Buy up to 266,666 Avios for 0.83p each – if you are willing to take a little risk

If you are looking to top up your Avios balance and are willing to take a small risk, there is a very interesting opportunity available until 18th September.

Oddly, the thing you will be doing is buying Finnair Plus Points.

You can, indirectly, buy up to 266,666 Avios for 0.83p this way.

Finnair is joining Avios in ‘early 2024’

As we covered in detail in this article, so I won’t repeat everything, Finnair is switching from Finnair Plus Points to Avios in ‘early 2024’.

It has already been confirmed that the conversion rate from Finnair Plus Points to Avios will be 3:2 and that you will be able to move Avios from Finnair into other Avios programmes such as British Airways Executive Club.

Finnair is offering a 100% bonus when you buy Plus Points

Until 18th September, Finnair is running a bonus when you buy Plus Points.

The bonus is staggered and looks like this:

• 5,000 to 19,000 Finnair Plus Points – 40% bonus
• 20,000 to 49,000 Finnair Plus Points – 60% bonus
• 50,000 to 99,000 Finnair Plus Points – 80% bonus
• 100,000 to 200,000 Finnair Plus Points – 100% bonus

At the top end, you can buy 400,000 Finnair Plus Points (200,000 base + 200,000 bonus) for a total of €2,575.

Assuming you pay with a 0% FX fees credit card, the cost would be £2,201. This is 0.55p per Finnair Plus Point.

What does this mean in terms of Avios price?

Remember that Finnair Plus Points will convert to Avios at 3:2 ‘early in 2024’.

This means that you would have paid £2,201 for 266,666 Avios.

This is 0.83p per Avios.

0.83p is exceptionally good value, and as cheap as you will ever see. You should be getting well over 1p per Avios of value if you are redeeming for premium cabin flights, especially if you are using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher.

To put this in context, the cheapest Avios Subscription price is now 0.99p per Avios. This is based on paying £1,989 for 200,000 Avios, dropped into your account at 16,667 per month. Buying via Finnair is 16% cheaper and you should get them faster.

What are the risks of doing this?

This is clearly NOT a risk free deal.

We don’t normally recommend that you stockpile Avios that you don’t intend to use in the next few months. You can’t get your money back if there is a major Avios devaluation before you can use them.

There are extra risks with the Finnair deal:

• you won’t get your Avios until ‘early 2024’ – although, of course, you can redeem them at any time via Finnair Plus for flights on BA and oneworld alliance airlines (at ‘not great’ rates) if you had to

• Finnair may backtrack on its decision to join Avios

• Finnair may change the announced ‘3 for 2’ conversion rate of Finnair Plus Points to Avios

• your Finnair Plus Points could expire if the deal was substantially delayed, although any earn or burn activity every 18 months will keep them alive

To be honest, I’m not too worried about the final three points above. Even though Finnair’s CEO has just resigned – and the new person could potentially hate the idea and try to stop it – I suspect contracts are signed and the IT integration is progressing.

The real risk is that changes occur to the Avios programme in the months before you can get your hands on the Avios. However, oddly, if Avios did devalue hugely then you might appreciate having a pile of Finnair Plus points which you could use to book BA or other oneworld redemptions.

It’s up to you, of course.

The page to buy Finnair Plus Points is here. The offer runs to 18th September.

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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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.