Finnair Plus - Online seat selection gone??

Anyone else having the same issue...I can't select seats for any European flights anymore on finnair.com..system issue or have they taken it away..anyone knows..?

To answer my own speculation it's indeed a system issue, confirmed by the AY Plus service center.

Money money:

https://www.finnair.com/INT/GB/flights/travel-extras/additional-baggage-select-your-seat-more/select-your-seat

Finland, Scandinavia and the Baltics €6
Europe €8
Asia and North America, exit row seat €60
Asia* and North America, front row €40
Asia* and North America, any other seat €20

*Excluding flights between Finland and Japan before 1 November 2012.

If you’re a Finnair Plus Platinum or Gold member or a oneworld Emerald or Sapphire member, you can use the service free of charge. If you’re a Finnair Plus Silver member, you get a 50% discount (exluding exit row seats).

The only good thing is that the reservation is free for OWE and OWS. No reason to post anything on AY+ (except some hotels and credit cards). I would not achieve any status with AY+ and even silvers pay 50 %. I will easily earn OWS with BA in the future and I am able to maintain BA Gold status a couple of years before the Euro qualifying levels change. Unfortunately, AY flights earn less Avios points than BA flights so I have to fly more often via LHR but with better onboard service it is not too difficult a choice at least to the Americas.

I don't think this is a biggie for us non-status pax either. You can still select seats on check-in, and as I'd assume most people are not ready to pay the fee, this should only mean a wider selection if you do an online check-in.

That is except the Flybe ATR:s though (I assume they are going to apply this to those aswell), I think they should simply go with free seating there, to avoid the constant moving people towards the back show.

All business class tickets will also allow advance seat selection, aswell as econ fully flex. So together with plat, gold, emerald, sapphire quite a few people will get this "perk".
And in the front of the plane, same-ol' same-ol'...

Anyway, I am all for charging for seat selection, as it is a thing people seems to be willing to pay extra for.

The site says 2 thing that I find odd
You can select a seat via the Select Your Seat service free of charge in the following cases:

The booking class in your ticket is Y, B, H, G, A or X.
...

G is AFIK EconomySaver, one of the lowest fare classes around. Must be a typo, or some re-arranging of classes are about to come?



The fee is non-refundable if you cancel the flight, are involuntarily upgraded, or in case you are not suitable to sit in the seat type selected.

The fee may be refunded if you are voluntarily upgraded or if you cannot be seated in the reserved seat or in a suitable alternative seat due to Finnair.

They must have gotten the involuntarily/voluntarily mixed up, right?

Shortly: LCC :td:

Shortly: LCC :td:

I respectfully disagree.
If this is the marker for LCC, then carriers like BA are in this group too.

I also fail to understand why it is such a bad thing. If there is a crowd willing to pay for this (and another crowd that doesn't care for seats, as long as they get the cheapest tickets around), then this will benefit many travellers?

Many airlines, including AY, are not profitable businesses. They will work with cutting costs and finding new revenue. OK, so let's say they wouldn't care for getting revenue from seat selection. Then they would need to cut costs even more. I cannot see how that would benefit travellers in a better way.

It is quite easy to say that AY follows the other airlines and is no worse than the rest. But if you compare the whole service concept AY is often the lowest:

AY vs SK
No free meals, no free alcohol, no free seat reservation, both offer free coffee ad tea, AY charge for newspapers and SK offer them free (at the gate), SK Eurobonus charge very little for taxes for award flights, SK miles are valid 5 years vs AY points 3 years. SK offer cheap one way flights and cheap upgrades through optiontown when you choose the limited network of Blue1

AY vs BA
Both offer free snacks, BA offer free alcohol, no free seat reservation apart from elites, BA offer free newspapers (at the gate) at least out of LHR, both AY+ and BA Executive Club charge a lot of taxes for award flights. AY points are valid 3 years, BA points are valid forever (if you spend/earn at least 1 point/year). BA sell cheap one-way flights and extremely cheap C class tickets

AY vs LO
Both offer free coffee and tea, LO offers free alcohol and sandwiches, newspapers I do not remember. Probably not free advance seat reservation.

AY vs KLM
Both offer free coffee, tea and snacks, KL offers free alcohol, no newspapers on both carriers, lousy FF programmes although Flying Blue miles never expire if you earn a single mile at least every 20 years or if you are at least a silver member (easy just 15 ow flights). Both offer expensive C class tickets and OW tickets. Neither airline offer free seat reservations for European routes.

AY vs LH
Both offer free snacks, coffee and tea, LH offers free alcohol, free newspapers near the gate at their hubs and free newspapers, LH miles are valid forever if you are at least silver, difficult to earn gold status like AY+. Reasonable C class fares to Europe (800 € vs 1800 € for AY, some destinations like BER cheap OW Y fares). Neither airline offer free choice of seats for non-elites.

In summary:
No method of AY cost-saving is unknown for the competitors but AY's total package is usually the worst of all. The only asset of AY is the European non-stop network from Helsinki.

Hehe, well coffee and tea is free of charge on SK, starting a week or two ago. Before that, there was a period of ~5 years when you had to pay for it. :o

I think you have made an accurate listing, and there are many factors to consider for choosing preferred airline & program, I agree. And it is probably true that AY doesn't come out of that comparison very favourably, especially for a SF based flyer.

And I agree that AY should work hard to "up" themselves. I just don't agree with the LCC lable.

And still. I would not make these lists unless I loved (and hated) Finnair. But it is sad to notice that these days SAS actually offers better service to Scandinavia from Helsinki (though not to Bromma, Gothenburg, Norrköping [and Bergen during the summer season] but also from the regional airports in Finland).

