The Long Way Home: Three Flights From Longyearbyen
This review covers the three flights I took to return home from Longyearbyen after my winter trip to Svalbard.
Back home
After a short but wonderful time on Svalbard, during which I visited Longyearbyen and took a snowmobile ride to the Russian coal mining town of Barentsburg, it was time to fly home.
I waited in front of my hotel for the airport bus to arrive.
The bus departs approximately two hours before each scheduled flight departure, and each hotel will have a schedule indicating when it will make the stop at your accommodation.
Svalbard Airport is situated approximately five kilometres west of Longyearbyen, in a beautiful position overlooking both Adventfjorden, the fjord on which Longyearbyen is located, and the much larger Isfjorden.
When you arrive at Longyearbyen Airport, take a moment to look at the traffic sign outside, indicating that you are actually much closer to the North Pole than to Oslo!
Longyearbyen Airport
Longyearbyen Airport – the gateway to Svalbard – is decidedly functional and small in size.
There were four check-in desks, all of them being in use at the time I arrived.
Two of the check-in desks were for the SAS flight to Oslo on which I was booked, while the other two were for a Norwegian flight departing to the Norwegian capital.
Don’t expect any priority check-in desks or security lanes at Longyearbyen Airport – given the small size of the airport and the lack of crowds this is something that you don’t really need anyway.
Since all departures from Longyearbyen are domestic flights to Norway, there is only a security check at Svalbard Airport, and no passport control is conducted.
However, since Svalbard isn’t part of the Schengen Zone, while mainland Norway is, there will be passport control upon arrival at your Norwegian destination.
There isn’t much to do after security: There’s only one café and a souvenir shop at the airport, which has just enough seats for the two departing flights that leave within minutes of each other.
Longyearbyen (LYR) to Oslo (OSL)
SAS – Flight SK4491 – Boeing 737-700
Economy Class – Seat 7D
Departure: 1.10pm – Arrival: 4.05pm
Flight time: 2h55m – Distance: 1,255 miles
Price: 200 euro for OSL-LYR-OSL
Boarding
Longyearbyen Airport has no jet bridges and you simply walk from the terminal building to your aircraft when boarding commences.
Although that means you have to brave the cold when visiting in winter, it does have the advantage that you can make some great pictures of the airport and the planes.
Flying to Oslo
I had assigned myself seat 7D on the flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo.
This was a bit against my normal flying behaviour, as usually I would opt for a window seat, especially when departing from gorgeous places like Svalbard.
However, there are times when I opt for an aisle seat, particularly when I’m in a rush to disembark quickly and beat the crowds for passport control.
This was one of those occasions, given that I had just one hour and 45 minutes between landing in Oslo and the departure of my next Turkish Airlines flight.
As my Turkish Airlines flight was booked as a separate ticket, I would of course not be protected in case I missed it, which would have been the case if all my flights were part of one booking.
Although 1 hours and 45 minutes is normally plenty of time to self-connect at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, I knew it would be getting tricky this time around as the inbound SAS flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen had a one-hour delay, which reduced my virtual connection time in Oslo to just 45 minutes.
Oslo Airport
My SAS flight was pleasant, although I was constantly worried about my connection in Oslo.
Fortunately, there was fast and free Wi-Fi internet on board my SAS aeroplane, which allowed me to track my own expected arrival time, as well as the status of my next flight on Turkish Airlines.
I was relieved when I found out that the Turkish flight had a 40-minute delay upon departure from Istanbul as well, which meant that at least I would have a fighting chance to make it.
However, making the connection at Oslo Airport turned out to be trickier than I had initially anticipated.
It turned out that the plane would be used afterwards for a domestic flight, so it parked at the domestic terminal of Oslo Airport rather than the non-Schengen terminal.
Even though a jetbridge was connected to our plane, the pathway was blocked off, and we had to disembark through a side staircase that led to waiting buses on the tarmac.
These buses would transport us to passport control at the non-Schengen terminal.
It took quite some time for all the passengers to disembark the plane and to board the buses, as did the drive around the airport.
Upon arrival at the non-Schengen terminal, I had quite a distance to walk before reaching passport control and making my way back to the departures hall.
When I finally reached the gate for my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, boarding had already started.
Oslo (OSL) to Istanbul (IST)
Turkish Airlines – Flight TK1754– Airbus A321
Economy Class – Seat 6A
Departure: 5.15pm – Arrival: 11.10pm
Flight time: 3h55m – Distance: 1,509 miles
Price: 155 euro for OSL-IST-OTP
Turkish Airlines to Istanbul
My Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo to Istanbul was perfectly pleasant.
The snowy views of the Norwegian landscape upon take-off were pretty, and the complimentary meal was actually quite good.
I opted for the chicken curry, and the portion was quite generous, containing a substantial amount of meat – a rarity on a plane.
The mousse as desert was extremely tasty, and I would not mind having had a bigger portion of it.
I washed down my meal with a decent Turkish red wine.
Istanbul Airport
We landed with a slight delay at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, where the queues to reclear security were fortunately light.
It did not take long before I managed to make my way to the Turkish Airlines lounge.
This trip marked my final visit to Istanbul Ataturk Airport and the old Turkish Airlines lounge, as both closed down just a few weeks after my flight, with all airport operations being moved towards the massive new airport.
Despite all of its faults – overcrowding being the biggest issue – I had always liked the old Turkish Airlines lounge.
I therefore enjoyed all the excellent food and the fun surroundings (including a pool table to play with fellow passengers) one last time before heading towards the boarding gate for my third and final flight of the day.
Istanbul (IST) to Bucharest (OTP)
Turkish Airlines – Flight TK1041– Boeing 737-800
Economy Class – Seat 5C
Departure: 2.30am – Arrival: 2.45am
Flight time: 1h15m – Distance: 264 miles
Price: 155 euro for OSL-IST-OTP
On board Turkish Airlines
The last flight of this trip was a brutal red-eye at 2.30am.
The load of this Turkish Airlines flight, which was operated by a Boeing 737-800, was extremely light.
It looked like business class was completely empty, while economy was one third full at most.
Despite the late hour of the flight there was a meal service (breakfast) which I politely declined.
I dozed off instead for a bit and before I knew it we already started our final approach towards Bucharest Otopeni Airport.
Being the first to disembark the plane – and there being no queues at all at passport control – meant that I was already in my Uber at 2.50am, and back home around 3.20am – immediately hitting my bed after a long day of flying.
End of the trip report
My flight from Istanbul to Bucharest marked the end of my Svalbard trip.
If you missed any of the previous chapters of this trip report, you can find the trip report index below.
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Trip report index
This article is part of the ‘Snow Seeking in Svalbard: A Winter Trip Into the Arctic‘ trip report, which consists of the following chapters:
1. Low-Cost Travel to Norway: Oslo on the Cheap
2. Review: SAS Business and Gold Lounge Oslo Airport
3. Review: Mary-Ann’s Polarrigg Hotel, Longyearbyen
4. Longyearbyen: A Visit to the World’s Northernmost Town
5. A Svalbard Snowmobile Ride to Barentsburg
6. Barentsburg: A Visit to a Unique Russian Coal Mining Town
7. Pastel Winter: The Famous Blue Sunset Skies of Svalbard
8. The Long Way Home: Three Flights From Longyearbyen (current chapter)
