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Finnair restricts Avios flight reward bookings in business class

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Finnair has started to block its business class availability for partner airline award redemptions beyond 60 days in advance.

This means you will no longer be able to book Avios tickets on Finnair as soon as flights are released. Other oneworld and Finnair partners face the same restrictions.

Whilst this is annoying, Finnair is not the first airline to do so.

Finnair A350

Lufthansa, SWISS and Singapore all restrict First Class availability to their top frequent flyer members up until a few weeks before departure (or, in the case of SWISS, never offer it at all).

It looks like Finnair may be limiting availability for all but its top tier Platinum and Platinum Lumos members.

Unfortunately there is no formal announcement of these changes that clarify the exact restrictions that have been imposed.

Economy does not appear to be affected by this change – these appear available beyond 60 days in advance.

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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 (206)

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

  • BJ says:
    24 Jan24 January 18:07

    Increasingly hard to see it surviving in anything like its current form.

    • Lady London says:
      24 Jan24 January 18:29

      +1. £100m has never sounded like anywhere near enough.

    • BJ says:
      24 Jan24 January 18:44

      Thanks all, sounds fine, I’ll try again tomorrow. I suspect the lady was new, she was having a hassle getting lottery tickets for an earlier customer too.

  • Craig says:
    24 Jan24 January 18:12

    I’ve been with Avro a while and moved to this tariff yesterday. All sorted it out in 10 minutes using Twitter messaging.

  • Fred S says:
    24 Jan24 January 18:15

    OT: any bonus available to upgrade from ba amex to amex bapp?

    • BJ says:
      24 Jan24 January 18:20

      Some people get 6000 avios but most seem to get nothing, just your luck. A case of try and see I think, I don’t recall anybody being offered them or successfully requesting them as a condition of upgrade.

      • Polly says:
        24 Jan24 January 22:00

        Nothing on mine today. More worrying the tracker missing from the home page. I had 9.5k spend on the bacc which is supposed to be continued with my BAPP. Will check see if it appears tomorrow. Need my 241 with 2 yr expiry.

  • John W says:
    24 Jan24 January 19:26

    Thanks for this information !

    I am normally on top of this – but today there is a £165 saving available

    Thanks again !

  • Harry T says:
    24 Jan24 January 21:09

    OT, as bits:
    Heading to Sydney on 3rd March for two weeks in Australia. We were planning to do a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne but it looks like everything we want to drive through will be on fire or a pile of ashes! Can anyone recommend some good day trips and excursions out of Melbourne? We are now thinking of flying from Sydney to Melbourne after a few days and exploring the areas around Melbourne. I know Phillip Island was mentioned previously. We want to see the best of rural and coastal Australia in that region.

    Flights booked with Qantas (Avios) and the shiny new HIX is booked for Melbourne on IHG points.

    • Liz says:
      24 Jan24 January 22:32

      We drove to the 12 Apostles one day – long drive and early start to do it in a day but worth it. Next day Philip Island to see the fairy penguins but you need to prebook that.

    • Lyn says:
      25 Jan25 January 07:25

      Mornington Peninsula to the South – walks, tranquil bay beaches and “back” surf beaches (and a walking trail joining them), views from Arthurs Seat, kangaroos at dusk at Sea Winds, the Moonlit Sanctuary (conservation) for day and/or evening visits – koala, kangaroos, birds etc., boutique wineries, art galleries (including glass blowing), Ferry from Sorrento across the bay to Queenscliff.( the start of the Great Ocean Road).

      Wilsons Prom (south east beyond Phillip Island) for walking especially, more coastal scenery. Phillip Island as mentioned, a bit more touristy. The Dandenongs and Yarra Valley (more boutique wineries) east of Melbourne. The tourist information centre opposite the central Flinders St station has a lot of useful information.

      • Harry T says:
        25 Jan25 January 09:31

        Thanks, @Liz and @Lyn
        Looks like there’s plenty to do outside of the fire stricken areas!

      • Lady London says:
        26 Jan26 January 17:45

        I recall old comments that the Great Ocean Road has a high rate of accidents. Is that old / not true?

        • guesswho2000 says:
          29 Jan29 January 03:10

          I’ve driven the GOR a fair few times. The accident rate is higher than average on account of the volume of tourist traffic (there’s ‘drive on left in Australia’ signs everywhere, which aren’t the norm), but I’ve never witnessed anything. There’s a general issue here (Victoria) with overseas drivers and their inability to drive, the concentration of tourists in that area just concentrates it.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    24 Jan24 January 22:48

    Thanks Harry nice reminder to check mine.

    Looks like a npower uswitch exclusive is the best for me.

    can see 3000 Avios or £30 using your fav site (I’ll be choosing this option) unless you know of any other ways to get more ?

  • Lady London says:
    26 Jan26 January 17:48

    I’ve been quite surprised it’s only £100m. Does not seem anything like large enough to rescue it.

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

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