Finnair have excellent lounges at Helsinki Airport. The catch is that these are nominally in the non-Schengen zone of the airport. Those transiting to Schengen destinations or within the zone will have to make do with this lounge instead. Here’s what it is like.

The space has a long shape which tapers around the terminal building, resulting in a large amount of passengers congregating in the main area near the Food Market.

As a positive, the lounge has excellent floor to ceiling windows which let light flood into the space. It is particularly refreshing especially when you’ve had an early start from your connecting flight.

I wasn’t able to get many pictures of the food and drink offering but it is basic. Consisting of a variety of plant-based food and an average selection of drinks, it’s not particularly inspiring and possibly worse than BA lounges.

There were plenty of seats available but the design in many areas meant that one person occupied multiple seats because they were either in a group of two or four.

I opted for the far end of the lounge to sit down and rest somewhere. While the lounge was certainly lacking in features, it did its job in providing a relaxing place to wait for my next flight.

I wouldn’t rush to this lounge if I were returning to Helsinki with an intra-Schengen flight. It’s not that nice, often rammed with people and the food offering isn’t great. Likewise, while I didn’t get any pictures, the toilets and shower rooms were in need of an upgrade.

Thankfully, Finnair recently announced that a new Schengen lounge will be opening in 2024 so we shouldn’t have to wait long for the airline to upgrade their offering at their hub airport.