Originally Posted by
tasmanuk
I was booked to travel to Bangkok tomorrow via Helsinki and leaving from London. However this evening Finnair decided to cancel the London to Helsinki flight. Of course they did this after their UK customer service centre was closed and nobody answers the one in Finland. The chatbot was pretty useless at helping as well. Anyway this meant that we would miss our connecting flight to Bangkok. There were seats still available on the earlier Lon-Hel flight but for whatever reason, they decided not to put us on those. We were booked in BC (our first ever BC flight) but I was happy to do the short leg in economy and I told the chatbot that. After about 4 hours they rebooked us but now they have us going from London to Copenhagen and then onto Bangok with Scandinavian Airlines. Happy to use that airline however we are now not leaving until Tuesday and not arriving until Wednesday, which means we lose 2 days of our trip in Bangkok.
Am I entitled to compensation under the EU rules? While they rebooked us they have delayed us by 2 days. My reading of the rules says that as the flight is over 3500kms I shoudl be entitled to 600 euros. However they only cancelled the shorter leg but as this meant we missed the longer leg, will that still mean we get the higher amount? Also what happens to the lost hotel accommodation in Bangkok that I have already paid for and can't use. Does Finnair have to cover that orwil that be a travel insurance claim. What about any transport costs to get to the airport. I had a lift arranged for no cost but now due to the delay I am going to have to pay. This is my first ever cancelled flight so I don't know how all this works.
In this case I would have headed out to the airport in plenty of time for the earlier flight, hoping to make your connection to BKK anyway.
You should be entitled to the full compensation, it’s the time of arrival at your destination that counts.
But it also depends on why they cancelled the LHR-HEL. Was the plane stranded in the ME? Would that count and an extraordinary circumstance?
It’s likely a delay of 2 days is possible, without earlier opportunities to reroute given the grounding of the ME carriers… some other airlines are full carrying displaced pax.
I think you’re on the hook for your transport to the airport. You should contact your insurance company for lost accommodation in Thailand. You could also write to AY asking for compensation, but the insurance route is likely to be simplest. At least they’ll advise you on your options.