A comfort for all non-refundable tickets has always been that when you cancel you can at least get the fuel surcharge back as this has been collected as a "tax". However, starting October 26th Finnair will not allow this anymore.
This loss from now can be pretty big. For example a roundtrip AMS-HEL-CAN in R-class with total cost EUR 489 has the following details:
Base fare: EUR 136
Real taxes: EUR 99
Fuel surcharge: EUR 254
I wonder, is it even legal to refuse to refund this?
From Finnair:
Changes in refund of YR fee
From the beginning of the winter schedule, the rule concerning refund of the YR fee will change as follows:
If the fare rule prohibits refund of the ticket fare of an unused ticket, the ticket fare and the YR fee will not be paid back to the customer. If, however, the fare rule permits partial refund, then both the ticket fare and the YR fee will be paid back.
This change is valid for tickets issued on October 26, 2008 and thereafter for Finnair scheduled flights. The YR fee is charged for all passengers who have booked a flight with a Finnair flight number (including code-share flight). The fee is also collected for children, except for infants under 2 years of age, who don’t have a reserved seat.
For tickets issued before October 26, 2008, the old rules apply.