Finnair Fiasco

[SandyS]

Looking for advice after Finnair flight from Helsinki was delayed overnight due to technical problems.
i booked Qantas Sydney to Bangkok, return economy. Then had Finnair booking, BKK to AMS return. Finnair flight was in recent business sale.

Everything was fine until Helsinki to Bangkok was delayed from 5pm take off to 1pm the next day.
Although we were put up in a hotel overnight, Finnair transfer desk told me I was on my own regarding transfers as it was a seperate ticket for onward flights but was told to speak to Qantas staff on arrival at BKK at our new arrival time of 3am.

I was pretty stressed and called Qantas from my hotel room who rescheduled me on another BKK flight 24 hours later and charged me $350 re ticketing. Also, told me that just as well I had called as otherwise it would have been a no show which would have been a lot worse. On top of all that, I had a successful upgrade for 80,000 points for us which I've been told is now lost. I do have travel insurance.

what would be the best way to go about trying to recoup my losses?

As in, should the fact that it was all booked under One World have made a difference?

 

[love_the_life]

I would think that the missed connection may be covered by your trip insurance and would be my first thing to check. Because the trip has been booked as separate legs with different PNRs, Finnair is quite correct to advise that your flights after BKK are not their responsibility. It is a risk booking this way. I do it but usually will factor in an overnight before catching the next leg, which leaves room for unexpected delays.

 

[takenbyaliens]

I sometimes have the two ticket issue and I always leave a buffer just in case....has been useful a couple of times. Sometimes it might mean an airside room but no stress is worth it I think!

 

[TomVexille]

Unfortunately QF do not protect you for a missed connection on separate tickets. Even when connecting from another OW carrier. This is a case for your travel insurance.

 

[moa999]

This is a case for your travel insurance.

I'm yet to find a policy that covers for missed connections on separate tickets.
Unless covered under travel to special event clauses.

Its a risk you take when booking connections.

 

[Cynicor]

TI may cover a bit, but don't think they'll already cover connections. Just a case of win some- lose some unfortunately.

 

[Danger]

Looking for advice after Finnair flight from Helsinki was delayed overnight due to technical problems.
i booked Qantas Sydney to Bangkok, return economy. Then had Finnair booking, BKK to AMS return. Finnair flight was in recent business sale.

Everything was fine until Helsinki to Bangkok was delayed from 5pm take off to 1pm the next day.
Although we were put up in a hotel overnight, Finnair transfer desk told me I was on my own regarding transfers as it was a seperate ticket for onward flights but was told to speak to Qantas staff on arrival at BKK at our new arrival time of 3am.

I was pretty stressed and called Qantas from my hotel room who rescheduled me on another BKK flight 24 hours later and charged me $350 re ticketing. Also, told me that just as well I had called as otherwise it would have been a no show which would have been a lot worse. On top of all that, I had a successful upgrade for 80,000 points for us which I've been told is now lost. I do have travel insurance.

what would be the best way to go about trying to recoup my losses?

As in, should the fact that it was all booked under One World have made a difference?

I'm sorry to hear that. I agree with love_the_life that it may pay to look at your travel insurance.

I'm yet to find a policy that covers for missed connections on separate tickets.
Unless covered under travel to special event clauses.

Its a risk you take when booking connections.

I suspect we may need a new thread, but AA does have such a policy. And the issue of connections on separate oneworld tickets has come up just today on FlyerTalk. (Note, though, I doubt this would help SandyS as by the time they checked in at HEL they would have already misconnected.)

 

[TomVexille]

I suspect we may need a new thread, but AA does have such a policy. And the issue of connections on separate oneworld tickets has come up just today on FlyerTalk. (Note, though, I doubt this would help SandyS as by the time they checked in at HEL they would have already misconnected.)

AA does have an excellent policy, but it's theirs, and not OW

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Looking for advice after Finnair flight from Helsinki was delayed overnight due to technical problems.
i booked Qantas Sydney to Bangkok, return economy. Then had Finnair booking, BKK to AMS return. Finnair flight was in recent business sale.

Everything was fine until Helsinki to Bangkok was delayed from 5pm take off to 1pm the next day.
Although we were put up in a hotel overnight, Finnair transfer desk told me I was on my own regarding transfers as it was a seperate ticket for onward flights but was told to speak to Qantas staff on arrival at BKK at our new arrival time of 3am.

