Finnair flight compensation: delayed or cancelled

Did you experience a disruption on your flight with Finnair? Select the relevant section below to learn about your rights in the event of a delay, cancellation, denied boarding, or missed connection.

Finnair counts as an EU/EEA airline, so these rules can apply both to flights departing the EU/EEA and to flights into the EU/EEA that Finnair operates. The route and the actual operating carrier always decide a specific case.

Finnair is based primarily at Helsinki. Which rules apply is always decided by the specific route and the operating carrier, wherever the flight begins.

Of the example routes between UK airports and Finnair's base at Helsinki Vantaa, the longest is Helsinki–Cardiff at 2,004 km and the shortest is Helsinki–Aberdeen at 1,592 km. Distance decides the level set out in Article 7: all 17 routes fall at €400. The amounts are per passenger and assume the other conditions are met. The routes are distance examples to illustrate the levels. They do not mean that Finnair operates them.

Routes connecting Finnair's base at Helsinki Vantaa with UK airports are shown in the direction in which the flight departs from the EU/EEA, because EU261 can apply to such flights whichever airline operates them. Flights into the EU/EEA operated by an EU/EEA airline are also covered by EU261, while flights departing the UK may instead fall under UK261, with amounts in pounds; see ‘How EU261 applies to Finnair’ below.

Because Finnair is an EU/EEA air carrier, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 normally applies both to flights departing from the EU/EEA and to flights from a third country into the EU/EEA, provided that Finnair is the carrier actually operating the flight. Note that the route and the operating air carrier (such as Norra) are decisive in each individual case: a Finnair-marketed flight operated by a third-country carrier from outside the EU/EEA is not automatically covered.

Norra – Nordic Regional Airlines Oy states on its official website "Operoimme Finnairin lentoja" (we operate Finnair's flights), so Finnair-marketed flights may be operated by Norra. In a claim under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, responsibility always rests with the operating air carrier.

Finnair's official company name is Finnair Oyj, and finnair.com is the company's official website. Finnair states on its official feedback and compensation page that a compensation claim under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 should be submitted within two months of the disrupted flight. Norra states on its website that tickets for Norra's flights are sold through finnair.fi. Norra describes itself on its English-language website as a Finnish airline providing regional flying for other airlines and says that it does not sell tickets. According to Norra, it operates over 50,000 flights a year and over 3 million Finnair customers fly with Norra annually, with a fleet of 12 ATR 72 and 12 Embraer 190 aircraft. Norra states that the Danish airline DAT A/S became its majority owner with a 60 per cent share in 2018 while Finnair kept a 40 per cent stake, and that in 2023 all of its aircraft returned to operating Finnair flights across Finland and Europe.