FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - New HEL lounge - when will it open (and how can we get invited)
Old Aug 1, 2014, 2:36 am
  #176  
haa
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: HEL
Programs: No more status, free agent now
Posts: 163
Great visit and reports.

All in all, some pretty great news for HEL, Finnair and OW FF HEL experience in general. Thanks to everyone for a great visit and lots of good information. Also great after-visit discussions until 2am ;-)

Some additional notes:

The lounge should open today 1st August at noon, it was practically finished last night already... Perhaps should have gotten some OW Non-schengen flight for today to be first in line ;-)

The lounge setup feels good for both individual travellers who want to sit alone and groups who want to sit together: the distance between chairs is suitable for both. They say this is planned to saves space, as individuals are not taking up a "whole large couch" as in some other lounges.

The 6 shower rooms looked pretty good as well and not too cramped. There were also separate showers next to the Sauna.



It will be open 6am-midnight daily like the other lounge. They are building a new reception area as well which will be ready later.

The catering will have continuous service, with breakfast, lunch and evening selections and rotating menus with some items always available (e.g. carelian pies with egg butter, yummy). There will be hot soup in addition to the cold bits as well as hot potatoes, but no real hot food. The cold bits presented were surprisingly good, a definite upgrade from the current lounge offerings.







Other things pointed out around the airport:

The Schengen lounge which is under renovation will be opened in phases and will be one large lounge combining the old space and some additional space. It will have similar look and feel to this one -- they are trying to design a general Finnair style.

They are going to build a new bar upstairs near gate 29 (Schengen) with an outdoor terrace, to "let Asian transit passengers experience Finnish winter directly outside". I hope this will be a great place to look at planes, too... The bar will be above the shop.in the photo and elevator will be extended to the 3rd floor:



An asian and sushi restaurant is under construction in the Non-schengen area. We shall see what the quality and price of the sushi will be, hoping for the best...

They will continue renovating Non-Schengen shops, building new large shop in the area across from @home lounge and reducing the big one next to the passport control area to create more queueing space.

Every day during the peak asia<->europe transit period (4-5pm) there are more than 4000 transit passengers going thru the airport.
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