What are the most memorable moments in travelling? How can the travel experience be made smoother and even more enjoyable? After two groundbreaking crowdsourcing initiatives, Finnair and Finavia’s Helsinki Airport know who to ask. In 2013, Quality Hunters returns – more interactive than ever. 

On 26 March, Finnair, one of the world’s longest-running airlines, and Finavia, the operator of Helsinki Airport, launch Quality Hunters 2013 in order to identify the key moments that can either make or break a journey, and seek out practical ways of improving the travel experience.

This time, they will look to the extremely active and inventive online community that formed around the previous Quality Hunters initiative and whose keen interest in improving the quality of air travel has kept the discussion going ever since.

“After two extremely positive experiences we wanted to make the Quality Hunters concept a substantial part of our product development. By working together with the community, we can make sure that the ideas are viable and that they serve both our customers and our business. Our goal is to be an attractive choice when travelling between Asia and Europe. With our customers’ help we can concentrate on the very matters that make the difference to them,” says Peter Gabrielsson, Vice President of Customer Experience and Product at Finnair.

Together, Finnair and Helsinki Airport offer the fastest and shortest connections between Asia and Europe, and both companies seek to expand their business in the East. For Helsinki Airport, the quality of service and the extra value offered to passengers becomes more significant as transit airports play an increasingly important role in travel decisions. 

“By inviting our passengers to take part in our product development, we hope to come up with practical ways of adding that little bit of extra to make travelling via Helsinki even smoother and more enjoyable, while strengthening our position as the leading long-haul airport in Northern Europe,” says Johanna Metsälä, Customer Experience Manager at Finavia.

New approach to service development

Quality Hunters 2013 is a model for community-driven service development where the most promising ideas provided by the community are selected to be developed further with the professionals at Finnair and Finavia. The community will be invited to share their views of what makes a travel experience great and identify points of improvement along the passenger’s journey.

The companies are calling for ideas that can really be put to use, which is why product development professionals at Finnair and Finavia will engage with the community through the entire project. Working with an airport and an airline presents many considerations and restrictions for potential ideas, as they must adhere to strict security guidelines and in-flight weight limits, for instance. 

Where the previous initiatives mapped the passengers’ notions of quality in air travel, Quality Hunters 2013 takes a more practical approach in making the passengers’ visions a reality. The initiative aims for ideas that are easy to put to use and support the business goals of the two companies as well as improve the passenger experience in a tangible way.

The Quality Hunters Twitter channel, blog and Facebook page will be the main hubs for discussion. Although the majority of work will be done through these channels, active and involved community members will also be handpicked to test and develop Finnair and Helsinki Airport’s services in person. 

Innovative ideas and international acclaim

Quality Hunters 2013 follows two award-winning crowdsourcing initiatives run by the companies. The 2010 Rethink Quality initiative inspired Finnair and Finavia to find new ways of looking at quality, and in 2011, Quality Hunters, season 2 proved the power of a great community in creating innovative ideas to improve air travel. The Helsinki Airport Book Swap, which opened in summer 2012 and the vegetarian meals introduced on long-haul flights later in the autumn are both great examples of successful ideas co-developed by the Quality Hunters community, Finnair and Finavia.

Become a Quality Hunter!

Anyone can join the conversation by following @qualityhunters on Twitter. The blog at qualityhunters.com will discuss the ideas suggested by community members and follow their development process while sharing news about the initiative’s progress. The initiative can also be followed on Facebook at facebook.com/qualityhunters.

Finnair is moving from T5 to T2 at Arlanda on 9 April 2013. Officially the refurbished terminal will be inaugurated on 23 April, with 2,000 square metres of additional space on a brand-new level. For passengers, this will mean a smoother route to their flight, twice as much seating, and new shops and restaurants in an international setting.

Business Class customers and Finnair Plus and oneworld top-tier cardholders can enjoy the brand new 800 m² Menzies Executive Lounge services.

Short distances from check-in to the security checkpoint and on to the gate mean that you can get to your flight quickly. Check-in is open all day but flights are closed 45 minutes before each departure. For Business and Pro travellers, there’s also a priority lane through the security checkpoint. What’s more, the route to the baggage pick-up will be shorter in terminal T2.

Finnair has introduced a new social check-in service, which allows the passengers to link their Facebook profile with the seat map. When doing so, other passengers can see the passenger's Facebook profile and the passenger can see who else has checked in for the same flight and where they are seated.

After completing check-in, the customer can share his or her travel destination and the estimated time of arrival with his or her friends in their social networks.

"We want to make air travel more social and find new ways to utilise social media during customers’ journey in ways that delight our customers," says Jarkko Konttinen, Vice President, Marketing. "We're proud to be front-runners in utilising social media and making air travel more social."

The service only shows the customer's public Facebook profile and is only visible to the passengers on the same flight. Using the social check-in service is voluntary, and customers can choose to travel "incognito", just like before. Also, it is possible to disable the social check-in at any time, thus preventing other passengers from seeing the social network profile in conjunction with the seat map.

