One of the highlights of the old Finnair Premium Lounge in Helsinki was the sauna in the lounge, a perfect way to stress down during a longer layover at the airport, perhaps as a way to freshen up after a longhaul flight. The good news is that the sauna is back in the new Finnair Platinum Wing, which opened in the beginning of June 2019. And they have even improved the concept.
Taking a sauna bath is an integral part of the Finnish culture and according to estimates there are over two million saunas in Finland, a land with a population of 5.5 million inhabitants.
A couple of years ago there was actually a proper Finnair Spa at the airport, in the same area now used for the Platinum Wing Lounge called ‘Finnair Via Spa’ offering different saunas, whirlpools and spa treatments. However all visitors had to pay for access, even when lounge access was included in the ticket, and the entrance fee was pretty steep. As a consequence the spa closed after some time due to an insufficient number of guests.
The Finnair Platinum Wing is available to Finnair Plus Platinum and Lumo members and OneWorld Emerald members travelling on a Finnair or a OneWorld flight the same day. It is located in the non-Schengen area at Helsinki airport next to the Finnair non-Schengen business lounge.
After the entrance you will find a corridor on your immediate left with private shower rooms, restrooms and the sauna.
The private shower rooms are on a first-come-first basis and subject to availability but the sauna is of course open to all lounge visitors and there are showers there as well.
The men’s locker room is the first door on the right in the corridor, the women’s locker room is further down.
In contrast to the old locker rooms in the Finnair Premium Lounge the new ones are fairly spacious and much larger.
There are decent pin code-operated lockers and there is even a power socket inside, if you want to charge your mobile phone or laptop during the sauna bath.
There are also two shower cubicles in the locker room and a dressing table.
Generally the standard has improved significantly compared to the tiny locker rooms in the old Premium Lounge where there was just one shower cubicle and very little space to move around. Even though the spa area is still fairly small you do have everything you may need for a proper experience.
Between the locker rooms, just outside the sauna, there is a lounge area with a large sofa and relaxing lighting effects. There is usually also some relaxing music or the sounds of exotic birds to listen to. This is something that was definitely not available in the old lounge.
The sauna is located behind the blue wooden door opposite the couch.
The sauna is roughly the same size as the old sauna in the Premium Lounge but looks slightly different, now in dark brown wood. There is seating for 4-5 lounge guests. In contrast to the old sauna there is no button on the wall to operate the sauna, instead you just add as much water as you want.
Verdict
The new sauna in the Finnair Platinum Wing is definitely an improvement. The sauna in the old lounge was great but you still had the feeling that Finnair argued “we’ll give it a try to see how it goes, otherwise it’s easy to convert the sauna and the locker room areas to more individual shower rooms”. Now there really is a proper spa concept with spacious locker rooms, a lounge area, a good selection of toiletries and even some relaxation music.
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