Exploring Oslo Airport and the OSL Lounge
Summer Premium Adventures
In this Summer Premium Adventure (Warning: Long!)
- In the Summertime when the weather is hot…
- Off to Heathrow, British Airways Galleries North Lounge
- BA762 London Heathrow to Oslo – A321neo (EuroTraveller)
- Oslo Airport, OSL Lounge
- AY914 Oslo to Helsinki, Business Class
- Helsinki Airport lounging
- QR302 Helsinki to Doha (Business Class)
- Doha Lounge Stop Part 1
- QR946 Doha to Singapore (QSuites)
- Hotel Indigo, Katong, Singapore
- Exploring Hawker Markets
- Intercontinental, Bugis, Singapore
- Orchids Everywhere – The National Orchid Garden
- Off to Changi featuring the Singapore Pokemon Centre
- Scoot TR604 Singapore to Bangkok
- Dream Hotel, Bangkok
- Exploring the Wats
- Food Mistakes in Bangkok (Or Regrets. I have a more than a few)
- Back to Suvarnabhumi, Qatar Airways Lounge, Bangkok Airport
- QR833 Bangkok to Doha (QSuites)
- Another long Doha Layover
- QR175 Doha to Oslo
- Back at Oslo Airport
- BA767 Oslo to London Heathrow (EuroTraveller)
- Homeward bound
- Always Curious
Preface:
There’s a joke here from the old days of flash animation by Jonti Weebl Pickering – this delightful animation about Keyna.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbYtASAakAI
Kenya believe it?
Big neo engines are big
A321neo. Shame it’s missing more than a few PaxEx amenities.
Norwegian Boeing 737-800
Thai Airways Airbus A350-900
With me in Norway, I first had the joy of entering the Schengen zone. And this was met with a little futility – as my passport has been dicey in terms of its Biometric chip not wanting to work.
I tried to clear automatically a couple of times, and the computer said no. Then the border agent tried, and again the computer said no. Reluctantly, they filtered me through to a manual clearance channel.
I guess they don’t like people clogging up the manual clearance channels.
I was then cleared at Passport control manually and allowed to enter the Schengen area
That done, my next stop would be to collect my baggage – and its a hike from passport control to baggage collection… where you come across a large duty-free shop on exit.
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To the arrivals!
They really like milking for money at the airport.
All the Kvikk!
I headed past the duty free shop and to the luggage belt, where bags had started arriving. Thankfully, British Airways decided to send my bag with me – rather than fly it around the world without me.
Belt life.
With my bag and me reunited, it was time to head out of the secure area and check-in for my next flight – to Helsinki
With around 2 hours before departure, I had a little time to play with – but not as much as I would have liked when on separate tickets.
Departures area
Press for human contact…
I made haste to the departure level, and over to check-in Zone 1 – where the oneworld airlines had a check-in.
Why Crow… why?
Finnair had three check-in lanes opened – however, the process was slow in any lane as it seemed everyone was going long haul – and were checking in the heavy amounts of luggage.
It’s a mite busy.
Closing in
It took the best part of 15 minutes to navigate this queue, but eventually, I was seen to.
My passport was scanned, and any details were collected. With that information, my bag tagged through to Singapore and the boarding passes were issued. I was advised where the lounge was and what to look out for.
With a brace of boarding passes in my hands, I was allowed to head over to the gate area.
But first, I had to navigate the security area
Oslo Airport has a few interesting features – one of which is the family security zone – which is an excellent idea – and also enforceable by boarding pass.
Meanwhile, I chose a normal security gate line,
It took two scans of my bags to let through – the camera gear was confusing the scanners it seemed. With that done, I was in the domestic airside area.
And passing some delightful bears driving cars.
Once through, my next priority was finding a lounge. Yes, I just had breakfast, but I some water. And maybe bubbles
The lounge is best described as “hidden away” which requires leaving the domestic zone of the airport and entering the “European//Schegen” area, passing through the duty-free shop (or use the passageway if you can find it), and finally head up some stairs in a hidden bit of the airport.
Follow the signs through duty-free. Buy all the things.
Although the wayfinding at least was more than passable to find where the lounge was hidden. And they did a good job of hiding it.
OSL Lounge
I entered the lounge to find it empty of staff. I rung the bell, and a member of staff came out to greet me and check me in.
I was directed to the premium side of the lounge, and I settled into an early quiet lounge.
The quiet premium area.
There was a mixture of hot and cold items in the lounge as well as seating – with USB and mains charging sockets – a welcome thing to see.
Cold items
Soup
Cold items
Sweet Pancakes
A really good #PaxEx thing to see – a Gluten-Free Corner for those who need gluten free items.
And the quietness of the lounge was welcome after dealing with the duty-free shop and bustle of the main terminal.
I could deal with this
There also were some bubbles here – so this felt like the first time to enjoy them properly on this trip
This was a useful time to gather myself and edit a few things (apparently, people don’t like posts where images aren’t rotated correctly because of a fault in software), as well as work out my next steps.
With the clock ticking, it was time to head off again, and this time navigate Oslo Airport. At least the wayfinding is …. Adequate. Not good, but adequate. With the Finnair flight departing from the back end of the D Gates, it was a bit of a walk to where I needed to be.
Arriving at D9, it was a chaotic scene, with a Lufthansa fight boarding at the same time.
It’s easy to find trolls. It’s called the comments sections of most blogs when you don’t press approve straight away.
Another great idea. A Nursing area for parents with small children. Dear airports – find the space and add this.
Arriving at the gate area, it was more than a little busy – mainly as there was a planeload of passengers at the next gate getting ready to go to Frankfurt. With our flight being upscaled from an E-190 to an A319, this didn’t help with the crowd situation.
With the automatic announcements going off to control boarding, priority boarding was announced. I took my leave of Oslo Airport and headed aboard the waiting Finnair flight.
Next: Finnair AY914 Oslo to Helsinki
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