Finnair boosts Lapland flights to fill the gap left by Thomas Cook

Finnair has always run special flights to Lapland over Christmas, but from the UK the market was dominated by Thomas Cook who offered direct services.

With Thomas Cook now out of the picture, Finnair has upped its services for families looking to visit Santa this winter.

The capacity increase means there will be up to three extra flights a day between Helsinki and top resorts in Lapland – Rovaniemi, Kittilä and Ivalo.

These services will run between 20th December and 5th January.  You can fly to Helsinki on Finnair from Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh or Dublin, or on BA from Heathrow, before changing aircraft.

Finnair also runs direct services to Lapland from London Gatwick.

Flights to Ivalo run from 8th December to 22nd March while flights to Kittilä operate from 15th December to 8th March.

As Finnair is a oneworld member, you may be able to find Avios redemption seats on these flights.  You will also earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points if you book these services for cash at finnair.com and credit them to a BAEC account.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

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

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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.

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