Read more from this trip – 17-days in Europe and the Middle East:

• Introduction: 17-days in Europe and the Middle East
• Finnair Business Class New York to Helsinki (JFK-HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Lounge – Helsinki (HEL)
• Finnair Business Class Helsinki to Brussels (HEL-BRU)
• Hilton Antwerp Old Town
• Iberia Dalí Premium Lounge Madrid
• Nakar Hotel – Palma de Mallorca
• Sala VIP Formentor Palma de Mallorca
• W Barcelona
• Tickets Food Review
• Royal Jordanian Crown Business Class Barcelona to Amman (BCN-AMM)
• W Amman
• Hilton Dead Sea Resort and Spa
• Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge Amman
• Hilton Tel Aviv
• Dan Lounge Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv (“TLV”)
• Iberia Business Class Tel Aviv to Madrid (TLV-MAD)
• Iberia Velázquez Premium Lounge Madrid
• American Airlines Business Class Madrid to New York (MAD-JFK)

Introduction

Lounge Visit Details:

• Date visited: July 27, 2019
• Where: Schengen side of Helsinki Airport – Terminal 2, near gate 22
• Class: Business Class Lounge

After landing in Helsinki from New York I had a 6.5 hour layover before my onward Finnair flight to Brussels.

Pro-tip: If you have a long layover in Helsinki get out of the airport and go into the city. Check out this guide – here, which outlines what you should do if you have a 3, 5, 7 or 12 hours in the city. It’s cheap and efficient to get into Helsinki from the airport by train. The lounges are nice, but there’s no reason to spend more than 2-hours there.

Following my pro-tip above I arrived back at the airport about 2-hours before my flight. Since I was flying business class I was eligible to use the priority security lane, which had no line. I quickly made my way to the lounge, which is located on the Schengen side of Terminal 2, near gate 22. The lounge is open from 5.30 a.m. until 12 midnight.

Access

The following people / giraffes are entitled to access the lounge: Finnair Business Class customers and Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo, Platinum and Gold members (+ four guests with Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo and one guest with Platinum or Gold cardholders), and oneworld Emerald and Sapphire cardholders (+ one guest), when the departure flight leaves from the Schengen area and is operated and marketed by a oneworld airline.

Access for off-peak hours (max. 3 h) can also be purchased from the lounge reception for a charge of €48, children (2–12 years of age) for €15. The off-peak hours are 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and 6 p.m.–11 p.m.

Seating

It’s a rather large lounge with seating capacity for over 320 guests. There is plenty of seating with views of the tarmac.

The seating is arranged in various configurations, which either allows for easy conversation if you’re traveling with a group or privacy if you’re traveling solo.

Unique Features

The lounge features lockers where you could securely store your belongings. While I’ve seen luggage storage in many other lounges this is the first time I’ve seen proper lockers and kind of like the idea.

In the back of the lounge there’s a quiet “relax area.” The lighting fixtures are shaped liked clouds. How cool is that?

In the relax area there’s 2 Neurosonic massage chairs. The low-frequency vibration automatically affects your natural relaxation and recovery mechanisms, helping you to sleep better, relax and recover. 

I had a bit of difficulty getting the iPad controlled chair to work, but turning it off and then back on did the trick. This giraffe was tired after touring around Helsinki and the massage chair was rejuvenating.

Food and Beverage

The lounge offers hot breakfast from 5.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m; salad bar, hot meals, soup and snacks from 10.30 a.m. to 12 midnight and a selection of coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.

I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of the hot food items because there seemed to be an unrelenting flow of people, but they weren’t anything to write home about.

There was a selection of sweat treats, cookies and cakes including a large bowl of Oreo cookies. Giraffes love Oreo cookies! Nom nom nom.

There was a Freestyle Coke machine, which needs no explanation and then there was an impressive array of beverages including gin and wine on tap. I’ll go through each one:

• Carlsberg is a European Pale Lager style beer brewed by Carlsberg Danmark
• Koff is a European Pale Lager style beer brewed by Oy Sinebrychoff Ab in Kerava, Finland
• Hartwall Original Long Drink is a refreshing mix of Finnish premium gin and grapefruit soda
• Invenio White Wine
• Invenio Red Wine

I really appreciated all of the local speciality drinks they had available including Lapponia cloudberry liqueur. Cloudberries grow in all parts of Finland and are rich in vitamin C. I wanted to boost my immune system with all of the flying I was going to be doing so sampled this sweet and strong liqueur. Delicious!

The lounge also offers Louison Rosé and Cielo Prosecco. Both retail for around $10 a bottle, but the rosé was actually palatable. If you’re going to drink the Prosecco try adding a splash of the Lapponia cloudberry liqueur.

Overall Verdict

First Class Giraffe Approved

The Finnair business class lounge in the Schengen area is very good. While the food selection could be improved the diverse array of local beverages, great tarmac views and comfortable seating more than make up for it. My recommendation is to fill up on vendace with potatoes in the city and then head here for some nice drinks and relaxation.