mwalsh

Flying CE on BA0761 OSL-LHR departing at 7:45am on a mid-summer Monday. What time do the OSL check-in desks open? Or... what time should we wander across the street from the Radisson Blu, especially if we wanted to grab a coffee and pickled herring smørrebrød in the lounge first?

FlyingGarden

Lounge does not open until 5:30am and remember that passport control is between the lounge and gate, some days no queue, other days a 15 minute key
No idea on check in desks as was hand baggage only, but there was people around when I wandered through at about 5:20am

orbitmic

And the lounge is not unpleasant but the food is nothing to write home about... quite frankly, 20 minutes in there will give you more than enough time to offer the full scope of its offerings...

Greenpen

mwalsh

I have read there were some difficulties at certain times the last few summers, due to a lack of policemen to man the passport control. Is that issue going to reoccur this summer? It might be better to simply head for the gate.

Did not book the hotel with breakfast because I didn't think it would be open early enough, but I'll check to see if it's an option. Edit: Hmm - breakfast appears to start at 5am.

FlyingGarden

Done Oslo twice, and would agree lounge food is more of a quick snack and chill with a coffee

The breakfast at the Park Inn Radisson was possibly the best hotel breakfast I have had or was it just the fresh warm brioche bacon and egg rolls and a really good coffee that won the day.

So yeah if your hotel has breakfast it is going to be better than the lounge.

Stayed at Gaerdemon airport hotel the other time, so 7 euro shuttle bus ride (hint make it easy and buy return from machine at the airport bus stop) its breakfast was standard Scandinavian range

Discus

They have added several self-service gates in passport-control so has really improved. Hard to tell how the summer will be, but I have not experienced more than 2-3 mins lately. Normally no "big birds" flying out so early in the morning (unless a charter pops up). It also depends on day of week. Last summer Saturday morning was a nightmare because of 1) a lot of inexperienced travelers, 2) typical day for once-pr-week charter flights.

On the good side - OSL is very efficient on security and summer mornings are quiet as business people are on holiday. You are really unlucky if you spend more than 5-10 mins in regular security at peak hours. BA-checkin is in the same end of the terminal as Radisson Blu, BA-fasttrack is in the other "old" section of the terminal. If security-lines are empty behind BA-checkin just head for the regular lines there. My record at OSL when flying out is 3mins15 sec from train-doors open to sitting at a domestic gate (without running).

Checkin for BA opens according to checkin-times published on ba.com (at least it was like that earlier).

nivsy

Agreed, the breakfast at the Park Inn at the OSL airport is one of the best ever. Such choice and plenty of fish variations if you want it. Spend your time here then wander across to the airport for the flight.

xenole

Any recent experiences of this?

Got a 7:10am flight to LHR, but not until April so plenty of time for BA to do their thing etc.
Will probably stay around the airport (flying in late afternoon / early evening). The Radisson is coming in at £155; Park Inn £116; other hotels £70+.

Is the lounge still in 2 parts, or has that changed? Ages since I've been there, so bits and pieces might be foggy.

BerksFlyer

I’ve been to Oslo recently. The lounge is is the Schengen area and is currently only one main part. The buffet is open and it’s near normal.

Personally I always stay in a Nordic Choice hotel near central station and get a train about 90 mins before flying. The city centre hotels always seem a fair bit cheaper and also allow for a more pleasant evening in Oslo the night before.