State rail operator VR violated passengers' rights in relation to cancellations due to strikes and track glitches early this year, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has ruled.
VR cancelled all of its long-distance train services on 12 and 13 February due to a political strike and a track failure.
VR charged customers an extra fee to re-book their trips, even though such rescheduling should have been free, the agency said, adding that the company also provided insufficient information about passengers' right to change tickets without additional costs.
Customers who contacted customer service were not allowed free rerouting of their trips, but only refunds of their purchase prices. Travellers were obliged to buy new tickets and pay the price difference between the original and the new tickets. Due to VR pricing policies, in many cases the new tickets were more expensive.
Reason for cancellation is irrelevant
Under EU and Finnish law, if a long-distance train is cancelled or delayed for at least 60 minutes, passengers have the right to choose rerouting or a refund of the ticket price. The reason for the cancellation is irrelevant. Passengers must be offered new trips without additional costs.
"Passengers must be informed about the right to choose as soon as a delay of more than an hour is known. The passenger must be able to choose rerouting of the cancelled trip, even if the train tickets for the new trip are more expensive, and the railway company cannot merely automatically refund the price of the train ticket to the passenger," consumer ombudsman Katri Väänänen said in a press release.
The consumer ombudsman declared that VR violated the EU Railway Liability Regulation and the Consumer Protection Act.
The consumer watchdog said that VR had committed to correcting its operating methods and announced that it would compensate passengers for financial losses. However, as of Wednesday afternoon, no such public announcement was visible on the VR website or social media accounts.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.