Finnair AY541 Helsinki-Tromso A320 Economy

1. Overall Rating: 6/10 Points (🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑)
2. Quick Summary:
   • A unique flight: direct, but not non-stop.
3. Flight Route
   • AY541, Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL), Finland → Rovaniemi Airport (RVN), Finland → Tromsø Airport (TOS), Norway
   • 07:10 Depart Helsinki → 08:40 Arrive Rovaniemi, 09:25 Depart Rovaniemi → 09:40 Arrive Tromsø
   • Total Flight Time 3 Hours 30 Minutes (Including 45-Minute Layover)
4. Aircraft Type: A320-200, OH-LXK (Sep 2003 delivered, 22.3-year-old)
5. Cabin & Seat Detail: 1B, Economy Class, Middle Seat, Bulkhead Seat
6. Check-in & Baggage Allowance
7. Departure Lounge
8. Boarding Process
9. Cabin & Seat Detail
10. In-flight Service
11. In-flight Entertainment & Wi-Fi
12. Landing & Immigration
13. What Could Be Better
14. Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Helsinki Vantaa Airport Finnair Check-in Counter

The check-in counters at Helsinki Vantaa Airport are located with the 100s and 200s on the right side and the 300s and 400s on the left side when facing the security checkpoints. Finnair’s check-in takes place at the 200-series counters. Check-in for Finnair at Helsinki Airport is done primarily through self-service check-in kiosks and automated bag drop. As Helsinki Vantaa is Finnair’s hub, there are numerous kiosks and plenty of staff members available, so checking in is quite easy. After checking in, head to the bag drop counters 201 through 210 to check your luggage. If you need a staff member to process your check-in, counters 211 to 217 are there to help.

Helsinki Vantaa Airport Finnair Priority Check-in Counter

Business Class passengers, Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald members, and Finnair Plus Silver members and above can use the Priority check-in service. The Priority check-in counter is located to the right of the security checkpoint marked ‘ALL GATES’. Also, unlike most airlines that offer priority security screening only to Oneworld Emerald members, Finnair appears to extend this benefit to Oneworld Sapphire members as well — I was able to breeze through the priority security lane with my Sapphire status. The regular security lines were not particularly crowded either, but the priority lane was practically empty, making the experience very smooth.

For domestic flights in Finland and intra-Europe routes, Finnair generally allows one carry-on bag and one small personal item for all passengers except those on Economy Superlight fares. However, for Economy Class, the maximum combined weight of the two bags is 8kg, while for Business Class it is 12kg. Regarding checked baggage, Business Class passengers (excluding Business Light fares) are permitted two 32kg bags, while Business Light fares do not include any free checked baggage. In Economy Class, Economy Flex and Economy Classic fares come with one 23kg bag, while the remaining Economy fares (Light and Superlight) do not include any free checked allowance. If you are connecting to a domestic or European flight from a long-haul flight, the long-haul baggage allowance applies. Since I was connecting from a North American route, the North American baggage policy applied to my trip. For award tickets, you can assume it is a Classic fare unless stated otherwise. (For Finnair’s checked baggage policy, please check here, and for the carry-on baggage policy, check here.)

Helsinki Vantaa Airport Finnair Business Lounge Schengen Area

As Helsinki Vantaa Airport is Finnair’s hub, the airline operates its own lounges here. Among them, the lounge available for flights within Finland or to Schengen Area countries is the Finnair Business Lounge Schengen area. Personally, I really like the interior design of this lounge. While it might fall slightly short for a long-haul international lounge, it lacks nothing when considered as a lounge for short and medium-haul flights. For more details, check out the article I wrote on the Helsinki Airport Finnair Schengen Area Business Lounge.

Helsinki Vantaa Airport Aspire Lounge

In the Schengen area of Helsinki Vantaa Airport, there are two Aspire Lounges accessible with a Priority Pass (PP) card, located near Gate 27 and Gate 13. Compared to the Finnair Business Lounge, these lounges are smaller and can get quite crowded, but they offer a decent selection of basic food, alcoholic beverages, and drinks. Note that there are no lounges within the Schengen area that can be accessed via The Lounge app.

Helsinki Vantaa Airport Gate 34A

Boarding for Finnair flight AY541, departing from Helsinki Vantaa Airport and heading to Tromsø Airport via Rovaniemi Airport, was scheduled to begin at 06:40, 15 minutes before departure. However, boarding actually started 10 minutes late at 06:50. Before boarding, since the flight was fully booked, the gate agents were asking for volunteers to take a later flight, and the gate area was packed. Finnair does not offer Business Class on domestic segments, and since this route passes through Rovaniemi (a domestic segment) en route to Tromsø, boarding groups 1 and 2 were called simultaneously as soon as boarding began.

