intuition

Finnair just published this:
Finnair prepares for possible flight cancellations due to working restrictions set by Finnish Pilots’ Association



In short, due to shortage of pilots during training for A350 and the fact that labour agreement with pilots ended 2016-11-15 there is now restrictions in place for Finnair to replace pilots called in sick. Yesterday was first longhaul flight cancelled du to this situation, and is likely to continue until new collective agreement is signed.

ff_flyer

And not EC261/2004 eligible if your flight(s) get cancelled/delayed as this may be categorized as "extraordinary circumstances and beyond the control of airline" I presume?

ffay005

Certainly. For AY, everything is always exceptional.

(In truth, of course, EU compensation is only payable if they inform you less than 14 days in advance.)

Guillou

Starting from 29 November there will be a wetlease Boeing 737 from Danish Jettime to cover some of the shortages. Probably not a huge difference as this will be used in domestic/Europe routes. No inflight shopping though on these flights

Shareholder

Seems AY has been expanding routes so rapidly it can't staff airplanes or get enough gates to accommodate all its departures and arrivals.

GetSetJetSet

Any idea what routes might be impacted? I already rerouted JFK-LHR (AA), LHR-HEL (AY) to avoid HiFly on 12/27. I am supposed to continue HEL-BKK on 12/29, should the intra-euro and that long haul be ok? I am less worried about the LHR-HEL, since I imagine I could be rebooked on BA, but the long haul?

Peregrine415

I wouldn't worry since there are two HEL-BKK flights plus there are alternative flights to Asia, such as HEL-SIN, HEL-PVG, etc., where you can connect to BKK. Worst case is they can always reallocate crew from later flights, such as HEL-HKG, which has a reputation for being delayed till the following morning.

Now, if AY cancels your HEL-BKK flight before you leave JFK, then I'd asked to be rebooked on CX, JL or QR.

ff_flyer

Actually no.
The pilots' union has declared that they will not work overtime nor change their personal rotations in case of irregularities.
If there is shortage of pilots on any flight and no Standby cockpit crew available the only alternative is to cancel the flight or use JetTime wetleased plane. The ban announced by union inhibits AY to reallocate any cockpit crew from another flight or shuffle their rotations.

Cancellations will be announced on daily basis, not days ahead and can affect practically any flight operated by AY cockpit crew, ie. HiFly and Airberlin flights are excluded.

Do not worry about a cancellation, two daily departures to BKK, you are travelling in J and AY will fly you to BKK in case of any irregularity. As mentioned they have fairly good daily connections via other major Asian hubs (SIN/HKG/ etc..).

GetSetJetSet

Thanks, I will monitor it as we get closer.

MagmaH

AY73 from HEL to NRT was cancelled two times this week due to sick pilots. My girlfriend was rebooked to BA the day after, which sucked since I upgraded her to a F class ticket, and according to Finnair it was impossible to let her fly J on AY73 the day after even if there were C class tickets available. Not very happy about this.

Aviating

At least today 1.1.2017 there is a long list of cancelled flights:
AY073 HEL-NRT - FLT WILL BE CNLD DUE TO LACK OF PILOTS
AY057 HEL-PVG - FLIGHT CNLD DUE TO LACK OF PILOTS
AY069 HEL-HKG - FLT CNLD DUE TO LACK OF PILOTS
AY081 HEL-SIN - FLT CNLD DUE TO LACK OF PILOTS

The hotels near HEL must be getting full...

Edit: EF confirmed the reason in the remarks for the cancelled flights.

OH-LGG

It looks like AY can't handle this.
One of the busiest seasons in travel industry and AY cancelled today 4 return long hauls. Yesterday Osaka was cancelled.

Not looking bright now for AY.

OH-LGG

It's again union and union's BS:

https://www.finnair.com/fi/gb/flightinfo


In Finnish version it's told that today 01JAN something happened:

https://www.finnair.com/fi/fi/flightinfo

Courmisch

Any clue how they pick the victim flights? It looks like it simply down to which flights the missing pilots were supposed to fly, or does Finnair reshuffle available pilots to operate the least redundant flights?

(SIN, HKG, NRT and PVG look like important and heavily loaded destinations, but they should alos be relatively easy to reroute to/from...)

OH-LGG

NRT could be A340-pilot issue.