Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Interesting …. some partner Avios redemptions will be cheaper at finnair.com than via BA

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Back in August, in an unexpected move, Finnair announced it will be adopting Avios as its loyalty currency from early 2024.

It joins British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus in using Avios.

The switch has now been confirmed for 9th March 2024.

EDIT: Finnair dropped us a note after this article was published to say that, whilst the Avios switch will happen on 9th March, the ability to transfer Avios between BA and Finnair will not go live until a few weeks later.

some partner Avios redemptions will be cheaper at finnair.com

Now …. you have always been able to redeem Avios for flights on Finnair, because Finnair is a British Airways partner in the oneworld alliance.

As far as flying on Finnair itself is concerned, the big change is that there will be GUARANTEED Avios availability on every Finnair flight. Finnair is promising:

  • 4-6 award seats on shorthaul European flights (two in Business where it exists, four in Economy)
  • eight award seats on long haul flights (two in Business, two in Premium Economy and four in Economy)

Given that Finnair has extensive routes to Asia – and that British Airways does not any longer – there are some good opportunities here.

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel but this HfP article looks at where Finnair flies.

Finnair has now published its redemption charts

It turns out that there is an interesting new angle now at play.

There is NO arbitrage for BA services. Finnair will match British Airways Executive Club pricing on all British Airways redemption flights.

This is not the case with oneworld partner airlines though.

In some cases you will be able to save Avios by moving your Avios to Finnair Plus (after 9th March) via ‘Combine My Avios’ and booking via its platform.

Click here to see the Finnair reward charts. You need to scroll down to ‘Avios prices for award flights with partners’.

I can’t go through every interesting option but here are a few.

some partner Avios redemptions will be cheaper at finnair.com

An example: Cathay Pacific

Asia to Europe with Cathay Pacific will be 72,500 Avios one-way in Business Class and 110,000 Avios one-way in First Class.

Book London to Hong Kong on the same Cathay Pacific flight via BA Executive Club, however, and it will cost you 92,750 Avios one-way in Business Class and 123,750 Avios one-way in First Class.

You can make a worthwhile saving by booking this Cathay Pacific Avios flight via the Finnair website after 9th March.

(It isn’t totally clear if Finnair pricing includes connecting flights in the same region. We know that ‘Finnair to Finnair’ connections will be chargeable but it is possible that, say, Japan to Hong Kong to London to Cathay Pacific will still cost the same as Hong Kong to London. If this is the case then the Finnair reward chart will be even better value.)

An example: Qatar Airways

Europe to Doha with Qatar Airways will be 41,250 Avios one-way in Business Class and 54,000 Avios one-way in First Class.

If you connect beyond Doha you will need to price the connection separately.

Book London to Doha on Qatar Airways via BA Executive Club and it will cost you 43,000 Avios one-way in Business Class (with peak pricing due to start in 2024) and 80,000 Avios one-way in First Class on the A380 service.

On the off-chance you can get A380 First Class seats from London, you will make a decent saving booking via Finnair.

An example: Royal Jordanian

Europe to the Middle East with Royal Jordanian will be 36,000 Avios one-way in Business Class.

Book London to Amman on Royal Jordanian via BA Executive Club and it will cost you 38,750 Avios one-way in Business Class. A small saving, but still a saving.

Even better …. if it turns out that Middle East connections are included with Finnair Plus, you could get from London to, say, Dubai on Royal Jordanian for 36,000 Avios one-way in Business Class. This seems unlikely although the Finnair chart does say ‘Europe to Middle East’ and not ‘Europe to Jordan’.

some partner Avios redemptions will be cheaper at finnair.com

Conclusion

We haven’t looked at taxes and charges in this discussion. We are assuming that there is no difference between booking a oneworld airline via Finnair Plus and via British Airways Executive Club.

There is one other thing to note. Qatar Airways is, very quietly, adding online booking for all oneworld airlines to its website. Once this process is complete, and once Finnair joins Avios, you will have three options for booking a oneworld partner airline with Avios:

  • via British Airways Executive Club
  • via Finnair Plus
  • via Qatar Airways Privilege Club

If you were planning to book, say, Cathay Pacific then you’d need to check the Avios cost and fees on all three websites to see which was cheapest, and move your Avios accordingly. Fun and games ….

You can see the new Finnair reward chart (from 9th March) on its website here.

PS. The reason I didn’t add Iberia Plus to the list above is that partner airline Avios bookings via Iberia Plus are NOT refundable. BA, Finnair and Qatar will all let you cancel for a small fee.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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:

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.

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

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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.

Comments (39)

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

  • LittleNick says:

    Sorry if an obvious questions but presumably redemptions on Finnair metal will be priced the same either using BAEC or Finnair avios? Looking to book LHR-HEL in June/July and should I just book using BAEC now rather than wait until March?

    • Rob says:

      Depends what BA decides to do.

      At the moment, the answer is No – you will pay different amounts. However, I assume that on 9th March BA will change its pricing for Finnair awards to bring them in line with finnair.com, in the same way they repriced Qatar awards.

  • LittleNick says:

    As an aside I found transatlantic AA business availability a couple weeks back from LHR and both QR/BA wanted the same avios but QR was £300 less in surcharges, always check!

  • kevin says:

    Europe to ME in business class for 36,000 Avios is a great deal. Especially as RJ run a 787 LHR-AMM but BA’s excuse of a business class is 5.5 hours with less legroom than Ryanair and an empty middle seat. Meals ex-LHR for these medium haul routes are usually decent though – credit to Do&Co.

  • Pogonation says:

    CX looks very interesting if connections are included! That would be very useful indeed.

  • Bernard says:

    Mixed feelings about redeeming on Qatar since they started banning people, and now seem thin skinned to criticism (which in a business where safety is key – and key to that is honest open reporting).

  • Jordan says:

    Quick question:

    Once AY fully adapts Avios as a currency and allows the transfer of miles, will those Avios then count towards elite status with AY? Hypothetically, if I transfer 150k of my Avios to Finnair Plus, will that give me Platinum status with them?

    • Rob says:

      No, but Finnair does sell elite status for miles. Will be interesting to see if this continues although the maths won’t work for most people unless you can get two years out of it by triggering it at the very start of a membership year. I don’t think they do a soft landing either.

  • Soflad says:

    Excuse me please, new to booking with Qatar, Finnair, Royal Jordanian. Been with BA for a few years and have used the companion voucher or more recently the Barclay card upgrade. As an example how would I book Qatar to Doha via LHR to using Avio @ 41 200 pp e/w? Same for Royal Jordanian LHR to Amman? Thanks would appreciate the advice

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

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