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Bits: Finnair Avios Subscription, £300 off Virgin Holidays, £200 off Cathay Pacific

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News in brief:

Finnair launches Avios Subscription

Finnair has taken a leaf out of the British Airways book and launched Avios Subscriptions.

It is very similar to the UK version of Avios Subscription which we covered here.

You can choose to pay a monthly or annual fee (paying annually gets you 12 months for the price of 10) and in return you will receive 2,000, 4,000, 10,000 or 20,000 Avios per month.

There is NO price arbitrage at the top end so there is no reason to bother with this unless you have maxed out the UK version and want more.

Indeed, the cheapest option (240,000 Avios per year, paid annually) is priced at the rather weird sum of €2,808 – which only makes sense if Finnair was trying to match the cheapest ‘price per point’ offered in the UK, which is 0.99p.

One upside is that Finnair allows a maximum annual purchase of 240,000 Avios compared to 200,000 Avios with the British Airways version. You can, of course, do both if you wish.

You can find out more on the Finnair website here, although you need to log in to see pricing.

Finnair launches Avios Subscription

Virgin Atlantic Holidays offering extra discounts this weekend

Virgin Atlantic Holidays is running a ‘spend and save’ promotion this weekend.

By using code ‘MAYSALE’ at checkout you will:

  • Save £50 per booking when you spend between £1,000–£2,499
  • Save £100 per booking when you spend between £2,500–£3,999
  • Save £150 per booking when you spend between £4,000–£5,499
  • Save £200 per booking when you spend more than £5,500–£9,999
  • Save £300 per booking when you spend more than £10,000

You must book by Tuesday 27th May. You can book all the way through until 30th April 2026.

You can fly from from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Glasgow. Your booking must include flight and accommodation or flight and car.

Selected bookings will also receive free No1 Lounge access.

For lounge access:

  • the lead booker must be a Flying Club member
  • you must book by 2nd June
  • you must travel by 31st December
  • the total booking value must exceed £4,000

You can find out more about both offers on the Virgin Atlantic Holidays website here.

Virgin Atlantic Holidays discount

Save up to £200 on Cathay Pacific flights

Cathay Pacific is offering a discount code for flights beyond Hong Kong for the next month.

You need to book by 21st June for travel between 1st September and 7th December.

The savings are NOT valid to Hong Kong. You must be connecting to elsewhere in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Options include Singapore, Taipei, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Auckland and Bali amongst others.

You can fly from Heathrow or Manchester.

You CANNOT book in the Cathay mobile app. You must use the website.

The codes are:

  • Business Class – save £300 with SETJET300 when at least two people travel
  • Premium Economy / Economy – save £200 with SETJET200 when at least two people travel

Remember that Cathay Pacific is a British Airways partner in the oneworld alliance. You will earn Avios and British Airways tier points if you credit your flight to a British Airways Club account. If you have Gold or Silver status with British Airways, you will receive equivalent benefits with Cathay Pacific.

Full details, including the destination list, and small print can be found on this special page of the Cathay Pacific website.

Comments (17)

  • Gerry says:

    Any insight as to whether the Finnair subscription payments are processed directly by Finnair or by a third party (like points.com)?

    • Tony says:

      It is via points.com not Finnair

      • MCO says:

        Is there a reason why airlines prefer to use points.com instead of selling their own services? Why pay someone else when they have the capability to do it themselves?

        • John says:

          Airline get coded differently for CC spend. This can then depending on the market/processor trigger different levels of fees.

        • Nick says:

          But they don’t have the capability to do it themselves, that’s a huge assumption! Everything airlines sell directly is accounted for using IATA-standard documents, which don’t exist for points sales. The cost and complexity of setting up a separate process would far outweigh any saving they’d get, not to mention the need to set up different merchant agreements with Amex, etc. It may be something AGL does in future, if sales increase enough, but airlines are unlikely ever to do it themselves.

    • David says:

      Might be able to double dip with TCB like US points.com buys?

  • RobH says:

    The only reason my wife and I still have the BA Avios subscription is because we got the launch price which is £1,789/year (0.8945p) rather than the current £1,989/year (0.9945p). Very cunning of BA to keep the original price while you remain subscribed (when it hits the renewal every year) – otherwise we’d cancel it

    • AndyC says:

      @RobH – we, too, had the ‘original’ price beyond the initial year, but, bearing in mind BA’s propensity for drop-of-the-hat points devaluations, reluctantly decided not to renew, just in case the worst happened.

  • Liz says:

    OT but Finnair related. The other day I asked about when the AA flights came up on BA .com as I will be booking flights from LAX to Honolulu soon and the cost is 20k Avios and £4.20 taxes in economy. Someone mentioned I could use Finnair at a cost of only 15k Avios. I set up a Finnair account to check it out snd find out the taxes but it just keeps saying no flights available for the several dates I tried even though plenty were showing on BA. Can anyone help with this – what am I doing wrong and is it possible? Thanks.

    • Scottpat78 says:

      I’m planning on looking into this myself, and just signed up to a Finnair account to do so. I’ve not looked yet, but read previously that you are best to use a laptop (not mobile/ipad) and when in the Finnair search, there is a selection option for including partner flights.
      Let us know how you get on.

    • David says:

      Finnair flights with Alaska or AA can only be booked and done via chat function. Also keep in mind it’s t-330.

  • Tony says:

    The VS Holidays discounts are a farce!!

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