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Finnair launches flights to Sapporo, bookable on Avios

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Finnair, a British Airways partner in the oneworld alliance, will launch flights to Sapporo in Japan this Winter.  It becomes the first European airline to fly to the city since KLM dropped the route back in 2002.

The service will only operate for a short period between 15th December and 27th March 2020.  Flights will depart from Helsinki on Thursdays and Sundays.

Finnair Schengen lounge

Sapporo will be the 5th Finnair destination in Japan following Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.  The direct route from the UK to Japan takes you over Scandinavia which is why the flight time from Helsinki to Sapporo is only 8hr 55 min.

Booked with Avios, Economy seats are 50,000 points + £254.  Business Class is 150,000 Avios + £362.

Finnair appears to have released two Economy and two Business Class seats per flight, and availability was good when I looked yesterday.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Finnair and Finnair Plus

Comments (154)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Rob Walker says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:53

    This seems to work even if you added a supplementary card at the time of application. I added my mother in law to my platinum despite having added my wife during the application and received 5k.

  • Doog1000 says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:55

    Re the SPG card, has anyone noticed a stealth devaluation on the retention offer – it usually used to be one extra SPG point for 3 months, effectively doubling the return.
    Now it seems to be one extra Marriott point for 3 months, so just a 1/3 extra.
    Anyone else experienced this?

    • Mr. AC says:
      16 Jan16 January 09:28

      How does one get a retention offer? Call in and try to cancel?

      • Genghis says:
        16 Jan16 January 09:31

        Indeed. And ask them for one.

      • Alan says:
        16 Jan16 January 09:59

        Yep, I’ve found chat never offer anything. Mind you I’ve also found that SPG card is one of the few they’ll even make a retention offer on, most Amex cards I’ve found there’s no offer (although haven’t tried closing Plat as keep it long term).

    • New Card says:
      16 Jan16 January 15:46

      I recall someone complained about this and got the extra 2 Marriott points per £1 added retrospectively on the basis that (a) the phone offer was for “double” points, i.e. 6 per £1 not 4 per £1; and (b) the Amex site refers to the bonus as 1 additional bonus “Starpoint” per £1 (i.e. 3 Marriott points). I think they also got some compensation.

      • Doog1000 says:
        16 Jan16 January 16:30

        my offer was specifically for 1 extra point which is what it had been in past years so no chance for making the case for double points
        just wondered if post merger anyone had received a double points retention offer since one marriott point is just a third of an spg point
        on BA and plat an extra point is typically offered

  • Mark1980 says:
    16 Jan16 January 09:28

    OT has anyone any experience with booking Melia or Iberostar hotels with Avios? I know Rob ran an article about a reader (Waribai?) booking Iberostar in the past. The T’s and C’s say for 2 adults so I was wondering if anyone had any success in booking for a room accommodating children aswell? Thanks.

    • Peter K says:
      16 Jan16 January 10:38

      I looked at this last year. If your contact the hotel you want to stay at directly they can get you the price per night to upgrade on top of the avios cost. Eg we looked at star prestige rooms rather than the standard ones booked on avios and it was €86 per night half board.

  • xcalx says:
    16 Jan16 January 09:32

    Can also get free lounge access at certain airports with 150 euro spend.

    Priority pass: Airport VIP lounge
    Get free access with purchases above 150€ in our Duty Free stores. Available at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Bilbao, Valencia and Seville airports. Access to VIP lounge at the airport where the purchase is made.

  • Brighton Belle says:
    16 Jan16 January 09:40

    Where do you lookup and buy Finnair flights with Avios?

  • Scottydogg says:
    16 Jan16 January 09:56

    So if you signed up for this , you could get lounge access , would you start on ‘Silver member’
    How do you progress to Gold and Platinum ?

  • Craig says:
    16 Jan16 January 10:45

    Data Point. BAPP has been open for several years and I haven’t added a supp card for yonks. Applied today and got 3000 Avios. Thanks for the info.

  • Optimus Prime says:
    16 Jan16 January 11:19

    BTW if you add a supplementary card to those they give a £5 bonus.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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