31570324

AY105 is in the air, but still no update on AY106. So I can't do anything for them, as the hotline will surely just say again, that everything will be on time. Hope AY counter in NKG will rebook them to LH tomorrow morning.

ffay005

What is hotline? Where exactly are you calling?

31570324

I just called their german hotline (+49 696 64 05033) before while they was available, now only their english hotline would be available.
Chat was available all the day (ll chat agents are currently offline).

flyingeph12

ffay005

Okay. I suppose that's just the regular call center. I don't remember seeing any hotline for AY. You could try calling the Finnish number, which is open 24/7, although it might very well be that your call will in reality end up in Kajaani, Finland even when dialling the German number.

When do check-in desks at NKG open? It's now 5 am in NKG and the flight is scheduled to depart at 9:35. You could try calling NKG airport and asking for a number to the AY station manager. Anyway, ask your friends to go to the airport well before STD. AY might have rerouted them by the time they get to the desk and that reroute might leave early.

31570324

Just did that. They told me flight is expected to be in Nanjing 12:51 tomorrow. I told him that they will miss their connection in Helsinki if the flight is delayed so much, but all he said was they should try to get rebooked at the airport.
I advised them to ask to be rebooked on Lufthansa at the airport, hope they can manage that by themself while they are in China. I can't do any more from here. Thank you for your help.

And sorry, Hotline means Callcenter in German.

flyingeph12

Hope things work out. With a posted departure for AY 106 of 14:15, it looks almost certain that your in-laws will miss their connection to HAM. LH seems like the only other option, so I echo the advice to get to the airport as early as possible.

It is unfortunate that AY is unwilling to rebook over the phone, although I guess there might be issues with rebooking onto a non-alliance / non-codeshare carrier.

31570324

All they did in Nanjing was to give them the original boarding pass and told them they will rebook them once they arrived in Helsinki. They was unwilling to rebook them on Lufthansa, they was unwilling to secure the morning flight from HEL to HAM for them. That's what I call really bad customer service.

flyingeph12

That's incredibly frustrating. I get that there are probably a large number of people on that flight connecting onwards, and AY couldn't rebook them all on the LH flight. But they could have done so for some (e.g., those who got to the airport early, those who would otherwise have to overnight in HEL), instead of waiting to rebook everyone at HEL. Of course, rebooking at HEL would mean rebooking onto other AY flights, instead of non-alliance/non-codeshare partner.

EuroFlash

SuloL

AY has Chinese staff too at HEL, or at least Asians who to my ear speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin).

flyingeph12

If it were me, I would definitely (politely but insistently) push to be rebooked, especially if I know I'm going to miss my connection. But I do think it matters that I'm Platinum, and especially if I'm flying business class.

Additionally, knowledge of EC 261 regulations with regards to right of compensation (up to 600 euros for long flights), right of hotel for overnight delays, and right of partial/full refund for delays of over 5 hours doesn't hurt in convincing the phone agent that it might be less hassle to rebook over the phone.

31570324

I did exactly that. I called them multiply times (got the same agent twice).
My father in law also called finnairs chinese callcenter this morning, but they was also unwilling to to anything. My wife called them too and the callcenter asked us to check both passangers out online, so they could rebook them Of course not possible and would be stupid for us to do us after they are already checked in at the airport itself. So chinese callcenter just told my wife, that they will rebooked to other flights tomorrow morning if AY own flight would be sold out, but as SAS is on strike it's useless. So they will maybe and on a LH flight HEL FRA HAM or something like that.
I personally would just enjoy this situation and be happy about the 600€ each I would earn, but without speaking any foreign language it will be hard for them to manage it in Helsinki.
Pretty sure they booked all tour groups to the LH flight, but as a chinese individual they just don't care.
Anyone know if the Free Wifi Login in Helsinki has a chinese login page so they could at least communicate with us after they get there?

And of course nobody told them about their rights in Nanjing. Staff refused to hand out them their passenger rights. I've got them by email vom Finnair, but I guess thats not enough.

31570324

Btw. LH781 Nanjing-Frankfurt is also delayed by 1 hour, that would give them just 30 minutes including immigration for changing planes. Pretty sure that they also wouldn't make that connection and had to overnight too, if Finnair had rebooked them to that flight.

flyingeph12

I am working from memory here, but once you've connected to the network, I believe it's literally a matter of clicking the big blue button that comes up on the launch page (that basically says "Connect to free WiFi"), which is below a box with a plus sign that allows you to "add your flight."