HEL lounges
 

Flying out of HEL to LHR this Sunday at 8am. Most of the lounges seem closed on Sundays. I assume the long haul lounge is not accessible since it is in the Non-Schengen area?

Does this leave us with the Silver Wings lounge and the Gateway Lounge? Any comments/recommendations?

UK is non-schengen but it doesn't help with lounges. There is a separate long-haul lounge area and it is not accessible when going to UK. The UK lounge is bleak, not much different from the rest of the terminal and with minimal food/drink. Worse than the TBIT lounges but it should be empty when you are traveling.

The lounge situation is quite complicated in HEL. There's also Gateway Fresh Lounge on the non-Schengen side, but I don't know if that's accessible to you. If you're on AY flight, you might get in as OW Emerald; if you're on BA flight, tough luck. Things might have changed but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I would call Finnair and ask them which lounges are open and which ones you can use. Gateway Lounge is closed on weekends so Silver Wings would be your only choice if you can't get in Gateway Fresh Lounge.

You can read about my adventures with the Gateway Fresh people here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=530321

Thanks for the info and link. I will be on an AY flight. But it sounds like the gateway lounge is not worth it. Sounds like i will be able to use the longhaul lounge though?

I've only taken BA HEL-LHR (and AY LHR-HEL ... a flawed strategy) and traveling on BA does not allow using the longhaul lounge. Maybe AY is different. I think there was a security checkpoint between the BA gate and the longhaul lounge so it wasn't even possible to get to the longhaul lounge (without a longhaul BP). But it was early in the morning, and HEL makes for late nights, so I may not have been the most observant. I do remember being surprised at how bad the coffee was in the lounge, somehow I expected better.

It has been a year since I took a flight ex HEL but I have done so quite a bit in the past. The new lounge arrangements in HEL are a Business and F class (F class normally resrved for Longhaul Business Class and Status OW FFs) lounge in the non-schengen area. You may access either of these lounges if travelling to UK (I took a BA flight) and accessed the F/Emerald Lounge which was very like the old silver wings (longhaul) lounge. I have also used the Gateway lounge (not sure if this is still there on the non schengen side) since it used to have a smoking section (unlike the longhaul lounge). I have never had a problem entering the old silver wings (longhaul) lounge when flying shorthaul but this was always with BA status and connecting from an intercontinental AY flight.

The current lounging arrangements seem very civilised and bright but not a quantum leap ahead of the older AY lounge arrangements (the fundamental difference seems to be more space and an open plan design). The Gateway lounge was available as OW FF elite, AY/BA J PAX or with PriorityPass.

Let's not confuse the longhaul lounge with Gateway Fresh Lounge. It's the same lounge complex on the non-Schengen side, but the longhaul lounge is to the right and Gateway Fresh is to the left when entering the lounge opposite gate 33. The admit policies should be the same for both regarding OW elites - Sapphires to the left and Emeralds to the right if on AY flight. This is how it used to be, but after my adventure things might have changed so don't quote me on that.

There is no security checkpoint, it's passport control, and they definitely let you pass if you have a LHR-bound BP.

Longhaul Lounge
- AY Longhaul J
- Oneworld Emerald and AY Gold (Shouldn't make any difference if on AY or BA - I would raise hell if it does)

Gateway Fresh Lounge
- Shorthaul non-Schengen J/C on pretty much every carrier incl AY
- Oneworld Sapphire and AY Silver

As far as I can tell, both have similar selection of not so premium drinks. Fresh now has food at least in the evening - meatballs, potato salad, yoghurt, breads. It was much better than before.

Schengen (not sure if this is accurate)

AY Golden Gate (very restricted opening times)
- OW Emerald+Sapphire

AY Silver Wings
- OW Sapphire+AY Silver

Gateway Tower Lounge
- Shorthaul J/C with no status on a bunch of airlines, KLM, AF and the likes with status cards

Does anybody know if Silver Wings is accessible as Sapphire on a domestic AY flight?

[QUOTE=LH747FTL]
- Oneworld Emerald and AY Gold (Shouldn't make any difference if on AY or BA - I would raise hell if it does) [QUOTE]

Yeah, but the lounge is *not* operated by AY and is considered "third-party". See this thread where I describe my encounter with the lounge staff:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=530321

BA flights are eligible for lounge access *only* with BA Silver or Gold, *not* with e.g. AA PLT or EXP cards. If you're flying with BA and have OW Sapphire/Emerald from airline other than AY or BA, I'd recommend you take care of your lounging needs on the Schengen side.

I had looked up the terminal map, lounge locations and LHR Ay departures. LHR departures pon AY go from gate 31 which is in the Non-schengen area past passport control. As Is the Long-Haul lounge. And that is what I intend to use. Good to hear from the previous posts that is consistent with others' experience.

We don't really intend to spend too long in there anyway (and quality of alcohol won't be a priority at 7.30am on Sunday with a toddler!).

This has been a mistake by the lounge staff for sure, no question about that. It is not allowed by the rules.

An Update:-

we went to the lounge "pavilion" and as outlined above, there are clear arrows above the reception desk - OW Emld to the right, OW Sapphire to the left (which is the Gateway Fresh I believe). Food offerings Ok but meagre, too early in the morning for alcohol for us!

Per the Finnair website, the Golden Gate and Gateway Lounges will be closed for summer from 24.6. to 30.7...

To which lounge are they sending intra-Schengen passengers?

(If it makes a diff, I'll be on AY FRA-HEL-OSL in J.)

That leaves the Silver Wings lounge. As mentioned earlier in the thread, don't be fooled by the silver/gold naming of the Silver Wings and Golden Gate lounges -- the service is identical these days, and Silver Wings is much brighter and has a view across the apron.