Finnair Plus - HEL priority security

OK, I understand it's AY base and everything and they call all the shots. Yesterday morning I approached the T2 priority screening @HEL with BA Club/business BP, OW/BA Emerald card + AY Sapphire Card (valid 9/12) and was told this line is only for ticketed AY pax....ok, that's cool.....but is this really the way to handle OW status/J pax at the northernmost OW hub....even at LHR (not to mentiion the US...) I can get to go through the priority lane regardless of the ticketed OW airine...

Any comments, folks?

I think it is ridiculous that they will only let passengers with an AY ticket use the priority security. It should be available to oneworld status holders on any oneworld flight + business class passengers just like it is with oneworld lounge access.
I have however had luck sneaking in to the priority line twice with an AB ticket (op. by AY) just by showing my AY Plat card and flashing the boarding pass to the agent so that my thump hides the flight number. :D So far it has worked well but it is for sure not guaranteed to work every time until they revoke this stupid AY ticket only rule.

I do not know if AY pays a fee for passengers using the priority lane? Most likely not, since the BPs are not scanned. Scanning of them takes place at many other airports, which could result in separate fees for the airlines. There is a similar situation for *A passengers at ARN, CPH, and OSL, which has aggravated many travelers.

Luckily, at HEL the normal security lines are quick to pass and sometimes using the priority lane actually takes more time. There are many sunday-flyers, indeed, among the users of fast-track security almost everywhere, wondering what it is all about, and finally realising that they should have checked in the kitchen sink...

I'd say this is the business model of finnavia (?)
The airports are looking to create ancillary revenue, and the fast tracks are one of the sources. I'd say the airlines pay a fee (not per pax, a fixed fee) and then chooses which pax are to get the perk.

For this to be a alliance service, they would need a different charge model, scanning BPs and distributing costs around the alliance. It could surely be done the same way as lounge access, but as a) loyalty cards are moving in the direction of lesser perks and b) OW is not a hierarchal organisation I think we can just keep dreaming...

(And naturally, finnavia will not be able to sell this service to AY if they let anyone use it.)

I must be the odd man out, as I went thru HEL priority with BA tix/BA silver, with AY tix/BA silver, even LH tix/AY gold :D

(The prio lane at T1 is much stricter, it only SK/KF C/Eco Extra pax or SK/KF Gold only - no other *A cards accepted)

...
Any comments, folks?

Only this:
...
If someone thinks HEL security is bad his/her life must be very smooth..


:D

OK, I understand it's AY base and everything and they call all the shots. Yesterday morning I approached the T2 priority screening @HEL with BA Club/business BP, OW/BA Emerald card + AY Sapphire Card (valid 9/12) and was told this line is only for ticketed AY pax....ok, that's cool.....but is this really the way to handle OW status/J pax at the northernmost OW hub....even at LHR (not to mentiion the US...) I can get to go through the priority lane regardless of the ticketed OW airine...

Any comments, folks?

I think You should ask BA why they dont pay for Priority Lane.

I think You should ask BA why they dont pay for Priority Lane.

Agree, BA should be the one to blame - they should sort this out.
But as we have seen, there is not much that works out smoothly between AY and BA and OW (for instance seating problems or BA having their own check-in at HEL.....).

Have asked several times at HEL BA check-in can I use the priority lane with BA Club tkt and always have they said "we do not know"!!!

Have asked several times at HEL BA check-in can I use the priority lane with BA Club tkt and always have they said "we do not know"!!!

You Finns, always ask :D Just go and wave your B/P - the worst that can happen is that they direct you to the man queue.

Yeah the security in general is a breeze at HEL, that's not the problem..I was more wondering how AY is not very interested in promoting any OW things..we all remember their lounge issues earlier..the OW status/class of service based Priority AAccess that AA has in place should be copied and made alliance wide thing!

Being a OW Emerald (AA EXP) I've never had any problems going through the priority line regardless of what flight I was on (AA, AY, BA).

BA Gold and no issues ever with BA/AY/AA tickets (tried with all classes with all carriers... yeah, even AA Y). Never flown *A when Emerald, so don't know about that.

Latest with BA J ticket and BAGold was mid July.

It depends on the "line dragon". Usually you're not allowed through but sometimes there is an exception to the rule.

The security check at the far end of T2 has always been empty, and since there's only one line at the "priority" security, it hardly ever is quicker than the normal line.

As AA EXP, I have always used the security at departure hall three (is that what it is called these days?) as that seems usually have the shortest lines or no line at all. And, if going to non-Schengen destination, that is on the right direction plus you avoid walking through the duty-free shop, which I find extremely annoying. But of course it would be nice to have OW priority lane so that also we non-AY elites could use that.

For me it seems that 9 times out of 10 the priority lane doesn't really help, but on the occasion when the end of the security line is pretty much at door I am very grateful to have access to it! :D

As AA EXP, I have always used the security at departure hall three (is that what it is called these days?) as that seems usually have the shortest lines or no line at all. And, if going to non-Schengen destination, that is on the right direction plus you avoid walking through the duty-free shop, which I find extremely annoying. But of course it would be nice to have OW priority lane so that also we non-AY elites could use that.

It depends... if there are many charters/Norwegian flights etc leaving at the same time, the queue here (T3 or whatever it is called) can be very long indeed....
Mostly security in T2 is swift and ok. But of course OW status lane would be welcomed.

The treatment you received sounds odd to me... I flew last week ex-HEL with BA J boarding pass and my AY sapphire card and even guided a colleague who had different flight to another destination (in Y) through... Not mutual treatment at all.

Doesn't the T2 priority lane also have OW sapphire/emerald symbols in front of it?

The treatment you received sounds odd to me... I flew last week ex-HEL with BA J boarding pass and my AY sapphire card and even guided a colleague who had different flight to another destination (in Y) through... Not mutual treatment at all.

Doesn't the T2 priority lane also have OW sapphire/emerald symbols in front of it?

No, it doesn't. (There is OW logo, though.) It is for AY elites (well, Silver too :p ) and AY C pax.

The treatment you received sounds odd to me... I flew last week ex-HEL with BA J boarding pass and my AY sapphire card and even guided a colleague who had different flight to another destination (in Y) through... Not mutual treatment at all.


Helsinki is the "home airport" for AY cardholders, this might have been the reason you were let use priority lane.
I was not even aware of the being able to access Finnair lounges with Plat card even not flying with OW flight. The non-shengen lounge advice me that any flight I take, I'm able to enter the lounge because Helsinki is my "home Airport". Great

Helsinki is the "home airport" for AY cardholders, this might have been the reason you were let use priority lane.
I was not even aware of the being able to access Finnair lounges with Plat card even not flying with OW flight. The non-shengen lounge advice me that any flight I take, I'm able to enter the lounge because Helsinki is my "home Airport". Great

Really? Another unpublished AY+ benefit? Nice.

Really? Another unpublished AY+ benefit? Nice.

It's always been like that for Plats (and Golds before OW era).

Helsinki is the "home airport" for AY cardholders, this might have been the reason you were let use priority lane.


It wasn't like that last week, I had my BA card+BA ticket in hand but was told that it needs to be AY ticket..my fast drying AY Gold card wasn't good enough as I was on BA ticket...the guy even said that AY ticket on BA plane would do it so this was very specific indeed and he seemed to know what he was talking about.

...
I was not even aware of the being able to access Finnair lounges with Plat card even not flying with OW flight. The non-shengen lounge advice me that any flight I take, I'm able to enter the lounge because Helsinki is my "home Airport". Great

That one I didn't know, but they have let me use the non-schengen lounge as an arrival-lounge with the specific comment "because you are platinum".