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Review: Finnair Business Lounge, Helsinki Airport (non-Schengen)

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This is our review of the Finnair Business Lounge at Helsinki Airport. It is Finnair’s flagship business class lounge and was refurbished in mid-2019, together with the Platinum Wing first class lounge next door which we reviewed in 2022

This is the main lounge for all non-Schengen passengers with Finnair: it is effectively the long haul lounge for all Finnair business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire members, whilst the Platinum Wing is reserved for oneworld Emerald customers only.

Although I’m oneworld Emerald, the Platinum Wing closes annoyingly early at 5:30pm. This means it is closed for the main bank of departures from Helsinki to Asia which are typically late in the evening. My flight to Nagoya departed just after midnight.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Where is the Finnair Business Lounge in Helsinki Airport?

The Business Lounge is in the non-Schengen part of the terminal so you’ll have to clear immigration after security.

If you follow the signs towards gate 52 you’ll eventually see signs for the lounge. It is a bit of a trot from immigration, but you’ll soon see the white exterior and signage.

The lounge is currently open from 5:30am until midnight.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Inside the Finnair Business Lounge

There are actually two lounges here. The Platinum Wing, which you can access if you are BA Gold and departing before it closes at 5.30pm, is on the left whilst the Business Lounge is on the right. All you need to do is scan your boarding pass at one of the gates to get in.

The first section of the lounge was the quietest, whilst the area towards the back near the buffet and bar were the busiest. Unfortunately, the lounge has no runway views and virtually no natural light, so whilst these photos were largely taken at night it looks the same whether it is midday or midnight.

First up were some high-tables as well as a trio of the famous bubble chairs by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

There is a small cafe area with self-serve coffee machine, soft drinks fountains and beer on tap in the corner, but no food:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

To the right of all this is a softer area with more casual seating:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

There are plentiful charging opportunities with mains and USB power throughout the lounge.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Showers and toilets are on the left. You can book a shower by using the tablets next to each one: green means it’s available whilst red is occupied/booked. I wanted to try a shower on my return but (unsurprisingly) they were all busy during the peak morning arrivals period.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

After this the lounge widens again to the buffet, dining area and bar. This was the busiest part of the lounge on both my visits, I suspect because it is close to the food and drink.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Adjacent to this were more high tables and booths:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

The bar was stylish with a beautiful LED light chandelier surrounding it:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

The dining area is in the centre but you’ll also find a range of more casual seating around it, including personal booths.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Other features of the lounge include a ‘quick getaway’ exit door that deposits you nearer the gates, rather than having to walk a circuitous loop to the exit and then back around.

At the very back of the lounge is a darkened section with individual lighting and seating, clearly designed if you prefer to rest a little, although there were no loungers:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Buffet and bar in the Finnair Business Lounge

As on board, the food in the lounge is not Finnair’s strong suit.

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Hot items were limited to a vegan and non-vegan option: in this case some kind of chicken in tomato sauce and a lentil coconut stew, accompanied by some rice and vegetables:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

Some, clearly, like it hot:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

During the breakfast service (until 10:30am) it was just scrambled eggs and frankfurter style sausages:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

A few salads and some fruit and dessert round out the offering:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

When it comes to drinks, wines, beers, soft drinks and tea and coffee are available around the lounge.

Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royal Brut was the champagne on offer:

Review: Finnair Business Lounge Helsinki (non-Schengen)

For anything stronger you have to go to the staffed bar, where you can ask for a range of cocktails and mocktails. This was quite popular and with just one barman a little queue sometimes built up. I tried the gin basil smash which was refreshingly tasty.

Conclusion

As you will see from my upcoming long haul flight reviews, there is a trend: whilst Finnair runs a very stylish operation, the food offering is not strong.

Despite the lack of natural light or views this lounge is well designed, with lots of different areas suited for passengers of all types. When it comes to food, however, there is room for improvement and I was particularly disappointed by the breakfast offering.

Fortunately, you can drown your hunger with a drink from the good staffed bar! The cocktails here were better than I was expecting and well presented.

