FINNAIR Falls Flat On Its FACE

    Airplane trailer (Paramount,1980)

It was a long, meandering message. The gist: a company that  Finnair is associated with was breached. Some Finnair Plus members' info might be involved. Nothing serious, but they advised US to change our passwords. There was tel. no. to call. I called. A recoding said they would get back to me. Decided to call Finnair Plus and talk to someone.

Talked to an agent, in English.  I asked him about the breach. He knew nothing about it, said he would check and come back to me. I waited. Several minutes later he came back and confirmed there was a breach. I was surprised that he hadn't been informed.  And called customer service in Helsinki. He said that all I had to do was change my Password.

I went back to the original message and put in my email address and a new password. It didn't work. Thought I had made a mistake and tried three more times. Called Customer Service in Helsinki again. Another agent.  When I told her the problem, she explained that Finnair was still investigating the problem and I wouldn't be able to change the password until it was resolved. She wasn't sure when that would be – maybe tomorrow. I haven't received any updates from Finnair.  So am out to sea about what to do.

Finnair is three years short of its 100th anniversary. State-owned, it has iconic status in Finland. The blue and white carrier gives us confidence. We feel safe when we fly on one of its planes But the way the company handled this small glitch in the system was a red flag. Do they take US loyal passengers as a given? Especially now when airlines are reeling from the pandemic losses. After the virus is subdued and we get on the move again, the competition will be ferocious. Finnair WAKE UP.

cc: Topi Manner CEO Finnair

PS: After a week I received a message from Finnair Plus: there will be a five-day break in the Finnair Plus service while they fix the system.

Source: personal experience

Next week: TRUE FINNs 2.0

Note: I have only had good experiences with Finnair. Despite this hiccup, I like their track record. Also from a safety standpoint - they are the 6th oldest still working airline company, with no significant accidents since 1963. That's longer than I have lived.

Also, when we shot Chasing Esa-Pekka, they let us shoot an interview on a plane, on the ground. Gotta give kudos to the company for doing that.

CU

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Eki