But it is hard times for the airlines. No more Austrian, City Airlines. Malev, Czech Airlines (AY codeshares still there), EasyJet, Spanair from Helsinki. Swiss (incl. AY/KF codeshares) , Iberia (AY codeshare still there), Air France (AY still there), Brussels Airlines (incl. AY/KF codeshares), Skyways, Sterling are long gone. Aer Lingus appear with few flights every summer. I did not include Air Berlin, Estonian, Belavia, Ukranian, Aeroflot because no personal experience. There aren't really many choices. Let's see what happens to the winner, Norwegian.

I don't think nordic's comparison is quite fair, it seems to forget everything AY has on the plus side, and only remember the bad things.

Confirmed upgrades from low economy to biz? Lounge access and priority Security to Silvers? Priority Check-in to Silvers on other alliance carriers? Does SK have free snacks? Earnings in other programs? Possibility to pre-select seats (even against a fee) etc.

Also I'd put more emphasis on the fact the AY flights are direct, since you are clearly making the price comparison ex-HEL.

I'm not saying that the AY product would always be the best, but calling it always the worst I think is greatly exaggerated.

Every seat in the cabin is only bookable against a fee for non-status passengers? Even most American carriers do not charge for seat pre-selection apart from "premium seats" that include the first few economy cabin rows.

I would define a LCC as an airline that charge extra of basic services such as meal, luggage, check in... Ok I agree AY doesn't fit into all of those criterias but also their prices aren't too low either.

I would define a LCC as an airline that charge extra of basic services such as meal, luggage, check in... Ok I agree AY doesn't fit into all of those criterias but also their prices aren't too low either.

I guess it depends on your definition of meal whether AY fits any of those criteria.

For once I have to say that I actually like what AY has done here..this also adds more value for AY/OW status, which is always a good thing imo.

Few more bucks won't hurt them either so from me this is ^

I'm wondering if ALL economy seats are sellable or do Finnair block some of e.g first row seats which would not be sellable for upper FF card holder?
Speculating the situation where all economy front seats would be sold and Y-ticket and/or Platinum card holder would like to have someting else than an back row seat. It might be that the economy saver ticket and bought seat is running over Y-ticket/Plantinum card holder??

I'm wondering if ALL economy seats are sellable or do Finnair block some of e.g first row seats which would not be sellable for upper FF card holder?
Speculating the situation where all economy front seats would be sold and Y-ticket and/or Platinum card holder would like to have someting else than an back row seat. It might be that the economy saver ticket and bought seat is running over Y-ticket/Plantinum card holder??

The general public will NOT pay for their seats (at least on short haul), trust me...us FT people are maybe 0,001% of total pax and believe me that we are quite far from the standard pax.

If forced to be seated in whY for me far more important than front/back row is that the middle seat would be blocked...much more interested in this than row 4 or row 30...

As AA PLT I find this an improvement to the previous free semi-seat selection. AY hasn't been very good at giving perks to status members so in that respect it definitely adds more value to the status card.

Could anyone confirm whether the new practice allows status members to pick a long-haul exit row or front row seat with a deep discount ticket free of charge? This was not possible in the old system.

I have been able to pick up the front seat with N ticket several times, or it has been picked up by my travel agency already during reservation or the system has proposed the seat automatically for me. (AY emerald)

As AA PLT/OW Sapphire, I've been able to get row 22 ie the 2nd Y row, but not 21. We'll see if this has changed. I think as AY PLT your chances are significantly better...

As AA PLT/OW Sapphire, I've been able to get row 22 ie the 2nd Y row, but not 21. We'll see if this has changed. I think as AY PLT your chances are significantly better...

Took a walk back to whY during my flight yesterday and it seems that row 21 is the area for the main infant show on the plane..is it really a place where FFs want to be?

Never been seated on AY A330 coach but the seating looks awful to me..more cramped than sivilized short haul Y on many good carriers..it really looked more like a charter config in the 1990s..sad really how AY has turned out..

Took a walk back to whY during my flight yesterday and it seems that row 21 is the area for the main infant show on the plane..is it really a place where FFs want to be?

I was thinking of the same, and also that that might be the reason they are blocking at least some of them, to avoid having to move people around if a pax with infant books a ticket.

And as said, It seems quite a few here are widely overestimating the willingness for people to pay to book for those seats. Why would everybody now all of a sudden want to pay for a certain seat so that there's nothing left for a Plat booking later on, when they did not do that before when it was free? If anything, there should be more seats for the Plat to pick from.

AY will change into the same model as Lufthansa with check-in, meaning that non-status Y pax will have to do their check-in either online, SMS or kiosk and use baggage drop. Regular check-in desks will disappear.
https://newsclient.omxgroup.com/cdsPublic/viewDisclosure.action?disclosureId=490462&lang=en

Very much anticipated, I was already about to comment a few days ago when somebody was talking about charging for airport check-in, that that won't happen, but likely there will be no airport Y check-in in the near future

BA have been charging for seat assignment (even in J) for a long time and looking at the seat maps before check in starts, not many people are prepared to pay. On a fully booked flight perhaps 5% of seats show as assigned on long haul in the Y cabin, and that includes those with full fare Y, corporate tickets, BA and OW status passengers.

On the other hand if you travel at the last minute (eg buy a ticket 4h before departure) then be prepared for all good seats (eg aisle and window) to be gone quickly once people get the idea that you should do online checkin promptly if you even want to sit together with your travel mates.

I gave up flying AY longhaul a long time ago though. I'd rather fly HEL-LHR-NRT with BA than take a direct HEL-NRT flight with AY, even if AY was cheaper. And I got to BA gold in four months something that would not be possible with AY.

