Finland-Russia border closure from 30NOV23 until further notice

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Published Dec 5, 2023 Updated Apr 4, 2024

Latest update:

The Finnish Government has decided on 04 April 2024 that the border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia will remain closed until further notice. In addition, the border crossing points for maritime traffic at Haapasaari, the port of Nuijamaa and Santio will be closed to leisure boating as of 15 April.

Please see the updated Exceptional Customer Policy in this news.

As of 18 November 2023, at 00:01 (Finnish time) - equivalent to 17 November 2023 22:01 UTC - the land borders with Russia have been closed.

On 04 April 2024, The Finnish Government has decided that the border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia will remain closed until further notice. In addition, the border crossing points for maritime traffic at Haapasaari, the port of Nuijamaa and Santio will be closed to leisure boating as of 15 April 2024. The latest information regarding closure of the border crossing points can be found on the Finnish Boarder Guard's website.

For bookings made via NDC: same policy applies and for booking handling contact our Agent Help Desk by clicking on the chat icon at the bottom right corner of the page (select NDC Support) for the change or cancellation.

Event	Finland´s land borders closure with Russia
Route	All AY routes
Travel dates impacted	18NOV23 - until further notice
Applies to tickets issued on or before	20NOV23, if journey on 18NOV23-18FEB24 08FEB24, if journey on 19FEB24-14APR24 04APR24, if journey on 15APR24 until further notice
New travel dates	Within ticket validity (one year)
Changes to origin/destination/stopover	Not allowed
Airlines allowed	Finnair (AY) only
Booking class to be used	Same or lowest available booking class within same cabin. Ticket price difference to be collected. Upper booking class allowed only if customer pays for the difference
Number of allowed changes	One change free of charge, further changes according to normal ticket rules
Mandatory waiver text in OSI element	OS AY CHANGE DUE TO Russian border closure OS AY REFUND DUE TO Russian border closure
Mandatory indicator in front of fare calculation on the reissued ticket	‘I’-indicator
Mandatory text in the endorsement	INVOL REROUTE to be used when involuntary reissue is due to unexpected reason 2 days or less before departure (together with ‘I’-indicator in the fare calculation)
Refunds	Full or partial refund allowed. Cancel the booking/remaining segments and refund the ticket directly in your own GDS (if that is not possible, process refund via BSP/ARC). A customer refund will be treated under Force Majeure circumstances as per rules defined in the Condition of Carriage. Important to know that the customer will not receive a full refund. Customer’s pre-paid ancillaries are refunded and taken into force majeure calculation too.
Ancillaries	The above-mentioned change policy applies also to ancillaries, for the one free change follow the ancillary instructions on Easy. Refund allowed only in case a similar ancillary service is not available on the new flight. Process EMD refunds via BSPlink refund application (ARC users: apply for refund via Refund Web-form, mention “ARC Agent” in the additional information box)
Groups	If tickets have been issued, Finnair will re-route to alternative services If tickets have not yet been issued, Finnair will rebook on alternative Finnair operated flights. In case an alternative option is not available and therefore offered, please contact Finnair Group Sales Support for further information
Important information	Full instructions for involuntary changes are available here. “Finnair (AY) only” also includes those flights which are operated by NoRRA or by Iberia for Finnair/Widerøe for Finnair These same rules apply also to individual bookings with TO fares. Adhering to this policy is the user’s responsibility. Finnair reserves the right to change or withdraw these guidelines at any time.