Haven't travelled in a while and found this today. It has been maybe a year I haven't travelled with Finnair but I had the impression it is a very good airline. It has just been more pricey than usual this year. What happened? Is it not reliable anymore and why?

by est_elsp

35 comments

  2. Lot of strikes in the past few years, and in addition (imho) the service level onboard has gone downhill for some time already.

  3. I’m pretty sure it was due to last year’s protests/strikes which therefore led to delays and cancelled flights so that’s what affected their ratings. But still an excellent airline that serves excellent blueberry juice 😉

  4. This is BS. I love flying Finnair. I have never had a bad experience. There are sooo many worse airlines within Europe.

  5. I don’t know much about facts, but I saw someone elses analysis earlier on the matter. The person said that Finnair is still ranking high in all other terms except reliability. The staff strikes have made the service unreliable and thus makes Finnair have very poor ranking in service. This study apparently underlined the service part more than aircraft and other stuff.

    But again, I don’t really know shit about airlines.

  6. Enshitification is a global phenomenon, an integral part of capitalism. As the sociopaths grow more greed the quality of level goes down because costs must cut.

  7. Finnairs long haul flights to Asia business model was destroyed in 2022 by the ukraine war as russian airspace became unavailable. They had to make very risky moves to stay afloat. Add on top the strikes and terrible state of the finnish economy.

  8. There were huge strikes all spring, I had multiple cancelled flights and I’m still waiting for compensation decisions from Finnair (had to book different airlines etc). It was not all on Finnair (it was and is a complicated mess), but of course consumers just see their flights being cancelled.

    The service level has definitely gone down too.

  9. They have their nose a bit too high in the air. They couldn’t care less what common airline compensations are, how to treat their employees correctly or what Consumer Disputes Board or other officials decide.

  10. They treat their customers similarly to Ryanair and they even have difficulties following local and EU laws.

    But even with Ryanair, you can get a smile from the flight attendants, unlike at Finnair.

  11. Budget airline for premium cost. They increased prices a LOT in the last couple of years while changed the baggage allowance, made the customer service nonexistent, became unreliable with the strikes, and the overall quality went downhill. I’m in the unfortunate situation that I have no other option but to go with Finnair 3-4 times a year. Really hoping for an other airline to open a new route, and I would avoid Finnair at all costs.

  12. They learned/adopted the new business model from Scrooge McDuck, high prices but cheap costs, and then turned on the stingy penny-pincher mode full blast. And now Finnair is a prime example of that so-called “shitification” and they don’t even have proper customer service and in-flight meals anymore because “it would cost the company too much (and reduce revenue)” and doesn’t fit the so-called “cost-effectiveness mindset.”

  13. Shockingly? Not for us in Finland….
    But i think most of EU Airliners kinda not good…. Nowhere close to Asian and Arab Airliners.

  15. >What happened?

    Classic Finnish story, make something good which is among the best in the world, then ruin it.

    Altough failing to recover was not entirely their fault, they were making decent recovery but then Russia decided to be asshole again, so area where Finnair was doing best (flights to Asia, largely over Russia) was lost. Other things are their fault.

  17. No competition in internal flights and price has gone up. At the same time service has gone down.

  18. First time I was flying with Finnair my impression was it’s the “low cost” like Ryan/Wizz. Their try to milk the passanger when it comes to luggage, charge for the contact with the airlines, make it hard to buy carry on bag with Superlight (you need to do it on the airport – not from app) and the chatbot is close to useless.

  19. Strikes and lots of cancelled flights early this year have a big impact to these rankings. Finnair is definetly not the worst but a lot worse what is used to be, especially if you are not frequent flyer and in economy class.

    If you have platinum card or business class tickets experience is still really good.

  22. I fly quite alot and have seen the change happen in real time. The reason in this ”ranking” is indeed because of the strikes and cancellations Finnair had to do because of them, making them unreliable. The service is not horrible, nor is the flight experience. It’s pretty good to be honest. However the prices are out of control and would make you to expect more than ”good” service. They have been milking passenger on top of those ridiculous prices for everything they can (seat selection, baggage, in flight services). Many compared Finnair to Ryanair which is not completely fair, but that’s pretty much the case nowadays. I never fly Finnair anymore if I have a choice.

  23. Finnair sucks.

    In June I had a flight that was to be canceled due to strikes. They gave me the option of re-scheduling, and they would refund my original ticket. But I had to apply for the refund, it wasn’t automatic.

    Every 2 weeks or so I get an email stating that they are working on my refund application…

  24. The great laws that allow the constant strikes in finland is what fucked them

  25. Not only the airline, its whole finland now is in bad situation

  26. Strikes are not the problem. Finnair must ask what caused the strikes and fix the issues.

  27. There are many reasons for this, but based on my experience, the overall service level has dropped dramatically—whether in lounges, with ground staff, or among cabin crew and onboard services. Finnair has refurbished its planes with new seats, which I think is a positive step, but unfortunately the quality of service has taken a steep downturn.

    Personally, I haven’t faced major issues with cancellations (knock on wood, as I’m flying tomorrow…), though I’ve heard of significant problems in that area as well.

    I wouldn’t call Finnair the worst airline in Europe—I’ve flown on truly dreadful carriers—but at least with those you know exactly what to expect. The issue with Finnair is that it presents itself as a polished, prestigious airline, yet the actual experience is much closer to that of a budget carrier.

  28. I have used Finnair for many years, and recently I’ve noticed a big decline in customer service. Many flight attendants seem disheartened about their jobs, sometimes even showing visible frustration when passengers make requests. You can feel the tension, as if they’re not happy with their work. It’s sad to see, and I truly hope they manage to recover and return to the level of service and success they once had, when employees seemed proud and happy to be part of the company.

  29. Management putting money in their own pockets while cutting everywhere else is truly a recurring theme in this day and age. Coupled with the economy and war.

  30. As someone who uses Finnair at least once a month if not more. I will just share some experiences in the past 15 years.

    In my mind and experiences (as an immigrant who flies around for biz all over the place),Finnair has always been a “premium” European airline in the early 2000s to 10s. Everything is run professionally and efficiently, not cheap but u get things like free sports luggages and what not. Over the past ten years with COVID breaking the Asian traffic which is the core of their strategy and the Russian stuff in the recent past. The airline unfortunately has undergone cost cutting pressure.

    So less ppl working, less freebies, even higher prices. And as an anecdotal evidences. I have taken 3 Finnair flight in the past month, everyone of them were delayed and one was cancelled and moved. As it is known here in Finland, Finnair has turned into the “most expensive budget airline in Europe”.

    So that’s that.

  31. Finnair has been called a budget airline for the price of a flag carrier due to cut backs in customer service, comfort, and adding fees for things which were free.

    That plus reliability from the strikes

  32. I like Finnair. Nothing to complain with their European flights.

  33. I just boarded a Finnair flight, fourth one in 2 weeks. The strikes hurt reliability but in all other ways, they’ve still been great. I don’t intend to switch to any other airline any time soon.

  34. Somehow the upper management gonna blame it on staff anyways, I can already see both _iltapaska_ newspaper headlines 🤦

  35. Finnair prices have gone up with a decrease in service for sure. But worst I would not say so. I did mostly stop flying with them as they shoved the seats closer together so that I sit with my knees in the seat in front of me the whole flight, you get a glass of blueberry juice if you’re lucky. And everything costs extra like a budget airline. But unlike a budget airline they don’t try to screw you over if something goes wrong.

    So bad yes, worst no…

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