In booking a flight to Paris through Orbitz on Finnair (via Helsinki), I was unable to get seat assignments on the flight from New York to Helsinki or the flight from Helsinki to Paris. Is this a problem. When can I get seat assigned seats? Thanks--I am new to online booking and don't want to get all the way to Helsinki and find out I can't get a seat to Paris. Monica
Posted by
San Diego, CA
638 posts
Have you tried calling Finnair and see if you can get your seat assignments? Also if you can find out what type of plane they will be using go to http://www.seatguru.com and use that as a guide to where you might want to sit.
Posted by
OP
Columbus, OH, USA
10 posts
Thanks--will do.
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
Most European airlines do not assign seats before check-in on intra-Europe flights. However, they normally do on long haul flights. You will probably be able to get a seat assignment for the transatlantic trip, but you will have to get your seat assignment for the Helsinki-Paris leg when you check in at your US airport. One of the reasons is flexibility. On Intra-Europe flights, seats are the same through the entire aircraft regardless if you fly economy or business class (they normally block the middle seat for business passengers). They can move the curtain back or forth to adjust for business class demand, therefore they prefer to assign seats at check-in when they know how many seats are sold in each class.