Finnair’s Platinum Lounge: 2023

The next flight on my trip in Europe after my flight from London to Helinski was a more typical European Business Class flight from Helsinki to Berlin. I split this post in two because I wanted to talk more about Finnair’s Platinum Lounge, which is my favorite lounge in Europe.

Normally, one doesn’t get access to this lounge when flying business class (including long-haul). As the name suggests, the lounge is for Finnair’s Platinum members, which is equivalent to Oneworld Emerald. In line with Oneworld’s access policies, the lounge is open to anyone with Oneworld Emerald status on Oneworld flight in any cabin or someone flying First Class on a Oneworld partner. In practice, it’s the lounge for Oneworld Emerald status holders because there are no Oneworld First Class service (that I’m aware of at least) from Helsinki (but one could be connecting onto, for example, a BA First flight via London in theory).

I was allowed entry thanks to my BA Gold Status, which confers Oneworld Emerald status.

Upon arrival in Helsinki, we were let out into the non-Schengen part of the airport.  Most airports in Europe have the concept of “sterile airside transit”, which means that you do not need to clear passport control in order to change flights when traveling between two non-Schengen destinations.  Thus, I was able to stay outside the Schengen zone and able to visit Finnair’s Platinum Wing, which is their best lounge.

When I attempted to enter the lounge, the automatic gate wouldn’t let me through, so I had to speak with the attendant.  He tried to direct me to the Schengen lounge, but I told him straight up that I wanted to go to the better lounge.  He reminded me that I still had to clear passport control, and I confirmed that I understood that and had plenty of time before my flight.  Especially when you consider how efficient Finnish border control is and how empty the airport was.

Upon entering the lounge, I headed directly for the dining area to get a quick fix of Finnish food, haha.

The Finnair Platinum Wing is still a world-leading lounge, but it’s definitely lost a step or two from cost-cutting.  The dining concept is the same as in 2022, where it’s a buffet of starters and mains, but the extensive mains menu has been cut back substantially.

The food is decent, but what really sets this lounge apart is the sauna. As is expected, it’s separated into a men’s sauna and a women’s sauna.

Once you enter the lounge, you immediately find yourself in the locker room. There are a few lockers that have electronic locks you can set yourself and two showers. Across from these are a massive rack of towels and disposable slippers. I kept a pair of slippers as a souvenir.

After exiting the locker room is a sitting area with a nice, large couch and buckets that you can put ice in to keep some drinks cold.

There’s also a hose area at the far end for a quick cold water spray.

The sauna itself is made of much darker wood than I would normally expect for a Finnish sauna. The color works really well with the upscale vibe the lounge is going for.

After my sauna session, there was about 20 minutes until boarding, so I proceeded to the Schengen side of the terminal.  There was no line at passport control, so I cleared within a minute and still had 15 minutes before boarding, so I stopped by the Schengen lounge before my next flight.

In summary, I highly recommend stopping to visit this lounge if you have access during any trip to Helsinki Airport. The main way to access the lounge is by having Oneworld Emerald Status (e.g. BA Gold). The buffet food is good, and the sit-downing menu is pretty good still, if a bit small. The lounge’s real claim to fame is the sauna.