Finnair is a Finnish carrier, so EU261 covers every flight it operates into Europe as well as out: €250, €400 or €600 by distance. Its Asian network is mostly the €600 band. Finnair asks for an EU261 claim within two months of the flight — that is its own request, not the legal deadline.
Where to send it
Finnair takes claims through its own feedback and compensation request forms. Its page states that to claim compensation for flight disruptions under the EU 261/2004 regulation you should submit the claim request within two months after the disrupted flight date. Read that page carefully as an airline instruction rather than as law: nothing in the Regulation sets a two-month limit, and the Court of Justice held in Cuadrench Moré (C-139/11, 2012) that limitation is a matter for national law. Missing it is not fatal, but there is no reason to hand the airline the argument. Send it in the first fortnight.
The Finnair case that changed denied boarding
Finnair is the named party in Finnair Oyj v Timy Lassooy (C-22/11, 4 October 2012), and the holding is one of the most useful in the whole Regulation. The Court read “denied boarding” in Articles 2(j) and 4 as not limited to overbooking: refusing to carry a passenger for other operational reasons, such as flights rescheduled after an earlier disruption, is denied boarding too. And it held that extraordinary circumstances which caused an airline to reschedule flights “cannot give grounds for denying boarding on those later flights or for exempting that carrier from its obligation” to compensate a passenger it denies boarding.
That is the answer when any airline tells you the gate refusal was caused by a strike or a storm two days earlier. Use the denied boarding letter and name the case.
We checked this one judgment on EUR-Lex. Finnair appears in other Court of Justice proceedings that we have not individually verified, so we do not list them here.
Which band a Finnair route lands in
Great-circle distance to your final destination sets the amount, and Helsinki’s geography makes Finnair unusually top-heavy:
| Route | Great-circle | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Helsinki – Tallinn | 101 km | €250 |
| Helsinki – Stockholm | 398 km | €250 |
| Helsinki – London Heathrow | 1,848 km | €400 |
| Helsinki – Madrid | 2,946 km | €400 |
| Helsinki – Dubai | 4,538 km | €600 |
| Helsinki – New York JFK | 6,607 km | €600 |
| Helsinki – Tokyo Narita | 7,829 km | €600 |
| Helsinki – Bangkok | 7,908 km | €600 |
An intra-EU flight is capped at €400 however long it is, which is why Madrid and Lisbon stay in the middle band while Dubai and everything beyond it pays the top one. Amounts and bands are in the amounts table; the measurement rule is in how flight distance is measured. Flying its Nordic neighbour instead? See SAS compensation for the equivalent claim route.
If Finnair refuses
Finland’s route is the Kuluttajariitalautakunta, the Consumer Disputes Board. Its English page on air travel disputes says it handles flights delayed, cancelled or boarding denied in Finland where you bought the ticket as a private person, plus baggage loss and damage, and it asks for a dated complaint to the airline and the airline’s response with your application.
Two things about it are worth knowing before you file. Its decisions are not binding — the Board itself points you to a District Court “when you want a binding judgement”. And its page states: “The passenger needs to make their standard compensation claim to the airline within 5 months of the delayed flight.” We have not been able to match that five-month window to a Finnish statute, so treat it as the practical window the Board applies rather than as a limitation period.
Two short clocks, neither of them the law. Finnair asks for the claim within two months; the Consumer Disputes Board’s page states five months. Neither is the Finnish limitation period, and neither has been verified by us against a statute — but they are what the two organisations handling your file will apply. Claim in the first weeks and both disappear as problems.
If your flight departed an airport outside Finland, use the enforcement body of that country from the Commission’s list instead. For a UK departure, use the CAA route in escalate to the regulator.
Is a Finnair flight from Asia into Helsinki covered?
Yes. Finnair holds a Finnish operating licence, so it is a Community carrier and Article 3(1)(b) covers its flights into the EU from a third country. On a non-EU airline the same eastbound route would fall outside the Regulation entirely.
Does Finnair have to pay cash rather than a voucher?
Article 7(3) says compensation is paid in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank order or cheque — a voucher or gift card only with your signed agreement. An offer with extra value attached is still an offer you can decline in favour of the transfer.
Rules in force today
This is the law that applies to a flight you take today. A revision of Regulation 261/2004 was adopted in July 2026 — the Parliament approved the conciliation text on 7 July 2026 and the Council gave final approval on 13 July 2026 — and it is not yet in force: it applies 12 months after it enters into force following publication in the Official Journal, and the final text sets the details. See what the 2026 EU261 reform changes.