Life in the Fast Track

Fast track is indeed a great invention that saves much time when it works, but can also be a real time thief when it doesn't.

Since I’m using Finnair’s / Oneworld’s fast track at Helsinki Airport more or less every week, I thought I would share a tip on when it makes sense to use the fast track and when not. In fact the efficiency of the fast track has puzzled me a lot over the years, because sometimes it’s faster than the regular security screening and sometimes it’s much slower.

So now to the point! By observing and trying I’ve come to the following conclusion (my apologies for the bad illustration below, drawing is definitely not one of my core competences).

My intention was to illustrate the queues leading up to the security screening at Helsinki Airport T2, as they looked yesterday morning at 6.50 (no there were no happy gingerbreads standing in line but that was the best illustration I could find in Power Point).

Normally a passenger who’s entitled to use fast track would choose the fast track when evaluating the length of the queues. However, this is not what you should do at Helsinki Airport T2.

The key to success is to spot how many screening devices are in use on the fast track. If it’s only 1, proceed to the slow track, but if there are 2 screening devices in use - use the fast track!

To put it in a nutshell: if both lines start at the same point of the terminal (i.e. same distance to the security screening) and there is only 1 screening device in use on the fast track - choose the slow track!

This may sound strange, but I’ve tested this thesis on several occasions and so far it hasn’t failed.