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Always check official times

Posted by (Freedonia) on

Yesterday, I was scheduled to fly from Helsinki to Gdansk on the only nonstop of the day. Finnair.

Without going into details, the flight was cancelled about ten minutes past boarding time due to mechanical reasons.

We were told we'd be contacted with new flight arrangments. Within 10 minutes I got a text saying I was put on a Finnair flight to Warsaw where I would change to a LOT flight to Gdansk. It left in an hour. The gate agent at the original flight printed out my two boarding passes but I realized later they were available as well on the Finnair app.

The new schedule had me arriving about 2:45 minutes past my original arrival time meaning no EU 261 compensation. However, there were some delays on the second flight.

Without going into details, I looked at my watch as we touched down in Gdansk.
We landed at 2 hours and 59 minutes past the original arrival time.

I get nothing.

Or so I thought. I looked at the official time on the LOT website and it shows when the door of the plane opens and not when the plane touches down. . That puts it at 3 hours and 10 minutes past original arrival time.

I put in for 250 Euro compensation from Finnair. I'm waiting to hear.

There was another surprise....with all the changes and transfers, my checked bag made it with me on all the flights.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Addendum #1: Oops, I fell for it. I put in a claim through a private company who, after receiving my information, sent me an email letting me know how wonderful they are and will only take 33% of my refund. I immediately sent them a request to cancel and I'm waiting to her.

I did find the official Finnair request form, it literall already had my information, and put in a request through them.

I'll let you know.

Posted by
4338 posts

According to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 4 September 2014 in the case of Germanwings GmbH v Ronny Henning), the actual time of arrival corresponds precisely to the moment when at least one of the aircraft's doors is opened, provided that the passengers are permitted to leave the aircraft at that time.

You can consult the judgment on the official EU publications website and use it as an argument in your claim. (paragraph 28)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:62013CJ0452

Posted by
19641 posts

I'm more used to the US rules which states airlines can use "wheels down" as the arrival time.

Posted by
19641 posts

Addendum #2--the private company has canceled my request. Now I'm waiting to hear directly from Finnair.

The private company needed more information like copies of my boarding passes, a copy of my passport and more.

Direct with Finnair all I had to do was tell them what flight I was on that was canceled. I'm still waiting to hear.

Posted by
4338 posts

You did the right thing by cancelling your request with the private company.

Filing a compensation claim directly with the airline is completely free. A private company will simply do the exact same thing you would do, nothing more, except they’ll take 33% of your compensation amount.

Basically, it’s like handing your supermarket grocery list to someone else so they do your shopping for you, and when they come back with your groceries, they keep 33% of them for themselves.

Posted by
19641 posts

I have claimed under EU261 in the past.

But tyring to do this early morning, on a phone, with poor eyesite and fighting cataracts meant I didn't see that it was not Finnair I was dealing with.

I thought I was dealing with Finnair and they said use the link to complete the process.

I should have known when they asked for so much information that something was fishy. But.....

Of course, when I was actually on the Finnair site, all I had to do was give my name and record locator. My flight showed up and I checked that's the one I was claiming on.

The airline said that if they could verfiy my claim I'd be offered either 250 Euros in cash or a 375 Euro voucher. I'm taking the cash. Who knows when I'll fly Finnair again.

I'm still waiting to hear.

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