Consumer complaints about the national airline Finnair failing to properly reimburse customers shot up by 70 percent last year, according to Finland's Consumers’ Union.
Meanwhile, the office of the Consumer Ombudsman announced that it is taking Finnair to market court, saying the airline's refunds to customers were often less than regulations required.
On Wednesday the Consumers' Union of Finland wrote an open letter to Finnair about the jump in complaints over the airline's service.
A press release issued by the group stated that Finnair was shamelessly stifling the rights of consumers.
Passenger claims up 70 percent in one year
The union said the number of complaints about the airline in 2016 shot up some 70 percent compared to the previous year. The NGO's Secretary General Juha Beurling said the reimbursement claims were sent to the Consumer Complaint Board's office.
"Legislation is perfectly clear about the amounts of money that consumers should be repaid [by airlines] when services cannot be provided due to technical problems," Beurling said, referring to EU laws on the issue.
In his open letter Beurling accused Finnair of not always fully paying required reimbursements.
He said that in some cases the airline offered dissatisfied passengers less-than-required amounts, or in lieu of a cash refund, offered travel vouchers instead.
The office of the Consumer Ombudsman has taken several similar cases to market court in the past.
Beurling said that the number of plaintiffs in the Finnair case could be high, considering the size of the company and the large number of people who use the airline's services.
The problem is not, however, the total number of complaints, he said, but the frequency of them.
Majority of claims over flight delays
"Something has likely happened at Finnair because the developments there have reached a point that is worrying," Beurling said.
The main reason for the majority of complaints involved technical problems with aircraft which led to delayed flights. Complaints were filed in cases where proper compensation was not made by the airline.
Finnair's communications director Päivyt Tallqvist, however, said the airline has not had problems with passenger reimbursements.
"Finnair pays passengers refunds according to EU law. A large portion of the [reimbursement] applications that are sent to us over delays due to technical reasons are paid out," Tallqvist said.
"Finnair and the Consumers' Union have different opinions about some [of the] flight delay reimbursements," Tallqvist said.
"A majority of the reimbursements are completely normal and are processed by our customer service team and passengers are remunerated.