The Finnair A320-200 I flew on this time is the same aircraft model operated by Parata Air and Aero K in Korea. Finnair’s A320-200 has a total of 174 seats, which is fewer than the 180 seats on Aero K or Air Busan, and exactly the same as Parata Air. This is likely because Parata Air’s A320-200 was previously operated by the Italian airline ITA, which probably shared a similar cabin configuration with Finnair. Finnair’s A320-200 features a 3-3 layout with a total of 29 rows. Rows 1 through 8 are typically designated as Business Class, but since Business Class was not offered on this particular flight, all seats were operated as Economy Class. Of course, this is possible because Finnair’s narrow-body Business Class is ‘Euro Business’ — a European-style product that uses the same seats but simply blocks the middle seat.

Finnair A320-200 Row 1 Bulkhead Seat

My seat was 1B, a middle seat located in the very first row. Normally, these ‘Front Row’ seats require an additional fee for seat selection, but Oneworld Sapphire members can select these Front Row seats for free. The seat itself was nothing special. Because it is a bulkhead seat, the tray table is stowed in the armrest, making the seat width slightly narrower than others. The legroom in this bulkhead seat is generous enough that you can go to the lavatory without the person next to you having to get up, but since there is no space to slide your feet under a seat in front, you cannot fully stretch your legs. For other seats, the seat pitch is 31 inches (35 inches for exit rows). While you can’t fit two fists between your knees and the seat in front, you can fit one fist and still have a little room to move.

Finnair A320-200 Row 2 Seat

As this aircraft operates on short to medium-haul routes, it lacks headrests. In reality, aircraft with these exact same seats are deployed on routes taking up to 6 hours, so the absence of a headrest would likely be uncomfortable on flights exceeding 3 hours. The seat material is fabric, which is better than non-breathable leather. In front of the seat, there was nothing besides a small leather pocket holding the safety card and onboard menu.

Finnair A320-200 Seats without Headrests, Business Class Sign, and Personal Air Vents

The front bulkhead featured a movable Business Class divider, and above the seat were individual reading lights and personal air vents. Of course, since Finnair keeps the cabin temperature quite cool, the air vents weren’t really needed. Unlike US airlines that have recently enlarged their overhead bins to allow carry-on suitcases to be stored vertically, these bins are original to the aircraft — meaning carry-ons must be stored flat on their side. Because of this, boarding early to secure overhead bin space seems essential on full flights.

Finnair Short/Medium-Haul In-flight Menu

For Finnair’s domestic and intra-Europe Economy Class, the in-flight service is very straightforward. Once the aircraft reaches cruising altitude, a beverage service begins, and it wraps up after trash collection. On my AY541 flight in particular, since a route that would normally take 2 hours direct was split into two 1-hour segments, the in-flight service started and ended in the blink of an eye.

Finnair A320-200 Bulkhead Seat Tray Table

The complimentary beverages on Finnair’s domestic and intra-Europe flights are water and blueberry juice. Coffee, sodas, and alcoholic beverages must be purchased. You can also order snacks or light meals during the in-flight service. The light meal options include oatmeal porridge, vegetable curry noodles, and Thai coconut noodles — nothing extraordinary, but decent enough for a quick bite at an affordable 5 Euros. If you want more substantial hot food, a wider selection is available through online pre-ordering. For flights departing from Helsinki, I recommend placing your order at least 7 hours before departure.

Since the route I took involved landing and taking off once in Rovaniemi midway, the in-flight service was conducted twice, allowing me to enjoy the blueberry juice two times.

Finnair’s A320-200 does not have built-in monitors for in-flight entertainment. Instead, if you connect to the aircraft’s Wi-Fi using your personal device, you can enjoy limited entertainment options like newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, and very simple flash games. The flight map provided via the aircraft Wi-Fi is also very basic, but it is sufficient to track your current location. You can also access the internet for a fee, but I couldn’t check the price because I encountered an error when trying to connect to the Wi-Fi. Generally, for short-haul flights, it costs about 6 Euros for 1 hour and around 10 Euros for the entire flight. Since my flight included a technical landing in the middle, I was curious about the pricing, so it was a shame I couldn’t check.

