Finnair Plus e-services
 

Plus members have probably noticed that the Plus section of Finnair website has been down much longer than the originally anticipated 10 days or so. I think the original communication suggested some software migration/upgrades, but does anyone know if this will lead to any improvements/new developments around Plus?

I seem to recall they communicated on an upcoming change to the free upgrade vouchers allocation and validity...

I think this hassle is due to their e-service outsourcing process to India. They promised some changes to the voucher scheme so let's see if that's done at this time as well.

I called them this morning and they couldn't tell when the system would be up. Didn't get any info if they would have something new coming on their frequent flyer web service. My personal wish would be to have award flight reservation for other OW flights.

This is getting ridiculous
 

This service break/software update thing seems to have gone haywire. This is very bad for Finnair. This is one very badly planned and executed update - and I have seen a few since I do this IT stuff for living...

Nevertheless sometime last week when I logged in I could actually see the links to my points etc., even though they didn't really work - just printed out "This portlet is not in use" in Finnish. Anyway there were lots of new links on the navigation bar, with things like "Hotel voucher", "Upgrade", "Rental car" etc. which suggests that the new system should be able to handle all these requests online instead of forcing one to go through the tedious process of dealing with the Plus service centre. Or maybe I'm wishing too much and they just added some simple forms which send preformatted requests to human beings - outsourced or not :)

Anyway this worked for a day or two, now those links are nowhere to be seen again..

Previous title says it all
 

I agree fully. Maybe a FinnairPlus forum would be in order so that we could all start some serious Finnair bashing...:D Seriously though, this type of delay is the consequence of either a severe project disaster or complete ignorance of customers. I hope it is the previous. If I had some upcoming award reservations I would be furious. :(

I am not trying to defend AY in any way at all but atleast for me the Plus hotline has worked nicely and effectively during this shutdown of online services, which, to be honest, have been pretty lame anyway...

What I would like to see the most is a good online seat selection / trip management tool, something like BA's MMB, which I find being an absolutely perfect tool, especially after they changed their seating policy...it's simply awful service that AY doesn't allow even their top tiers to pre select bulkhead/exit seats, no matter on/offline.

I got to see the very same thing on Monday on my first attempt to log in. Gives some hope that this is not just an offshoring exercise but that members lives should be made a little bit easier as a result. Having said that, I do agree with the comments made about the quality of the Plus call centre but not sure if the service quality differs depending on which language option you go for... I tend to end up dealing in Finnish...

Hoorah!
 

It's finally working again!. Too bad that there haven't really been that many changes - mainly some cosmetic ones. The booking class for the flight postings in your account is now isolated on a separate column, which is sort of pointless since it's shown on the actual description column as well, just like before.

The account history has been extended to 2005. I don't know whether this is a rolling 2 year window or is the idea to show a full account history (a'la SAS Eurobonus after the changes this spring) and they just don't have the old data accessible anymore.

Otherwise I couldn't find any new functionality at all.


Oh, and I am missing something like 3000 points that were accumulated during the downtime. I wonder how long it will take for those to post.

A couple of weeks ago before knowing about the break, I sent an e-mail to Finnair suggesting the following e-services:
- Manage My Booking (à la British Airways style)
- Possibility to book award flights on other OW partner
- Flight booking à la American Airlines style

I never got any reply.

None of the changes that some of us managed to preview earlier on seem to be in use... so perhaps there is more to come. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the plan as their schedule downtime got out of control.

I do like the 'history' now available on the statement and the upgrade voucher view has changed and it now lists all vouchers available until the end of your current renewal term, which for me is Oct 2008. So instead of only showing my 2007 vouchers it is suggesting I could use my 2008 vouchers in 2007 if I wanted to...

I noticed, that when I login to my HHonors account and look at the earning preferences, the field where they should display the name of the airline is empty. I see my AY Plus number over there though...

A collegue of mine was just registering to HHonors and was trying sign up for Finnair Plus points, but couldn't do that, 'cause AY was not found in the list.

What do you think, could this be related to this service break and the changes they've made?

The Finnair Plus page seems to be badly broken even though it is now online.

I can log in and the Finnair Plus summary box (upper right hand corner of the page) shows correct level and points balance. Nothing else seems to be working properly, however.

My transaction history is empty and I have now reached a completely new level -- Finnair Plus null.

None of my personal and profile information is in the system.

Furthermore, when trying to make an online award reservation, one gets an error message suggesting a call to the service centre.

Seems like a thoroughly botched up system update...

Cheers,
T.

The way this was explained to me two weeks ago by an AY Plus manager was that a gentleman with the sole knowledge about the previous online system was going to retire very soon. So, hopefully they really get the new system working.

It has been a big joke among the people in Finnish IT industry on how long this "data transfer" to the new system has already taken..

At least the "upgrade" does not seem to be as terrible as the "upgrade" done to Amadeus Check My Trip service. :td:

The IT department of Finnair was outsourced to IBM (some years ago) so I guess we cannot complaine AY for this. This seems similar what they had with the renewal of the Finnair website. It took quite long for them to get the site working without major clutches. Finland is supposed to be a highranking IT-society and then we cannot even get a system running in planned times.. no good :td:

I don't care who is doing the work. AY is the front face and THEY shoud ensure that the upgrades to the site are ok.