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Category

Finnair and Finnair Plus

Comments (66)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • riku says:
    24 Sep24 September 04:30

    >>The Business Lounge is in the non-Schengen part of the terminal so you’ll have to clear immigration after security
    This is only true if you arrive by ground transportation or a connecting flight from a “non trusted” country. Unlike in the UK, Finland trusts the security of other airports (such as the EU, USA and UK) and for transfer flights from those countries you exit the plane in the relevant departure gates area. UK to Japan means no security and no passport control when changing flights in Helsinki.
    This difference is why many brits ask “I’ve only got an hour to change planes in Helsinki on the way to Japan, is that enough to clear security?” in flyertalk.

    • BJ says:
      24 Sep24 September 05:43

      The idiotic LHR T5 does not even trust its own security, teturning to UK via a T5 flight connection requires a minimum of 5 document checks and sometimes even 6 or 7 IME.

      • Charlie says:
        24 Sep24 September 05:59

        ???? Helsinki is superb but LHR T5 is incredibly efficient. You can walk from one end of T5A to the other end in 5 minutes – you can’t do that at Helsinki. At Helsinki, if you go from Schengen to non-Schengen and to the lounge, you’ll scan your boarding pass to enter Schengen, your passport to enter non-Schengen, and your boarding pass to enter the lounge. If you arrive at T5 from anywhere, it is exactly the same process. Passport at eGates on arrival. Walk upstairs to GF where you have boarding pass check to enter lounge, then boarding pass check for security, or departures where it is the other way round.

      • JDB says:
        24 Sep24 September 07:28

        @BJ – is this “idiotic T5” having fun or is it compliance with rules/legislation?

        • BJ says:
          24 Sep24 September 08:31

          No, it’s real @JDB, I have not been in a single airport terminal anywhere else on earth that requires a minimum of 5 document checks to make a flight connection. A run in with the KGB in St Pete in the last days of the Soviet Union was less hassle than making a flight connection at T5.

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
            24 Sep24 September 09:13

            And what would those 5 document checks be?

            And merely scanning a BP doesn’t count as a document check.

            A document check is when your passport is examined in some way.

          • BJ says:
            24 Sep24 September 11:37

            I cannot remember the order of them but it is a minimum 5 checks, I’ll record them next time I connecting there from overseas to Edinburgh. I’ll post them in forum chat. It can be more if tou have to go through any of those glass doors or they decide to check elsewhere. For example last time before using efates at boarding they also manually checked, and IIRC boarding passes also had to be scanned at security screen too. Probably fine if just arriving or departing but for a connecting passenger it is unreal.

    • C2K77 says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:50

      @riku things must’ve changed totally then. In the last several years I’ve flown AY AMS-HEL-HKG, AMS-HEL-BKK & LHR-HEL-HKG . On all occasions, flying AY metal and ticketed as single itineraries, I’ve had to clear central search & immigration despite being a flight connection.
      Yes those trusted countries signs existed throughout. Yes the UK and Canada ( passports I hold and travel on) were on those flag signs. No it didn’t mean a damn thing.
      Returning on those routes it was 75/25 on going through the same.

      If it actually has changed and they’re doing as they say in their signage then great. If the FCC is actually manned for all their, very well established, late night eastbound connections. Again great. In April this year that still wasn’t the case & is one of the reasons why I’ve given up on them irrelevant of price points

      • riku says:
        24 Sep24 September 08:39

        >>@riku things must’ve changed totally then. In the last several years I’ve flown AY AMS-HEL-HKG, AMS-HEL-BKK & LHR-HEL-HKG
        Passengers getting off AMS flights will walk into the schengen departures area and LHR arrivals walk into the non schengen departures area. AMS arrivals taking a flight to HKG/BKK will only go through border control, not security It’s been like this for the 21 years I’ve been living in Finland and was still like this last time I used the airport four days ago.
        In the other direction it is not the same because arrivals from Thailand and HKG are not trusted countries although for HKG-HEL-LHR you will not go through passport control, only security because you are not entering the schengen zone. That has been the same for those 21 years also.
        The main change was after 2001 because before then the airport was spit into domestic and international and there was a security check when going domestic -> international because you might have boarded a domestic flight but domestic flights did not have mandatory security checks (yes, hard to believe but that’s how it was back then).

      • Stu_N says:
        24 Sep24 September 12:26

        @BJ just done a long haul to domestic in T5 this morning.

        1. BA staffer checking BP at entry to domestic connections to check we were in right place
        2. Passport at EGates
        3. Boarding pass scan and photo before entering security (fast track actually working and no scan of BP just before security scanners today, unusual as queues were very short!)
        4. manual check of BP vs ID at gate
        5. BP scan immediately pre-boarding.

