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Effects of pilot standby ban on Finnair flights

Latest update: The Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association SLL standby ban and other industrial actions continue.
 

The Finnish Air Line Pilots' Association’s (SLL) standby ban on Finnair pilots, together with their other industrial actions, will impact Finnair’s flights and lead to cancellations of individual flights. During the standby ban, pilots will not come to work from on-call shifts, so when a pilot falls ill, for example, on-call pilots are unavailable, and the flight has to be cancelled. These industrial actions are related to the ongoing collective labour agreement negotiations between Service Sector Employers Palta and the SLL.

When Finnair has to cancel a flight, a new routing will automatically be provided for the affected customers and is visible on PNRs.  Customers will be notified of the cancellation of their flight by email or SMS and they can see the new routing in Finnair's Manage booking service and mobile application as soon as the rerouting has been made.

Finnair has proposed a new connection to the customer and automatically updated the ticket.*

*If the Doha flight is disrupted in 0-24 h window, Finnair will rebook all the affected customers, both AY and QR customers. Otherwise, Qatar Airways as the marketing carrier is responsible of handling rebooking, customer communications and customer care of QR customers.

In case the new schedule is not suitable for the customer, the SSR OTHS INVOL element in the booking permits one further free involuntary change and/or cancellation as per the below guidelines.

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

 

Event	Finnair pilots' standby ban as of 12DEC
Route/market/destination/airports impacted	Only for the customers whose flight has been cancelled in two-day window due to Finnair pilots' industrial action.
Travel dates impacted	As long as Finnair pilots' strike is ongoing
Applies to tickets issued by	Until the affected flight has been cancelled
New travel dates	-/+14 days from original travel date
Changes to destination/stopover	Allowed within same country if suitable option on original routing not available and customer requests a destination change.
Airlines allowed	Finnair (AY) as primary option, rerouting also to any other airline is allowed
Booking class to be used	Same or lowest available booking class within same cabin
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 SLL BAN ON STANDBY OS AY REFUND DUE TO SLL BAN ON STANDBY
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)
Changing bookings made via NDC	The same change policy applies. For booking handling, in case not possible in the booking tool, alternatively Finnair Agency Sales Tool (FAST) can be used by importing the PNR, or contact our Agent Help Desk
Refunds for bookings made via NDC	Full or partial refund is allowed. 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 by contacting Agent Help Desk. Apply for refund via BSPlink Refund Application. ARC-agents, see more information about refunds on general Refunds-instructions.
Refunds for bookings made via Edifact	Full or partial refund is allowed. 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.
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.
Ancillaries	The above-mentioned change policy applies also to ancillaries for the one free change. In most cases the service will be automatically transferred to the new flight at the time of the ticket revalidation/reissue. Otherwise, please re-associate the EMD abd SSR manually or contact our Agent Help Desk. 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	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
Ground transportation	If customer is rerouted to allowed airport, Finnair will cover reasonable ground transportation costs to/from new airport afterwards. It is advised to keep the receipts for the claim and apply for compensation at www.finnair.com/feedback.
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.

Passenger rights can be checked here.

More information about the customer communication at finnair.com.