The fee is non-refundable if you cancel the flight, are involuntarily upgraded
The fee may be refunded if you are voluntarily upgraded

They must have gotten the involuntarily/voluntarily mixed up, right?

The finnish version matches the above although i'm not sure that the phrase "you are voluntarily upgraded" is correct english for "you upgrade yourself".

From the finnish version:

you are moved to a higher class of service (involuntary upgrade due to overbooking as BA print on my boarding pass sometimes): you do not get a refund.

you move yourself to a higher class (ie upgrade yourself with points): you get a refund of your seat fee

I wonder if onboard the flight attendants will shoo away anyone who sits in an exit row seat without having paid for it first. They did that to me once on PAL even though the whole row was empty.

How can you put your FF number to a new reservation...I cannot find any way for this on the new AY site..?

? In step 5 "adding passenger data" to the upper right side.

Thanks, I just realized that I just got a booking confirmation from my travel agent and it hasn't been ticketed yet..maybe that's why it doesn't show the full options just yet..

Thanks, I just realized that I just got a booking confirmation from my travel agent and it hasn't been ticketed yet..maybe that's why it doesn't show the full options just yet..

OK, you are in the "manage my booking", I was talking about "plan and book".

The finnish version matches the above although i'm not sure that the phrase "you are voluntarily upgraded" is correct english for "you upgrade yourself".

From the finnish version:

you are moved to a higher class of service (involuntary upgrade due to overbooking as BA print on my boarding pass sometimes): you do not get a refund.

you move yourself to a higher class (ie upgrade yourself with points): you get a refund of your seat fee

I wonder if onboard the flight attendants will shoo away anyone who sits in an exit row seat without having paid for it first. They did that to me once on PAL even though the whole row was empty.

I just find this a bit un-logical. If you yourself choose to alter your booking, you will get refunded. If they force you, you will not only be moved away from your selected seat, you will also lose the fee .

I just find this a bit un-logical. If you yourself choose to alter your booking, you will get refunded. If they force you, you will not only be moved away from your selected seat, you will also lose the fee .

I guess most pax won't mind losing couple of euros if they are upgraded due to operational reasons? ;)

OK, you are in the "manage my booking", I was talking about "plan and book".

Yes, indeed. Now it was ticketed and it worked fine..they had already assigned seats for me, though..so for OW/AY status pax nothing has changed, which is good.

I guess most pax won't mind losing couple of euros if they are upgraded due to operational reasons? ;)

Probably not on AY. On domestic NA flights I hear of many people refusing an upgrade to "business" if they have managed to get the exit row.


Yes, indeed. Now it was ticketed and it worked fine..they had already assigned seats for me, though..so for OW/AY status pax nothing has changed, which is good.

In Y probably actually changed for the better, as more seats will be open all the way until 48 h before takeoff.

Probably not on AY. On domestic NA flights I hear of many people refusing an upgrade to "business" if they have managed to get the exit row.

That is interesting...I mainly fly AA domestic in US and would never refuse to be upgraded..which airlines are you referring to?

That is interesting...I mainly fly AA domestic in US and would never refuse to be upgraded..which airlines are you referring to?

Sorry, no idea! It is just hearsay, things I've picked up in some discussions on FT. The main point being that they usually get offered upgrade on account of status (due to the way the NA market works?) but decline, since the comfort of domestic business is not perceived as an upgrade from a exit row seat.

But I have not seen any such things myself, as I haven't been in NA for at least 10 years.

Sorry, no idea! It is just hearsay, things I've picked up in some discussions on FT. The main point being that they usually get offered upgrade on account of status (due to the way the NA market works?) but decline, since the comfort of domestic business is not perceived as an upgrade from a exit row seat.

But I have not seen any such things myself, as I haven't been in NA for at least 10 years.

OK...as the most domestic 2-class services (AA/US Airways etc..) have major difference with the seating, much more than here in Europe...if you take normal M80/737/757/A32X planes it's 3+3 in the back (2+3 for M80) and 2+2 for First (which they call the front cabin on 2-class domestic flights, it's Business when the same ac is flying internationally).

Maybe some airlines have same seating across the plane, like here in Europe..

Anyone happens to know if the paid/status based seat reservation should work for Flybe operated flights as well (AY ticket)? My travel agent has pre-booked per my profile but I cannot seem to be able to change online.

Thanks for any advice.

Something odd is going on. My reservations made in Feb to be flown in March show assigned seats onboard the FlyBe Nordic turboprops in the reservation confirmation, but the AY web pages indicate free seating and give no chance to change the seats. The same goes for new reservations using the AY booking engine...

I find this whole "pay for you seat thing" rather confusing:

1. I have paid J ticket on upcoming AY long(medium ;) ) haul flight
2. I purchased whY tickets for the family on the same flights
3. I upgraded the family on the overnight outbound from HEL - no problem with seat selection so until this everything worked nicely, as one would expect
4. I still cannot select seats for the family on the return, there's no option to pay for the seat or anything (I was told I need to pay online regardless AY Gold/BA Gold is flying together with family on same flights, separate tickets though). I can select the seats but then there's an error code, nothing about the payment option to be seen anywhere..
5. I blame myself not booking with BA in the first place ;)

This cannot be this difficult with AY, can it?

I have an booking for ZRH-HEL-ZRH and upgraded the HEL-ZRH leg to C and the system selected seat 1F. Now I'd like to change the seat... but the seat map is only loading for the ZRH- HEL leg, for the HEL-ZRH leg it's ending in an error message ("yleisvirhe").
Is there any way to change the seat online?

