Flight voucher Refund?

Caryne

I had a flight booked to the USA with Finnair (with several friends) in 2020. We couldn't make it, due to Covid, and we accepted a voucher for future travel. The voucher is due to expire at the end of August this year but, as a group, we are not comfortable with booking yet for another holiday, with Covid still around. Does anyone know if we now lose the money (which is a large amount for six people) or does Finnair have to extend the voucher or refund us? I cannot find any definite rulings on this. 

phatbear

Does the voucher expire in as much it has to be travelled by then or booked by then?

Worrying about covid means you wont be travelling anywhere for a long time as its not going anywhere in the near future. 

Finnair arent obliged to extend it, why would they be flights are active again and people are flying again, they certainly arent obliged to refund you as it would have been your choice to delay your flights in the first place, it would have been different if they had cancelled the flights. 

The only thing you can do is throw yourself at the mercy of finnair, i would suggest reaching out to the on social media, ie send them a message on twitter and ask if they can help, but as stated they certainly are'nt obliged too

Although this relates to gift vouchers from what ive read the same applies to travel vouchers:

Can I extend the validity of my gift card?

Finnair gift card is valid for one year, and it’s not possible to extend it. Please note that you just need to buy your ticket before the expiration date; the actual travel date can be later (max 360 days in the future).

Due to the situation caused by COVID19, the validity period for all expiring Finnair flight gift cards that have some value left on them, is extended until 31 August 2022. The change will be done during July 2021. The gift card number doesn’t change

onashoestring

Finair Vouchers - You have to book by 31 Aug 2022 but can travel up to 1 year after expiry-

So you can book to travel  in 2023  as long as you use your voucher to make the booking by 31 Aug this year .

It’s worth checking with the airline if it will let you swap it for a cash refund. However, it is up to the airline to set these policies and some may not allow exchanges - they don’t have to refund or extend .  

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/

Caryne

onashoestring said:

Finair Vouchers - You have to book by 31 Aug 2022 but can travel up to 1 year after expiry-

So you can book to travel  in 2023  as long as you use your voucher to make the booking by 31 Aug this year .

Yes, we have to book by the end of August and have twelve months to travel after that. As I said, we aren't cofident or travelling to the USA at the moment and, until we are confident, then we aren't willing to book a flight,, I doubt this will change between now and the end of August. I am actually looking to find out what is the law regarding this, I've already checked my airlines rules and they just say the voucher has to be used to book a flight by the end of August, there's no mention of what happens to our money if we can't use it by then. We are talking several thousand pounds here, legally, can they just take this money from us if we still do not feel confident flying? Covid hasn't gone away, can they really insist we use the voucher or lose the money? This really doesn't seem right.

Caryne

phatbear said:

Does the voucher expire in as much it has to be travelled by then or booked by then?

Worrying about covid means you wont be travelling anywhere for a long time as its not going anywhere in the near future. 

Finnair arent obliged to extend it, why would they be flights are active again and people are flying again, they certainly arent obliged to refund you as it would have been your choice to delay your flights in the first place, it would have been different if they had cancelled the flights. 

The only thing you can do is throw yourself at the mercy of finnair, i would suggest reaching out to the on social media, ie send them a message on twitter and ask if they can help, but as stated they certainly are'nt obliged too

Although this relates to gift vouchers from what ive read the same applies to travel vouchers:

Can I extend the validity of my gift card?

Finnair gift card is valid for one year, and it’s not possible to extend it. Please note that you just need to buy your ticket before the expiration date; the actual travel date can be later (max 360 days in the future).

Due to the situation caused by COVID19, the validity period for all expiring Finnair flight gift cards that have some value left on them, is extended until 31 August 2022. The change will be done during July 2021. The gift card number doesn’t change

It was not my choice to 'delay the fights in the first place' the flights were not operating, no one was flying to the USA at that time. The flights were, of course, cancelled.

onashoestring

@Caryne the points below are also relevant to what you are entitled to legally - 

You said you couldn’t make it due to Covid - were the flights definitely cancelled ? Or was it that the flights went ahead but as you were not able to enter the country you opted for a voucher? Some flights to the US continued to operate . 

