New Finnair economy and business sale to Asia (earns Avios and BA tier points)

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• James67 says:

  7 Jun7 June 08:05

  I have notice before during these sale periods that fares from Asia to UK (including one way) are also very competitive. Therefore ot is possible the value is good thrpughout their network at such times. Before snapping up fares from UK it might be worth checking alternative Eiropean origins first for firther savings. AY have two flights a week from DUB although connections to east are poor due to early morning departure. AMS as origin offers low tax and good connection times with their departure just before noon.

  • James67 says:

    7 Jun7 June 09:18

    To update my own cooment cheaper fares are available ex Europe. For example BKK and DEL ex AMS are €1399 and €999 respectively in J. Not real enough difference to justify the positioning flight unless you want to have a break in another European city.

    • Simmo says:

      7 Jun7 June 11:36

      Which airline are you seeing these for? I’m looking to go in Nov but The cheapest I can find on ITA Matrix are GOT-HEL-BKK on finnair for £1300

      The extra 2 flights UK-GOT-HEL kill the price for me. Might be the time of year as I gather it’s the start of the dry season

      • James67 says:

        7 Jun7 June 12:31

        Go to Finnair homepage and change to Netherlands for example. It will bring up promo fares for that country. Not all destinations are the same from every country. Perhaps some countries have even lower fares than The Netherlands, you will need to look and see. However like I said the difference is not really enough to justify positioning flight(s) unless you want benefit of short stay(s) in positioning city.

        • James67 says:

          7 Jun7 June 12:35

          Forgot to add, don’t start in Helsinki! For Thailand try to leave last few days October. You are right, November is start of high season.

      • Pierre says:

        7 Jun7 June 16:12

        QR ARN-DOH-BKK, departure in NOV, would set you back £1200, but you get 560 Avios +15k miles and you experience a far better product than AY.

        • JamesW says:

          8 Jun8 June 01:44

          What do you mean by 560 Avios + 15k miles ?
          Do you mean 560 tier points + 15k miles ?

        • Simmo says:

          8 Jun8 June 08:36

          Thanks for your help! I’ve managed to find and book the following flights, it was all very strange in NOV as some dates were over €2500 still.

          LHR – MUN – LHR (18k avios + £50) BA Club Europe
          MUN – HEL – BKK – HEL – MUN (£1050 + 3% foreign exchange rate £30)

          Guessing this will earn me:
          560 Tier points
          Around 14,000 avios for the flight + 3000ish avios on the Gold AMEX (foreign + travel first year bonus), so in some strange logic the LHR – MUN flights were ‘free’ in the deal.

          Unfortunately, on the way it seems to be using a A340 (so I guess it’s the old seats), but on the way back it is the new A330 layout.

          This is the first time I’ve ever used Finnair + done connecting flights and positioning flights – I have a few questions for the seasoned pros.

          1)On the way back (BKK – HEL – MUN + MUN – LHR) I take it I will need to leave departures with luggage at MUN as usual, and then check back in at arrivals for the BA flight? Or do I somehow ask for bags to carry on to LHR? It all seems to be in the same terminal.

          2)when I log onto my booking on the finnair site it mentions both our BA exec numbers, however if I click onto manage my booking my frequent flyer number somehow changes to my new finnair number and it can’t be changed back, I’m worried everything may get credited to finnair! Any advise?

          3)Any advise on which seats to take on both long haul planes?

          4)I take it I will get lounge use with the BA redemptions? I can’t see any mention of it!

          Thanks again!

        • JamesW says:

          8 Jun8 June 15:25

          Won’t let me reply to you Simmo….Don’t know why but the reply button doesn’t show up on your post.

          I don’t think it will be 560 tier points. I think its more likely to be 280.
          140 each way.

          Club Europe redemptions do allow lounge access so no problem there.

        • Simmo says:

          8 Jun8 June 17:51

          Sorry! No idea where those Tier Points come from!

          MUN – HEL – 40
          HEL – BKK – 140
          BKK – HEL – 140
          HEL – MUN – 40
          = 360! (Unless you don’t get the first leg?)

• squills says:

  7 Jun7 June 08:30

  Raffles or anyone, sorry O/T quickie: I plan to buy a car next week, money up front. I’ll pay on my debit card to avoid charges on credit cards. Is there a way to move money as follows: bank —> BMI Amex (MBNA) —> bank (debit card), in order to get BMI points? Easy to move money bank —> BMI but do I incur charges etc with BMI —> bank (debit card)? Plus how exactly would I move this (final stage) money?

  • Zoe says:

    7 Jun7 June 08:52

    How about get loads of 3V and pay over the phone 😉

    • squills says:

      7 Jun7 June 09:06

      lol about 550 transactions, not sure they’ll buy it 😉

      • Zoe says:

        7 Jun7 June 10:15

        I’m chipping away at a 3K hotel bill with Kenwood Travel, no facility to pay balance on-line but once I’d convinced the relevant Director I wasn’t money laundering I’ve been free to call up and pay whenever I wish 🙂

      • James67 says:

        7 Jun7 June 11:19

        Perhaps some dealers now accept paypal??

