The Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) has announced an illegal walk-out in the ground operations at Helsinki Airport. According to IAU's announcement, the illegal walk-out will take place today, Monday 2 December 2024 in the afternoon. Ground operations employees work, for example, in aircraft maintenance, catering, customer service tasks at Helsinki Airport and ground handling tasks in baggage loading.

This illegal walk-out will have a significant impact on Finnair's flights and causes flight delays and cancellations. Also flight catering, baggage and cargo loading and unloading will be impacted. It is possible that some of the operated flights cannot be loaded with meals or baggage.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will update any new information on this page. We are very sorry for the uncertainty and harm this situation may cause you, and we will do our best to minimise the impact on your journey.

You can check the info on departing and arriving flights on the local airport's website, for example Finavia's site for Helsinki Airport. We have collected the following information for your next steps in case there is a change to your flight.

How do I know if my flight is disrupted?

If there are changes to your journey, we will contact you personally via SMS and/or email. Please go to Manage booking and check that we have your current contact information. You can find your flight details in Manage booking and Finnair app.

In case you miss a connecting flight on the same ticket, we will book you a new flight to your destination and send you a message as soon as your travel plan is completed. If you have a connecting flight onwards from Helsinki, you can see real time status of your connecting flight onboard in Nordic Sky portal in our narrow-body Airbus aircrafts and via Inflight Entertainment in our wide-body aircrafts.

Your options, if your flight is cancelled

If you have received a message of a flight cancellation, these are your options:

• As soon as the flight has been cancelled, we start working on your new travel plan, and you’ll receive a separate SMS and/or email when we have booked you the best possible alternative flight(s).

• In Manage booking you can accept your new travel plan or see other Finnair flight options and change your travel date free of charge  +/-14 days from the original date. You can also make changes by contacting our customer service or the ticket issuing agency.

• If we were unable to offer you an alternative flight but you wish to travel, please contact our customer service for re-arrangements.

• In case you don’t want to use any of the flights in your booking and want to cancel your whole journey, or we have cancelled all the flights in your booking, you can apply for a refund in Manage booking.

• If you want to use some of the flights in your booking and apply for a refund of a cancelled flight, please contact our customer service or the ticket issuing agency.

Due to the flight change, we unfortunately might not be able to confirm some of the pre-ordered travel extras, such as meals or pet transportation, to your new flights. You can check your confirmed services in Manage booking. If you do not receive travel extras purchased from Finnair, you can apply for a refund.

Accommodation

In case you need hotel accommodation due to our re-booking and you have already started your journey, we do our best to arrange it for you. If you are at the airport, please contact Finnair representative for the arrangements. Alternatively, if we couldn’t arrange accommodation for you or if you are not at the airport and you choose our rebooking, you can book the accommodation yourself and apply for compensation of reasonable hotel and ground transportation costs afterwards from us. Please keep the receipts for the claim and contact us via our Contact and request forms.

You can make arrangements for disruptions that occur at Helsinki Airport also through an online tool. If the disruption entitles you to hotel accommodation, you will receive further information via SMS and/or email. Follow the link in the message to select a hotel and get more information on your meal arrangements. If you don’t receive the SMS or email, please contact our ground crew at the airport to make the necessary disruption arrangements.

If your baggage didn’t arrive on the same flight with you

There were major disruptions in baggage handling on 2 December 2024, due to the strike, which is why there are still delays in the delivery of baggage. We sincerely apologise for the situation. We are currently doing our best to deliver your baggage to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

If your baggage didn’t arrive on the same flight with you, we automatically create a delayed baggage report for you at the latest when your baggage is located and rerouted. You can manage and follow your delayed baggage report here. Please check from existing report that we have your correct contact details, delivery address and baggage information. We will also keep you informed with updates on your baggage arrival via SMS and/or email if we have your contact details in the report.

We deliver your baggage to you as soon as possible and will contact you to organise the delivery once the baggage has arrived at your destination. You can find local handler's contact information and opening hours in your delayed baggage report. Read more information about delayed baggage here.

Contacting our customer service

If you booked your ticket through a travel agency or a tour operator, please contact them to make changes to your reservation or to apply for a refund. If you booked your ticket through Finnair, our customer service is working hard to help you in this exceptional situation. You can also contact us also via chat on our website or in Finnair app. We are sorry that our customer service may be congested.

You can check your passenger rights here. Please note that if your flight is cancelled due to industrial action, Finnair is not obliged to EU compensation.