Europe’s airports have suffered from congestion and cancellations. According to Sami Lehtola, Finnair did not arrange accommodation for him after the flight was cancelled.
21.7. 18:17
“I don’t I’ve never come across an airline acting this way,” laments the person stuck in Paris Sami Lehtola.
Lehtola’s vacation took an unexpected and unpleasant turn on Tuesday, when his return flight was unexpectedly cancelled. The trip planned for a week is now being extended by almost four days. Additional costs have decreased by an estimated 2,500 euros and there is no certainty about the amount of compensation yet.
“On top of this uncertainty. Finnair’s communication is like shouting into a well,” Lehtola told HS on Thursday.
“But we have a really good situation in terms of this not being a disaster. If there was no ability to pay on the account or credit card, if there were small children in the group or if there were people with poor mobility, this would be an insane mess.”
On Tuesday morning Finnair announced that it had canceled the flight on which Lehtola and his spouse were to return to Finland that same evening. After two and a half hours, a new message rang on the phone.
“Finnair announced that it was unable to arrange a replacement flight. There was also no information about accommodations or meals, which airlines usually have,” says Lehtola.
Lehtola called Finnair’s customer service. After waiting for half an hour, he was told that another team was handling the routing and that customer service would get back to him shortly.
“It never came back, so I called again. This time there was a slightly stricter customer service representative who said that Finnair doesn’t have to worry about passengers getting stuck at the destination,” says Lehtola.
“The customer service person tried to convince me that a refund is the only option and they will not reroute.”
According to Lehtola, it was difficult to find free hotel rooms in the surrounding areas. In the end, Lehtola and her spouse managed to get a room in the same hotel where they had stayed during their vacation through a cancellation. They booked KLM flights via Amsterdam to Helsinki for the next day.
“Flight tickets for two people with one change cost 1,800 euros,” says Lehtola.
Aviation industry labor shortages and airport congestion have caused inconvenience to air travelers in various parts of Europe this summer. Finnair’s communications manager Pauliina Palttala tells HS that the busy travel season makes it difficult to replace canceled flights with new ones.
“Our flights and many others’ flights are really fully booked,” Palttala told HS on Thursday.
Palttala does not comment on the case of Lehtola and his spouse, but he regrets the confusion and the hurt caused. According to him, the communication related to the cancellations is now going to be reviewed.
“I’m really sorry that [Lehtola] has received such a response”, says Palttala.
“Without knowing the case, I can’t answer what the situation has been with the customer in question.”
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“Our flights and many others’ flights are really fully booked.”
Lehtolan the difficulties did not end there. On Wednesday evening, he says that he was already at the airport when the e-mail sent him tickets from Finnair for Friday via Manchester to Helsinki.
Lehtola had to cancel the expensive tickets he bought from KLM. Then a new problem occurred to me: the couple had ID cards with them, but no passports. After autumn 2021, a passport is generally required from those traveling to Britain.
“I still sorted it out with the Foreign Ministry’s emergency room and the Finnish consulate. We went through options, and we thought that we probably wouldn’t be allowed on the flight,” says Lehtola.
Lehtola says that she finally received better customer service from Finnair. On Wednesday, a friendly clerk instructed him on how to apply for compensation. On Thursday, a new flight connection was arranged for the couple, with which they are to reach Helsinki via Munich on Saturday.
With airlines is the so-called duty of care if the flight is canceled or delayed. During the waiting period, passengers must be offered, among other things, meals and refreshments.
If an overnight stay is necessary due to the wait, the airline must provide hotel accommodation and transportation to the accommodation. In addition, the passenger may be entitled to so-called standard compensation.
Based on media reports, there have been problems similar to Lehtola’s elsewhere. Ilta-Sanomat interviewed on Thursday A passenger stuck in Rome, according to whom Finnair had also advised him to find his own accommodation.
Finnair’s Palttala says that at least some of the passengers have been offered accommodation in both Paris and Rome. Hotel reservations are made through partners, i.e. local ground handling companies.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say why they apparently haven’t been made for everyone.”
with Finnair ten flights have been canceled within a week, some of which are domestic flights. According to Palttala, the number is by no means exceptionally large.
According to Palttala, the cancellations of the Paris and Rome flights were due to the fact that there were not enough staff for the flights.
“Now is the busiest holiday season and there are a lot of flights. It means that we also fly with full resources. We usually have staff on standby [sairaustapausten tai muiden esteiden varalta]but unfortunately it has not been possible in this situation,” Palttala said on Thursday.
On Thursday, it was also reported that Finnair has canceled its customers’ reservations on flights from London to Helsinki until Sunday. The company has to reduce the number of passengers by around one hundred passengers every day due to the lack of personnel at Heathrow Airport.
Read more: Queuing chaos continues at many European airports, operations at Helsinki-Vantaa are already “quite smooth” – Finnair gives three tips to avoid congestion
Read more: Heathrow Airport has imposed a passenger cap and is asking airlines to stop selling summer travel
Stuck left Lehtola says that he does not remember ever having encountered similar treatment before.
Above all, he is cared for by people who don’t have a buffer on a credit card or friends to help in a time of need.
“You can’t think that people could triple their travel budget just because Finnair cancels their flights“, says Lehtola.
“It is also worrying how many people realize how to apply for compensation afterwards. At least I don’t agree to be the financier of any big airline.”
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