        If that’s worse than KGB then no wonder the Soviet Union collapsed.

        • BJ says:
          24 Sep24 September 13:34

          Thanks, and yes it’s very bad, where else do you have to gumble with boarding passes and passports like at T5? I don’t have the patience for it or for the endless tension barriers to control nonexistent crowds, something else that’s far worse there than any other airport I’ve been. As for KGB that was enquiries as to why I sat so long on a public bench near their headquarters 🙂 If it bothered them so much I don’t know why there were benches there in the first place but I declined to ask.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:22

      Finland regards SOME countries as safe.

      Arrive from others and you will have to clear security,

      https://www.finavia.fi/en/airports/helsinki-airport/airport/terminals#:~:text=Helsinki%20Airport%20follows%20European%20Union's,connecting%20flights%20through%20security%20control.

      Helsinki Airport follows European Union’s (EU) security regulations. Therefore, passengers arriving from non-Schengen countries (excluding EU countries not part of the Schengen area, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Singapore) proceed to their connecting flights through security control.

      • meta says:
        24 Sep24 September 08:48

        Strange as I never had to go through either security or immigration on BKK/HND/KIX-LHR routes. Last time in August on BKK-LHR. Have they relaxed it during summer?

    • Rhys says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:56

      Japan to Helsinki I had to do security again, which was a shame!

  • SydneySwan says:
    24 Sep24 September 05:14

    It is far better than the Finnair Schengen lounge.

    • Greenpen says:
      24 Sep24 September 06:09

      One advantage of UK not being part of Europe! There aren’t many so count your blessings!

      • Dave1986 says:
        24 Sep24 September 06:21

        The UK is part of Europe

        • Tom says:
          24 Sep24 September 14:17

          That is not my opinion. I am British but not European.

          And when people say that they are going on holiday to Europe they do not mean that they are going to Blackpool!

          • Mark says:
            24 Sep24 September 18:27

            Regardless of your political views, the UK is geographically part of Europe… 🙂

      • Richard E says:
        24 Sep24 September 07:02

        “…UK not being part of Europe.”

        Years ago (pre any discussion of Brexit) I attended a conference where the speaker asked delegates from the UK to put their hand up. He then asked delegates from Europe to put their hand up. He was genuinely confused and bemused that everyone from the UK lowered their hand at this question.

        It’s a great example of Orwellian-style newspeak that (for decades and long before Brexit) most Brits would not say they were part of Europe.

        We left the EU, but last I checked we have not moved continent.

    • Rob says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:30

      New Schengen lounge review to follow!

    • Rhys says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:57

      Of course it’s better than the Schengen lounge. This one is 95% long haul customers. Schengen is 95% short haul.

      That said, the Schengen lounge has much more natural light and views so in that respect it is actually better.

      • Charlie says:
        24 Sep24 September 10:24

        By complete chance (having booked a ticket months earlier) I was one of the first people into the Schengen platinum wing on its opening morning. I sat on one of the three comfy chairs to the right hand side, and got talking to the designer of the lounge. The three comfy chairs cost in the region of 10,000 EUR each…. Also, I was shown why an Ultima Thule glass is like a double-decker bus (which is quite a cool trick that I wasn’t aware of having sipped sparkling wine through them all these years)!

  • Greenpen says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:07

    Maybe they are put out at a different time to when you were there, but I have enjoyed an interesting range of salad type stuff from this lounge. Butter eggs and a mushroom salad spring to mind.

  • Jon says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:40

    “During the breakfast service (until 10:30am) it was just scrambled eggs and frankfurter style sausages”

    Did you not try the Karjalanpiirakka (egg-filled pastries, on the right in your photo)? You should have – they’re delicious, and a Finnish classic.

    FWIW, re “As on board, the food in the lounge is not Finnair’s strong suit” – on my recent flight to Bangkok I thought the F&B was excellent. Luck of the draw maybe 😉

    • JDB says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:17

      I found the food DOH-CPH worse than BA – an abysmal breakfast all served at once and then before landing some hummus in a box with pitta in a tiny packet. No proper coffee. Alcoholic drinks were considerably better than BA. The main course in yesterday’s review didn’t look too good either – really out of the ark stuff.

