Save £570 on some Finnair Avios tickets by booking at finnair.com vs ba.com

Last year, Finnair adopted Avios as its loyalty currency.

This wasn’t as big a deal as Qatar Airways adopting Avios, because there weren’t many things you could do with a Finnair Plus account that you couldn’t already do via The British Airways Club.

One thing we have focused on is the ability to use a small number of Avios for excellent deals at Scandic and other Scandinavian hotel chains. Click through to read a real life example of how I used this.

It is worth reminding you, however, of the exceptional value that Finnair long-haul flights offer for Avios. This is especially true for people who do not have an American Express 2-4-1 Companion Voucher available to use on British Airways.

Finnair has guaranteed Avios award availability

You have ALWAYS been able to redeem Avios for Finnair flights on ba.com because both airlines are members of the oneworld airline alliance.

What changed when Finnair adopted Avios is that Finnair now guarantees a minimum number of award seats on each flight. This makes it significantly easier to redeem.

Finnair offers:

• 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)

These seats are bookable via The British Airways Club or Finnair Plus, or indeed any other oneworld partner.

How are Avios redemptions on Finnair priced?

Here are the key things to understand:

• British Airways and Finnair agreed that both of their programmes would charge the same number of Avios for the same direct flight

• British Airways and Finnair did NOT agree (it’s probably legally dubious) to charge the same amount of taxes and charges

• there is no simple answer as to which scheme – The British Airways Club or Finnair Plus – offers the lowest charges, because it varies by route

• the difference can be HUGE – over £570 per person in business class

Why is the difference in taxes and charges so big on some routes? It seems to be down to the various joint ventures in place.

To North America, Finnair is part of the BA / AA / Iberia / Aer Lingus joint venture. To Japan, Finnair is part of the BA / Japan Airlines joint venture. This seems to impact how taxes and charges are added.

Let’s run some examples.

What do Avios redemptions cost on Finnair?

Here is the Finnair reward chart. Remember that the same chart applies whether you book on finnair.com or ba.com.

Note that there are no peak / off-peak prices.

These are one way prices from Helsinki. Connections are charged separately except for ‘Northern Europe’ – I discuss this below.

Here are some route examples showing the taxes and charges you need to pay:

Helsinki to Bangkok (125,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £61 of taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £209 of taxes and charges

Helsinki to the United States (125,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £815 (!) in taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £244 in taxes and charges

Helsinki to Dubai (110,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £69 in taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £147 in taxes and charges

Helsinki to Seoul (125,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £55 in taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £202 in taxes and charges

Helsinki to Shanghai (125,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £25 in taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £199 in taxes and charges

Helsinki to Tokyo (125,000 Avios return in business class)

• Booked at ba.com – £411 in taxes and charges
• Booked at finnair.com – £244 in taxes and charges

The full list of Finnair long-haul routes is: Bangkok, Chicago, Dallas, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, Nagoya, New York JFK, Osaka, Phuket, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and (from May 2026) Toronto.

These taxes and charges variances make no sense ….

…. although you can summarise it as:

• routes to the United States are much cheaper when booked via finnair.com

• routes to Asia and Dubai are cheaper when booked via ba.com, except for Tokyo which seems to be distorted due to the joint venture agreement

Is Helsinki to Shanghai the lowest tax long-haul flight from Europe?

Is there a better value business class Avios redemption from Europe, in terms of taxes and charges, than Finnair’s Helsinki to Shanghai route?

It really is just £25 return in taxes and charges when booked via ba.com. Take a look:

If you are Avios rich and cash poor, it’s an amazing deal.

Where are the biggest savings over direct British Airways flights?

Our list of Avios pricing by route when flying on British Airways from London is here.

Here are the Finnair routes I looked at earlier compared with a peak date British Airways Club World return flight from London:

Bangkok

• Fly BA from London – 220,000 Avios + £575
• Fly Finnair (booked via BA) from Helsinki – 125,000 Avios + £61

Dubai

• Fly BA from London – 180,000 Avios + £375
• Fly Finnair (booked via BA) from Helsinki – 110,000 Avios + £69

New York

• Fly BA from London – 180,000 Avios + £375
• Fly Finnair (booked via Finnair) from Helsinki – 125,000 Avios + £244

Seoul

• Fly BA from London – not flown
• Fly Finnair (booked via BA) from Helsinki – 125,000 Avios + £55

Shanghai

• Fly BA from London – 220,000 Avios + £575
• Fly Finnair (booked via BA) from Helsinki – 125,000 Avios + £25

Tokyo

• Fly BA from London – 220,000 Avios + £575
• Fly Finnair (booked via Finnair) from Helsinki – 125,000 Avios + £244

Of course, don’t forget ….

There are snags, of course:

• you need to get to Helsinki to get the Finnair pricing above, which will cost you extra in cash or Avios (BA has dropped it but Finnair flies from Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin whilst Norwegian and Ryanair also fly it)

• if your flight to Helsinki is on a separate ticket, you will need to build in a big gap to ensure you don’t miss your connection – but Finnair will through-check your luggage if both flights are with them according to reader feedback

• if your flight to Helsinki is on the same ticket, you get protection from a missed connection but will also have to pay long-haul UK Air Passenger Duty

• you can’t use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Voucher or Barclays Upgrade Voucher on Finnair

Avios bookings made on the Finnair Plus website allow a free connection in ‘Northern Europe’. This is defined as Bodø, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Gothenburg, Oslo, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Trondheim, Vilnius, Visby, Warsaw and all flights within Finland.

This would allow you to book, say, Copenhagen to Helsinki to Singapore for the same cost as Helsinki to Singapore. This will benefit some people as Helsinki is a longer and pricier flight from the UK than many cities on the list above. This only applies if you book via finnair.com – you won’t get a free connection if you book at ba.com.

How do you book via the Finnair website?

For routes where we show it is cheaper to book Finnair flights via finnair.com and not ba.com, you will need to open a Finnair Plus account.

You can transfer your Avios from The British Airways Club to Finnair Plus free and instantly using the new ‘Combine My Avios’ feature which we covered here earlier in the week.

What’s the Finnair Business Class seat like?

The new Finnair ‘no recline’ seat is now on all routes. I won’t go into it again but you can read a review here by Rhys from his trip to Nagoya last year. Image above. We like it!

Conclusion

Finnair offers exceptional value for anyone without a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Voucher or a Barclays Upgrade Voucher on long haul business class flights.

What you need to remember is that some Finnair routes are cheaper (in terms of taxes and charges) when booked at ba.com, and others are cheaper when you move your Avios into a Finnair Plus account and book at finnair.com. You need to work out the cheapest option based on your route.

You have to factor in a transfer in Helsinki if you book with Finnair, but it’s a great city for a 24 hour stopover (if you want one), the redeveloped airport is lovely and the lounges are excellent – if you are British Airways Gold you can visit the Platinum Wing which we reviewed here, and have a sauna whilst you wait!