OSL Lounge – Oslo (OSL)

Welcome to the imaginatively named OSL Lounge at Oslo’s Gardermoen International Airport. For those with access or a willingness to buy their way in, the OSL lounge is a perfectly acceptable if not quite luxurious way to wait for your flight to somewhere, anywhere less expensive. You won’t be swept off your feet, but for the budget travelers who have been denying themselves beer, now’s your chance to go buck wild. For a full review of this mediocre space, read on!

The OSL longe is the intended for the use of non-Star alliance airlines – a mix of carriers from Oneworld and Skyteam and others have all gone in together here, while Star Alliance airlines all use one of the three SAS lounges sprinkled around the terminal. To reach the lounge, once you’ve gone through security you should head through the “international” barrier gates, then go upstairs once you reach the Starbucks. After check in, you’ll find yourself in a medium-sized space with a range of drinks

The Facts

The lounge is located on the second floor, after you’ve gone through the security gates and wended your way through Duty Free (must. resist. 5kg. Milk. Duds.) Once you go up the stairs, the SAS lounge is to your right, and the OSL lounge to the left. Inside, you’ll find a reasonable amount of seating, some light food items, decent drink options, and internet so fast you’ll burn your fingers if you aren’t careful.

One important note is that there are actually two lounges inside this space – the business lounge is only for people actually travelling business class. They are ushered quickly behind a curtain located just after the check-in desk, where I assume they are hand-fed caviar as they laze inside the deck jaccuzzi. We were in economy so…maybe next time?

The Positives

The Wifi

The internet is fast. Really fast. Whatever you need to get done, will get done. It’s not the fastest we’ve ever seen (hello, KL!) but its right up there with the best of the best.

The Beverages

The beverages in this lounge are many, but are spread across a wide range of machines. Moving from left to right you have a soda fountain with Pepsi products, then the juice machine and, for some reason, more juice in pitchers. Next comes water-on-tap (still and sparkling), followed by white and red wine on tap. Then a beer tap (Helsa) followed by some beer bottles. Lastly, there is coffee and an assortment of champagnes. Not a bad selection.

The Negatives

The Space

The space is honestly fine – but with so many airlines using this lounge it can get a bit crowded. Once you’ve passed by the food options, there are a range of seats, some looking out over the parking area. One plus is the feeling of openness that comes from the large, bright windows that liven up an otherwise cramped space.

The Food

The food is there. So that’s good. Again, for those impoverished tourists looking to fill their bellies after days of want, there’s enough to get you back to life. But the pasta and light meats and cheeses are not really enough to get you excited about for flagship lounge (again, this is an actual airline lounge, not a Priority Pass space.)

Final Grades