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

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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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.