. But it looks they are not giving up Tokyo, this winter they fly 7x weekly to HND and 2x weekly to NRT. Plus the codeshare with JL on HND-HEL 5x weekly.
I really can’t wait till Russian airspace reopens and finnair resumes flying to KIX, NGO, FUK, and CTS.
@@Yukis.aviation That doesn't seem likely in the short term.
The extra fuel costs must be eating them .yikes.
@@alfrreddYes, it seems they are so pigheaded that I wouldn’t be surprised if they went bankrupt intentionally….. just to remain true to sanctions that end up damaging them.
The last few years the words idiocy and hypocrisy have adopted a whole new meaning.
@@mrparts Yikes, comrade.
I've flown with Finnair twice from Helsinki to Bangkok and Seoul, both in business class, and I can't praise them highly enough.
As a Swede working i Denmark and Sas frequent flyer it hurts but Finnair is literally flying circles around Sas. It's soo much better in every way.
This has been fascinating for me. I flew from Helsinki to Tokyo a few years ago and enjoyed the view flying over Siberia and China. I think we might have flown over Mongolia too. I've been interested to see how they solve the problem. Also I live in north west of England right under the flight path for a lot of air traffic going from Heathrow and other places in Europe heading across the Atlantic. It's been fun to see the addition of some planes coming from Tokyo heading to Paris and other European destinations going over our house taking the northern route over the Arctic.
Fascinating indeed! Thanks for the comment.
I flew from Stockholm to Doha in Premium Economy with Finnair on their inaugural flight on the route about 3 weeks ago on my way back here to Thailand and I have to say I was very impressed 👍👍
I wouldn't be worried about impressions. Bad experiences fade away with time. Try Star Alliance next time :)
Fab film. Thanks for editing and uploading it.
I flew Finnair A350 from Helsinki to Bangkok last month. Business. Thought the whole experience was brilliant! Would definitely recommend the airline. Not flown in economy but their business product, lounge and service on board was first class. Best wishes from me here in Bangkok.
I flew Finnair A350’s from HEL to HKG return .I was in Y class the service and crew were fantastic two excellent flights on wonderful aircraft.
Wonderful video, thank you for taking me on the journey, I love the idea of the sauna totally something different and to learn a little bit more about the airlines and their routing was very interesting can’t wait for next weeks video thanks
great timing for me as I fly Tokyo to Helsinki in a few weeks with FinnAir. After flying Auckland to Tokyo codeshare with Air New Zealand. The ticket was significantly cheaper than all other routes. Im going economy though so might be slightly different perspective than flying in those amazing looking Business class seats! All your videos are so well put together - They are worth my subscription to Flightradar 2 alone. Thanks Gabriel
Wonderfull video as always, can’t wait for the other flight back home.
Very nice review. Love your sound and video quality your moderation is professional and perfect. Thank you very much for that👍
Excellent video and thank you Gabriel for all this info and descriptions! 😉✈
Great video and seeing Mr Lee so emotional to be back to Japan was very moving.
Beautiful videos!! As always....😍😍
Amazing, the longer flight is a welcome treat in a seat like that. Great video, enjoy tokyo!
Glad you enjoyed! Makes me happy
Super video Gabriel!
DEFINITELY the world's most wonderful and beautiful machine! What a perfectly designed airplane and certainly the one in which I would dearly love, hope and wish I get the opportunity to fly aboard within what remains of my own lifetime? In the 1960's & 70's I was lucky enough to live in Nairobi, Kenya for a number of years. My parents were working on contracts at that time and my younger brother and I were at boarding school in Essex, UK. This entailed numerous flights between London and Nairobi (& vv) each year. At that time we travelled aboard Boeing 707's, mainly the 300's, Douglas DC8's, Vickers VC10's and I believe once on a Comet 2 also a Douglas DC6 at some point. I've not had the opportunity to fly again since that time though. I have always been an avid "avgeek" but, sadly never flown on these modern aircrafts, not for the want of wishing, more of simple finance! I love all your flight reports and never miss any, thank you!
Awesome video, very well done, well explained. Nice background music also, not too loud just how it has to be. Good job guys 👍
I followed this flight on FlightRadar24 and Free ADSB, plotting the route on Skyvector and visualising it on Google Earth. I Come away impressed. AY61 flew east to Haneda then AY62 flew back east ward again via polar route back to Helsinki. That's practically round the world flight! This new gen wide twins, the A350 and B787, are really a game changer. And their engines, both thenGEnX and Trent 1000 XWB, are really something 🙂
Wonderful video man!
