The story of two business class tickets to Singapore paid 1 euro + taxes
Now that my adventure has begun, I can finally say that Finnair has been incredible: not only in honoring what [...]
Finnair
Oneworld
Singapore
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Now that my adventure has begun, I can finally say that Finnair has been incredible: not only in honoring what for all intents and purposes was one of the most famous error fares before the pandemic, but also in supporting all my requests over the past 36 months.
In this article:
It all starts on the night of my birthday in Tokyo
On October 27, 2019, I am celebrating my birthday in Tokyo, when I receive the notification of a crazy error fare To fly from Bologna to Guangzhou in China At only 1 euro plus tax. I don't think about it 10 minutes and book two tickets for the Easter 2020 period. Had I only waited a few minutes longer I could also have opted for a ticket, again from Bologna, to Hong Kong always at one euro plus taxes. In such cases, however, every second could be the last, so better to book without thinking too much.
I remember very well the amount of people who jumped on this fare by booking tickets for travel over the Christmas period and beyond, all at one euro.
However, we all know how it turned out, in December we start hearing about the Coronavirus, then flights to China are shut down thinking to stop everything in Wuhan. In mid-February Italy is the first European nation to report a boom in cases, from then on things escalated and we all went into lockdown.
Of course, I had dozens of trips scheduled, tickets that were cancelled, and I must say that fortunately I only missed a few by a few euros.
Among the cancelled tickets were our two to China. I remember that I contacted Finnair by phone managing to speak with an operator who spoke Italian. After a few minutes she offered to change the flight, moving the departure to late summer "...It will all be over anyway..." but no longer from Bologna, but from Malpensa.
The reason for the move was that Finnair no longer planned to fly to Bologna in the summer. He accepted, thanked me, and without any mention of having to pay differences or the type of ticket, greeted me warmly.
As I wait on the line to talk to the operator, I imagine a response like, "Gee, what do you expect? You paid 1 euro for the ticket!" Instead, nothing.
In the summer I am ready to lose my ticket, impossible travel and closed borders, But thanks to a new deletion, to flexible fares and the need for carriers not to return money to passengers, here is the new chance to rebook.
So I contact Finnair again, this time via chat on the website. The wait is long but not too long either. An operator answers me and via chat, in Italian, we talk for over 30 minutes. Finnair decided at that juncture to allow users to move the destination of their ticket while remaining in the same country.
So I get a flash of genius, or as one would say "the volte-face" to ask, "... Hong Kong you consider it China, right?" Answer YES. Then, betting that the former British protectorate would open its borders before China, I try to ask them to move the destination of my flight.
Again I am ready to be told, "Of course no problem, it's 5,000 euros difference." Shame on me, again the answer is, "What travel dates?" Burned by the optimism of 2020, I move as far ahead as possible to June 2021.
A few days before the end of 2020, when Italy was plunging back into red zones, Finnair notifies me that it has canceled part of my itinerary. Happy I then put on hold to see how the situation changes and wait until May 2021 to call Finnair.
At this point I'm not even afraid anymore that they will say, "You bum, what do you want?You paid 1 euro!" Rather, I am worried that after more than 2 years after issuance, the system will cancel the ticket. Instead the only problem is being able to talk to someone. I succeed again in chat and again, within minutes, I have the new tickets in my pocket. The new Malpensa Hong Kong and return dates set for April 2022.
Another round and another variant. In December 2021 yet another cancellation. Again I wait as late as possible. I go to the chat and manage after a few dozen minutes in the virtual queue to chat with an operator. Since up to this point Finnair had behaved excellently, I try the final gamble and tell the operator, "Since China's borders are not expected to reopen for quite a while yet, isn't possible to move the destination from Hong Kong to Singapore?..."
I am prepared to see the smiley upside down with tears of laughter, but no. "Sure, for what dates?"
And here we are on October 28, 2022, Thirty-six months after booking the Bologna Guangzhou ticket, we just boarded the Malpensa Helsinki flight, and thanks to the wi-fi on board I am writing this article.
Too bad that upon our arrival we had an unpleasant surprise, but more about that in the next article.