      President Mitterrand once remarked when in Helsinki that it was the only country he had visited with worse food than England. Unfair to both these days, but …

    • Rhys says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:58

      Oh yes, I actually did try them on my flight!

      The food is fine. The fact it is a single tray service on a 14-hour business class flight less so.

    • R_B says:
      24 Sep24 September 19:07

      They’re rice filled pastries on which you top with egg butter.

  • Fraser says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:46

    I was in this lounge 2 weeks ago and agree, the food offering (especially choice) is very weak. However, it is very spacious and relaxing, and the barman happily suggested I take a seat and he would bring the drinks over, saving a wait at the bar. Nice touch.

  • Tim P says:
    24 Sep24 September 07:11

    I have visited this lounge following an a long overnight flight and found the food offering very limited. Add in the fact that the Platinum lounge has very limited opening hours and I agree that the food options are disappointing.

  • meta says:
    24 Sep24 September 07:36

    Regarding food – I don’t care about lounge food anymore as long as there are some nice places to sit, plug devices and wait for the flight with a good drink.

    I’m not sure why anyone would want to put up with some bland or ‘infused to the brim with chili’ food to mask the quality of ingredients served in lounges these days. At Helsinki, I just go for salmon soup (lohikeito) at one of the restaurants and then move to the lounge for a drink.

    Even food in the beloved Al-Mourjan lounges in Doha is nothing to write home about while the myriad of eateries are empty.

    It’s very rare for the lounge to have quality restaurant-level food and same goes for reheated plane food.

    • Paul says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:46

      I am with you 100% here. As my home airport is manchester, its been like this for a long time for me. Drink and relax in a lounge and eat elsewhere. Fortunately my HEL connects in the morning, i can have a good breakfast in the hilton then a short stroll to the airport

    • JDB says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:12

      @meta – this is it! It’s all relative but I can’t think of any lounge where I would be willing to pay for the food. I somewhat despair when people report that something from these vats of slops in various lounges were very “tasty”. As for burgers…

      In Al Mourjan which I prefer to Al Safwa the service is good and one highlight is the viennoiseries and patisseries; I’m not sure if the latter are newish or I just missed them for years as they are in a funny place but they could be sold in a good Paris patisserie.

      • R_B says:
        24 Sep24 September 19:10

        You need to think longer… CX T3, the CX HKG lounges, Qantas First in LAX, First Dining at AA MIA… all restaurant quality food.

    • FLCL says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:43

      It does depend on which lounge / airport you normally travel past though.
      The most frequented lounges for me is in HKG, HND and then SYD. I would agree with you for SYD since that even their Qantas First lounge food are a bit meh.
      HKG and HND however have consistently been pretty decent food lounges – in particular the most recent visit to the JAL lounge in HND – the food both in the business and first lounges were great.
      One thing I do suggest for people looking for food in lounges is have the “local” food of either the country of the airport, or where the airline is based.
      For Europe though, I’d have to agree that more often than not, I’ll just go without as we normally fly CX and JAL and food is better onboard.

      • meta says:
        24 Sep24 September 09:27

        I am sorry but the food in JAL lounges is nothing special. You do realise that the Japanese curry they serve is made from a mix that you can buy in any Asian supermarket. Food on board is great, but that’s at the expense of food in the lounges.

        • Sip says:
          24 Sep24 September 09:39

          Do you mean those blocks you get? You do realise that’s the “basic” curry. Japanese curry has a huge variety and the ingredients used for the base “broth” is the key.
          I don’t think it’s the curry that FLCL is referring to, on my recent visit, they now have things like beef bowls and onigiri, and in First, they have made to order food (sushi) as well.
          Generally speaking, I do think the ingredients used in Japan lounges are generally better quality compared to other countries.

          • meta says:
            24 Sep24 September 14:39

            Yes the blocks, and I saw them using it! My Japanese colleagues say the same. My last trip on JAL was in February and sushi in F wasn’t the freshest…

  • LittleNick says:
    24 Sep24 September 07:37

    All style, no substance as they say! No that’s a little harsh but sadly the hot food offering is a weak when compared to food that they can offer in the platinum wing! But yes the lounge does look very stylish
    No idea the plat wing closes at 5:30 thought it would have been much later than that given the range of facilities in there and as you say the evening departures.

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