Popular airline cancels and delays flights for 10,000 people

Finnair has been forced to "temporarily suspend" some of its flights over issues with how its passenger seats are cleaned. Roughly 10,000 travellers have been impacted by flight delays and cancellations between October 13 and 21 while the airline worked out the issue with its A321 planes.

Eight of the aircraft were not allowed to fly as the "water washing" method used to clean the seats did not comply with fire safety standards. However, the minimise the impact on travellers, Finnair said it made "daily aircraft type changes". It said: "We have temporarily suspended operations on a portion of our A320 fleet (8 A321 aircraft).

"The reason for the suspension is the information received from the seat upholstery manufacturer that the impact of the cleaning method (water washing) of the seat covers on fire protection has not been properly verified."

The airline said the safety of its passengers was its "top priority".

It said it always followed the maintenance instructions given by the manufacturers, and the "instructions and recommendations of the authorities".

Despite making aircraft changes to minimise disruption, Finnair said this was "likely to result in overbooking" on certain flights operated by Lithuanian carrier DAT LT from October 15.

Passengers on cancelled or overbooked flights will be contacted by text message or email, so the airline urged everyone to ensure their contact information is up to date.

Finnair will also book passengers onto a few flights to their end destination if they are missing a connection

If a delay longer than three hours or cancellation is the airline's fault, travellers can claim compensation, but not if they are caused by something out of the airline's control.

Finnair apologised for "the uncertainty and inconvenience this situation has caused".