Lovely vlog bro ... very impressed x
Fantastic video, great trip report! Just returned home last week from Tokyo via the polar route as well. The flight from HND to FRA was 14 hours, insanely long…! Finnair business class looks really nice and modern by the way👌🏻
Looked like a very relaxing flight! After a sauna in the club? No wonder you slept so well!
Thanks for letting me tag along.
I love your channel, great flying and aviation place. I am hooked.
Lovely. Thank you
Many thanks!
Shame you did not make the "u-turn" over the Tokyo Bay/Odaiba; makes for a far more spectacular approach into Haneda. I lived and worked in Japan for 4 years and love, love, love the place. Thanks for sharing this trip report.
The U-Turn over Downtown Tokyo (landings in 16-direction) is only possible between 1500-1800 LT (06-09 UTC) at winds from Southerly directions (not too strong, in case of strong winds, RWY 22 is in operation). In case of 16-operations, sitting on the LEFT side is a MUST !
My ticket Copenhagen-Tokyo with SAS Scandinavian Airlines was cancelled because they didnt wanna fly around Russia. Too bad because it was a hard to find Eurobonus points trip, business class both ways.
Great Info, We like it...
Good to see them using Haneda now, which is so much more convenient if heading into central Tokyo. And that business class product looks really good - I love the styling :)
Watching this video makes me miss flying so much. Its been 3 years since I've flown and the most recent flight was Tokyo-Helsinki on Finnair and it was incredible.
I wish I missed flying. 19 hour non-stop legs for most of your life take it out of you lol.
Très beau reportage ! Merci ! De Sapporo.
Merci!
Thank you for sharing. I'm going back in November next year for 2 weeks, it'll be the first time I've returned since Jan 2016. I'll be going with LX though in J and I can't wait!
Turns out AY are the cheapest in J class from AGP to HND via HEL. I'm super excited to go.
Your video in 2010(?) was what inspired me to take the AA Platinum challenge. Can't wait to take Finnair to Singapore next year.
Wow that’s great to hear!
I honestly believe Finair are a great airline and I wish I get the oportunity to fly with them one day. Great video!!😍😍
I love the 350. My favorite heavy
The landing was magic.
For a millisecond I thought that Finnair A350 has a sauna in it 😳🎉 But it was the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport 🙄 What a disappointment 😕🤣😂
Will fly HEL-HND next Friday, I cannot wait!
Being someone who loves flying, 4 more hours in the air would be awesome for me.
Thank you Wright Brothers
Something similar happened to my flight in the mid 80s. I flew from London to Johannesburg on South African Airways and because of the Apartheid we could not fly over most of Africa. I recall we flew south over Portugal then hugged the coast of west Africa. Flew very close to Dakar then continued south to Namibia then into South Africa. It added about 2 hours to the flight. BA had a flight but it stopped in Nairobi and headed to J'burg. BA flew directly over the African continent.
Nice video👍. They fly over the northen part of Norway (Finnmark county)on their way back to Helsinki
I wonder how much money Russia has lost having no more overflights from airlines.
Nothing
Gabriel, are those strobes on the A350 wingtips or just your camera playing tricks? Usually the A350 has the LED 2 flash on the wingtips. Great video!
Great video. How much was your flight with all the extra fuel? Thanks!
Great vlog as always! SAS did the Polar route from about 1956 CPH-LAX v.v. For a few yrs SAS had a monopoly on so called moviestar route before PA,BA,AF and all the other joined in. I need to test AY. When you live 90 min flying from HEL… I feel bad. Looking forward to the next one. Are you an army kid? Be safe!
Are there U.S. bases in northern Japan? He said that's where he lived for 9 years.
Thank you for coming to Japan even though it will take longer than before🛩️🗾
The Airbus A350 is absolutely the best plane ✈️
Thank you for explaining the North Pole route. And the reasons which reasons the pilots have for each route.
Welcome back to Japan🇯🇵!！
お帰りなさい！
4:05 - Something small and white pops off the engine casing and can be seen falling away to the ground
Finnair ❤❤❤
Am flying with them (Finnair) this summer with the family - am a bit nervous hahaha
I have flown Business on the AirLounge from SIN-HEL, HEL-AMS, ARN-LAX and soon to fly ICN-HEL, HEL-AMS, HEL-LHR, LHR-HEL and HEL-HKG.
The product is always fantastic, but I am looking forward to ICN-HEL which is polar routed and slightly longer than NRT/HND/KIX-HEL pairs ;)
Hi Gabriel the flight to Tokyo looked great and very comfortable. Have you ever thought of Flying Air New Zealand....they started Flying to New York....16 hours. My Son is experiencing it now...said it's great because he Flys for work there all the time and before it was two flights through LA....was a pain. Hope you try Air New Zealand one day. Yolanda
Thanks! Planning to try Air NZ when they get the new business class installed. Seems a great airline.
