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I am BA gold and can probably keep it under the new regime – but only probably. I have the following upcoming flights:
BA: LHR->SIN First (A) – 16908 avios/points
Qantas: SIN-> SYD First (A) – 5867 avios/points
BA: SYD->LHR Business (D) – 26443 avios/pointsAm I right in the points calculation above and that I “only” need 80 k to get oneworld Emerald on Finnair? If so that is >60%!
If this is correct then I would be Finnair Gold after this and get a multiplier of 8 for future flight on spend/€ so would “only” need about €5k spend on Finnair (LHR->HEL->SIN return) to get oneworld Emerald?
I feel like I am missing something as it seems too good to be true?
If you haven’t already, check out the YouTube video made last week by Matt’s Planet (don’t think I can post links here). It took me a couple of times to get to grips with how complex the AY system is compared to BA, but worth a watch.
Where do those numbers come from?
I’d be double and triple checking them given the importance of them to TP earning under the AY, BA and IB schemes.
Multipliers usually only apply to avios not basic TPs.
Yes you are correct:
LHR to SIN – 6,758 miles * BA A class @ 250% = 16,895
SIN to SYD – 3,909 miles * QF A class @ 150% = 5,864
SYD to SIN to LHR – 10,667 miles * BA D class @ 250% = 26,668Total tier points of 49,427 from the return trip, achieving AY Gold.
Once AY Gold, any spend on AY multiplies by 8, so you only need eligible spend of E3,821 ((80,000-49427)/8) to achieve Platinum.
I’ve just made the move from BA to AY due to the Platinum benefit of being able to gift a Gold card and the ease of communicating with AY staff (their English is excellent).
With Finnair Plus multipliers apply to Avios and TPs.
Would love to know more about the AY program. Surprised HfP hasn’t done an article about it yet.
Would love to know more about the AY program.
I feel like I am missing something as it seems too good to be true?
It’s not that far from the status thresholds for the BA old scheme. The flights would earn I think in excess of 700 old (well current) BA TPs which, ignoring the 4 flights requirement, reaches OWS and gets halfway to OWE which could previously be easily achievable for far less than 5000 euros.
Which may mean that there could be a significant enhancement to AY at some point, but the rules are new-ish from the recent adoption of Avios so I guess changes are unlikely until after the IAG enhancements have bedded down.
You can also buy Finnair TPs for Avios at a rate of 1:3. A gold member can buy up to 22.5k TPs (cost 67.5k Avios) in a year so if you did this after you’d achieved gold status from your Oz trip you need less spend to hit platinum.
Also, once platinum you can buy up to 40k TPs in a year this way (which is 50% of the TPs needed to renew platinum.
If you haven’t already, check out the YouTube video made last week by Matt’s Planet (don’t think I can post links here). It took me a couple of times to get to grips with how complex the AY system is compared to BA, but worth a watch.
Many thanks – will watch now….
Yes you are correct:
LHR to SIN – 6,758 miles * BA A class @ 250% = 16,895
SIN to SYD – 3,909 miles * QF A class @ 150% = 5,864
SYD to SIN to LHR – 10,667 miles * BA D class @ 250% = 26,668Total tier points of 49,427 from the return trip, achieving AY Gold.
Once AY Gold, any spend on AY multiplies by 8, so you only need eligible spend of E3,821 ((80,000-49427)/8) to achieve Platinum.
I’ve just made the move from BA to AY due to the Platinum benefit of being able to gift a Gold card and the ease of communicating with AY staff (their English is excellent).
With Finnair Plus multipliers apply to Avios and TPs.
Thanks for the confirmation!
If you haven’t already, check out the YouTube video made last week by Matt’s Planet
He reuploaded it last night as apparently the original had an error
Where do those numbers come from?
Putting this here in the hope it is useful for other potential BA refugees. The route to Oneworld Emerald is even easier than I thought in my first post. Bear with me as this is a little complicated!
This is starting from scratch with a new Finnair Plus membership and zero points.
Flight 1
BA LHR->SIN discounted First (A)
Base Miles/Points: 6,793
Flight Category Multiplier: 2.5
Status Multiplier: 1
Total: 16,908This flight reaches Finnair Plus Silver which needs 15,000 points
This flight also gets a 3,000 points Milestone Bonus for reaching 12,000 pointsRunning Total: 19,908
Flight 2
QF SIN->SYD discounted First (A)
Base Miles/Points: 3,911
Flight Category Multiplier: 1.5
Status Multiplier: n/a
Total: 5,867Running Total: 25,575
Flight 3
BA SYD->LHR Discounted Business (D)
Base Miles/Points: 10,577
Flight Category Multiplier: 2.5
Status Multiplier: 1.1
Total: 29,087This flight reaches Finnair Plus Gold which needs 45,000 points
Running Total: 54,662
That is slightly over 2/3rds the way to Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold Equiv)
A typical LHR->HEL->SIN plus return in discounted business will turn this into Finnait Plus Platinum….
This flight also gets a 3,000 points Milestone Bonus for reaching 12,000 points
The 3,000 bonus is Avios only, not tier points.
This flight also gets a 3,000 points Milestone Bonus for reaching 12,000 points
The 3,000 bonus is Avios only, not tier points.
Thank you!
Edited below after the correction above that the 3000 bonus is only avios not tier points.
This is starting from scratch with a new Finnair Plus membership and zero points.
