Travel documents

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It is important to ensure that passengers have all the needed travel documents up to date and with them. They will be asked to prove their identity at various points during their journey. The travel documents they need depend on their nationality, destination and transit countries.


Travel documents accepted on Finnair flights

Citizens of Finland and Scandinavia

Flights within Finland and other Nordic countries:

  • Passengers of 16 years and over must carry a passport, a photo identification, a social security card with a photo (Kela card) or a driver’s licence.
  • Passengers under 16 years travelling with their parents are not required to have an identity card of their own.
  • Passengers under 16 years travelling alone or with someone other than their parents must carry either a passport, a photo identification or a social security card with a photo (e.g. Kela card or official identity card).
  • Passengers under 12 years travelling alone and carrying a properly completed Unaccompanied Minor Advice form (PDF) are not required to carry an identity card of their own. However, the people seeing them off and receiving them at their destination must prove their identity with a valid form of identification (e.g. an official identity card or a passport).

There are still changes to the travel document requirements in some countries due to coronavirus. Please see more information on the Travel requirements map or Travel Updates page.

Flights within the Schengen Area, EU countries and Switzerland:

  • Passenger needs a passport or a photo identification complying with EU standards and allowing international travel.

Flights to destinations outside the EU:

  • Passenger needs a passport and, when necessary, a valid visa or a residence permit.
  • When travelling to the USA, Canada or Australia, please see our additional instructions. More about ESTA clearance please see here.


Other EU nationals and citizens of Switzerland

Flights within Finland and between countries in the Schengen Area or the EU:

  • Passenger needs a passport or a photo identification complying with EU standards and allowing international travel.

Flights to destinations outside the EU:

  • Passenger needs a passport and, when necessary, a valid visa, residence permit or another travel document that entitles travel via/entry into the country.
  • When travelling to the USA, Canada or Australia, please see our additional instructions. More about ESTA clearance please see here.


Other EU nationals and citizens of Switzerland

Flights within Finland and between countries in the Schengen Area or the EU:

  • Passenger needs a passport or a photo identification complying with EU standards and allowing international travel.

Flights to destinations outside the EU:

  • Passenger needs a passport and, when necessary, a valid visa, residence permit or another travel document that entitles travel via/entry into the country.
  • When travelling to the USA, Canada or Australia, please see our additional instructions. More about ESTA clearance please see here.


Citizens of countries outside the European Union

  • Passenger needs a valid passport, and when needed, a valid visa, residence permit or another travel document that allows entry via the first Schengen country and possible onward travel to any other Schengen country.
    • For example, when travelling via Finland to Denmark, the travel documents must be valid for entering both Finland and Denmark.
  • See the visa requirements and travel documents accepted by Finland
  • When travelling to Finland and the Schengen area, passenger’s passport must be valid for more than 3 months beyond the period of intended stay.


Travelling through more than one Schengen country

If the route includes more than one Schengen country, passenger enters the Schengen area.

Travelling to a Schengen country through another Schengen country

If passenger is travelling to their Schengen destination country via another Schengen country, they need to fulfil the visa regulations of both the country through which they enter the Schengen area and the destination country. Although both countries are Schengen member states, the regulations and the accepted documents may not be the same for both countries.

  • For example, if they are travelling from Shanghai to Frankfurt via Helsinki, their travel documents must be valid for entry via Finland (fulfil the requirements of Finland) and they must be valid for onward travel to Germany.

Transferring via one Schengen country

If passenger only transits via one Schengen country and their destination is outside the Schengen area, they don’t enter the Schengen area, and a visa is not required.

  • For example, if they are travelling from New Delhi to New York via Helsinki, their travel documents must be valid for the USA.

Transferring via more than one Schengen country

If passenger transits via two or more Schengen countries although their destination is outside the Schengen area, they need to enter the Schengen area, and a visa is required.

  • For example, if they are travelling from New Delhi to Montreal via Helsinki and Paris, their travel documents need to be valid for the Schengen area (fulfil the requirements of Finland) and for Canada.


Additional requirements for minors

In some countries, travel consent from parents or guardians is required for minors travelling alone or in the company of only one parent or guardian. The consent may be required either when leaving or entering the country.

To find out whether the authorization of minors will be required on a particular journey, please contact the local authorities of the country passenger is departing from as well as the embassy of their destination country.


Visa requirements

Airlines are not required by law to inform their passengers of visa requirements at the time of reservation/ticket sales, nor are they liable for any expenses caused to the passengers by fees levied by authorities or other expenses incurred due to insufficient travel documents. See Finnair General Conditions of Carriage Article 13.

However, to avoid the passenger being denied from the flight at the airport, it is recommended that, at time of reservation, the passenger is either told of the visa requirements of his/her destination/transit country or the passenger is advised to contact the embassy/consulate of the country concerned to find out whether a visa is needed. To assist the passenger, the Travel Agent can obtain visa information via the Timatic database in Amadeus. For further information see Timatic.

As obtaining a visa in some cases can take weeks it is essential that the passenger gets information of any visa requirements as early as possible. It is also essential to provide the passenger with the airline’s General Conditions of Carriage to make the passenger aware that he/she is solely responsible for the travel documents being in order for the complete journey. A printable version of Finnair’s Conditions of Carriage for Passengers and Baggage is available at: Conditions Of Carriage.