Helsinki Vantaa delays on Monday, 28 January 2019
Eurocontrol logged 1,475 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Helsinki Vantaa that day across 43 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 263 (16% of the day's arrivals), with 100% of the delay attributed to weather. That makes it the 11th worst day at Helsinki Vantaa since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · EFHK · 2019-01-28
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 100% of this day's delay sits in categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary circumstances.
Were you on a flight that day?
What this means if your flight was late
Under UK261 and EU261 you are owed £220, £350 or £520 (or €250, €400, €600) per passenger for arriving three hours or more late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Airport-wide records like this one are the airline's favourite evidence, and they cut both ways.
- Expect the airline to cite weather. That is a real argument on this day, but it only covers delay actually caused by it. The airline must show the link to your flight and that it had reserve time and spare aircraft in place (Eglītis v Air Baltic). A flight that left late because the inbound aircraft was stuck on a technical fault is compensable whatever the weather did.
- Cancelled that day? Compensation depends on notice: under 14 days and no close re-routing means it is due, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances test. You are always owed a refund or re-routing and care while you wait.
- Delayed under three hours? No fixed compensation, but food, drink and communications were owed after two hours on a short flight, and reasonable expenses are recoverable.
The free check pulls your flight's own record (actual arrival time against schedule) and pairs it with this day's data, so the verdict and the letter are specific to your flight, not to the airport.
Other airports the same day
| Ankara Esenboğa | 2,287 min | Weather |
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 1,479 min | Weather |
| Vienna | 723 min | Weather |
| Stockholm Bromma | 721 min | Weather |
| Stockholm Arlanda | 679 min | Weather |
| Oslo Gardermoen | 626 min | Weather |
| Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen | 573 min | Weather |
| Zürich | 419 min | Weather |
| Catania | 393 min | Aerodrome capacity |
Other bad days at Helsinki Vantaa
| 5 April 2024 | 2,787 min | Weather |
| 21 August 2019 | 1,780 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| 20 February 2019 | 1,777 min | Weather |
| 22 April 2024 | 1,759 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| 26 August 2019 | 1,679 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| 22 January 2020 | 1,648 min | Weather |
| 28 May 2026 | 1,642 min | Weather |
| 4 March 2020 | 1,614 min | Weather |
Questions
My flight from Helsinki Vantaa on 28 January 2019 was delayed. Can I claim compensation?
If you arrived at your final destination 3 hours or more late, the starting position is £220 to £520 per passenger depending on distance. The airline can refuse only by proving extraordinary circumstances that affected your specific flight. On this day Eurocontrol attributed 100% of Helsinki Vantaa's air-traffic delay to weather, so expect that argument; it still has to be linked to your flight. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Helsinki Vantaa disruption on 28 January 2019 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 100% of the 1,475 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show snow, lowest visibility 998 m and strongest gust 28 kt.
Does a bad day at Helsinki Vantaa mean every delayed flight is exempt from compensation?
No. Air-traffic delay attributed to an airport explains some of the day's lateness, not all of it, and it is the airline that must prove your flight's delay was caused by it and could not have been avoided with reasonable measures such as schedule buffers and spare aircraft. Flights delayed by a technical fault, crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft from an unaffected airport are compensable regardless of what happened at Helsinki Vantaa.
Sources: Eurocontrol Performance Review Unit, airport arrival ATFM delay by cause (daily); METAR observations via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive. This page describes the airport's day; your flight's own record decides your claim. All Helsinki Vantaa delay days.