Flight cancellation due to airport passenger limitations

Maito

We had one leg of a return journey cancelled by Finnair. Cancellation came by email 11 days before the outward flight. Reason given was passenger number limits at Schiphol. Flight was from AMS to Helsinki. Finnair were difficult to contact ( tried chat, email and phone). Initially they said they would refer to back office to try to reroute, but then didn't call back as promised, and then said no options available to reroute. I found an alternative on KLM same day same route, asked Finnair to book, they refused, said no alternative available. After that response I had no choice but to book the KLM flight myself, extra £500, to ensure holiday could proceed, and to meet Finland entry requirements of having a return ticket. Finnair quoting refund if much less than cost of KLM flight. What am I entitled to?

eskbanker

The EU regulations require the airline to reroute you at the earliest opportunity under comparable transport conditions, so if they claimed there wasn't any option when there was another airline's flight on the same route on the same day, then you're entitled to claim the cost if you booked that yourself, as explained in section 4.2 of the EU Interpretative Guidelines document about those regulations:

The air carrier has to bear the costs for re-routing or a return flight, and must reimburse the costs for the flight borne by the passenger where the air carrier does not comply with its obligation to offer rerouting or return under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity

assuming you didn't simply want the lower value refund of the original flight (they're obliged to offer you the choice between refund or rerouting).

They're also obliged to pay compensation unless the cancellation was "caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken", but if it was an airport decision outside the airline's control then that is likely to waive any liability for the airline. 

CKhalvashi

Agree with Esk except for the compensation issue. As long as you haven't applied for a refund they do owe you for the KLM flight though.

Assuming the cancelled flight was booked for more than 2 weeks out (OP doesn't specify) then compensation wouldn't apply. It also wouldn't apply to cancelled flights as a result of cancelled/significantly amended slots as this is outside of airline control. Both AMS and HEL are slot restricted airports and AMS is at capacity.

OP also doesn't need to worry about the entry requirements for Finland in any event, but does need to ensure they meet requirements for the Netherlands, which may include travel to outside the Schengen area being booked. Any flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki will be a domestic Schengen flight. The evidence does not need to be for Finland as it's permissible to enter in Finland and exit in France for example.

Westin

Maito said:

We had one leg of a return journey cancelled by Finnair. Cancellation came by email 11 days before the outward flight. Reason given was passenger number limits at Schiphol. Flight was from AMS to Helsinki. Finnair were difficult to contact ( tried chat, email and phone). Initially they said they would refer to back office to try to reroute, but then didn't call back as promised, and then said no options available to reroute. I found an alternative on KLM same day same route, asked Finnair to book, they refused, said no alternative available. After that response I had no choice but to book the KLM flight myself, extra £500, to ensure holiday could proceed, and to meet Finland entry requirements of having a return ticket. Finnair quoting refund if much less than cost of KLM flight. What am I entitled to?

This was your return journey and 11 days prior they cancelled one leg of the return and offered NO option to get you to your return destination? Is that right?

Maito

Yes correct. Additional problem is that Finland border entry states that you need proof of return to allow entry so we could have been stopped at the start of the holiday if I hadn't rebooked the missing leg

Maito

Thanks for help everyone, I will submit a claim and let you know how I get on. It could take some months as Finnair have significant delays at customer service 

eskbanker

CKhalvashi said:

Agree with Esk except for the compensation issue. [...]

Assuming the cancelled flight was booked for more than 2 weeks out (OP doesn't specify) then compensation wouldn't apply.

Seems to me that we're on the same page about the likelihood of extraordinary circumstances applying but my point was that if they don't, compensation would be due if the flight was cancelled 11 days before departure, without rerouting being offered - it's still not clear to me whether that was the case (OP's reference to Finnish entry conditions implies their holiday was in Finland but other wording suggests that the flight to Finland was the return leg), but probably moot anyway....

Caz3121

eskbanker said:

compensation would be due if the flight was cancelled 11 days before departure, without rerouting being offered 

would it not be how far in advance of the cancelled flight? (rather than the unaffected outbound flight)
OP said it was one of the return flight legs that was cancelled, so unless going away for 2-3 days would have been advised more than 14 days before the affected flight

CKhalvashi

Maito said:

Yes correct. Additional problem is that Finland border entry states that you need proof of return to allow entry so we could have been stopped at the start of the holiday if I hadn't rebooked the missing leg

Save for any Covid requirements, you would never meet a Finnish border officer on an Amsterdam arrival.

The flight to the Netherlands (where immigration would be necessary from the UK) is where you will enter the Schengen area. The flight from the Netherlands to Finland is is essence a domestic Schengen flight.

Your onward flight to a country you have the right to enter, presumably from the Netherlands, is all the immigration officer will care about.

eskbanker

Caz3121 said:

eskbanker said:

compensation would be due if the flight was cancelled 11 days before departure, without rerouting being offered 

would it not be how far in advance of the cancelled flight? (rather than the unaffected outbound flight)
OP said it was one of the return flight legs that was cancelled, so unless going away for 2-3 days would have been advised more than 14 days before the affected flight

Perhaps it's just me but OP's wording creates confusion - they say that "Flight was from AMS to Helsinki", which presumably refers to the cancelled one, but they also create the impression that Finland was their holiday destination, so that would be on the outward journey rather than the return one, as implied elsewhere.

Maito

Sorry, it was the return HEL to AMS then we had a further flight AMS to MME back to the UK