My flight, AY541, arrived at Rovaniemi Airport about an hour after departing Helsinki Vantaa. The aircraft was originally scheduled to stay at Rovaniemi for about 45 minutes before departing, but it actually took off at 09:53 — a full 1 hour and 20 minutes later. This was my first time taking a direct, 1-stop flight with a technical landing, so the layover process in Rovaniemi was quite fascinating.

Flight AY541 Layover at Rovaniemi

Before landing, right after touchdown, and even while passengers were deplaning at Rovaniemi Airport, the crew continuously announced that this was Rovaniemi Airport — passengers continuing to Tromsø on AY541 should remain on board, while those whose final destination was Rovaniemi or who were transferring to another flight should exit the aircraft. The crew also held up a sign indicating the current airport was Rovaniemi. Despite all the warnings, one transit passenger mistakenly got off, forcing ground staff to track them down. The flight attendant casually told me this happens all the time, adding that at least this time it was only one person.

Passengers disembarking at Rovaniemi, and crew performing security checks after disembarkation

Once all Rovaniemi-bound passengers deplaned, the crew checked every empty seat, counted the remaining passengers, and individually verified that all bags in the overhead bins belonged to those still on board. If the headcount and baggage count didn’t match, boarding for new Tromsø-bound passengers would not begin — so the stray passenger’s mishap delayed the entire process. Refueling also takes place at Rovaniemi Airport, and during this time, announcements remind passengers to unfasten their seatbelts — likely so everyone can evacuate quickly in case of an emergency. While on the ground at Rovaniemi, you’re free to use the lavatory or stretch your legs in the cabin between the deplaning and re-boarding process. You can’t enter the terminal, but you can snap photos from the forward left door (connected to the jet bridge) or the open rear left door.

Finnair A320-200 Cockpit and Forward Galley

Similar to the full flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, the leg from Rovaniemi to Tromsø was also nearly full. It took about 50 minutes, and we landed at Tromsø Airport at 09:43 — just 3 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time of 09:40. Note that there is a 1-hour time difference between Finland and Norway, with Tromsø being 1 hour behind.

Tromsø Airport Baggage Claim

To get from Tromsø Airport to downtown Tromsø, you can take the airport limousine or the city bus. The airport limousine can be boarded right in front of the airport terminal. For the city bus, you need to exit the terminal, go down one level to the parking lot, and walk out of the underground parking lot to find the bus stop. The schedules for both the airport limousine and the city bus may vary on weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and depending on the season, so I highly recommend checking the schedule for your specific travel dates. A one-way adult ticket costs about 125 NOK (approx. $11.50 USD) for the airport bus and about 48 NOK (approx. $4.50 USD) for the city bus. (You can find Tromsø city bus information here, and Tromsø airport bus information here). Inside the airport terminal, there are various car rental companies, and these companies also allow vehicle pickup via kiosks outside of normal business hours.

One disappointing aspect was regarding priority baggage handling. Oneworld Sapphire members are entitled to priority baggage handling. However, just like my domestic Finnair flight a year ago, it felt as though this ‘Priority baggage handling’ service simply doesn’t exist on Finnair. No priority tags were attached to my bags, and I ended up waiting quite a while at the Tromsø Airport carousel.

While not a complaint, the flight attendants were certainly memorable. The crew on my AY541 flight were exceptionally focused on safety — to the point where it reminded me that flight attendants are fundamentally safety officers, not just service personnel. Being Finnair, visual seatbelt checks were a given, and they strictly enforced storing items in the overhead bins if anything in the seat pocket seemed large enough to obstruct an emergency evacuation. They even told a passenger who was wearing their shoes like slippers (with the heels crushed down) to either put them on properly or take them off entirely. Some might question whether such strictness is necessary, but I believe safety should always be approached conservatively, so I was genuinely impressed by the crew’s meticulousness.

Sun setting at 09:00 over the border of Finland and Norway

Overall, it was a satisfactory short-haul flight within Europe. Even among European airlines — which are not exactly known for generous service — Finnair sits on the more bare-bones end, but their blueberry juice was still a pleasant treat. You might question whether it’s worth spending 3.5 hours with a stopover for a distance that could be covered in a 2-hour direct flight. But when flying to Tromsø with Finnair, depending on the season, you may only have two options: a direct/1-stop flight in the morning (which I took) or a non-stop flight in the afternoon. (If a morning non-stop is available, that’s by far the easiest option.) Since I wanted to arrive in Tromsø in the morning, I chose AY541 — so keep in mind that your preferred arrival time might lock you into the 3.5-hour 1-stop routing. That said, it’s still far more comfortable than a full airport transfer.