Finnair offers premium economy on both of its long-haul aircraft: the Airbus A330 and A350. While the experience varies between aircraft types in a couple of notable ways, the seats are the same on both aircraft.
Seats are arranged with 38 inches of pitch (the space from the back of your seat to the back of the seat in front of you) which should provide enough legroom for travelers of almost any height. However, seats only recline a modest five inches. That recline is on the lower side of premium economy products.
On both aircraft, Finnair premium economy seats only measure 18 inches between armrests. To give you an idea of how tight this is, the economy seats on Finnair’s Airbus A330 are actually slightly wider. The thick armrests in premium economy are nice for elbow room but I’m sure many passengers would appreciate a wider seat.
Each seat offers a leg rest that extends out from under the seat. However, there’s no footrest for passengers to use. I noticed several passengers avoided using the leg rest so that they could plant their feet on the ground. In my opinion, failing to install footrests is a big miss by Finnair.
Standard-row seats have a seatback monitor which measures around 13 inches diagonally. That’s pretty large but not quite the largest you’ll find in premium economy.
Non-bulkhead seats have a small fold-down tray and stowage area under the inflight entertainment screen. This area offers a USB outlet for charging smaller devices like a cellphone. Beneath that, passengers can stow larger items in a large fold-out seatback compartment.
Bulkhead seats have a larger 15-inch screen fixed to the bulkhead wall (the dividing wall that separates cabins). Although that means the screen is further away, this means bulkhead seat passengers can enjoy entertainment from gate to gate rather than having to stow their entertainment screen during taxi, takeoff and landing. The downside: Bulkhead seats have very little storage—just a small bulkhead-back pocket.
Each seat has a small tray table that folds out of the center armrest, which measures 16 inches by 10.5 inches.
The seat’s headrest can be adjusted upward or downward for comfort, and you can fold out the headrest wings to cradle your head. Next to the headrest, each seat offers a personal reading light.
The main differences between the Airbus A330 and A350 mostly relate to the cabin layout. On the Airbus A330, the premium economy cabin is arranged in a two-three-two configuration with a dedicated bathroom in the front left of the cabin. Notably, you can enjoy the view out the bathroom window.
On the Airbus A350, Finnair arranged the premium economy cabin in a two-four-two configuration and the cabin doesn’t have a nearby bathroom—for better or worse. Premium economy passengers need to head back a dozen rows to go to the bathroom in the economy cabin.
Note that Finnair charges premium economy passengers for seat selection—even if you’re a Oneworld elite member. Finnair confirmed by email that it waives seat selection fees for economy and business class but, puzzlingly, not for premium economy.