Funny thing
I booked a short haul flight thru Finnair's travel agent Area using the online booking tool. The self service tool has always allowed you to choose your seat freely so without knowing of this new service charge I chose the seat as always. Well yesterday I got an invoice from Area: seat selection 6 euro, service fee 19 euro, total 25 euros....So be careful how much you actually pay for Finnair for this new gadget.

I then called Finnair/Area, complained and they issued a credit note based on my status.

Funny thing
I booked a short haul flight thru Finnair's travel agent Area using the online booking tool. The self service tool has always allowed you to choose your seat freely so without knowing of this new service charge I chose the seat as always. Well yesterday I got an invoice from Area: seat selection 6 euro, service fee 19 euro, total 25 euros....So be careful how much you actually pay for Finnair for this new gadget.

I then called Finnair/Area, complained and they issued a credit note based on my status.

My employer also uses Area. I find them practically worthless, i.e. I can practically always get better prices/routing/everything by spending a few minutes on select web sites. But they sure know how to rack up those "service charges"!

And welcome to the FT, itmate!

Forgot to inform my travel agency not to book Finnairs morning 8.00am flight, but instead BA 7.40am flight HEL-LHR.

Arrgghhh.... I have full Y-ticket, AY Emerald card and can't pre-book the seat because the ticket is BA6080 on Finnairs bird (because continuing with BA to Chigago) I still cant understand the strategy. Finnair kindly advices me not to take their bird but fly with BA.

Hi all,

need to bring this thread back to life as I am facing problems selecting my seats. Ticket has been issued and paid in full. Am flying in business class from BNE-SIN-HEL-HAM and TXL-HEL-SIN-BNE.

No issues reserving seats on the Qantas website for my portions flown on QF metal but every time I enter my booking details on the AY website and click on "seats" I get following generic message:

QUOTE
We are unable to confirm the fare for the flights you have selected. Please try again. (9102)
UNQUOTE

Am trying to call the AY sales office in SYD but have been on hold for the last 52 minutes.

Any ideas ?

Cheers from Brisbane,

pswissoz

Hi all,

need to bring this thread back to life as I am facing problems selecting my seats. Ticket has been issued and paid in full. Am flying in business class from BNE-SIN-HEL-HAM and TXL-HEL-SIN-BNE.

No issues reserving seats on the Qantas website for my portions flown on QF metal but every time I enter my booking details on the AY website and click on "seats" I get following generic message:

QUOTE
We are unable to confirm the fare for the flights you have selected. Please try again. (9102)
UNQUOTE

Am trying to call the AY sales office in SYD but have been on hold for the last 52 minutes.

Any ideas ?

Cheers from Brisbane,

pswissoz

I have recently had a similar situation with a QF flight booked as AY5001. I called the US reservations number for QF (the one I could call for free) and explained the situation to the friendly agents. She gave me another record locator for Qantas and selected the seats I wanted (front 5 rows were blocked). She told me that I could use that record locator to view my seat assignment on QF website, but I can only change it by phoning them. Two weeks later, I decided to change my seat (from 28A to 30A, so as not to have a missing window if the A332 is swapped for an A333). I called in again, but at that time another agent found various excuses why I could not select seats: First, he told me that the don't do it for code-shares. After pointing out that I could already reserve a seat, he checked it with a supervisor and came back saying that he could assign a new seat, but only after receiving a 25 AUD payment. When I told him that beacuse of my OW Sapphire status I should be able to select seats for free, he told me that only QFF elites can select seats for free. I decided to (politely) hang up. I will most probably not press the issue further unless I see any signs of equipment swap (flight will be in November).

So, in summary, you should call QF and try to find a helpful agent who can actually do the seat assignment. They can do this for sure, but it might require more than one call to find someone who is actually willing to help you.

So, in summary, you should call QF and try to find a helpful agent who can actually do the seat assignment. They can do this for sure, but it might require more than one call to find someone who is actually willing to help you.

Issue was not with the QF flights but with the AY flights but this has been solved. Took me 52 minutes waiting for the AY sales rep to pick-up the phone in Sydney but eventually got the seats I wanted.

As I was initially routed via Hong Kong and have been re-booked via Singapore due to AY cancelling the HGK flight I was told that their booking system is having all sorts of glitches and problems at the moment as apparently thousands of bookings need to be re-routed.

Not sure if this is the truth but sounds okay to me who does not work in the airline industry but is simply a frequent flyer. In any case, really looking forward to my third trip this year to Europe flying QF/AY.

Wish I could catch an AY 333 with the new business class configuration but at least it seems I'll get to fly the newly refurbished QF 744 with real flat bed seats between BNE and SIN.

Cheers from Brisbane,

pswissoz

What's the go with choosing seats for award fares?

I booked a flight through Qantas, a classic award fare (category X) to Helsinki.

I'm QFF Gold/OW Sapphire and I read on the FINNAIR site that OW Sapphire can choose Exit row, front of economy section seats etc free of charge. However all those seats are blocked with only the regular economy seats available to choose.

I rang FINNAIR in Sydney and they said because it was an award fare these seats are blocked. But, it doesn't say anywhere on their site that I can see that award fares are ineligible for the better economy seats. In fact, it specifically mentions Cat X fares as eligible for early seat selection?

Anyone know anything about this?

Kind regards.

The fare class X is an odd fish. See my table in this post (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18834582-post68.html).

X and a few other fare classes are in a group of tickets that give right to free "other seat" selection, but not exit row and bulkhead. (this rule do exist on their site, it is just not very easy to gather). This is what the staff is referring to.

