Leaving Helsinki airport on long transit - check through luggage?

[BJReplay]

This is very much a noob question, and the answer is probably well known to all regular international travellers, but I'm not...

I was flying from Rome to Hong Kong on a QF points award booking on Finnair with a two hour transit in Helsinki.

The Helsinki - Hong Kong flight we were on was cancelled, and Qantas to their credit have re-booked us in J on the next flight out of Helsinki, but we now have almost 9 hours between arriving and departing.

So, our plan is to spend a couple of hours looking around Helsinki, rather than just the airport lounge.

Can we check our baggage through to Hong Kong, but clear customs at Helsinki, or do our bags need to follow us through customs?

If our bags need to come with us, does anyone know if there are lockers to leave them at the airport - I'm sort of assuming not since 9-11.

 

[kamchatsky]

Should be able to check baggage all the way through as long as it is all in 1 ticket.

Given you have 9 hours of transit you can catch Finnair bus to city. Takes about 40 minutes. You probably can stay in city for at least 5 hours.

Transportation - Finnair

The City is pretty small so you probably can see most of Helsinki within those 5 hours.

Tourist | Visit Helsinki

- Senate Square Senaatintori
- Uspenski Cathedral
- Rock Church
- Espenlade
etc

All are walkable distance, and enjoy your cafes/restaurants along the way.

Suomenlinna is probably too much of a stretch to do in your transit time though. .

 

[ozmille]

Should be able to check baggage all the way through as long as it is all in 1 ticket.

Given you have 9 hours of transit you can catch Finnair bus to city. Takes about 40 minutes. You probably can stay in city for at least 5 hours.

Transportation - Finnair

The City is pretty small so you probably can see most of Helsinki within those 5 hours.

Tourist | Visit Helsinki

- Senate Square Senaatintori
- Uspenski Cathedral
- Rock Church
- Espenlade
etc

All are walkable distance, and enjoy your cafes/restaurants along the way.

Suomenlinna is probably too much of a stretch to do in your transit time though. .

We have done this when our BKK-HEL flight got a delayed departure and we missed our BRU connection. We took the bus out to the city and had a really nice day prior to our short hop over to BRU in the afternoon.

 

[BJReplay]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions - really looking forward to this now!

 

[Alanslegal]

We took the Finnair Bus as well, takes you directly to the City, grab a walking tour map. Hopefully its a nice sunny day and its a lovely city to walk around.

 

[Voyages]

We took the Finnair Bus as well, takes you directly to the City, grab a walking tour map. Hopefully its a nice sunny day and its a lovely city to walk around.

The Finnair Bus will cost you €6.20 each way. It leaves from platform 10 in front of T2 and arrives at platform 30, next to the Central Railway Station. I was there last week and it was pretty cold for the whole week (plus drizzling for a couple of days). I hope it'll be nice and sunny for you. Worth taking a jacket with you just in case

 

[Alanslegal]

I hope it'll be nice and sunny for you. Worth taking a jacket with you just in case

Thanks but I'm not visiting HEL anytime soon, well I do have a transit next month but that doesn't count. When we went last year we were lucky and it was definitely shorts n t shirt weather

 

[Voyages]

Thanks but I'm not visiting HEL anytime soon, well I do have a transit next month but that doesn't count. When we went last year we were lucky and it was definitely shorts n t shirt weather

Lucky you. The cold weather and the bright sky at 2-3am were definitely 'different'. Also, the 'you' in my previous comment was meant to be for BJReplay

 

[Quentin]

I've just been reading this thread, very helpful. I'll be coming into HEL from JFK in November, then on to BKK later that day. Get in around 9am and leave around 4.30. Both legs of this part of the journey are with Finnair so I'm assuming I'll be able to check the baggage through from JFK & just store the hand luggage at the airport. That should leave me with about 4 to 4.5 hours to head into the city and have a look around. I assume clearing immigration is simple and Australians don't require any strange visa arrangements?

 

[Voyages]

I assume clearing immigration is simple and Australians don't require any strange visa arrangements?

It's all very smooth.

Weather-wise, I assume it could be cold-ish and wet.

 

[casanovawa]

On my recent overseas trip in a few places when there was a longish transit time between flights, even over night, on the same airline i was able to get them to check my bags through so i wasn't lumbered with them...

On a couple of other occasions when i had like a longish or over night transit with different airlines and didn't want to either be lumbered with the bags or pay to have them stored at the airport, i just didn't collect them from the baggage terminal and walked out and picked them up the next day or so from the airlines luggage area (after asking before hand whether i'd be able to pick them up say within 24 hours without them being taken out and destroyed etc)

So either scenario could probably work to save you a few bucks and not be stuck with them for some quick touring...

Bit OT but i am weighing up visiting Helsinki next year, would a couple of days be sufficient to see the sites if it isn't that big by the sounds of it???

 

[Quentin]

It's all very smooth.

Weather-wise, I assume it could be cold-ish and wet.

Thanks. Yes the weather is the bit I'm not looking forward to but it's all about the experience of traveling. Coming from Darwin it's sometimes nice to have a bit of time in the other extremes.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You probably can stay in city for at least 5 hours.

that should be enough time to see the whole of helsinki about, oh, 5 times!

 

[BJReplay]

Well it's been a three months today since my day trip to Helsinki. Checking through baggage was no problem. We got a locker for around 5 euro that fitted all of our carry on bags as well (lowest level in the airport building - after you clear customs if you've come from a non-schengen port), so we basically had cameras, wallets & passports on us - which made it even easier. Really worthwhile if you have a longish transit. And if you're travelling in J and can use the Finnair lounge, it is once of the nicest J lounges.

 

[Quentin]

not traveling J but I'm a Gold QF members so I should have access to that lounge.