It’s a shame they have lost their flight time advantage, but the service is still great….I’d still fly with them. Great video!
You also have probably missed the moment plane used a narrow corridor flight between Russia and Iran over Azerbaijan
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, this southern route (and the northern one over Anchorage) were more or less the standard ones when flying from and to Europe.
Anchorage airport in Alaska was also used by many airlines to make stops for refueling flights and I think that it was the most used at that time...
Shannon says hi. Also was a great point en route back in the day. Was.
Great video, I'm flying Seoul to Helsinki in a few weeks and I'm interested to know how full these flights are? We're flying as a family, and are thinking of upgrading for more room (so our child can sleep) but if it's pretty empty I won't bother.
Not sure about Seoul but Tokyo was looking very full!
Does a round trip HEL-HND on AY60/61, with the polar return, count as a round the world trip?
I have flown AY once to HKG and back and it was a great experience even though it was only in "premium" Economy (but we´re planning to treat ourselves to Business Class next time ...)
Makes me wonder if HKG maybe back on the map once the Chinese Covid restrictions are lifted (eventually).
I don´t expect that to happen short term as business demand has to pick up first to a level that warrants the service to be operated and this applies to the other Asian destinations as well, of course.
In regard to the longer route I wonder how much Finnair (and all the other carriers for that matter) paid to Russia for overflight rights before and how much additional cost the longer flight paths create for Finnair.
P.S.: Aeroflot must be suffering a lot now as all these overflight charges of foreign carriers have vanished on their income side ...
(overflight charges were transfered to Aeroflot as a subsidy)
Hard to believe that lounge is at an airport. Looks more like the lounge of a high end hotel! Good first impressions of Finnair. I have used them in 2009 flying from London to Seoul & 'open jaw' return from Osaka to London (both flights via Helsinki) and it is was a good routing as it is more or less "as the crow flies" with a minimal lay over time. But was it true that during the Cold War the Soviet Union would not permit western civilian planes to fly over it's airspace to the Far East (& vice versa)?
Yes the Siberian air space was restricted. When Finnair first started their Tokyo service in 1983 they couldn't fly over Siberia, their DC-10 with the fuel tanks used the polar route.
Without access to short route and flying time, flying Finnair to far east becomes a lot less compelling.
I flew Finnair on Y from Asia to Europe and back late September. I must say that my biggest disappointment with Finnair Y is the catering. No choice on main for both meals, and the serving is just ..... Nice to know that at least C class is still quite good.
Did you know when you fly from Asia to Europe, no matter what airline, you always eat Asian made food. No plane flies from Europe to Asia with food for return flight. Finnair also buys food from Asian catering when flying back to Europe.
@@RoyalMela Hi Thanks for your reply. I do realize catering on long haul is almost always prepared at originating country. The catering on my AY flight from HEL to BKK is equally bad, if not worse in terms of serving and choice of meal. So bad I did not even bother to take a photo as a part of my travel experience.
All in all, I think Finnair is still a great airline for bringing people from A to B on time. The seat on their A350 is good and comfortable. I did not watch any of the movies except moving map. The catering (in Y class) is what I think is the worst of all the full service airlines that I had ever flown. Period.
If you are curious how many sectors I flew with AY 2 months ago, below is my itinerary:
SIN - HEL
HEL - KUO
KUO - HEL
HEL - PRG
HEL - BKK
Sauna is not pronounced "saw-na" it's like "sound" with d in the end replaced with a.
Hello! Im from finland. Onko muita suomalaisii?
Great video but we wanted to see 👀 your trekking through Japan 🥴
Hi! i have flightradar
I like it
Interesting. Good job! But the speech was longer as expected.
Pity that Finnair does not fly to Sao Paulo...Fabulous cabin design!
Well, there is no demand. Route from Helsinki to Sao Paulo is over mainland Europe, so you can get anywhere to South America faster from London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt...
And Asian passengers so not connect via Helsinki either, because they travel via North America or Middle Eastern hubs. From Japan, North America is fastest, from China it is Dubai, Doha or Istanbul.
@@RoyalMela Um, plenty of Asian passengers mainly connect Helsinki to other locations. It's faster and cheaper. I see em all the time
Who wants to fly South America. This is a great airline with good service for Asians. Also it's bit pricey too.
Gostaria de ter o Flighradar Business, versão Business.
I‘m taking this flight very soon! Is there any way to find out if it’s taking the North Pole route?
It’s all based on winds and weather so it’s difficult to know in advance. But for the most part the flight back to Europe tends to take the North Pole route!
