Time to leave the Finnish capital of Helsinki and head to North America. I’m feeling a little sad to be leaving Europe after three and a half weeks but excited to be on my way to the next part of my trip, USA and Canada!

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Departing at 2:10pm and arriving at 3:55pm, it’s an 8hr 40min day flight from Helsinki to New Yorks JFK airport and my preferred time of day to fly. Who really sleeps in Economy on a night flight and can put a full day in the next day? I thoroughly enjoyed my previous long-haul flight on Finnair’s brand new Airbus a350, so I am also excited to see how their a330 stacks up. See my Finnair Airbus a350 review here.

This particular aircraft registered OF-LTU is the youngest in the Finnair fleet of eight of A330-300’s with this one being delivered to the airline in 2010.

After passing through the extra USA bound flight security and into the holding area, the flight is ready for board and we board on time.

With a 2-4-2 configuration, I’m seated in 29L, a window seat on the right side of the aircraft. I find the legroom sufficient for my 5’9″ height and the recline doesn’t impinge on my space too much, as long as I recline my seat as well. 🙂

We’re about an hour into the flight it’s time for the main hot meal service. The choices flash up on the screen and I choose the ‘Chicken Vegetable Cream’. The hot dish along with a bread roll and Danish is served with a box of snacks. After the meal is delivered the drinks trolley comes past. On Finnair long-haul flights the service of alcohol depends on the sector you are flying, here’s what their website says:

Flights to China, Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore: soft drinks, juices, water, beer and wine are all served free of charge – other alcoholic beverages are available for purchase.

Flights to Goa: first meal includes beer and wine free of charge. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase at all other times.

Flights to Central America, Thailand and Vietnam: first meal includes beer and wine free of charge. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase at all other times.

Flights to North America: all our meals include non-alcoholic drinks, beer, and wine free of charge. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase at all other times.

Flights to New York: first meal includes beer and wine free of charge. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase at all other times.

A wee bit confused? Me too. My flight from Singapore included beer and wine, but my New York flight was only with the first meal. So…I ask for a white wine, this is be supposedly my only free alcoholic drink.

The ‘chicken vegetable cream’ dish looks worse than it tastes, it’s really quite delicious. There actually is chicken under all that creamy cheesy yumminess with leeks, mashed potatoes and pasta. I pretty much lick the container clean!

The bread roll is dry but the small sweet Danish for desert is nice enough to finish off my main dish.

There’s a snack box containing a small bag of salted chips, crackers and cream cheese which seems enough to occupy me for the next few hours. I munch on the contents as I look through and start a few films but I’m unable to settle on any of them.

The snack box is finished and I get a little hungry again. I flick through the Nordic Bistro inflight menu and I order some basil and garlic olives at €2 and a piccolo of white wine at a hefty €15.  However, they only charged me the €2 for the olives – which are delish by the way. This happens twice! So I am still a little confused with the alcoholic beverage’s policy, but I keep my mouth shut and gratefully accept the drink each time!

The different map views impress me and I have fun flicking different views My favourite was definitely the screen the flight indicators showing airspeed, heading, windspeed, altitude and vertical speed. I know, a little gimmicky but fun.

There is one final snack before descent into JFK, a Scandinavian flatbread sandwich, a perfect snack at that time of day be it 3pm as it is in New York or 10pm in Helsinki. I enjoy this with a cup of black tea.

We arrive on time into New Yorks JFK airport at 3:55pm, setting my watch only 1hr and 45minutes past the time we’d left. Its be.en a comfortable flight, The aircraft, while not being the as whiz bang as the Airbus a350, was fine for this transatlantic crossing.

Bonus: My Finnair Airbus a330 taking off from Helsinki.

Have you flown Finnair? What do you make of their confusing drinks policy?

FreakyFlier paid for his ticket independently.

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