FINNAIR Schedule change 2022/2023 - impact on Rewards Bookings

[AndyC1970]

I am hoping , obviously wishfully, that given the Finnair changes (which I am still to get official notification of) to my MEL-NRT-HEL flight now result in a domestic connection in Japan which is not allowed, Qantas will offer to get me to Helsinki via Singpaore (QF & AY) . At least that's what I will be arguing for if needed - QF and AY to change revenue J to award if needed. And I won't take no for an answer. Politely of course. There is far too much of this default QF attitude in the call centre that you must cancel rather than them trying to find and offer you suitable alternatives. Their default position (that you should just cancel) seems to me to be a serious devaluation of the the whole Frequent Flyer value proposition in my opinion.

 

[nathano]

My LAX-HEL flight as been brought forward 1 day and of course QF don't have award seats a day earlier to get to LAX (I'm going to keep calling and try and get Hobart ) and have also just received an email from AY advising of the cancellation of ARN-LAX (part of our trip home). Apparently they are working on a travel plan and will send something in a couple of days.. However as a QF award booking I'm not sure what's going to happen.

 

[stratosp]

Not sure if this is a relevant data point.

Recently flew HEL-SIN (AY) & SIN-PER(QF) on J this month. Both flights had multiple schedule changes since I booked it on Mar 2022 and since I started my RTW trip in April 2022. The connection time between two flights ended up becoming impossible at 20 mins.

I ignored the changes and didn’t bother to contact any airlines in advance to query what will happen (especially Qantas w/ their crazy call wait times). I know they will just sort something out during check in, regardless of award seat availability. Worse thing that can happen is I spend a night in SIN anyway which is what they initially booked for me during check in at HEL. The overnight stay was supposed to be covered by QF or my insurance.

But upon landing in SIN, they managed to pick me up at the gate with new tickets ready and got included in the original QF flight because... it’s delayed! LOL. They warned me though that the baggage will be delayed which actually happened. Got the bag 1 week after.

Note:

• These flights are homebound flights and part of a QF oneworld award booking. Obviously I do not recommend not acting on any impossible changes if AY is part of your first flights, or if your journey hasn’t commenced yet

 

[theice]

I am hoping , obviously wishfully, that given the Finnair changes (which I am still to get official notification of) to my MEL-NRT-HEL flight now result in a domestic connection in Japan which is not allowed, Qantas will offer to get me to Helsinki via Singpaore (QF & AY) . At least that's what I will be arguing for if needed - QF and AY to change revenue J to award if needed. And I won't take no for an answer. Politely of course. There is far too much of this default QF attitude in the call centre that you must cancel rather than them trying to find and offer you suitable alternatives. Their default position (that you should just cancel) seems to me to be a serious devaluation of the the whole Frequent Flyer value proposition in my opinion.

Let me know how this goes. I suggested the same but they said they couldn't do it. I suspect only Hobart may be able to do this but I can't get in touch with them unfortunately as I'm a bronze member

 

[AndyC1970]

So I got the dreaded exclamation mark on my MMB last night. They have moved me to the AY flight leaving Haneda, which does not connect with my JAL flight from MEL arriving in Narita. The cross Tokyo transfer is currently prohibited. I don't know how they can get away with changing my booking to a connection which I not allowed. That aside, I note there is a Syd-Haneda flight the day before - I am going to ring tomorrow at 7.00am in the hope of getting Hobart/NZ to discuss these options. Otherwise I may just accept the change and leave it and prey Japan changes its transit rules ! So annyoing as these flights feed into my booked hotel and cruisein Europe. I spent a lot of time securing the flights in the first place too.

 

[offshore171]

7.00am in the hope of getting Hobart/NZ to discuss these options. Otherwise I may just accept the change and leave it and prey Japan changes its transit rules !

How far off is the flight?

So annyoing as these flights feed into my booked hotel and cruisein Europe. I spent a lot of time securing the flights in the first place too.

Hopefully these are flexible. How many days contingency do you have before the cruise?

 

[AndyC1970]

How far off is the flight?



Hopefully these are flexible. How many days contingency do you have before the cruise?

Mid January. 11 days before the cruise starts, some prepaid accomodation - although not at the start. Enough wiggle room but the budget will not expand to forking out for flights at this late stage. Im in two minds about asking to get on the Syd-Haneda flight as who knows what will happen in the call centre and ticketing lottery.

 

[offshore171]

Mid January. 11 days before the cruise starts, some prepaid accomodation - although not at the start. Enough wiggle room but the budget will not expand to forking out for flights at this late stage. Im in two minds about asking to get on the Syd-Haneda flight as who knows what will happen in the call centre and ticketing lottery.

Unfortunately I think you may need to be proactive on this one. Of all the times that Japan might pick to soften their restrictions, midwinter would be unlikely.

Speaking of midwinter, apologies I'm not a cruise person, but what type of cruise occurs in mid January in Europe? Arctic sightseeing type thing?

 

[AndyC1970]

Unfortunately I think you may need to be proactive on this one. Of all the times that Japan might pick to soften their restrictions, midwinter would be unlikely.

Speaking of midwinter, apologies I'm not a cruise person, but what type of cruise occurs in mid January in Europe? Arctic sightseeing type thing?

First cruise ever - Viking Cruises In Search of the Northern Lights. All the way up the coast of Norway.

 

[theice]

I realised that my backup option of BKK to HEL didn't end up ticketing. After calling Qantas, they said that flight wasn't available anymore so guess I'm back to square 1.

 

[AndyC1970]

I realised that my backup option of BKK to HEL didn't end up ticketing. After calling Qantas, they said that flight wasn't available anymore so guess I'm back to square 1.

