Helsinki Vantaa Airport

This is a lovely modern airport with free wi-fi and a light airy environment. Bus transfer to the centre is efficient and reasonably priced. All airport staff encountered were friendly and polite. A really nice change compared to some airports. The only slight issue is the long walk to the BA gate - leave yourself plenty of time.

Upon arrival from Amsterdam on the 7th of September myself and a couple of business class passengers plus almost 25% economy class passengers were ended up to the wrong terminal in order to collect our check-in luggage. This is due to no gate agent to redirect the first few passengers who came out from the aircraft. On top of that the information on the arrival information screen and signages were a bit confusing. Eventually we managed to get back to the actual terminal arrival hall after almost 30 minutes walk. Finnair bus service to and from the airport was efficient quick and safe. On the departure day to Warsaw (10th of September) I arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight. There was no queue at the check-in counter. The lady at the counter was friendly and helpful same goes to the lady who handle the gate. She was really kind by changing me to a new seat number where I had the whole row by myself. I appreciate the free wifi at the airport as well.

Nice spacious airport with nordic glass wood and steel design. We departed for New York on a Saturday in July so were expecting long queues at security and immigration. Much to our surprise there was hardly anyone. Thumbs up for the first really friendly security officer I ever encountered. He works in Helsinki! Terminal easy to navigate and waiting for the plane is nice with free wifi. Other airports could follow this example. On the way back we had to run for our connecting flight due to late arrival but we made it in 15 mins also thanks to the fact that there were no queues again at immigration. Just a great airport.

I arrived from SIN in the very early morning on the 10th of June 2012. The airport was really quiet. There were less than 5 passengers were in the queue and there were 2 immigration staff manned the non-EU counters. The matured immigration staff was nice and polite. I was attended by the younger immigration staff. I think he was a robot who works for FBI. I wanted to rate the overall experience of HEL by 8 of 10. However I didn't because the young immigration staff was cold and doesn't know how to smile.

I had overall great experiences at Vantaa at least for my purposes which were leisure travel from the US on Finnair from New York. I purposely booked flights to Italy that included layovers in Helsinki both coming and going. On arrival to Vantaa on a Sunday morning I was able to easily get information on how to get into the city (two convenient bus options) and a very well-stocked tourist kiosk had great maps and walking tour suggestions in multiple languages. Pretty much everyone I dealt with spoke excellent English with no apparent problem with dealing with a non-Finnish speaker (not always the case on the Finnair flights). My layovers were long enough that I spent two nights in the airport and I was pleasantly surprised at how relatively comfortable this was. The airport had free wifi that had a strong signal (or whatever you call it) and was extremely easy to log onto. Also lots of electric outlets available to recharge devices. There were both brightly lit and diimmly lit areas for trying to settle in for the night to rest a bit and the ones close to the Terminal 2 entrances that I stayed by felt very safe and secure. At the far end of Terminal 2 (across from the new Starbuck's which was overpriced by US standards) is a more or less full service 24 hour grocery store. This was great for getting food and bottled water at something like one-third of the price that the regular airport kiosks charged and also great for loading up on food souvenirs like chocolate and licorice before flying out. Another thing I appreciated was that credit cards were welcome for even the smallest purchases. I was out of Euros on my way back to the states but my credit card was happily accepted for transactions as small as a postcard and postage stamp. Lines for security and passport control were 1-2 minutes in each case for me so that was fine too. Overall had a good impression of Finland and Vantaa and hope to return in the future for a more extended vacation.

I flew JFK-HEL-BUD on 28-29 April 2012. It took only a few short minutes to go through passport control. Signs indicated the time required to transit to departure gates. The airport was very efficient and clean. This is a far better airport for connections than CDG or LHR!

I travel here at least once a week on international flights. The airport has gradually changed from being a pleasurable one to now a crowded inconvenient mess. Particularly unappreciated are the changes to the check-in - now only Finnair ticket holders - irrespective of your One World status - can use the Security Fast Lane and the badly thought out lounge opening hours irritate - lounges are closed until 6.30 am which is too late if you are on an early flight. The spa has now closed for at least 4 months no opening date given. In addition on the last 3 domestic flights into Helsinki I have experienced poor luggage delivery times and the luggage service desk was worse than useless statements like 'your luggage is back there I think' 'my colleague should know but he is not here today' annoy and frustrate and a lack of tannoy communication shows an immaturity and lack of service skills. I now avoid flying here as Copenhagen is better cleaner and less stress.

I used it last week for arrival departure and connection. On arrival immigration took 1 minute then 5 minutes to retrieve bag and out of the airport 10 minutes after landing. Great transportation to the city good eateries landside. It is very user friendly easy to navigate nice to be in. Duty free options are worth an attention.

I was connecting from Tokyo to Madrid with Finnair. Security queues for incoming passengers to connecting hall were overcrowded and very slow the immigration officer at passport control desk was not polite. Waiting room 22b for my next flight was uncomfortable: one little room for more than 150 people all passengers in a A321 plane had to walk on slippery snow-ice to get into only 1 crowded bus waiting for 10 minutes with doors open with a –2 ºC temperature outside. Finally we get to the plane once again slippery pavement and an escalator covered with snow inside.

Upon arrival at the airport I was irritated by the apparent lack of seating and the toilets being upstairs. However as I moved towards the departure area things improved. There was plenty of seating and toilets were on the same level. The shops were better too.