Helsinki - Lahti seat reservation

Finland is now one of the worst countries for passholders.

It is not possible to get passholder reservations for VR online.

Only in person at Finnish ticket offices (very few stations still have ticket offices) or by phone.

Reservations cost 25% of the price of tickets at time of booking, as these prices are dynamic the reservation costs vary.

It may be better value (and easier) to not use Eurail and just book regular fares from VR.

See this link for details and instructions for reservations across Europe.

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm#Finland

My experience with Finnish trains has been positive. It does require an international call but they're very helpful through the phone, and since tickets are often quite affordable 25% of the ticket price is often similar to what you pay for reservations elsewhere.

If you have a continuous pass: For the journey from Helsinki to Lahti pass you can consider using one of the frequent slightly slower commuter services (1h05 instead of 51 minutes of the intercity trains). Reservations aren't necessary for commuter services.

If you have a flexi pass and Helsinki-Lahti is the only journey you're taking that day, it's not worth using a travel day for that journey. Commuter tickets cost €15 and you can even find cheaper tickets for specific long-distance departures.

I'm not sure I'd bother with a reservation for a short journey. On the VR website and app you can see what seats are still available: start a regular seat booking and then click on "Change seat”.

As to the price: for short distances, the reservation price will be what you'd expect an optional reservation to cost (around €5). For longer distances, this can be considerably more. I don't think charging €25 for e.g. Helsinki-Oulu is justified just to have an optional reservation. To me, that looks more like a way to get more income from pass users.