However, this is the rule for the ticket alone. As an OW sapphire, the rules that comes with your status should trump the rules that comes with the ticket. Hence, you should be able to freely select any seat. I have not encountered this myself and I am not sure it will work, but I suggest you contact them again emphasizing your OW status.

I re-read the rules. It is actually not clear which rule will trump which rule. In my mind, a platinum / sapphire status would trump all, but if it is like you say (the blocked these tickets from certain seats) then maybe status won't affect the seat selection. Silly... I still suggest you try again, and report back what happens.

Me again...

If status doesn't trump the rules for Y, B, H, X tickets, this has the silly implication that a platinum card holder who buys a full fare econ ticket may not choose exit row. If he instead buys a campaign ticket, at 25% of the price, he is very welcome in exit row...
:o:o

The seat selection tool seems to get worse every day.

I have a very simple booking, a return flight HEL-CKG-HEL. No codeshares or curiosities. For some reason, my outbound seat 5J has mysteriously changed to 3C and when I go online to try to change it, the system gives me "yleisvirhe" and does nothing. Yleisvirhe = generic error.

I also have another booking which I knew in advance would be too complex for the AY IT systems – namely a codeshare! Flying DUS-HEL on AB flight number, the system actually manages to find the flight with the AB/Amadeus booking code but of course won't let me choose a seat. Well, that would of course be too much to ask, it's a codeshare after all ;)

A call to the E-helpdesk solved the CKG seating problem, although I still cannot change the seats online myself.

The codeshares are still too complicated a matter for AY. The girl who took my call had never heard that codeshare seat assignments don't work. She tried to assign me a seat for the DUS-HEL flight, but to no avail.

I believe most of the call center employees at Finnair have had very little training and I wouldn't wonder if some of them haven't ever even flown on a Finnair airplane or any plane for that matter......

Gone are the days when they really were experts and everything worked smoothly.....

I believe most of the call center employees at Finnair have had very little training and I wouldn't wonder if some of them haven't ever even flown on a Finnair airplane or any plane for that matter......

Gone are the days when they really were experts and everything worked smoothly.....

This is the trend everywhere, not just in aviation. Every company uses the "dumb-down and save money" approach to customer service. Apparently the majority of customers (in all industries) are willing to trade away quality for lower price.

I learned in school the "rule" - Only 1 can hold the position as cheapest, so do not enter a market and compete on price only, unless you are certain you can be that #1
Strangely enough, everyone today seems to believe they can reach #1 cheapest regardless of their company's profile/products/cost structure/current customer stock.

This is the trend everywhere, not just in aviation. Every company uses the "dumb-down and save money" approach to customer service. Apparently the majority of customers (in all industries) are willing to trade away quality for lower price.

I learned in school the "rule" - Only 1 can hold the position as cheapest, so do not enter a market and compete on price only, unless you are certain you can be that #1
Strangely enough, everyone today seems to believe they can reach #1 cheapest regardless of their company's profile/products/cost structure/current customer stock.

Well said and sooo true!

Gone are the days when they really were experts and everything worked smoothly.....

Some of them are still real experts, but it's a hit and miss really.

We are lucky to have such a strange and small language in Finland. Otherwise, AY customer service would probably have been outsourced to Elbonia already.

We are lucky to have such a strange and small language in Finland. Otherwise, AY customer service would probably have been outsourced to Elbonia already.

That's true. Unfortunately they seem have outsourced the IT development over there and thus the need of the customer service in the first place.

Made reservations for coming trips to LHR and assigned seats while reserving. The best Y seats seemed blocked and I took what I got. Later I tried to change the seats and despite all efforts an error page popped up.

Called to internet help number and waiting time was less than 1 minute. The explanation was, that when I have assigned seats, the system can not change assignments later! But a call to internet help desk would solve the seating problem also in the future.

That is a strange arrangement. BA MMB lets change the seats whenever and as many time as the OW sapphire/emerald cardholder or a flexible ticket holder desires, and that is the way it should be also by AY.

Made reservations for coming trips to LHR and assigned seats while reserving. The best Y seats seemed blocked and I took what I got. Later I tried to change the seats and despite all efforts an error page popped up.

Called to internet help number and waiting time was less than 1 minute. The explanation was, that when I have assigned seats, the system can not change assignments later! But a call to internet help desk would solve the seating problem also in the future.

?! Meaning they changed something with your account so you can alter seats in the future? They fix the trouble account for account?! :confused:


That is a strange arrangement. BA MMB lets change the seats whenever and as many time as the OW sapphire/emerald cardholder or a flexible ticket holder desires, and that is the way it should be also by AY.

Lufthansa lets you change your seat as many times as you like. However, often they play seat lotto when boarding commences and not even seats allocated by the gate staff or lounge is valid any longer :o

Meaning that if I can not get good seats when making the reservation online, I can always give them a call and they assign the best possible seats... Not very handy but apparently quite effective.

Made reservations for coming trips to LHR and assigned seats while reserving. The best Y seats seemed blocked and I took what I got. Later I tried to change the seats and despite all efforts an error page popped up.

Called to internet help number and waiting time was less than 1 minute. The explanation was, that when I have assigned seats, the system can not change assignments later! But a call to internet help desk would solve the seating problem also in the future.

That is a strange arrangement. BA MMB lets change the seats whenever and as many time as the OW sapphire/emerald cardholder or a flexible ticket holder desires, and that is the way it should be also by AY.

Huh? I have changed my seats several times on upcoming flights, no problem with that. Or was it BA flight?

