The Consumer Ombudsman demands that the Market Court prohibits Finnair Oyj from rejecting passengers’ compensation claims under the threat of a €300,000 fine, on the grounds that passengers have not submitted claims within two months of the flight date. This is the first representative action that the Consumer Ombudsman is taking to the Market Court.
The minimum rights of air passengers in certain flight irregularities are established by EU regulation.
Passengers may be entitled to a standard monetary compensation, for example, due to flight delays. However, the regulation does not specify the time frame within which an air passenger must submit a compensation claim to the air carrier. This is therefore defined in the national legislation of each member state. However, Finnish legislation does not contain provisions regarding a deadline that must be followed for a passenger to retain the right to compensation under the regulation.
Finnair requires consumers to submit compensation claims within a reasonable time, which Finnair believes is two months. According to Finnair, this is an obligation imposed on consumers by Finnish law. However, Finnair has not been able to clarify to the Consumer Ombudsman which law the claim is based on.
According to the Consumer Ombudsman, Finnair rejects consumers’ compensation claims on vague grounds, referring to national legislation, consumer protection law, or Supreme Court rulings. Despite Finnair’s claims, there is no basis in the law for rejecting claims on the grounds of exceeding the two-month period.
”The practice of rejecting claims followed by Finnair's customer service is an example of how a trader that is economically and informationally stronger than the consumer attempts unilaterally and without legal basis to dictate the conditions under which the consumer is entitled to compensation.”
The representative action suspends the statute of limitations on the debt
The Consumer Ombudsman demands that the Market Court prohibit Finnair’s systematic practice in the application of the contract as it is contrary to the consumer protection law. This is the first time the Consumer Ombudsman is bringing the matter to the Market Court as a representative action. The representative action has been available since the summer of 2023.
Unlike a conventional injunction, the filing of a representative action in the Market Court suspends the statute of limitations on the claim in question. In the action, the Consumer Ombudsman has defined which group of consumers the matter concerns.
By suspending the statute of limitations on the debt, it is intended to ensure that these consumers are not prevented from seeking redress in the general court due to the expiration of limitation periods during the Market Court proceedings.