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HEL Lounges?
About to try out HEL.
BA Gold travelling ARN-HEL-TLL and back.
There seems to be quite a few lounges available with varying opening times.
I get in to HEL 19.25 with a 20.10 connection so I guess there won't be much lounging there.
However, on the return I have 1.30h to spare on a Sunday, which lounge would you chose?
Silver Wings is your only choice, because Golden Gate is closed on weekends. Silver Wings gets crowded after 14:30 or 15:00 until ca 17:00, for the afternoon wave of flights.
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Long haul / non-Schengen lounges
On a related subject, just received a scathing report from my wife (flying LHR-ARN-HEL-NGO today) about the lounges.
She landed from ARN and headed through passport control to the Long Haul lounge. Apparently this is currently a single shared lounge serving both AY and Priority Pass holders. Despite signs stating One World Emeralds (she's a BA Gold) were on one side and Sapphires/J ticket holders the other, she reckoned there was absolutely no segregation and described the place like a zoo; very noisy and no chance of getting near the food and drink options. She beat a hasty retreat and bought herself a nice pear cider around the corner in a quiet bar, and obviously regrets not staying Schengen-side a little longer!
I'm flying a slightly different route to her this time next week (LHR-HEL-NRT, meeting up with her in Tokyo). I'm a BA Silver flying in J.
My questions are:
- I thought there were two separate non-Schengen lounges, one for AY and one third party lounge run by Gateway - is this not the case?
- Is it usual that this lounge is so busy, or is this a holiday week we're not aware of?
- As I'll be arriving into the non-Schengen zone (i.e. from LHR), can I pass through into the Schengen area to use those lounges?
- Am I better just heading straight for a bar / coffee shop and saving the stress?
We're also both returning (KIX-HEL-LHR) the following Sunday, so the same question about passing into the Schengen zone stands there as well. We're both UK passport holders, so there are no visa issues with this - just depends on HEL passport control rules.
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Not worthwhile crossing over to Schengen-side. Try Finnair Long-Haul Lounge, for which you are eligible as you have a J-longhaul AY-ticket. Otherwise it would require BAEC gold status to get in.
In case you wish to sample the other side, with the UK passports you can cross the Schengen-border easily, in no more than 5 minutes both ways.
Programs: BA Silver (husband of a Gold), BA Amex PP, Amex Plat, Accor Fav Guest, Priority Club Platinum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TTL
Not worthwhile crossing over to Schengen-side. Try Finnair Long-Haul Lounge, for which you are eligible as you have a J-longhaul AY-ticket. Otherwise it would require BAEC gold status to get in.
Thanks, but the problem is (according to my wife anyway) that the long haul lounge has been combined with the Gateway lounge and is very over-crowded as a result.
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The lounge offerings are more less the same in all of the lounges, thus no T5 Galleries First like experience is to be expected. The Finnair Long Haul -lounge used the be their best offering.
At the Schengen-side I personally prefer the Gateway Tower, a small, quite peaceful one, with excellent scenery over the runways and gates. If you have AY business tickets, you should be able to get in, although most of the OW passengers are directed to the hospital clinic like Silver Wings lounge. They are next to each other. I still recommend the one I recommended earlier.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TTL
The lounge offerings are more less the same in all of the lounges, thus no T5 Galleries First like experience is to be expected.
Completely appreciate not all lounges can be like T5, but the least I expect from a lounge is a quiet and peaceful space that's preferable to the general departures lounge, and according to my wife that certainly wasn't the case earlier. I'll pop my head into the longhaul lounge next Weds, and if I don't like what I see I'll head through passport control to see what's on the other side.
That non-Schengen lounge thing sounds weird - there definitely used to be two clearly separated sides to the lounge. Maybe they've ramped down the operation in anticipation of the new fab lounge complex due to open in a few months from now.
As for crossing over to the Schengen side - no one will question your motives as long as you have a UK passport (or a Schengen visa) with you. That's part of the general principles of the EU that the Finnish border guards have no real saying over.
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Finnair lounges are fairly chronic with poor selection of drinks, food etc. Freixenet mmmmm.... But it beats being in the main lounge most of the time. They are not massive and in my experience get quite busy with the early morning business flights and when the long-hauls are coming and going (tend to be clumped together). Outside of those times they are fairly quiet. I have never come across them being a zoo though.... My experience has been fairly strict segregation - S/H J and Sapphires (and AY Ruby) on the left and L/H J and Emerald on the right. To be honest there is no meaingful difference between the two.
Anyone know when this via.Helsinki amazing new lounge is opening? The jacuzzi and sauna sound comedy. Has to be tried. Is it still November?
...it could be I'm travelling via HEL with a long haul biz ticket around those days.