Usually mixes: AY (domestics operated by FlyBe and some HEL-LHR or LHR-HEL operated by BA, most by AY) on AY tickets. First time experiencing this trouble last week. BA operated AY seats have been difficult/impossible to change always. And the FlyBe operated AY seats have (since the start of FlyBe Nordic) been possible to select only at the time of online check-in.

And the FlyBe operated AY seats have (since the start of FlyBe Nordic) been possible to select only at the time of online check-in.

I've been able to select seats for several HEL-TLL-HEL flights op. FlyBe when making the reservation. At OLCI, more seats are usually available, though.

Looks like mtv3.fi has picked this up (in Finnish): http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/kotimaa.shtml/2012/07/1587773/finnair-kehittaa-palvelujaan---ilmainen-muuttui-maksulliseksi

Old news, but I thought it was funny how the reporter and Finnair's spokesperson have different interpretations of the word "enhancement" :)

As said before AY calls everything an enhancement, when they removed hot meals from economy, when they started to charge for wine, when free seating became for a fee, when on a 3 hours business class flight you get a small salad in plastic bowl (=MAN flights), when they removed sparkiling wine from economy and only more expensive champagne is available etc.....

And they are never straight forward (or honest) with their answers as you can see from the mtv3 news.....

PS. Still waiting for a reply to my feedback from 7 weeks ago made thru AY webpage.

Looks like mtv3.fi has picked this up (in Finnish): http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/kotimaa.shtml/2012/07/1587773/finnair-kehittaa-palvelujaan---ilmainen-muuttui-maksulliseksi

Old news, but I thought it was funny how the reporter and Finnair's spokesperson have different interpretations of the word "enhancement" :)

....

And they are never straight forward (or honest) with their answers as you can see from the mtv3 news.....


This is very good point...really summarizes well how AY is seen by many, many customers today...it's actually really sad but 100% true..

Does anyone knows how I can change my seats online? I can see and change my seats for the first leg, but not for the longhaul leg.

Also it seems the "special meals" ex HEL are gone. Is this an enhancement or just IT crab?

Does anyone knows how I can change my seats online? I can see and change my seats for the first leg, but not for the longhaul leg.

Also it seems the "special meals" ex HEL are gone. Is this an enhancement or just IT crab?

Sounds like IT-trouble to me, this should work online.

How far away is your trip?
The "designed for you"-meals should be choosable 14 days before takeoff (and until day before takeoff).

Sounds like IT-trouble to me, this should work online.


It's IT trouble indeed and in true AY style it seems to take months to be repaired..unbelievable, really..

when they started to charge for wine,.

This is my favourite example of corporate comms mumbojumbo.

They didn't stop serving free alcohol, they started selling alcohol.

Starting something is always an "improvement" where as stopping something would be reduction of the service.

I love Finnair with this, they seem to have infinite audacity to talk such rubbish.

Booked yesterday an BA Avios+cash reward ticket for a AY flight HELBKK in C for November and sure enough I was not given a chance to choose my seat, but instead was automatically allocated seat 3A on this A330 new version - meaning it is a seatpair instead of a solo seat.

Could not change it on AY MMB - gives that error message. Called AY reservations today (answered within seconds), the lady said she could NOT change the seat beacause of it being a BA tkt, she would need to contact another department and would change the seat or call me. Within 30 mins it was changed to my preferred seat 2L.

But very strange indeed all these seating problems! And frustrating.

Booked yesterday an BA Avios+cash reward ticket for a AY flight HELBKK in C for November and sure enough I was not given a chance to choose my seat, but instead was automatically allocated seat 3A on this A330 new version - meaning it is a seatpair instead of a solo seat.

Could not change it on AY MMB - gives that error message. Called AY reservations today (answered within seconds), the lady said she could NOT change the seat beacause of it being a BA tkt, she would need to contact another department and would change the seat or call me. Within 30 mins it was changed to my preferred seat 2L.

But very strange indeed all these seating problems! And frustrating.

Oneworld - smooth travels.

Booked yesterday an BA Avios+cash reward ticket for a AY flight HELBKK in C for November and sure enough I was not given a chance to choose my seat, but instead was automatically allocated seat 3A on this A330 new version - meaning it is a seatpair instead of a solo seat.

Could not change it on AY MMB - gives that error message. Called AY reservations today (answered within seconds), the lady said she could NOT change the seat beacause of it being a BA tkt, she would need to contact another department and would change the seat or call me. Within 30 mins it was changed to my preferred seat 2L.

But very strange indeed all these seating problems! And frustrating.

I just booked AY for BA Avios reward (points only) in C for KIX-HEL-WAW (A340 + E190) in December and my seats were not allocated. Logged in with my PNR on Finnair's site and had no problems allocating my preferred seats for both sectors. Actually there were only 4 seats blocked on KIX-HEL and everything was open for HEL-WAW. Then again, it's another 4 months before my trip.
But to sum it up, had no problems with prearrangement and I am actually surprised you were allocated a seat when booking through BA. I could never do that when booking a reward for carriers other than BA on their site.

Finally I could change my seats and had the choice for the food options.

What me wonder again, is the fact that I could choose nearly ever seat (complete front row empty) and in total (incl. me and my wife) only 7 pre assigned seats.

And I bet the cabin will a 100% full on the day of departure (wich is only six days away).

Like also others have commented some progress seem to be happening with the AY site..I was also able to select seat on my next LHR flight with BA code/AY metal on the outbound..inbound is in BA club and they never have any issues with the seat selection in MMB.

^ for AY

Good to see that this glitch has been corrected. Still, the special meal choice is incorrect. You cannot choose any of the business-class-only special meals on-line. Only through telephone service. And these special choices you have ordered don't show on finnair.com but they are shown correctly on checkmytrip.net. Annoying.

