Financial compensation for family after mice were found on board Finnair flight

Last month a Dutch family finally received €1,800 in compensation after a delayed Finnair flight. Reason for the delay? Mice were found on one of the flights (either Amsterdam – Helsinki or Helsinki – Shanghai) hence the airline decided to delay the flight for 24 hours and to keep the aircraft in quarantine to eliminate the vermin.

According to Finnair, mice (and other vermin), are part of “extraordinary circumstances ¹” so the airline decided not to pay a compensation to the family.

But, after three years of litigation, a judge in The Netherlands has now ruled that Finnair must pay a compensation to the family as rodents are in fact the airline’s responsibility. “After all,” the judge added, “the airline must make sure that the aircraft is properly cleaned and well maintained.”

Vlucht-vertraagd.nl spokesman Kevin Lamers: “The family is entitled to the standard compensation amount, which applies to long flights and more than three hours of delay: 600 euros per person, for this family €1,800 in total.”

Source: Nederlands gezin krijgt geld terug na muizen in vliegtuig

¹ Regulation 261 by European Commission: something that could not have been avoided if all reasonable measures had been taken. When proven as the main cause behind the delay or cancellation, force majeure exempts airline from paying flight compensations of up to €600 to the stranded passengers. Examples of such situations include severe weather conditions, security issues and hidden manufacturing defects.