If the flights went ahead ( albeit that you personally couldn’t travel ) the airline did not have to offer a refund or a voucher- and in this case you are bond by the T&Cs of the voucher you accepted . When flights went ahead the airline doesn’t have to offer any extension or refund . 

It’s slightly different if Finair cancelled the  flights . Then you should have been offered a refund or a voucher .

CKhalvashi

You elected for a voucher in the first place instead of a refund. This voucher in its terms has an expiry date. If you did not feel comfortable you should have asked for a refund in the first instance. Finnair vouchers are not transferrable to cash.

I'm not known to frequent the US but I've travelled multiple times, both for business and personally in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 I'd have no problem getting onto an aircraft having done so 24 times in 2020, 19 times in 2021 and already 8 times this year (plus 4 flights this month). I also have no problem travelling around and mixing with the general public, again having done so, including some extremely high risk situations when I went to assist Ukrainians at the beginning of Russia's illegal military invasion.

Covid hasn't gone away, but it's not too different to someone with a vaccine to the flu, which actually hits me most years a lot harder than Covid did.

Caryne

onashoestring said:

@Caryne the points below are also relevant to what you are entitled to legally - 

You said you couldn’t make it due to Covid - were the flights definitely cancelled ? Or was it that the flights went ahead but as you were not able to enter the country you opted for a voucher? Some flights to the US continued to operate . 

If the flights went ahead ( albeit that you personally couldn’t travel ) the airline did not have to offer a refund or a voucher- and in this case you are bond by the T&Cs of the voucher you accepted . When flights went ahead the airline doesn’t have to offer any extension or refund . 

It’s slightly different if Finair cancelled the  flights . Then you should have been offered a refund or a voucher .

The flights were cancelled, definitely.  We were offered a refund or a voucher, but the voucher had a higher value and, as this was right at the start of the pandemic we had no idea it would last so long and thought that would be fine. As the months/years have gone on, it's become clear it's a much longer thing and, as a group of six people, it would be too complicated trying to tour the USA (it was a tour we were going on) with there still being a Coivd risk (what if one member became ill, etc??).  

onashoestring

Caryne said:

onashoestring said:

@Caryne the points below are also relevant to what you are entitled to legally - 

You said you couldn’t make it due to Covid - were the flights definitely cancelled ? Or was it that the flights went ahead but as you were not able to enter the country you opted for a voucher? Some flights to the US continued to operate . 

If the flights went ahead ( albeit that you personally couldn’t travel ) the airline did not have to offer a refund or a voucher- and in this case you are bond by the T&Cs of the voucher you accepted . When flights went ahead the airline doesn’t have to offer any extension or refund . 

It’s slightly different if Finair cancelled the  flights . Then you should have been offered a refund or a voucher .

The flights were cancelled, definitely.  We were offered a refund or a voucher, but the voucher had a higher value and, as this was right at the start of the pandemic we had no idea it would last so long and thought that would be fine….

That being the case the  airline has complied with their legal requirements when they cancelled the flights by offering you the choice of refund or voucher .

When you accepted the voucher you lost your right to a refund in future and therefore you have no legal right to anything other than the T& Cs of the voucher - regarding when it must be used .

I understand that with hindsight you have changed you mind and would now like a refund and there is  no harm in asking Finair for an extension or refund . However  there is no legal basis to force them to agree to this and I think it’s highly unlikely that they will agree . 

phatbear

Caryne said:

The flights were cancelled, definitely.  We were offered a refund or a voucher, but the voucher had a higher value 

And there within lies the problem. 

You assumed you could profit off of this situation and its backfired. 

There was always going to be a risk with taking the voucher, for example if finnair had gone into administration then the voucher would be utterly redundant. 


Go and book your flights you will be fine covid really is here to stay so unless you never want to travel ever again then you are going to need to accept the situ and stay as safe as possible.