I was pretty stressed and called Qantas from my hotel room who rescheduled me on another BKK flight 24 hours later and charged me $350 re ticketing. Also, told me that just as well I had called as otherwise it would have been a no show which would have been a lot worse. On top of all that, I had a successful upgrade for 80,000 points for us which I've been told is now lost. I do have travel insurance.

what would be the best way to go about trying to recoup my losses?

As in, should the fact that it was all booked under One World have made a difference?

Check your travel insurance - but probably unlikely it will cover you for a missed connection - most do not. They cover missed connections for 'special events', but that's different to a late inbound.

(There are two policies i have found which will cover you, both of them have similar provisions requiring that you present yourself at the connection point at the earliest check-in opens for the flight - usually 3 hours.)

however - as you were leaving the EU, and as the flight was over 6 hours delayed, you will have 600 euros compensation coming your way. That will cover the cost of your chang of flight on QF.

 

[SandyS]

It's the AA one I must have read, when I was searching for info.
Althought I got a quite nasty Finnair agent at the transfer desk, the Lounge CSA told me that as OneWorld, I'd be looked after.
i do usually book an extra night buffer ( and did so on the outbound journey) I did have an 8 hour buffer. This was a last minute trip to see a terminally ill family member, so I did the best planning I could. It certainly was not a holiday.

The Finnair agent at the service desk next day and the airport duty manager were lovely and understanding. They re routed our luggage and arranged a hotel in Bangkok, with the rest of the delayed passengers.

Originally, all passangers were were boarded and ready to go when they announced after about an hour we had to get off. After a further 5 1/2 hours in the terminal, we were given a hotel. Next day we were delayed a further couple of hours both before boarding and once boarded (an hour in each area), due again to technical fault.

i used my points to upgrade to try and do something nice for my partner, who was feeling very low after his very bad news.

Although I'm posting hoping to get some helpful advice, I'm also sharing my experience for any others who may think of booking separate bookings.

I checked my TI but it's not looking good. All I can hope for is an understanding Qantas FF agent. I may be able to claim for delay under the EU law.

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the reminder MEL_Traveller. i think you are right about the missed connections only for special events. I've never had to claim so have never really looked hard at those clauses.
I forgot about the EU compensation. Where would the OP need to make the claim for that? Again it is something that I have never needed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I checked my TI but it's not looking good. All I can hope for is an understanding Qantas FF agent. I may be able to claim for delay under the EU law.

Did Finnair give you information regarding EU261 at the time of the delay? They're supposed to. I'd think you have a pretty good case, the only exceptions are weather, air traffic control, or extraordinary circumstances. Maintenance/repairs/technical issues are not considered extraordinary circumstances.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the reminder MEL_Traveller. i think you are right about the missed connections only for special events. I've never had to claim so have never really looked hard at those clauses.
I forgot about the EU compensation. Where would the OP need to make the claim for that? Again it is something that I have never needed.

you'd make the claim at first instance direct with the airline. Depending on how hard-ball they are, you could then take up one of the several companies who do it all for you - but they charge a 33% commission (still, not so bad in the grand scheme of things).

The one problem is that the recovery companies often don't want to handle overseas cases - I dunno why.

insure4less is one of the companies (with worldnomads I think - i could be wrong) that will cover you for missed connections, regardless of why you miss the connection (late inbound is ok). The requirement as stated above is that you must be scheduled to arrive at the connecting point at the earliest time check-in officially opens for the connecting flight. So if check-in opens three hours before, that's when you need to be scheduled to arrive at the connecting point.

 

[serfty]

AA does have an excellent policy, but it's theirs, and not OW

Actually, I believe all or at least the earlier *O airlines have such a policy under their joint "Endorsement Waiver Agreement". Unfortunately that agreement seems CiC and as such any who could vouch for it's authenticity would be doing so at a risk.

Most such as Qantas like to pretend it does not exist.

 

[SandyS]

Actually, I believe all or at least the earlier *O airlines have such a policy under their joint "Endorsement Waiver Agreement". Unfortunately that agreement seems CiC and as such any who could vouch for it's authenticity would be doing so at a risk.

Most such as Qantas like to pretend it does not exist.

