nordic

The strike actions against Finnair and Barona are currently over. However, ISS is striking but this should affect only Lufthansa and SAS. And there are currently some disputes at the Finnair domestic destinations but not at Helsinki-Vantaa.

Well, I know that this is no consulation if you have lost your baggage anyway.

AY0005

What I find very disturbing is Finnair does not really seem to care less about the lost luggage. Have had various phone calls in last few days as they failed to deliver. In all calls tone has been: We're not responsible and can't do anything, call or contact your arrival airport for more information of your luggage.

miikka

Why would they care? They don't care about their customers, why would they care about their luggage?

ISS Aviation had a similar action going on between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning affecting SAS/Blue1/Lufthansa flights. Some of the Blue1 executives were reported to be helping on the situation by carrying the luggages. I guess it is pretty impossible to see Finnair executives to do the same thing. Some might say that it is a PR trick but any way in the end, Finnair didn't even do the PR trick but just feels it isn't their problem.

It is interesting to see how many Finnair customers will keep flying with them ...

JPS76

I thought Id landed a good deal with my MAN-HEL-HKG-SYD-BKK-HEL-LHR departing on 28th Dec (even though I was a little suspicious of the tight connecting times)...now I know why it was a 'good deal'. In brief:

> Departed MAN 10 mins late and arrived in HEL on time. Was rushed through to the HKG flight - advertised connection time of 1hr.
> Sat for 2 hours waiting for other connecting passengers to arrive and board before setting off for HKG, clear at this point that the SYD connection would be missed in HKG as this was 1hr 5mins.
> Arrived late HKG, missed SYD connection, then rushed onto QF88 down to SYD, alarm bells regarding checked in luggage ringing at this point.
> Arrived in SYD with no bags on 29th Dec.
> Recieved bags 6 days later on Oz on 5th Jan. Seemingly they were still in HEL even after the 2 hr delay getting out of there.

From my point of view Im not prepared to take the risk in future with poorly planned connection times when travelling on vacation no matter what the saving.

On the return journey when arriving off BA in BKK on 17th Jan, I was informed that the HEL flight would be delayed by 6 hrs. I thanked my lucky stars when I was put on QF1 straight through to LHR.

My checked luggage? Fourth bag off the belt.

i98davsc

I thought I'd share that I got an email from Finnair telling me that they've received the bill I sent them for expenses incurred due to the delayed baggage and that in spite of it being a force majeure situation, they'll reimburse me for what I spent on clothes. The email was written in the tone of making a "major exception from policy" for me, but in spite of that this hopefully still means that others are getting reimbursed as well. The check is supposed to arrive in a few weeks.

LostAntipod

I am currently in the middle of a LHR-HEL-HKG-SYD-BKK-HEL-LHR itinerary.

Echoing previous posters, the connections are short and AY seem to have trouble meeting them; we were 50 mins late out of London, and while I did make the flight for the HKG sector (which was over an hour late), my checked baggage did not. I did not make the HKG-SYD flight as we arrived nearly 90 minutes late due to a change of defective aircraft.

In the end I was routed HKG-SIN-SYD and my bag was routed HEL-BKK-SYD. My bag arrived just half an hour after me on BA9, and was first off the belt. But, it is a bit beaten up now, which is something I will be taking up with Finnair (as will be the loss of one night of hotel charges since I arrived a day late).

I will be posting a trip report in due course. In summary, if this was a once-in-a-lifetime, or an important business trip, I think twice about using AY from the UK to Asia.. In my circumstances however, I took the view that saving £600-£700 against the BA/QF/MH/etc business class fares for the same week buys a lot of lost luggage.

Thank you to the previous posters for alerting me to the possibility.

katyspcc

After 24 days of hopeless frustration, I have FINALLY got my bag back...Cheers to myself.

I am wondering how much it has costed me on my phone bills over these days, calling to the Baggage and the Delivery companies..

I have a feeling that Finnair would lose many customers. because I can't feel their effort or passion in helping the frustrated customers. At least i think they should take the initiative to contact and to compensate the affected group, but not leaving us with some numbers and expecting us to deal with the long queue ourselves!!

I can't be bothered to claim for any compensation. they've done a good job on this by shutting the floodgate with the long procedures. ^^

LostAntipod

Readers may wish to be aware that, contrary to the judgement of the ECJ last November (and assuming I have not missed any developments since then), Finnair have told me that delays for technical reasons are not within the realm of the EC Regulation on air travel delays.

"" The EU-compensation is paid only in case of overbooking or commercial cancellation..." Well, we will see about that....

Readers may also wish to be aware that delays in HKG may see AY try to re-route you to Shanghai onto a China Eastern flight to continue your journey (in my case to SYD). I stand to be corrected but I dont see China Eastern J class as a comparable product to CX (which I was supposed to be on) and I beleive they are not a One World partner which would seem to put miles/tier points at risk as well...

Marco Polo

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finna...air-style.html
well it is now three months after my horrific J class trips with Finnair, I have received no contact whatsoever from Finnair (Lack of) Customer Service and my laptop which the cow hostess dropped onto the floor via my thigh from the 2 meters up overhead locker (without even a word of apology from her) gave up the ghost in November and cost me US 160 for a motherboard repair plus additional for a new battery pack and needed complete reinstall of the O/S and software. The whole airline seems not to give a s--t about their pax.

No way will I set foot on that shambolic airline again.

Unimatrix One

Count me as another who will never fly Finnair again. (See also my thread "Tried Finnair with high hopes, will probably never fly them again.")

Helsinki airport is a pit, my flights were delayed (on the outbound) and canceled (on the return), Finnair lost my luggage for a full week and was completely unapologetic and not proactive about helping me get it back. No compensation was offered for all this inconvenience. (FWIW, I am a oneworld Sapphire member and was on a paid business class ticket.)

This thread just confirms that I'm not alone and Finnair has been atrocious in general for the last few months.

No more connecting itineraries through Helsinki (what a dump) for me. From now on I'm flying nonstop on other airlines, even if I have to fly outside my preferred alliance.

mosburger

A lot of "never fly British Airways & Lufthansa again" threads should be appearing in the coming weeks due to imminent strike action and possible consequences for frequent fliers.

That said, travellers like Unimatrix One have all reason to be disappointed while other posters seem victims of self-inflicted mishaps to me. The new automatic baggage handling system they have been building for years will finally be operational in March?

LostAntipod

I didnt think HEL was a dump at all.... but hey, what would I know .... I always have to run through the airport to get my connecting flights, so its not as if I've actually SEEN it !

Unimatrix One

Did you use the lounges in the European/domestic section? They're awful. The worst lounges I've seen in any airport... anywhere. Transiting in a US airport is more pleasant than HEL. And that's saying a lot.

Kirtap

Could you elaborate?
I agree that the Helsinki airport lounges are getting worse all the time , but I have to admit experiencing a lot worse or equally bad lounges out there

Unimatrix One

Well, while waiting for my connection to ZRH I went to the elite lounge and found it very small, cramped, and crowded. There were maybe two or three seats open in the entire lounge. I ended up sitting on a bench, scrunched between two other people (like on a rush hour subway or something). The "decor" (if you can call it that) was very institutional and utilitarian. Honestly, the general gate area was more comfortable and attractive than the lounge.

I asked the lounge attendant if the business class lounge (which I could have accessed as well, since I was traveling in business class) was any nicer or less crowded, and she kind of laughed and said no, they were basically the same.