Avios transfers to and from Finnair Plus go live tomorrow, 22nd May

Finnair adopted Avios as its loyalty currency in March. This was only announced in August 2023 and went live in impressively speedy fashion.

It joined British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus in adopting the currency.

With ‘just’ 4 million members, Finnair Plus is a minnow compared to British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club, adding just 10% to the total member base. However, it brings new options to earn and redeem Avios on non-airline partners, as well as letting BA members use Avios to upgrade Finnair flights.

Full details of the changes are on the Finnair website here.

Transfer to/from British Airways were NOT live

One aspect of the integration that couldn’t be pulled off by March was the ability to transfer Avios back and forth between Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club.

This wasn’t a complete disaster. You have always been able to book Finnair flights via ba.com using British Airways Executive Club Avios, and the pricing is meant to match across both sites.

However, there were some things you couldn’t do:

• you couldn’t transfer Avios into Finnair Plus to upgrade a Finnair flight

• you couldn’t transfer Avios into Finnair Plus to redeem for a partner which only works with Finnair

• you couldn’t merge any existing Finnair Avios with British Airways Avios

• you couldn’t take advantage of an interesting Finnair feature – free connections in Scandinavia. On finnair.com, Stockholm to Helsinki to XXXXXX is the same points cost as Helsinki to XXXXXX, and for many readers getting to Stockholm or nearby to start a trip is easier than Helsinki.

According to the Finnair website here, transfers to/from British Airways Executive Club will go live tomorrow, 22nd May.

EDIT, 23rd May: transfers are now live and we have written a guide on how to link your accounts – click here.

You can’t convert directly to other Avios schemes

Because of the way that Avios accounting works, the only transfer available will be to/from British Airways Executive Club.

If you want to move Avios from, for example, Finnair Plus to Iberia Plus, you will need to use BAEC as an intermediary.

This is the same arrangement that Qatar Airways Privilege Club has, so this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

What new opportunities will this give you as a British Airways Executive Club member?

When Qatar Airways Privilege Club adopted Avios, it opened up a huge new list of car rental, airline and hotel partners. You can now earn Avios via Hertz and Virgin Australia, for example.

This is what Finnair Plus brings you (I have only listed non-BAEC partners):

• Car hire – earn Avios via Hertz, Sixt, Europcar

• Hotels – earn Avios via GLO, Scandic, Sokos, Strawberry / Nordic Choice, Shangri-La

• Hotels – spend Avios via GLO, Scandic, Sokos, Strawberry / Nordic Choice, Clarion Hotels Finland

• Airlines – there are two new airline earn and spend partners: Braathens (13 routes within Sweden) and Juneyao Air, a Chinese carrier

There are also individual earn and spend deals with specific hotels in Finland, plus leisure options such as restaurant vouchers.

You will now be able to take advantage of some Scandinavian hotel deals

In this HfP article I flagged some VERY interesting hotel redemptions using Finnair Avios. We will be looking at this more closely once transfers are live.

I believe that there are also some interesting partner airline deals. It may turn out, for example, that Malaysia Airlines redemptions are cheaper if booked via Finnair Plus than via ba.com. Of course, they could also be cheaper via Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

For better or worse, you should now check Avios pricing at finnair.com, qatarairways.com and ba.com if you are booking a redemption on a oneworld airline which does not award Avios. This would include Cathay Pacific, Royal Jordanian, American Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas etc.

Conclusion

The Finnair / Avios partnership has been a bit of damp squib for members of British Airways Executive Club so far due to the lack of transferability.

This is due to change tomorrow, and we can finally start looking at the best arbitrage opportunities in Finnair Plus.

You can find out more on the Finnair website here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

---

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.