Flight 1
BA LHR->SIN discounted First (A)
Base Miles/Points: 6,793
Flight Category Multiplier: 2.5
Status Multiplier: 1
Total: 16,908This flight reaches Finnair Plus Silver which needs 15,000 points
This flight also gets a 3,000 points Milestone Bonus for reaching 12,000 pointsRunning Total: 19,908 Avios, 16,908 Tier Points
Flight 2
QF SIN->SYD discounted First (A)
Base Miles/Points: 3,911
Flight Category Multiplier: 1.5
Status Multiplier: n/a
Total: 5,867Running Total: 25,575 Avios, 22,575 Tier Points
Flight 3
BA SYD->LHR Discounted Business (D)
Base Miles/Points: 10,577
Flight Category Multiplier: 2.5
Status Multiplier: 1.1
Total: 29,087This flight reaches Finnair Plus Gold which needs 45,000 points
Running Total: 54,662 Avios, 51,662 Tier Points
That is slightly under 2/3rds the way to Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold Equiv)
A typical LHR->HEL->SIN plus return in discounted business will turn this into Finnair Plus Platinum…
Alternatively, in your scenario above, if you are Avios rich at Gold status you can buy 22,500 Finnair TPs for Avios (costing 75k Avios).
You will then only be Euro 730 spend away from Platinum (One World Emerald) status, given the 8x TP earning on Eoru spend at Gold level. This could be done with a simple business class return to Helsinki or similar in a day if you are specifically after status.
Thanks. I should be flying enough for work to hit the status without having to fly for the sake of getting status – though I did recently do a flight to get the required 4 BA flights to retain gold. It is the status I am after – although all my long haul travel is business class I also do short hauls in economy so maintaining first class lounge access on oneworld and star alliance helps! I go to Singapore quite frequently and try to keep the cost down so flying finnair/Qatar for oneworld and Swiss/Lufthansa for star was very cost effective and also got 560 tier points per trip under the old system in BA.
Have started the process of changing from Lufthansa Miles and More to United in Star and agonising on whether to change to finnair from BA. Would help if they told us how much card spend was required for tier points!
Am looking at booking Finnair from UK to Phuket – on a “Business Lite” fare.
A dummy booking shows free seat selection due to my BA Gold status BUT I’m unclear if any checked-in luggage is included.
Business Lite does not include check-in luggage as standard, but the Finnair website suggests 1 bag might be included due to status. It also suggests this is only for me as a Gold Card holder and not for the other non-Gold passenger
Does anyone have any experience to confirm or deny any of this please?
TIAI’ve done this multiple times and checked in Luggage, early seat selection and lounge access with no issues with BA Gold.
I’ve done this multiple times and checked in Luggage, early seat selection and lounge access with no issues with BA Gold.
Good to hear – many thanks
I’ve done this multiple times and checked in Luggage, early seat selection and lounge access with no issues with BA Gold.
Good to hear – many thanks
I always worry about giving incorrect advise so double checked.
“Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo, Platinum and Gold members and oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members can always take at least one checked bag (max. 23kg). ”
Thanks. I should be flying enough for work to hit the status without having to fly for the sake of getting status – though I did recently do a flight to get the required 4 BA flights to retain gold. It is the status I am after – although all my long haul travel is business class I also do short hauls in economy so maintaining first class lounge access on oneworld and star alliance helps! I go to Singapore quite frequently and try to keep the cost down so flying finnair/Qatar for oneworld and Swiss/Lufthansa for star was very cost effective and also got 560 tier points per trip under the old system in BA.
Have started the process of changing from Lufthansa Miles and More to United in Star and agonising on whether to change to finnair from BA. Would help if they told us how much card spend was required for tier points!
I have done the swap from M&M to United. With Marriott status keeping me at United Silver regardless, it has worked out ok as a place to mop up Star flights. Reward availability is excellent, especially the Saver rates offered on many US domestic routes. And zero cancellation fees.
On Finnair Plus, I watched Matt’s video with much excitement having run my 2024/25 travel through the Club Iberia Plus calculations and finding I will be frustratingly stranded between Sapphire and Emerald. (I don’t grasp the potential others see to earn Iberia TPs via partners, as the eStore is just largely Spanish retail brands). However having run some numbers on Finnair, it seems to be unrewarding (relative to Iberia) on Near Europe short haul flights. Perhaps Finnair is just not a great scheme for those doing lots of flights within 1-1.5hrs of LHR.
@BWS I also watched Matt’s yideo on Finnair and the one on Qatar and came to the conclusion that neither work for me doing mainly European shorthaul in business class.
I find IB’s scheme complicated and also think earning TP through their e-store isn’t straightforward .
I also think the BA Amex Tier Points will be more expensive to achieve but I think that and BA Holidays may work. So for now will probably stick to BA and might just scrape
I’ve done this multiple times and checked in Luggage, early seat selection and lounge access with no issues with BA Gold.
Good to hear – many thanks
I always worry about giving incorrect advise so double checked.
“Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo, Platinum and Gold members and oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members can always take at least one checked bag (max. 23kg). ”
Many thanks for double-checking.
@BWS I also watched Matt’s yideo on Finnair and the one on Qatar and came to the conclusion that neither work for me doing mainly European shorthaul in business class.
I find IB’s scheme complicated and also think earning TP through their e-store isn’t straightforward .
I also think the BA Amex Tier Points will be more expensive to achieve but I think that and BA Holidays may work. So for now will probably stick to BA and might just scrape
Glad to have this confirmation of my own sums. Though I’d suggest you do a side by side comparison of BAC and CIP. My difference in Avios earned was significant; to the extent 2500 TPs from BAPP won’t move the needle. I would also be uncomfortable spending on the BAPP not knowing the nature of the offer.
Update. Sitting on a slightly delayed BA 11 in F waiting to taxi. Points booked to my until now virgin Finnair account after checking in for which coincidentally the annual renewal date was a few days ago.
If you’re considering changing to Finnair be very careful when your yesterday starts…
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