Good to see that this glitch has been corrected. Still, the special meal choice is incorrect. You cannot choose any of the business-class-only special meals on-line. Only through telephone service. And these special choices you have ordered don't show on finnair.com but they are shown correctly on checkmytrip.net. Annoying.

When I changed my seats only, I was also able to choose from the special meals ex HEL.

Like also others have commented some progress seem to be happening with the AY site..I was also able to select seat on my next LHR flight with BA code/AY metal on the outbound..inbound is in BA club and they never have any issues with the seat selection in MMB.

^ for AY

If you have an business ticket, I has worked also earlier. In case of C ticket, even being AY Plat, it is not supposed to working:mad:

When I changed my seats only, I was also able to choose from the special meals ex HEL.

What kind of special meal did you order? Normal special meal choices like lactose-free, gluten-free, asian vegetarian etc show up (they are available for every passenger) but choices for business class (like fruit plate, sea food meals are not shown). None of the choices seem to show up for AY 3xxx op by FlyBe which will be even more annoying next autumn.

This was on the screen, and the choices are:

Shrimp, Bratwurst or Rendeer (as it was for the last year).

Only works on longhaul.

What kind of special meal did you order? Normal special meal choices like lactose-free, gluten-free, asian vegetarian etc show up (they are available for every passenger) but choices for business class (like fruit plate, sea food meals are not shown). None of the choices seem to show up for AY 3xxx op by FlyBe which will be even more annoying next autumn.

This was on the screen, and the choices are:

Shrimp, Bratwurst or Rendeer (as it was for the last year).

Only works on longhaul.

Yes, these pre-order choices show correctly, but not the other business class special meals.

Yes, these pre-order choices show correctly, but not the other business class special meals.

You mean the normal choices? They should be

Option 1
Option 2
and
Option 3

You learn what these options are if you click on the link, and put in your flight date and route.

You mean the normal choices? They should be

Option 1
Option 2
and
Option 3

You learn what these options are if you click on the link, and put in your flight date and route.

No, these are the pre order choices for long haul..but there are also other special meals you can order in J. For example kosher, lactose free, vegeterian etc. etc....you have options in coach also but in J there are more (or was, not sure as I do not use these personally)

No, these are the pre order choices for long haul..but there are also other special meals you can order in J. For example kosher, lactose free, vegeterian etc. etc....you have options in coach also but in J there are more (or was, not sure as I do not use these personally)

You mean these:
http://content.screencast.com/users/intuition/folders/Jing/media/6b424b97-a380-491f-a674-888ab7535047/00000015.png

I never used them, but they have always been there AFAIK.

--added--
The Option1,2,3 should appear 14 days before departure, but they never do so for me. Interesting that it is the opposite for nordic. Perhaps they changed so at T-14d you can only access the options, not the SPML... They should all be possible to order until T-24h

You mean these:
http://content.screencast.com/users/intuition/folders/Jing/media/6b424b97-a380-491f-a674-888ab7535047/00000015.png

I never used them, but they have always been there AFAIK.

Yes, exactly those.

Yes, exactly those.

Sea food meal (SFML) and fruit plate (FPML) choices are missing even though they are listed on the Finnair.com special meal lists and at least sea food meal can be ordered by telephone. Intrestingly, vegetarisk (rå) is shown even though raw vegetarian food can only be ordered for business class. Also SPML (other special meal, where you can choose which ingredients should be avoided) is missing, although that is understandable because a more detailed description is needed.

No, these are the pre order choices for long haul..but there are also other special meals you can order in J. For example kosher, lactose free, vegeterian etc. etc....you have options in coach also but in J there are more (or was, not sure as I do not use these personally)

No you are wrong,

Option1, 2 or 3 are the regular choices, which everybody have on board . The special meals ex HEL are

Wellness and Energy
Food Lover's Treat
and
Chef's Gourmet

No you are wrong,

Option1, 2 or 3 are the regular choices, which everybody have on board . The special meals ex HEL are

Wellness and Energy
Food Lover's Treat
and
Chef's Gourmet

Yes, naturally you can order from the menu as well but this is not the subject now, we have been talking about the special diet -type of pre ordering, not the J pre order choices which are normal menu+3 add. choices.

Sorry for bringing up an age old thread but...

Is online seat selection working for you guys?

I have 3 reservations on AY metal, two of which this month. I get "generic error" when I try to change seats.

AA ffp, if that matters.

Sorry for bringing up an age old thread but...

Is online seat selection working for you guys?

Sometimes its working and sometimes not. Weird.

Yep, extremely annoying..sometimes it works for one leg but not for the other..really unprofessional service, which they also (try to?) charge some pax..

Argh! So what's the cure? Call CS? I'm an AA elite so am I supposed to call AAdvantage or AY+?

Argh! So what's the cure? Call CS? I'm an AA elite so am I supposed to call AAdvantage or AY+?

You have to call AY, by try to avoid their "phone sex number", i.e. the regular Finnish reservations line. The AY+ line has normal network charges, but I don't know if they were willing to deal with such an issue for a partner elite. US numbers are free when called from Skype.

I've had the same problem and asked about it (maybe) a forthnight ago. The reply was that it was an IT problem concerning those bookings that have a ff number on them. Of course I don't know if this is the same case as mine or something else.

Not so bright times with AY seat selection:

I have a DXB flight coming in March, operated by A340. At the time of booking I selected seat 6L, as rows 6-7 were in economy "with extra leg room". However, now my seat seems to be 25A. Rows 6-7 show up in Y cabin, but are blocked. (Checked this by making a new query, as the seat selection tool has stayed broken.)

