Karl

I have a flight HEL-HKG for April 12th returning on the 27th. Any chance of Finnair permitting rerouting say HEL-BKK-HEL? Anyone tried this for April flights?

Pseudo Nim

I was unsuccessful asking for this in late March. For now.

UpperDeck87K

I had earlier booked HEL-HKG-BNE for Feb on AY tickets in Value, AY+QF operating. No problem changing it to HEL-SIN-BNE as long as the operating carrier stayed the same AY+QF. I had also thought about just making the HKG connection shorter by taking an ealier CX flight HKG-BNE with AY code-share - but AY call center told me that change was not allowed. Then via SIN it was.

mhle

This is good news. I have HEL-HKG-SYD booked in a couple of weeks, with the same combination (AY J tickets, operated by AY+QF). Would prefer to route it now either via SIN or BKK instead of HKG. It seems that SIN is now very much comparable to HKG regarding the layover (with the addition of new lounges) and BKK not too bad either (if QR lounge is open).

hkgg

in terms of the virus, SIN is honestly
in a worse off situation than HKG. I would think for the 3 ports you mentioned, BKK is perhaps the preferable one....

mhle

I am not too worried about the virus during the transit in HKG. I am more worried about 1) Qantas deciding to cancel the HKG flights just before I am scheduled to fly with them and 2) possible consequences of having done the transit in HKG. I have no clue how well different authorities can track the transit history, but I would not like to risk my forthcoming trips to Japan or US, if they decide to ban entry for passengers who have recently transited in Hong Kong.

In addition, the transit in HKG is less fun now that the Pier F is closed.

I contacted Finnair regarding this, but the issue seems to be that the Qantas flights from BKK or SIN start to be very full at least during my days of travel. So I am probably not the only one thinking about this maneuver.

GetSetJetSet

Any opinions on when they might roll the waiver to early May? I have decided not to take the trip at this point, I just want a refund. I know that no one knows for sure, just based on how they have been rolling it forwards, when a good time to check might be.

Also, as I am booked on BLQ-HEL-CAN-HEL-BLQ in June and currently this route is not even operating, do you think they would agree now to a date change, and if so, how far forward would they allow me to move it? This is the 550e J fare, so i'd prefer to kick the can and not refund at this juncture.

Thanks!

Ed Size

Early May waivers? Earliest by end of March in my opinion - unless a real catastrophe will start. For your June flight they won´t let you move the dates before they know that they don t fly - so this will be end of April beginning of May - earliest (just my guess).

GetSetJetSet

Guess I'll check back in from time to time then. Thx.

Extra Mile

”United Airlines is extending its ban on flights to mainland China and Hong Kong”

”The flights to Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai, as well as Hong Kong, will be suspended until April 24”

”Delta Air Lines previously suspended flights to China through April 30 and American Airlines had suspended flights to Hong Kong through April 23 and mainland China through April 24”

How about Finnair? I’ m a Little disappointed to information and ability to make decissions.

Steve_Hun

As for those US based airlines the flights to and from China are only a small portion of their operation, I believe it is a lot easier for them to extended the timeframe they are not flying to China and its SARs. For Finnair, whom China is (one of) the biggest market, it is a lot more difficult to make such radical decision. Should the situation not improve, I'm convinced that Finnair will also extend their no fly timeframe. Currently it is still more than a month out until they should resume flights, so a lot can happen. At least from the last couple day's of news seems that less and less people are getting sick and an increasing number are declared healthy/recovered (=> as long as you can believe Chinese statistics).

Extra Mile

Yes, I know the market situation. Nevertheless there were almost 2000 new cases in mainland China, which is Huge number. In theory new cases should set to zero +quarantine time. I think it will TaKe a time before it’s safe to travel China.

Steve_Hun

In a country of 1.4 billion, I would not necessarily call it huge to have 1,749 (reported by Reuters) new patient a day, which is the lowest since 29 Jan. Agreed, this is still 1749 more than it "should be"... Out of those, only 56 are from outside of the province of Hubei. Though the way you decide to look at it, is really a matter of personal perception.

In simple numbers (not by mortality rate), the seasonal flu kills hell of a lot more people than the COVID-19.

ffay005

Conversation with my Dad yesterday:
Me, reading Ilta-Sanomat: So, 2000 people have died of the flu in China.
Dad: Oh? So how many are there left now?

I guess that sums the situation up pretty well.

OH-LGG

And in Finland 500 people die from basic flu every year without Coronas or San Miguels.

I'm so tired of this hysteria.