Finnair Premium Lounge, Helsinki Vantaa
Background
Finnair's Premium Lounge at Helsinki’s Vantaa Airport is located in the non-Schengen zone, next door to Finnair's regular lounge. The lounge opened in August 2014, a time when the ordinary lounge was getting very crowded during certain times of the day. The new premium lounge is unlike the usual lounge in that access is only available to Finnair Plus Gold or Platinum passengers, or passengers with a One World Sapphire or Emerald card. The lounge area is 407 square metres and can accommodate 122 guests. It is divided into several sections, including a main lounge with seating area, a bar and restaurant, a smaller upper floor with a view of the apron, a separate room with lounge chairs, and a relaxation area with showers, and perhaps the most exiting and unusual addition, a sauna. The lounge is designed by Vertti Kivi, of the Finnish design company, ‘dSign Vertti Kivi & Co’, the same firm that designed Finnair's new business class and the new Schengen lounge. The design is attractive and appeals with a relaxed and harmonious composition based on the "Space Alive" concept developed by Vertti Kivi. This means the use of dynamic lighting, colours and sensations in different ways to match the season and time of day. There are multiple video projections in the lounge that help create these impressions, these vary depending on when you visit the lounge. The basic idea is that the Space Alive concept will promote peace and harmony, which it certainly does.
Food and drink
The food and drink is of a higher standard than in the ordinary Finnair lounge on the other side of the wall. Free champagne (Nicholas Feuillate) and multiple different wines of good quality are on offer. These are available at the manned the bar where a lounge host/ess is always on call. In addition, there are beers, liquors, coffee, tea and all sorts of alcoholic beverages. The food mainly consists of a self-service buffet of cold dishes, canapés and cold meats, but there is also some simple hot food available. Usually there are two different desserts on offer, like cake or mousse, as well as fruit salad. In the morning there are breakfast dishes. Further into the lounge there are two smaller beverage stations with coffee machines, tea and soft drinks.
Facilities
Next to the stairs to the upper floor there is a business centre, complete with computers and a small children's play room. The entire lounge has free WiFi (available throughout the airport) and Finnish and international newspapers are found in the restaurant area. Upstairs there is a separate rest rooms with recliners. The Lounge's stand out area is certainly the spa, which is located directly to the right after the reception. The idea of the spa goes back a few years to the time when the current location of the Lounge was once a full spa, "Finnair's Via Spa”, which included a jacuzzi and sauna. The entrance fee was quite expensive and the lounge did not receive many visitors. However, many missed the sauna, a Finnish tradition, and the result was today's arrangement of a sauna in the lounge. The spa area is comprised of a white tiled lobby with plants and recliners. On either side are shower rooms for those who simply want to take a shower. For those wishing to use the sauna, there are separate changing rooms for men and women, and there are also lockers for clothes and hand luggage. To get to the sauna you go out into the lobby again, pass through a room with two showers, which also offers body wash and soaps, and then you come to the common sauna. The sauna is not very large and is more reminiscent of a family sauna. There is room for a maximum of 4-5 people. To activate the sauna, press a button on the wall, a lid is opened over the heater and the sauna gets hot. In the spa lobby are towels and a beverage station with cold water.
Conclusion
Finnair's new Premium Lounge is delightful with a pleasing and harmonious design, food and drink of good quality (including complimentary champagne), and good facilities. The spa may not be spectacular, but the opportunity of a sauna after a long flight is a huge attraction. Overall, very good work by Finnair.
