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YOUTUBE: Lufthansa: Helsinki to Frankfurt
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On the Schengen side of the airport, Helsinki has an Aspire lounge. This is for a lot of the non-One World carriers, as Helsinki is a One World hub thanks to hometown airline Finnair.
Once you cross security and head towards the gates, the lounge is on the 2nd level right next to gate 27. The signs are pretty clear.
Table of Contents
Entrance
Access Rules
In order to get into the Aspire Lounge here at gate 27, there are a few ways to get in:
- Entrance fee
- Eurocard
- Lounge Key membership
- Priority Pass membership
- Airline customer loyalty card (check from your airline whether its business ticket gives you admission to the Aspire Lounge)
- Under 18-year-old customers can visit the lounge accompanied by an adult
In my case, I was flying Lufthansa in business class and they contracted with this lounge for their passengers.
Seating
The lounge isn’t terribly big, which is normal for a contract lounge. But there was a good variety of seat options spread throughout the lounge.
There was a smaller room near the entrance where fewer passengers were sitting. I’d say this space was a little bit more intimate just because there were fewer seats here.
The main part of the lounge was much more dense as you get closer to where the food is.
The power ports were European style so keep that in mind.
If your are seated around a wall, keep an eye out for random seats along the walls as there won’t be power ports at the seats themselves.
If you have a larger group like a family, there were some seats with sleek booths and chairs for larger groups to occupy.
There was also some sectioned-off private seating. I’m not sure if this is something that maybe Lufthansa arranges for its HON Circle members, or other airlines for their super frequent flyers, or maybe a section for certain Aspire Lounge customers. The seats do look comfortable in this section.
How generous of the lounge to allow us to connect to Helsinki Airport’s wifi which we had access to anyways.
Food and Beverages
The lounge had an ok spread of food. I would’ve liked to see some hot options, but we did not get any of that. All the consumables were spread across 2 sections. You had 2 areas where all the food was. Closer to the entrance were snacks and all the beverages, and then deeper inside the lounge were some of the more filling foods.
Conclusion
The Aspire Lounge in Helsinki is a lounge I’d spend no more than 30 minutes to an hour in. It’s a good space to work with seating and occasional power ports throughout the lounge, but the wifi is the airport’s wifi and not anything special belonging to the lounge itself. The food just snacks and cold foods which is perfectly fine but I do wish there were a few hot options at least. Nonetheless, for all the purposes that a lounge is supposed to serve, it had most of the things you’d need for a contract lounge serving flights within Europe.