Siberian air space, world's most valuable air space
That is why it is never necessary to argue with Russia if it concerns its security. It can both save the Euromaean economy from recession, and strangle it
@@artemdov6358 lmao, the sanctions over Russia defending it's borders from Minsk violation/Nato aggression and US regime change in Ukraine and genociding Russian speaking Ukrainians is bad, meanwhile killing millions in middle east is okay? Hypocrisy. Disgusting that people like you aren't aware of what is going on. You are getting screwed for power/equipment/money/fuel costs for a war you have already lost.
@@N4CR5 And you were not too lazy to write it all. Then tell me who you're pulling up and why?
Not anymore
I used to fly over Russia all the time before they decided to go back to the bad old days.
Coming back from Tokyo last February, they chose the North Pole route instead. We were even given a certificate lol. Interesting.
Well, at least it's not like in the old, old days when European carriers flew to Anchorage then on to Japan.
41,000 ft. flight level. very close to the service ceiling.
Yep! Not uncommon to do the max 43,000 on the 350, at least for some portion of the flight.
yay finland
Well, watching this video makes me want to fly with Finnair A350 business class anywhere! So, is there anyone, who could sponsor me a great flightexperiense with Finnair?🤩🤩
imagane a sauna onboard lol
Sauna is fine, but this version doesn’t come close to the previous version. That one was amazing
Five star coverage
From Flight Radar to Airplane Vlog... NICEEE
Funny thing is the returning route from Tokyo will be through Canada and Greeland, thus circulating the whole globe.
Not really, it flies close to Alaska and over the North Pole meaning not over Greenland
Try Finnair on their new route PHL-FRA
Cool move from Finnair, though PHL is not Finnair's destination, they leased a couple of their A350s ( + crew) to Eurowings/Lufthansa, for their services to N America.
I flew Istanbul to Tokyo for 14 hours. to long...
I hope that one day Fr24 will explain to its users why it has arbitrarily deprived them of some extensions that many users, like me, had regularly purchased. I will never tire of denouncing this unfair and dishonest practice.
An a350 Flying 4 extra hours is punishment enough for Russiia
Вот-вот, так и летайте. Нечего нам небо коптить.
how to avoid Russian SAM site. RIP MH17.
How to avoid Russian SAM site? Fly over SAM sites of 5 other countries.
@@leeharveyoslik there is one difference, these other countries don’t shoot down civilian airliners.
I noticed a sign saying FACE MASKS MANDATORY. Please would you tell me when this was filmed? Thanks.
November 8th. Face masks remain mandatory on Japan flights (Japanese rules)!
@@Flightradar24DotCom Thanks. How blinking tedious.
No like…no fly?
You're right there. I probably wouldn't go to Japan anyway, wonderful though it looks, but I'd use the airline for sure, as long as I didn't have to wear a mask the whole flight.
Return flight to HEL via polar route arrives WAY too early...
Yep and no lounges are open at that hour! Hehe
how the hell can you sleep for 7 hours in the air?! I mean I admire it but i just cant do it.. even in biz class.. 3-4 hours max for me, no matter the conditions
The polar route has the disadvantage that if anything happens, they have to again land in Russia, which they want to avoid. And in Northern Siberia there are almost no airports anyway for emergency landings.
Etops still applies. Enough airports.
If anything, you will help the endangered polar bears.
No, they will land in Alaska, Greenland or Norway.
Hesburgir sandels
isn´t Kazahstan equally dangerous? given their loyalty to Russia?
No
Did you just say Belarus is "part of Russia"? I mean, it may as well be, but it isn't.
Nope! Said Kaliningrad is part of Russia. Belarus is another airspace we have to avoid.
One point to clear out. Russia closed its airspace IN RESPONSE to Finland closing its airspace for russian airplanes
Because if Russian aggression.
@@peteconrad2077 Has Russia attacked Finland? Do you have schizophrenia?)
@@Rory_Mercury it’s attacked one neighbour. That’s aggressive enough.
@@peteconrad2077 they get what they deserve.
Not only Finland, but ALL EU-nations did the same. Finland was not even the first one, almost the last.
Flew the same product to Bangkok the other day, really disappointed.
Not what I expected, but I guess you get what you pay for.
Well, at least you're getting better value for money. More time in the air per $ paid!!!
Good point haha!
Hi,
No complaints with Finnair that is for sure! Sometimes you can sleep on long haul flights sometimes not so much. It seems you had a great flight. My only “complaint” would be with Z#%?*# Putin.
Totally looking forward to the next return trip. The cockpit (or front office) will be THE highlight. Sorry, even better than the Finnish sauna.
Thanks, Jim S.
Definitely agree!
Да-может теперь и в сауне на борту попаришься!
You have Putin to blame for everything! Do you want to see yourself?