Airline claims bombefund in order to avoid compensation

It is not unusual for the cases of flight delays to end up in the Danish courtrooms when the parties can not agree on whether there are grounds for paying compensation to delayed passengers or not.

But it is rare that the airline is claiming a delay due to a bombefund.

In June 2017, two Danish passengers flying with Finnair from Jyväskylä to Billund with a stopover in Helsinki and Oslo.

However, the first stretch is delayed by 48 minutes, and the passengers could not reach their connecting flight and ended up being over four hours late on arrival in Billund.

flight Delays over three hours generally trigger compensation, but in this case argues Finnair in the facts that there was a bombefund in the Helsinki Airport that day, and the delay thus lies outside of finnair's control, and the passengers thus do not have the right to compensation.

- I have never heard this claim before, so I examined it, but could not find any news articles about bombefund in Helsinki Airport on the day or other evidence of excessive delays, says Mathias Kjærsgaard, paralegal at flykompensationsfirmaet AirHelp, to Ekstra Bladet.

And the Copenhagen city Court was in agreement with AirHelp, which led the case for the Danish passengers, and type in the written judgment of 19. June 2020:

'the Defendant (Finnair, red.) during the preparation of the proceedings indicated that the reason for the delay at the arrival in Helsinki was found by two bombs in Helsinki, but on the present basis ( ... ), the court finds that the defendant has not lifted the burden of proof that it was based on a sudden event, that the plaintiffs (the passengers, red.) upon arrival to the destination was delayed by more than more than 3 hours. (...) After this, take the applicants ' claim for compensation to follow.'

Thus Finnair to pay the two passengers 3725 dollars and costs on the 2075 crowns.

- This case is a perfect example of how far airlines will go to get rid of paying compensation. It also shows how critical it is that you do not automatically take the airline's excuses for good products, but that you are standing firm and holding them accountable for their actions, " says Mathias Kjærsgaard.

At Finnair maintains, however, that there was talk about bombefund the day in question, and therefore, you will study the verdict of the Copenhagen city Court to see if you will proceed with the case.

Those passengers were on their way from Jyväskylä via Helsinki to Billund, but the line Jyväskylä-Helsinki could not be operated on because of that dummy pumpkin bombs from the 1950-1960's was found near the runway, and the air force had closed the airport, writes Finnair in a written reply to Ekstra Bladet.

- We believe on this strong basis, that it was impossible to fly to the time, because the airport was closed. Therefore missed our Danish customers, unfortunately their connecting flight.

- We have shown this, but we have not yet received judgment from our law firm. When we receive it, we will read it carefully and decide our next step, write Finnair.