Helsinki Vantaa Airport

✅ Verified Review | Incredibly easy transfer from UK to Doha (all non-Schengen) with no security or passport control. Airport is small and busy but functional, clean and efficient. Staff very kind and competent. Problem is business lounges gets extremely busy with hardly any personal space between seats.

✅ Verified Review | Helsinki-Vantaa airport is simple and big enough. Food is delicious, but a little bit expensive. This is typical in Finland. I would like more shops to the airport from international fashion brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, for example. Staff always friendly.

✅ Verified Review | The positive points of Helsinki Airport are of course the easy transfer with short walks. Good for non-English speakers, as the airport staff who guide you can speak Chinese / Japanese / Korean and Thai. Also the staff at the Duty free shops can speak more languages. On the other hand the airport is dark with less lighting and the walkway is very narrow therefore congested in the late afternoon. Almost all AY-flight from/to European cities and long haul flight from/to Asian cities are arriving and departing at the same time. Furthermore there is not enough seats in the public areas or at the departure gates and not enough toilets.

✅ Verified Review | Fast and smooth departure to Riga. There were no queues. The atmosphere was peaceful and comfortable. The airport is easily accessible by a train from many stations in Helsinki area. The airport has a good mobile application to check for example how busy security checkpoints are.

❎ Unverified | On arrival at Helsinki airport it is difficult to know where to go or what to do. I had to check in and print the luggage ticket myself and then after that, queue again and go to the service desk. Very confusing. Also if you ask help from airline staff they are not happy to help you. After security you come to the duty free shop which is a bother to get through. No seats when waiting for boarding. (28 if I remember right). Very expensive food.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived on a Finnair flight from Copenhagen (15:30) with a 1 hour 45 minute connecting time for a flight to Bangkok. Flying business class both flights. My flight arrived on time with a short taxi and exit time from the plane to the terminal. I have flown through Helsinki many times and the airport terminal is always crowded, along with the lounges, but usually the line through passport control is not too long. Today was totally different. The line was over 1 hour and 30 minutes long. I just barely made my connection. Only half the passport booths were open. The line stretched way back into the terminal and there were hundreds of Chinese tourists in the line, all seemed to have passport problems at the windows. The airport staff made no consideration for people with nearing departure times and there is no priority line for business class travelers. Helsinki touts itself as a quick transit airport, but this is certainly not the case when there are multiple flights to Chinese cities departing around the same time.

✅ Verified Review | Helsinki is a fantastic airport, it has everything you need while still being small and compact, no long walks and easy to use. Fast service. If possible go "automatic' ie use the online check in, automatic passport control gates to make your experience even smoother.

Helsinki is most definitely my favorite airport in Europe. Of course it has its flaws but they are minor and fixable. The biggest issue for me are the bathrooms, which aren't very well maintained in my opinion. Last time I traveled the toilet wouldn't flush and there was no soap in nearly any of the dispensers. Also I think the new shops and restaurants between the gates 27 and 29 kind of ruined the awesome view to the tarmac.

✅ Verified Review | On afternoon rush hour terminal 2 was very crowded. Priority security was quick and comfortable, but once through the security all the aisles and common areas were full of people hurrying to their gates. Normal security entrance exits to a shop with very narrow aisles and makes proceeding extremely slow and painstaking. Gate areas hopelessly small and crowded, group or priority boardings almost impossible to do. The traffic has out grown the terminal building capacity, and maximising commercial areas have made the once very comfortable and easy airport a nightmare.

✅ Verified Review | Helsinki Vantaa is one of the most confusing airport I had experienced so far. Departure and arrival terminals are intertwined each other, with confusing signs and arrows which "almost always end up in an endless loop". If this is your last departure from Europe and you expect to have tax return, the location of tax free locket is also obscure and only visible from the elevator. Staffs in this airport are helpful, although they are scarce to find. Terminals are clean, regularly ordered, and easy to find. Shops and restaurants are mixed up one to another, and in my opinion their placement is not well-planned.