Looking at booking a business class deal to Europe for 2019? Cathay Pacific and Finnair have some great deals on the market. We take a look at what you can expect to find onboard and compare the two airlines side by side.
The Deals
Finnair Business Class – Europe
Finnair fly the excellent new A350 aircraft on many routes to and from Helsinki which features reverse herringbone fully flat beds in a 1-2-1 configuration with all seats featuring aisle access. […] View More
Travel dates: 1 October 2018 - 27 September 2019, subject to availability.
Book by: 5 November 2019
From $5283 inc taxes
Cathay Pacific Business Class – Europe
Cathay Pacific business class seats are a wingback design that cocoon passengers in their own private space, laid out in a 1-2-1 reverse configuration with the window seats angled towards the window […] View More
Travel dates: 1 March 2019 – 30 September 2019, subject to availability.
Book by: 30 October 2019
From $4982 inc taxes ex Adelaide/Perth
From $5497 inc taxes ex East Coast
The Reviews
Cabin Layout
Cathay Pacific
After flying to Hong Kong on Finnair, boarding the Cathay Pacific business class cabin felt remarkably similar, both cabins are laid out in the 1-2-1 reverse herringbone formation, and the seats have a similar structure, the Cathay fit out is older, although still high quality.
Cathay Pacific business class cabin.
On this occasion we chose the window seats, with a bit of daylight left it was great to look out the window as we enjoyed our pre-departure champagne and settled into our seats. The Cathay Pacific business class seat feels very roomy, and with the reverse herringbone layout pointing you towards the window there's plenty of privacy. I would recommend passengers travelling together who want to be able to chat to take the 2 middle seats, whilst still seperate and with privacy they are angled towards each other making it easy to lean forward and have a conversation.
Finnair
First of all the Finnair business cabin is split into 2 sections, the second section (rows 9-12) is smaller and we felt it was a little more private than the larger front section.
Finnair A350 Business Class Cabin
The Finnair business cabin is split into 2 sections with the second section being slightly smaller.[/caption] On our first Finnair flight, From Hong Kong to Helsinki we sat in 9D and 9H, the 2 middle seats in the first row of the second section of business class. At first glance these seats are close to the galley and the bathrooms, however as the bathrooms don't open into the aisle, but rather into the exit doorway this wasn't an issue. There was some noise from the galley, however this was handled by wearing the noise cancelling headphones, and the benefit of not having a window seat that can see into your cubicle is an added bonus.
Business Class Seat
Cathay Pacific
There is plenty of space within the seat area and the window seats feel light and airy. As with Finnair there is a fixed side table which is convenient for drinks/keeping your inflight essential belongings. A foldable dining table swings out from underneath the side table for meals, and a retractable arm rest on the outside of the seat can be lowered for additional room or raised for increased privacy.
A convenient fixed side table is accompanied by a fold out dining table.
The seat connects with the footrest at the touch of a button to convert into a bed more than 2 metres long constructed with super comfortable memory foam.
Plenty of leg room
The panel to the side of your seat contains all of your controls, power connections and a handy storage compartment for your headphones. Conveniently this compartment has a door which can be secured closed, making a great little cubby hole for your phone etc during take off.
Finnair
Each seat includes a side table, handy for drinks, and a retractable table which slides out infront of you for dining. Storage options include a special water bottle holder (tucked under the table), a pocket to keep the inflight magazine, menus etc and a storage bin on the outside with a lid which was handy for glasses, books, headphones phone etc. Under the footrest was also a small cubby that could hold a small handbag and a pair of shoes.
Finnair business class storage under footrest.
Amenity Kits
Cathay Pacific
After settling into our seats, we were presented with our amenity kits. The bags were very neat and inside was a bevy of products including Jurlique skin care (I found the face mist particularly nice to keep hydrated during the flight), an eye mask, ear plugs and socks, plus a teeth cleaning kit with the addition of a small tup of mouth wash.
Cathay Pacific business Class amenity kit.
The Cathay Pacific amenity kit includes Jurlique products
Finnair
Upon boarding we were gifted with an amenity kit and slippers (convenient for mid flight shuffles around the plane) in Finnair's signature Marimekko design, along with Bose noise cancelling headphones for use during the flight, which honestly were better than I expected and really did make a difference to inflight comfort.
Onboard gifts include an Amenity kit and slippers.
Finnair amenity kit included skin products along with eye mask, ear plugs, and tooth brush.
Inflight dining
Cathay Pacific
Boarding our flight from Hong Kong just after 6pm, we were treated to the full 4 course dinner service along with a comprehensive list of wine, beer, and spirits. First course was a prosciutto served with fresh rocket, olives and bocconcini along with a green side salad.
Cathay Pacific Business Class Dining: Course 1 Prosciutto Salad.
Following the starter was a choice of steamed fish, braised beef cheeks, chicken curry, or vegetarian gnocchi. I chose the Chicken curry which was served along with steamed rice and Kailan, a type of Chinese broccoli. The curry was an absolute stand out, fresh and tasty and was one of the best inflight meals I have had in a long time.
Cathay Pacific Business Class Dining: Course 2 Chicken Curry.
Finnair
The Finnair full dinner menu consists of 4 courses of restaurant style dining. Starting with an amuse bouche.
Course 1: Amuse bouche - marinated mushrooms with artichoke puree.
The amuse bouche was a small bowl of a medley of marinated mushrooms served with a Jerusalem artichoke puree. I teamed this with a Finnish specialty Gin and tonic, garnished with blueberries of course. Following course 1, we moved onto starters, a choice of duck breast or crayfish soup. The Finn's do seafood soup well but after already enjoying some salmon soup in the Finnair business class lounge, I opted for the smoked duck breast, which I matched with a glass of Italian red wine. The duck was delicious and came with a side salad (which was a little shaken up due to some turbulence) with citrus oil and your choice of bread.
Finnair inflight dining Course 2: Stater of smoked duck breast
Finnair inflight dining Course 2: starter side salad with citrus oil.a
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