Hello - hoping for some guidance. We were supposed to fly BCN-HEL-LAX on February 20th and the BCN-HEL codeshare flight (operated by IB) was 33 minutes late so we (along with 12 others) missed our HEL-LAX connection and had to fly out the next day and connect through DFW. Filled out the 261 form and just received the reply:

"Thank you for contacting us regarding your flight Barcelona - Helsinki AY1654 on 20.02.2025. We apologize that your flight was disrupted. The flight departed late from Barcelona due to assistance provided to a passenger with reduced mobility. These assistance services are the responsibility of the airport. Further delay was caused by start-up and push-back restrictions. Because the delay reason is considered as extraordinary circumstance, no compensation will be paid. The right to EU standard compensation does not apply if the delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances to which Finnair is unable to influence even if all reasonable and necessary measures are taken. "

I don't think they are being truthful. We got to the gate early and the plane was there. The crew was there, but they did not start boarding until about 10 minutes before departure. I knew we had a tight connection so I was getting pretty nervous. The passengers all boarded and were seated and we were running 10-15 minutes behind. and then we just sat there, with the door open and the crew chatting and laughing -- no idea why, but that ate up another 10-15 minutes. They certainly seemed in no rush to depart. There were no mobility issues with passengers. Then after doors were closed we st there for another 5-10 minutes. I have no way of knowing if there were pushback delays, and don't know if pushback delays are considered extraordinary. If they knew in advance that there was a pushback delay then that might explain why they were slow in boarding. But if they were just slow and then told to wait 10 minutes then it's on them for missing the originally planned departure time.

I've never had a claim rejected is not sure how to proceed. Reply to the email? Escalate to Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency? Or use AirHelp? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.