Premium OSL Lounge Review Oslo Airport, Norway
Premium OSL lounge is not another independent lounge at Oslo Gardemoen Airport, in fact, it's a part of the OSL lounge that's much newer and is known to the surprisingly few passengers.
The Premium OSL Lounge itself is not brand new, as it was first opened three years ago, the problem here is that the receptionists rarely inform passengers regarding this part of the lounge, so most passengers just ignore the small entrance and stay at the rather dated OSL Lounge.
Just like OSL Lounge, the access to Premium OSL Lounge is obtained by your elite status with an airline's frequent flyers program, or through some third party programmes, least fortunate case, you may pay 300 kroner for the admission.
Pratical Info:
Contracted Airlines:
Norwegian (long distance flights outside Europe, premium class), Aeroflot, Air France, Czech Airlines, KLM, British Airways, Finnair, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Icelandair, TAP Portugal, TUIfly, Nordic (long distance flights outside Europe, premium class), Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (Royal Class passengers).
Opening Hours:
Open from 9:oo am and close before normal lounge closing hours.
Third-party Access Via:
DragonPass, DNB, SpareBank, Handelsbanken
They even have a small transitional area before entering the Premium OSL Lounge.
Seating Area:
Since the lounge is newer, they offer some impeccable seating options, with the ambience of lights, you could mistaken it for those jaw-droppingly-nice lounges by Cathay Pacific, well, for just one second.
As I've mentioned, with the minimalistic style of the decor and the ambient lighting setup, they set off the ritziness of the lounge by contrast. Scandinavian design speak for itself here.
Large communal table with chairs, with power socket accessible in the middle.
Sofa sets arrangements, pleasant-looking and inviting.
Another part of the lounge with impeccable seating design.
The seating area are capacious and the furnitures are modern and full of taste. A small drawback here would be the lack of power socket on each individual seat.
Food & Drinks:
During breakfast hours, they offer exactly the same spread of food and drinks for passengers in both lounges, but was informed by one of the staff that food & drink offerings are slightly better after 1:00 pm and some other times during the day.
I've figured by myself that the tea offerings in the back is a boutique brand from Aarhus, Denmark; which is not available at the "normal" OSL lounge.
Norwegian local beer brand Hansa on tap.
Wine and sparkling wine offerings, not something you would go out your way to try.
Another gluten free corner. Casually displayed.
Breakfast offerings.
Sliced fruit and cheese plates. Also not available at OSL lounge.
Salats and salmon rolls.
Whole grains to complement cereals.
Waffles with fruit jam.
Bottom Line:
As I was about to leave the lounge for my flight, I noticed that they start to change into their lunch menu offerings, in which they served some warm plates like curry chicken with pita bread, so I would say, based on my observation, food and drinks offerings at Premium OSL Lounge is consistently better.
If you travel through Oslo airport often or in the future, definitely check out this part of the OSL lounge, I have always had reservations towards contracted lounges in Europe, but if these are what they can manage to offer, I doubt why I wouldn't have a pleasant pre-departue experience.
Are you surprised by what you see? I looked up online and fail to see much coverage on the new part of the lounge. All the other reviews are only showing the "normal" OSL lounge, so hope some of you guys are excited on finding out about this, as even on Avinor's website, they do not mention much about it, just the mere picture that set the clue for me.
As always, stay tuned.