Yes, Qantas definitely do!

both the Qantas booking CSA on the night, asked their help desk who refused to waive any fee as there is no such agreement. I was way too tired to keep arguing. And the FF desk said I was not entitled to my points back.

i was sure I had read something on Flyer Talk about all One World, but could't be sure. Plus the Finnair Louge lady told me they had to help out.

Finnair did hand out forms to everyone which states the details of the delay. So I'm hoping they are a little less shonky, than Emirates when it happened to me 3 years ago. They were shocking. Flatly refused to take any responsibility - and that WAS all on the one ticket. Left us high and dry, having to find a hotel etc at 2am in Dubai airport. Eventually, Qantas refunded hotel costs etc but that was all. As it was a QF flight number. Some passengers were backpackers and didn't have those resources to hand

 

[Cossie]

Unfortunate for the op. We have several similar trips through finnair like these over the next coming months, guess it will always be an issue with different pnr's, haven't thought about it too much at the moment, but it will make me think about other options in future.

 

[moa999]

both the Qantas booking CSA on the night, asked their help desk who refused to waive any fee as there is no such agreement. I was way too tired to keep arguing. And the FF desk said I was not entitled to my points back.

Were you already checked in for that QF flight before the?? (ie had your BP been issued and luggage ticketed through?)

While I think you did the correct thing in calling - in some sense they have just treated it as a unilateral change of the QF ticket (and charged you a fee - presumably change and fare difference)

If say instead you had been unable to contact them and arrived in BKK at 3am I wonder if the situation would have been different
- option 1 - they would have protected you as the flight landed late by the OW 'agreement'
- option 2 - missed flight cancelled ticket, buy a new one

I have done a few similar connections leaving 8-10hrs and been OK, but do it knowing it is a potential risk.

 

[exceladdict]

Were you eligible for a credit card travel insurance on this trip?

Reviewing my Bankwest World MC's insurance, I believe you would be eligible under "Unexpected cancellations and other unexpected expenses". A few excerpts:

your arranged travel is cancelled or delayed by thecarrier because of unexpected:
mechanical break down; or
weather conditions

If you want to claim under this section, you must take steps
to minimise your losses. As soon as possible after the
cancellation you must:
recover any refu are entitled to; and cancel any other travel or accommodation arrangements that depend on your cancelled arrangements and that you are now unable to use.

What we will pay if you continue to travel:
You may decide to continue your cancelled travel arrangements. If you do this at the earliest possible opportunity after cancellation, we will, at our option, either:
pay for any part of cancelled travel arrangements that:
you have paid for but are unable to use; and
that are non-refundable; or

pay the costs of a higher class of travel, or increased seasonal rates for travel, if that is the only class or rate available. We will pay these costs minus the amount of any refundable part of your cancelled travel arrangements. We will only pay to upgrade your travel on the type of transport you chose in your cancelled travel arrangements.

We will also pay for any part of your cancelled accommodation arrangements that:
you have paid for but are unable to use; and
which are non-refundable.

If the travel/accommodation provider or travel agent will not refund the value of the component (or will only refund a portion of the value) of the accommodation/transport ticket which was obtained by redeeming reward/frequent flyer type points, we will refund the cost of the equivalent accommodation/transport ticket based on the quoted retail price at the time the accommodation/transport ticket was issued less the value of the portion of points refunded back to you.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Were you eligible for a credit card travel insurance on this trip?

Reviewing my Bankwest World MC's insurance, I believe you would be eligible under "Unexpected cancellations and other unexpected expenses". A few excerpts:

Nice find - interestingly the policy also seems to cover missed connections where your inbound is late! Separate tickets would seem to be covered?

you missed your arranged transport because yourpreceding flight was cancelled or delayed.

 

[SandyS]

Yep, I was all ticketed through with boarding passes supplied. That's also why they had to redirect all my luggage next day( they still had it)

Qantas told me it was just as well I called them. If I had just arrived at BKK there wouldn't have been anyone there to help me and I would have been classed as 'no show' and would have needed to book completely new ticket.

I booked using my 28 degrees card but did have Southern Cross TI. Haven't had a chance to look properly...still travelling.

As an aside, the check in guy in Amsterdam told me he couldn't check my luggage all the way through as it was a separate ticket, but I argued my case and he managed it.

Qantas check in guy at Adelaide on my outbound flight was absolutely brilliant and very knowledgable.