Finnair Beware

[Ray Swank 32]

First of all, Finnair is an excellent airline. When it's not on strike that is, which seems to happen quite often and on very short notice.

I flew Business Class in January of 2024 from DFW to BKK since they were offering a nice intro fare through American Airlines. Their A350 Biz Class is top-notch IMO. Seats are big and comfy, boarding was quick and efficient, and the food service was a cut above. Connection in Helsinki was on time, the Biz Lounge was easily one of the better I've seen and arrival in BKK was 45 mins early. You can even change USD to Baht in Helsinki using an ATM-like machine if the regular exchange booths are closed.

But three days before I was to depart BKK, I get an email telling me the airline is having an "Industrial Action", which means a general strike. I was given instructions and told to reschedule my flight.

Easier said than done. The website was obviously getting slammed and could barely function. Before the site became completely unusable, I was offered a flight 5 days beyond my current departure date for $500 more. But I had to get back on time and 5 days wasn't going to cut it. And the extra $500 was a slap in the face. I did try calling but couldn't even get on the phone waiting list. For the next two days the website was useless and the phone was always busy. Total Clusterfuck.

So I had to book a quick one-way with AA through Narita at great expense so I could get home on time. I also had to apply for a refund, which ended up taking 5 weeks. The amount? $530. FU Finnair!

This morning I was scanning airfares for my trip this winter and came across Finnair again. Thinking my prior experience was a glitch, I went to their website to check fares and behold! Another "Industrial Action" is happening right now - May 2 to May 5. I started going through Google News and found there was another last March, and yet another last December!

Long story short: Finnair is a great airline when they actually fly, but I'll never trust them again. 

Edited May 4 by Ray Swank

[ChefkochB 758]

36 minutes ago, Ray Swank said:

First of all, Finnair is an excellent airline. When it's not on strike that is, which seems to happen quite often and on very short notice.

I flew Business Class in January of 2024 from DFW to BKK since they were offering a nice intro fare through American Airlines. Their A350 Biz Class is top-notch IMO. Seats are big and comfy, boarding was quick and efficient, and the food service was a cut above. Connection in Helsinki was on time, the Biz Lounge was easily one of the better I've seen and arrival in BKK was 45 mins early. You can even change USD to Baht in Helsinki using an ATM-like machine if the regular exchange booths are closed.

But three days before I was to depart BKK, I get an email telling me the airline is having an "Industrial Action", which means a general strike. I was given instructions and told to reschedule my flight.

Easier said than done. The website was obviously getting slammed and could barely function. Before the site became completely unusable, I was offered a flight 5 days beyond my current departure date for $500 more. But I had to get back on time and 5 days wasn't going to cut it. And the extra $500 was a slap in the face. I did try calling but couldn't even get on the phone waiting list. For the next two days the website was useless and the phone was always busy. Total Clusterfuck.

So I had to book a quick one-way with AA through Narita at great expense so I could get home on time. I also had to apply for a refund, which ended up taking 5 weeks. The amount? $530. FU Finnair!

This morning I was scanning airfares for my trip this winter and came across Finnair again. Thinking my prior experience was a glitch, I went to their website to check fares and behold! Another "Industrial Action" is happening right now - May 2 to May 5. I started going through Google News and found there was another last March, and yet another last December!

Long story short: Finnair is a great airline when they actually fly, but I'll never trust them again. 

I think the strikes this year are all for the same reason. They are not able to get to a solution.
Every airline who is operating from a country with strong unions, has those problems, ask Lufthansa.
Thats why i try to avoid in Germany to Fly from Frankfurt and with Lufthansa.

[gainsbarre 2,905]

Pff Belgium not much better, 2 strikes in 2 months time, but here it is not the airline it is the security and luggage people, so no flights depart or arrive, so doesn't even matter who you fly with! As a very regular traveler it really works on my system.

Until now i have been lucky, but ...

[sydney69er 1,576]

If you are flying Qantas from Sydney to Bangkok, then you will be on a Finnair plane! It is effectively a Qantas flight (QF flight number), QF inflight magazine, even napkins with Qantas logo but the plane and pilots are Finnair. The cabin crew are all Thai - I presume sub-contracted by Qantas. I flew that route twice last year with Qantas and had the Finnair A330-300 plane. Both Premium Economy and Economy. Good service from the Thai crew, food was pretty good.

[Space Monkey 3]

Finnair is good, but you’re right; crew, ground workers, everybody and their mother is on strike someday, everyday. Not helping the airline, who can not fly over Russia, so has to take a detour over Europe resulting in an extra 2 hour flight time.