  • Charlie says:

    7 Jun7 June 09:26

    Ask to pay for the car with the Amex, or part of the balance as least. I bought one last week and was offered the first 2K on my Amex with no credit card charge. The rest was paid by debit card, although for a 2% fee I could have put the rest on Amex.

    • JQ says:

      7 Jun7 June 16:32

      Now the question is if you offered to pay cash, would they have accepted £1960 instead of £2000.

• Matt says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:04

  I’d be very interested in answers to Jsquills question, as I’ll be in the same position soon (so I have flexibility from where I will buy the car) I’d be particularly interested hearing from readers have actually bought a new or second hand car in a way that earns the best rewards.

  One thing I have thought is that it’s worth paying at least part of the amount (e.g. £100 or more deposit) on a credit card in order to trigger protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

  • squills says:

    7 Jun7 June 10:04

    Good point, even if they insist on their normal 3%, I’ll stick a decent chunk on the BMI Amex/Visa to trigger the Section 75 protection.

    It’s a big dealer fairly well-known for offering very keen internet prices but then being extremely reluctant to discount further, so not too hopeful that size of concession (about £400).

• Metty says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:19

  I thought I’d check that there was no chance of a family trip to Thailand for Xmas, used my new found Matrix skills and was surprised to see £1050rtn in Business Class Brussels-Bangkok-Brussels was available out 22-Dec back 29-Dec and more dates ex-Amsterdam for a little more. Worth checking! The travel period above ex-London appears to be different to ex-other EU.

  We’ve ended up on BA to Chengdu using Avios + a connecting flight to Bangkok (let’s hope they have lots of cargo on that service, they can’t have many hi revenue pax as there’s 8 J seats on every flight available for redemption it seems!)

  • Pierre says:

    7 Jun7 June 18:50

    Ex-EU is even better, e.g. MUC-BKK for £1050 rt

• Londonbus says:

  7 Jun7 June 09:30

  Finnair does let you book open-jaw online – but its not shown on the website!

  You need to google it.

  Sale prices are good. An open jaw LHR -XIY and BKK-LHR via HEL come up at £1350 in J for September.

  • Guesswho2000 says:

    7 Jun7 June 11:14

    It is on their website quite clearly! I booked LHR-PEK, HKG-LHR last year with no trouble!

• Andrew says:

  7 Jun7 June 10:59

  When flying on non-BA metal would I still earn silver tier bonus points – ie 100% extra Avios on base millage?

  • Phillip says:

    7 Jun7 June 11:13

    No, that is only on BA metal and sold under the BA code! A codeshare operated by BA and sold with a QR code will also not accrue Silver bonus. IB and AA are exceptions to these.

    • Phillip says:

      7 Jun7 June 11:14

      I used QR as an example – it could be any other codeshare partner.

      • Phillip says:

        7 Jun7 June 11:23

        OneWorld codeshare partner! Third time lucky!

        • Andrew says:

          7 Jun7 June 11:37

          Thanks for clarifying. So AA and IB should give me 100% bonus Avios but other one-worlders won’t. Shame.

        • JQ says:

          7 Jun7 June 16:33

          I don’t think any other airline gives double miles to any elite…

    • Ryan says:

      7 Jun7 June 17:21

      I’ve just (May 2014) recieved a Tier bonus for crediting a JAL flight to BAEC (Silver).
      TOKYO HANEDA – ISHIGAKI (J/J)
      NU73(Operated by: JAPAN AIRLINES INTL CO LIMITED)
      Tier points:40
      Standard Avios: 1,228
      Cabin Bonus Avios: 307
      Tier Bonus Avios: 1,228

      This is despite the Avios calculator on the BA site saying this flight would acrue 40TP and 0 Avios.

      Not that I have any insight as to why this was or what rules BA apply to calculate it.

      As an aside an on-the-day upgrade from economy to Class-J on JAL domestic is a flat fee of 1000Y (= £5.08). You would be crazy not to upgrade for a bigger seat, 30TP and 307 Avios.

      • Alan says:

        7 Jun7 June 17:24

        The BA calculator is notoriously buggy – you’re probably better to look at this page – http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights

        If you then click on JAL you’ll see it is eligible for TPs, Avios, Class of Service bonus (25%) and Avios Tier bonus (100% as you’re Silver)

        Agree that’s a great on-the-day upgrade price!!

        • Alan says:

          7 Jun7 June 17:26

          PS a quick look-through confirms an Avios Tier bonus applies to:
          American Airlines, Iberia, JAL, US Airways

        • Phillip says:

          8 Jun8 June 06:49

          Yes, I forgot that the JAL-BA joint venture kicked in this year! Interestingly, no sign of tier bonuses for AY who has also recently joined both the transatlantic and Asian Joint Venture Agreements!

• Phillip says:

  7 Jun7 June 11:10

  Currently, the BA Avios and Tier Points Calculator is showing 0 TP and 0 Avios on flights between HEL-BKK and KBV. Do we think this is a technical error or a quiet way for BA sway people away from taking advantage of these fares? LHR-HEL comes up correctly with the relevant Avios/TPs as do HEL-DEL/SIN/PEK/XIY.

• PGW says:

  7 Jun7 June 13:59

  Note that the travel dates from AMS differ from the UK offer. DEL for €999 looks good but the offer doesn’t run into 2015.

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