Finnair Plus - Finnair Via Lounge Non Schengen Helsinki

Does anybody know if there is baggage storage in the Finnair Via Lounge Non Schengen Helsinki. I will be passing through Helsinki in September traveling from Madrid to New Delhi in which I have a 4.5 hour layover. I'm looking at the possibility of taking a taxi into Helsinki for an hour and I do not want to lug any bags. Dropping bags off outside the secure area in the Helsinki airport is not an option.

Thanks,

jmever

When arriving from MAD you arrive Schengen, leaving (hand?)luggage at Airpro Services 24h or lockers (service level outside secured area) would make sense.... why not an option? If you take them to non-schengen lounge, you need to go through passport control going in and going out and once again coming back...... and I doubt there are any luggage storage over there, but I'm not sure.

Taxi to Helsinki downtown takes 30 min, so only that takes 1 hour roundtrip, so you really do not have all that much time.

My thoughts were arriving Helsinki whether Schengen or not, I would be a "Transfer" passenger since I'm ticketed through to New Delhi on Finnair "one ticket", thus going through immigration then on to the departure gates with only the bags I'm carrying. If I could store these bags in Finnair's Business Class VIA Lounge then I would not have to carry them out and back in through security and I would not have to pay Airport Services to store the bags outside the secured area. I understand the immigration issue you bring up. I'm trying to think of the quickest, cheapest and most convenient way to stow the bags.

jmever

My thoughts were arriving Helsinki whether Schengen or not, I would be a "Transfer" passenger since I'm ticketed through to New Delhi on Finnair "one ticket", thus going through immigration then on to the departure gates with only the bags I'm carrying. If I could store these bags in Finnair's Business Class VIA Lounge then I would not have to carry them out and back in through security and I would not have to pay Airport Services to store the bags outside the secured area. I understand the immigration issue you bring up. I'm trying to think of the quickest, cheapest and most convenient way to stow the bags.

jmever

Both Schengen and Non-Schengen areas share the same security and you can move between them without going outside the secured area.

Basically, you can think of the Helsinki Airport T2 like a corridor that looks like this:

(Non-schengen) -- (Immigration) -- (Schengen) -- (Security/Customs) -- (Outside)

If you want to store your luggage in non-schengen, then you would basically need to go like this:

Arrive to Schengen -> Immigration -> Non-schegen, store luggage here, then again Immigration -> Schengen -> Customs -> Outside.

When departing, you would go Security -> Schengen -> Immigration -> Non-Schengen.

On the other hand, if you stored your luggage in the Schengen area, your route would be:

Schengen -> Customs -> Outside, and when departing, Outside -> Security -> Schengen -> Immigration -> Non-Schengen.

Much simpler because you don't need to pass the immigration desks 3 times.

Airpro 24h charges 5 €/day (6 USD) for one piece of luggage.
But more importantly, I do not think there is any luggage storage within the secured area, schengen or non-schengen.

Great. Thanks for the information.

jmever

One way of avoiding paying the storage fee is to go through passport control and enter non-Schengen area once you arrive in HEL and store your carry-on in self-operated lockers (maximum width is approximately 9 inches) at Via Lounge. You can also have a quick bite and shower while you're there. Then exit non-Schengen zone and re-enter Schengen zone by going though passport control and off you go to Helsinki. When you return, go through passport control again and proceed to Via Lounge. I've entered/exited passport control on the same day and it hasn't raised any eyebrows from border police.

And, if you're going through the trouble of doing this, just take the bus to town. You'll have an appreciation of how efficient public transportation is in Helsinki if you take the bus.