News for travel agents

Impact of the political industrial actions on Finnair flights

Hotspot
Published Updated

Latest Update 31.01.2024:  

  • Refund instructions clarified. 

  • Added information that refund handling times are 2-4 weeks. 

  • Airlines allowed: All airlines with interline agreement allowed for re-booking. 

  • 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) 

On 19 January 2024, several trade unions in Finland announced a 48-hour political industrial action from 1 to 2 February 2024. The strike will significantly disrupt Finnair's operations at Helsinki Airport and affect almost all our critical functions, which, unfortunately, means that we must cancel approximately 550 flights.

When customer has a booking on 31 January – 3 February 2024, re-scheduling can be done in advance or booking can be postponed, so that the travel date is 15 March 2024 at the latest.

Finnair has published cancellations on 30JAN24 for 01FEB24 and customers are notified automatically after the cancellation has been published. On 30JAN24 three flights cancelled for 02FEB24: AY142 BKK-HEL / AY62 HND-HEL / AY87 HEL-PVG. The rest of cancellations for 02FEB24 flight will be done on 31JAN24.  

Finnair will rebook customers from 01FEB to 31JAN flights as much as possible. This may take some time. If 31JAN not suitable for customer, 03-04 FEB flights can be used. Please contact agent info if needed. 

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.

EventPolitical industrial action
Route/market/destination/airports impactedALL Finnair operated flights / destinations
Travel dates impacted31JAN24-03FEB24
Applies to tickets issued by19JAN24
New travel dates

Before the strike: 19JAN-30JAN24

After strike: 04FEB-15MAR24

If needed, the return date can be changed so, that the duration of the trip will be the same as originally.

Changes to origin/destination/stopover Allowed within same country if suitable option on original routing not available. 
Airlines allowedAll airlines with interline agreement allowed for re-booking. 
Booking class to be usedSame or lowest available booking class within same cabin 
Number of allowed changesOne change free of charge, further changes according to normal ticket rules
Mandatory waiver text in OSI elementOS AY CHANGE DUE TO POLITICAL INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS
OS AY REFUND DUE TO POLITICAL INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS
Mandatory indicator in front of fare calculation on the reissued ticket‘I’-indicator
Mandatory text in the endorsementINVOL 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, even if any of the booked flights are not cancelled by Finnair. 

Edifact bookings: Cancel the booking/remaining segments and refund the ticket directly in your own GDS. If that is not possible, apply for refund via BSPlink Refund Application. ARC-agents, see more information about refunds on general Refunds-instructions.

NDC bookings: Before requesting refund, the booking must be cancelled.

1) If the flight is not cancelled by AY, contact Agent Help Desk and request the cancellation of the booking. Proceed with the refund request via BSP/ARC.

2) If the flight is cancelled by AY, booking can be cancelled using Manage booking on Finnair.com or by contacting Agent Help Desk. Apply for refund via BSPlink Refund Application. ARC-agents, see more information about refunds on general Refunds-instructions. 

It is good to notice that we are getting more refund requests than normal. Our refund handling time is, on average, 2-4 weeks. 

Bookings with connecting flights not in sync with new schedule

We have tried to keep all the connections which are on the same ticket but there might be cases where it is not possible to offer a smooth connection with the changed schedule; postpone the travel to a later flight/date in original booking class or cancel the booking for a full refund, rerouting to other airline is not allowed 

 Rerouting to other airlines is not allowed except for 

  • flights to/from Australia, where rebooking of the connecting flight within IATA Area 3 (Asia/Australia) is allowed between BA/CX/QF/JQ/JL but the long-haul flight between Helsinki and Area 3 must remain on Finnair. 
AncillariesThe 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 and mention “ARC Agent” in the additional information box)
Groups
  • Changes or free cancellations are allowed for group bookings if their travel date is between 31JAN and 03FEB. Groups booked for this period can choose to travel earlier or postpone their travel.
  • For groups there is no restriction that the travel date should be no later than March 15, 2024 as is for individuals.
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.

More information about the customer communication at finnair.com.