In the first phase the service only includes Facebook but more social networks will be added later. The service was developed in partnership with Amadeus IT Group.

Finnair customers will be the first airline passengers in the world to have the opportunity to try the Windows 8-powered HP ElitePad 900 tablets as in-flight entertainment. 

As of 20 March Finnair will begin a two-month trial period of tablets and wireless Internet service on board one of its Airbus A330 wide body aircraft. The trial tests the functionality of wireless network on intercontinental flights, enhances customers’ in-flight comfort and tests how the passengers use the equipment during the flight.

The test will take place in Business Class on scheduled flights and in Comfort Class on charter flights. Passengers willing to participate in the test are offered an HP ElitePad tablet, which includes movies, TV shows, music and games. Additionally, the tablet includes wellness-related programs, such as a relaxation app to cope with time difference. Passengers will be asked to participate in a survey, and the information obtained will be used to develop Finnair’s in-flight entertainment service concept.

Info: Finnair Media Desk, tel. +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com

Finnair renews Business Class menus as part of its 90^th Anniversary celebrations. As of September Business Class passengers have the opportunity to order from the menus created by two famed Finnish chefs, Pekka Terävä and Tomi Björk. 

Terävä, who specializes in Nordic cuisine, has created a menu that includes, for example, reindeer sirloin, boletus purée, oven-baked Lapland potatoes and organic barley. Tomi Björk, an expert in Asian cuisine, has created a menu that is divided into Japanese and Thai food.

The menus are completed with carefully selected wines. The port wine served in Finnair Business Class during long-haul flights came second in Business Traveller magazine’s awards this February.

Info: Finnair Media Desk, p. +358 9 818 4020, comms(a)finnair.com

Finnair will install new full-flat seats in most of its existing long haul aircraft beginning in January 2014. Once the installation program is completed by autumn 2014, all of Finnair’s long haul Airbus fleet will have full-flat seats in Business Class, with the exception of three older aircraft. These three aircraft will be the first to be removed from the fleet with the arrival of A350 XWBs in 2015. The total investment, including replacement investments, is approximately 29 million euros.

“The full-flat experience has been very well received by customers in Business Class,” says Anssi Komulainen, Finnair’s Senior Vice President, Customer Service. “We believe that the key to Finnair’s success in a very competitive market is to differentiate on service, and this substantial investment in the comfort of passengers helps us in this long-term aim. Full-flat seats are the new standard for quality-conscious customers, and for Finnair.”

The Zodiac Seats UK Vantage model seats selected by Finnair are already in use on the airline’s four newest Airbus A330s. The seats are designed to provide a full-flat bed of up to 200 cm (79”), while shoulder room measures 58 cm (23”). The fully adjustable seats also come with an individual reading light, adjustable headrest, mood lights and a range of inflight entertainment options.

The move to full-flat seats is the latest in Finnair’s on-going series of renewals and upgrades in the customer experience. In October 2012, the airline announced a design collaboration with Finnish design house Marimekko, whose textiles and tableware will bring a light and fresh visual dimension to aircraft interiors starting in spring 2013. A revamp of meal choices is also underway in both cabin classes.

Finnair currently operates 15 long haul Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft in its fleet, serving a network of 13 destinations in Asia. A further 11 Airbus A350 XWBs (with an option for 8 more) are due to arrive beginning in H2 2015, which will help the airline double its revenue from Asian destinations by 2020. Finnair will be the first European airline to fly with the state of the art A350.

Finnair has a long and proud tradition for earning prestigious awards for its Business Class wine selections, and the latest award was received for the Portuguese Niepoort Colheita (1998, Douro) wine. It was selected as the best Business Class wine in the fortified and sweet category in the annual Business Traveller Cellars in the Sky awards.

The 2013 Cellars in the Sky awards were presented 4 February at the Dorchester hotel in London by Charles Metcalfe, co-chairman of the International Wine Challenge and food and wine matching guru. The awards have been running since 1985, recognizing the best business and first class wines served by airlines worldwide. Over 75 carriers were contacted in the summer of 2012, with a total of 33 airlines entering.

Finnair’s partner Malaysia Airlines becomes a full member of the oneworld alliance on 1 February, adding one of commercial aviation’s most frequent award winners to the world’s leading quality airline alliance.

The 125 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programs, including Finnair Plus, can now earn and redeem awards and tier status points and receive all other oneworld benefits on Malaysia Airlines. Additionally, to celebrate the addition of the new recruit, members of Finnair Plus program will receive double the normal mileage awards when flying on Malaysia Airlines between 15 February and 15 April, on tickets bought by 15 April, 2013.

Since last November, Finnair has maintained a bilateral codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines on select flights between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore, and on select flights between Finnair’s Helsinki hub and Amsterdam, London, Paris and Frankfurt. The codeshares enable passengers to book itineraries to Malaysia on a single Finnair ticket, and vice versa for Malaysia Airlines customers flying to Finland.

Malaysia Airlines substantially expands the oneworld network in South East Asia, where it strengthens the alliance’s connectivity between many key business cities in Asia and other parts of the world, benefitting customers with an expanded global network and increased competition.