No word heard from AY's side, I just noticed this when scrolling through my upcoming bookings. I sent them a message asking what the hell are they messing up there.

I noticed the same while looking at the seat maps of my later in the spring upcoming LHR and CPH flights. I thought maybe they are blocked for golds and plats, but since you are gold... Oh well, I used the new upgrade offer for the LHR flights, so those have been taken care of now.

I thought maybe they are blocked for golds and plats, but since you are gold...

Usually I see the first rows of Y blocked at the time of booking (even though I'm AY Gold). These rows have been available at OLCI but not sure if they are available for Platinums already at the time of booking.

This morning I managed to change the seats in one booking, but not in an other. Weird.

Called on Saturday. Best seats taken or blocked.

They seem to be having ongoing problems with the seat booking. However, if you attempt to use the webpage and it doesn't work, you may call the e-helpdesk number and they'll book the seats for you. This number is a standard Finnish phone number with no extra charges.

Had the same issue with my coming flights to SIN and LHR. No online seat selection available (class H ticket). However, managed to pick my seat via travel agency's web-booking client (HRG) Annoying it doesn't work on Finnair pages. :mad:

Still not working.

I checked all my coming reservations and all the time with seat map: "yleisvirhe". :td:

Still not working.

I checked all my coming reservations and all the time with seat map: "yleisvirhe". :td:

I tried to check my three up coming returns yesterday as well. I couldn't see any of the seat maps.

Looks like hardest part with Finnair it's not labour or cutting costs, it's IT.

I cannot understand how this is possbile as they market this as a service they want to charge people for..this cannot be rocket science to get fixed...I have mentioned this to the Plus Centre many times over the years and they always say "they are updating the system.." one loooong update..luckily doesn't bother me much anymore as less and less AY flights for me..

I cannot understand how this is possbile as they market this as a service they want to charge people for..t

Yeah, this is the really strange part. If people are willing to pay for slightly less bad seats, they are just leaving money on the table with this. Although seat selection does work when buying tickets.

Yeah, this is the really strange part. If people are willing to pay for slightly less bad seats, they are just leaving money on the table with this. Although seat selection does work when buying tickets.

Maybe you as an FT ambassador can help? ;)

Strange that the AY+ representative only posted twice on FT and has since disappeared..

I cannot understand how this is possbile as they market this as a service they want to charge people for..this cannot be rocket science to get fixed...I have mentioned this to the Plus Centre many times over the years and they always say "they are updating the system.." one loooong update..luckily doesn't bother me much anymore as less and less AY flights for me..

Lucky You! Since SAS withdrew from KUO, AY is nowadays the only option to start and end the journeys. Will be interesting to see, how much the prices go up and whether we will get decent planes, such as Airbuses, instead of crammed up E190:s and ATR:s (with the horrible, disgusting, ridiculous, mockery of a man, retard, once FinnComm, nowadays FlyMayBe safety announcements) in the future.

OH-MY-GOD! It's working now. :eek:

OH-MY-GOD! It's working now. :eek:

And apparently Finnair has started to send out e-mail account statements too. Or at least I've never received one before.

And apparently Finnair has started to send out e-mail account statements too. Or at least I've never received one before.

Got my first one too, today.
Funny enough the marketing message in the footer says "Join AY+ now"... Eh, I thought only members got the account statement...

oh-my-god! It's working now. :eek:

+1!!!

and apparently finnair has started to send out e-mail account statements too. Or at least i've never received one before.

+1

And apparently Finnair has started to send out e-mail account statements too. Or at least I've never received one before.

I didn't get any account statement, so maybe it's only for golds and plats. But yes, I managed to change my seat on a flight! Well done!;)

I didn't get any account statement, so maybe it's only for golds and plats.

Considering the cost of sending one e-mail, I think that would be kinda silly. Maybe Plats and Golds got it first? Maybe this was a test run? (What are we, guinea pigs?!? :D )

I didn't get any account statement, so maybe it's only for golds and plats. But yes, I managed to change my seat on a flight! Well done!;)

I'm AY+ zilch and I got a statement. Maybe check your spam folder?

OH-MY-GOD! It's working now. :eek:
:confused:
I logged on and found that they assigned the same seat to several different people in my entourage. I didn't even touch anything....

I just booked a trip and was able to go in and select an "extra leg space" seat (exit row).

There was no extra charge. I'm new to Finnair so I have a few questions:

1. Is the exit row seat one that they charge for?
2. If so, how will they charge me?
3. If they haven't charged me, should I consider it unlikely this seat selection will stick and just choose a regular seat now that will have a higher likelihood of sticking?

Thanks!

I just booked a trip and was able to go in and select an "extra leg space" seat (exit row).

There was no extra charge. I'm new to Finnair so I have a few questions:

1. Is the exit row seat one that they charge for?
2. If so, how will they charge me?
3. If they haven't charged me, should I consider it unlikely this seat selection will stick and just choose a regular seat now that will have a higher likelihood of sticking?

1. Yes, basically it is. 60 EUR for lh flights, for example. But
2. if you entered your AA EXP number and as you are OW Emerald the seat selection is provided free-of-charge. This is for all OW Sapphires and Emeralds.
3. The selection will most probably stick. However, sudden seat changes may occur, for "operational reasons" or for no clear reason. Refer to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finnair-plus/1441200-ay-changing-my-seat-no-obvious-reason.html

Error 9102 :mad:

9102 seems to be the error you get when there have been a change of "equipment". (Which includes change of operator from AY to BE)
One need to confirm/accept the change before accessing seat assignment.