Just reading on various Finnair forums - a lot of the flight from Asia to Helsinki are filling up rapidly - especially in U and J . It really is a disaster for all us who have diligently planned trips for a year. It is also compounded by Qantas's lack of interest in fixing things for its customers.

 

[AndyC1970]

Another random variable - rang to ensure the flagged changes I accepted were re-ticketed as soon as possible. In doing so - apparently an error code was generated - because the Credit card on the original booking had been cancelled and replaced in the meantime by me. Because, you know, we need another complication in getting Partner Reward seats re-ticketed. She put me on hold for 10 min and came back and said that was now in the queue for ticketing and to wait for it in the next 24 hours. Not holding my breath on that and I feel I could now write a great big mystery/suspense novel on the intricacies of keeping valid 081 rewards tickets in this environment!

 

[Danger]

If , like me , you have a trip to Europe booked via Tokyo and Helsinki next year note below. Particularly worrying given QFs seeming inability to re-ticket reward seats in a timely manner. Note change to Haneda. If flying into Narita - unable to transfer to Haneda based on current restrictions. I'm hoping they offer me via Singapore instead.

Changes in our traffic plan for winter 2022-2023​

Finnair has updated its traffic plan for winter 2022-2023. See the instructions here if your travel plans are affected due to changes.
Published 19.04.2022Updated 29.08.2022
Finnair has adjusted its traffic plan for winter 2022–2023, as our operating environment has changed drastically during this year with the war in Ukraine and the subsequent closure of Russian airspace. Our aim is to operate a traffic plan that is as economically viable as possible. The traffic plan update includes flight cancellations and schedule changes. We are sorry about the harm and inconvenience the changes may cause to your travel plans.
We cancel all our flights to Krabi and Chicago for the upcoming winter season, and discontinue the direct flights from Stockholm Arlanda to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Bangkok and coughet. In addition, on some routes we reduce weekly frequencies. In Japan, instead of Tokyo Narita, we fly daily to Tokyo Haneda, which offers excellent connections to our partner’s Japan Airlines network out of Haneda.

What is the source of this, please?

 

[Captain Halliday]

What is the source of this, please?

Wording looks identical to the email I received.

If so, direct from AY.

 

[Sale]

Not quite sure what is happening with my booking - MEL->NRT->HEL in May 2023.

Our AY074 flight from Narita is still showing as booked in Qantas and Finnair - but Finnair is not showing the flight otherwise. I don't know how long it is going to take to plow through all the displaced passengers and notify them. I can't see any alternative flights so suppose I just wait??
(It would be great if Qantas comes up with an offer I can't refuse)

 

[nathano]

My LAX-HEL flight as been brought forward 1 day and of course QF don't have award seats a day earlier to get to LAX (I'm going to keep calling and try and get Hobart ) and have also just received an email from AY advising of the cancellation of ARN-LAX (part of our trip home). Apparently they are working on a travel plan and will send something in a couple of days.. However as a QF award booking I'm not sure what's going to happen.

AY changed this to ARN-HEL-LAX, leaving ARN a day later.. luckily I had a night in LAX on the way back, so now we have an extra night in ARN and no night in LAX.. all worked out well.
but of course had to chase up the ticketing after the booking was changed.

 

[AndyC1970]

AY changed this to ARN-HEL-LAX, leaving ARN a day later.. luckily I had a night in LAX on the way back, so now we have an extra night in ARN and no night in LAX.. all worked out well.
but of course had to chase up the ticketing after the booking was changed.

Were you able to get it ticketed immediately via QF call centre or were you placed in the queue? I was placed in the queue yesterday. Still no e-ticket confirmation.

 

[theice]

I've had more calls with another escalation team after I emailed Stephanie Tully. Still no luck and they're insisting that since there is no classic rewards availablity, only option is for a refund or wait and see. Not sure what to do at this point

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I don't want to sound like a Qantas apologist (since a lot of recent things annoy me), but effectively Qantas here is acting as a travel agent no?

Therefore they will have to stick to whatever the schedule change rules are that Finnair publishes for route disruptions. Qantas can't magically force things they are out of Finnair rules. So if the Finnair rules are literally your options are A or B, and if you like neither, refund is the only option left.

An example came up recently where someone travel on a 081 ticket had a codeshare sector schedule change, but the Qantas 081 ticket rules only allowed for same fare class rather than lowest available fare class within the same cabin. If you look specifically at any 081 ticket rules for qantas or other airlines, P/U/Z/X tickets are completed excluded from standard rebooking processes and I suspect this is what is being exercised unless P/U/Z/X are available.

Regarding the current situation, I think while it is technically an illegal transfer at present if you don't have a visa, I get the feeling you will be asked to sit tight and maybe the Japanese may allow some relaxation of their entry requirements. The thing is that one can be angry until they go blue, but schedule changes are increasingly frequent in the current climate and undoubtedly has roll-on effects if things don't match etc.

 

[Sale]

Not quite sure what is happening with my booking - MEL->NRT->HEL in May 2023.

Our AY074 flight from Narita is still showing as booked in Qantas and Finnair - but Finnair is not showing the flight otherwise. I don't know how long it is going to take to plow through all the displaced passengers and notify them. I can't see any alternative flights so suppose I just wait??
(It would be great if Qantas comes up with an offer I can't refuse)

I was a bit slow here - finally realised that Finnair was talking their winter schedule, and there had been no change to next May (my flight dates).

Meantime I managed to get Emirates flights that work better, plus I used my Velocity points a month or so back to book a return on Singapore because it was available and the dates were much better. I've now completely cancelled my OWA - I don't remember pre-covid all this stuff happening and stress about flights.

So Emirates via KUL & DXB to LJU; and then Singapore from IST via SIN straight home. No worrying about Finnair extending the NRT/HND thing over next European summer.