[TiredOldHack2]

Saturday 17 September, and I was booked on Finnair’s service to Shanghai from Heathrow. This involves making a connection at Helsinki, and the LHR-HEL flight is code-shared with and operated by BA.

The aircraft went tech. Problem with the navigation computer, and it took two hours to fix, a time lengthened by the passengers who decided to bale out and whose luggage had to be offloaded.

So, while sitting there, I called Finnair, told them I was not going to make my connection, and would therefore appreciate a re-book on the next day’s flight to PUD from HEL.

And they confirmed they still had five seats in J on the next day’s flight, but refused to re-book. Some cove named Julian said I had to re-book through BA. This surprised me, because I’d booked on Finnair’s website, but I dutifully rang BA and they said no, Finnair must re-book you. Back to Finnair. No, it must be BA, because your PNR is a BA code.

“But I booked with you, on your website.”

“We can re-book you, but we will have to charge you.”

“WHAA-AAT?”

At one point, I had BA on the phone held to one ear and Finnair on the phone held to the other ear, and Finnair’s parting shot was that they could re-book me for the whole flight, starting again in LHR the next day (Huh? How was I going to get back to the terminal?), but they refused to re-book me on the HEL-PUD leg. And then we started to roll and all communication ended.

In HEL, I was told that BA would re-book me, not Finnair. I was plonked in the airport hotel, and called BA’s Gold Executive number – which was what I should have done right from the start, to be honest.

High-five to the man at the Exec Club. He found it hard to believe what Finnair had told me, but checked, found there was one seat left in J, put my name on it, tried to call the Finnair duty managers at HEL, found they’d both left, got back to me and gave me my seat number, the names of the duty managers, and his best wishes.

And I made it to Shanghai, albeit 24 hours late. I know now how the mix-up occurred. My original boking had a Finnair PNR, but this migrated to a BA PNR once it made its way to my list of flights of the BA website. But no sod at Finnair took me up on my invitation to check that I’d booked with them.

Back home now, and still fuming. Aircraft break down, but you don’t expect to be treated that way by the people you bought the flight from.. Complaint and request for compensation filed with Finnair. Anyone care to guess my chances?

[FDOS_UK]

There is no easy small claims court route in Finland …….

[GivingupBA]

TiredOldHack2, you said “Anyone care to guess my chances?”, I can’t but I am very sorry to reluctantly tell you that if it happened to me I would assess my chances at zero. However, I admire you for your “Complaint and request for compensation filed with Finnair”. You said you are “still fuming” and I really understand that, and sympathize with you.

[EasternPedlar]

TOH2, if your ticket originated in the UK, you should be able to file a claim with your local small claims court.

[openfly]

You qualify for EU261 compensation. Claim on BA.com/exec club. There is a form on there.

[TiredOldHack2]

openfly – site link doesn’t work, and when you try to go to the place to report a problem that link doesn’t work either!

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Compensation would be from BA as they were the operating carrier that meant you missed the connection and were subsequently delayed by 24 hours – so should be a €600 claim under EU261.

Also it is the operating carrier of the affected airline that should rebook you in first instance. So BA should either have changed the HEL-PVG leg for you if connection was not going to be made. BA knowing that connection was not going to made could have put you on the LHR-PVG direct flight next day had they so chosen. However when you end up in a situation where no one takes responsibility – had you got to HEL then likely Finnair would have taken over the case and re-protected you onto the flight the next day. Almost by being to proactive has made things rather more complicated than they should have been. In a sensible world – either airline would have taken responsibility and just done what obviously needed to be done.

[TiredOldHack2]

@ TimFitzgeraldTC

Well, yes, I was being batted between airlines…..

Having simmered down now, I’ve told BA I’m not interested in financial compensation – it was a business trip and I didn’t suffer any financial loss. Just a load of grief. So I’ll take a fistful of Avios and leave it at that.

I really don’t participate in the compensation culture, except for my spat with Monarch. And that was simply because being lied to stoked determination to nail them. Which I did, although it took a couple of years.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Hi TOH

Yep – no one taking responsibility certainly doesn’t help. But if you did want to claim – then it would be against BA and that is where the fault initially lies. However reality in a common sense world should be that either airline should have helped given you were on a Finnair ticket with first sector operated by BA.

Hope the rest of the trip is somewhat smoother!

[TiredOldHack2]

Well, I’m back now, and smooth it was. I actually rate Finnair for value for money. Not sure about the new A350, though. It’s quiet, but doesn’t seem a game-changer like the 380. I’ve not flown in the Dreamliner yet.

And Finnair’s new business class needs a few tweaks. Small things. Like don’t pull away the whole tray and plonk down the main course on an empty table. I might want the cruet or whatever. And the IFE, while good, had the most woeful collection of films I’ve seen in a long time.

On the other hand, adding dried blueberries to a gin and tonic is genius.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=760798]http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/legal/flight-cancellation-compensation

[/quote]

Was the flight cancelled? I didn’t get that impression.

[Author]

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