Finnair’s Loyalty Program Will Adopt Avios
Update: Finnair has revealed that its Finnair Plus program will switch to Avios on March 9, 2024. They will implement these changes into our systems over four days between 8 and 11 March 2024, and they do not require any action from you. However, some of the services will be unavailable on those days. Finnair has also shared its new award charts, with surcharges that are actually not bad. Finnair Plus will have a separate award chart for each partner airline. You can see all the details here.
Original article (Aug 16, 2023): Finnair, the flag carrier and largest full-service legacy airline of Finland, will make changes to its loyalty program next year. The airline’s loyalty program, Finnair Plus, will adopt Avios as a new loyalty currency in early 2024. Partnering with IAG Loyalty to adopt Avios will bring new opportunities for existing and new Finnair Plus members to collect and use the program’s new loyalty currency.
Avios is the loyalty currency for our oneworld partner airline loyalty programs British Airways Executive Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Iberia Plus. Also, Aer Lingus AerClub and Vueling Club use Avios as their loyalty currency.
Let’s take a look at some of the details that have been revealed so far.
Finnair Plus Points Will Convert to Avios
In early 2024 your Finnair Plus award points will convert to Avios with a 3:2 ratio. This will be done automatically, and will not require any actions from you.
The value of your existing points will not change when switching to Avios, as the prices in Avios will be updated with the same 3:2 ratio.
You will be able to collect and use Avios the same way as you can do with Finnair Plus award points until then.
How to Collect and Use Avios
Customers will collect Avios when purchasing flights and travel extras. You can also collect Avios from purchases made with Finnair Plus credit cards and from Finnair Plus partners’ services.
You can use Avios for purchasing flights and travel extras, upgrading your travel class as well as for products and services from Finnair Plus partners.
In spring 2024, you will be able to transfer your Avios between Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club accounts with a 1:1 ratio. This way you will also get access to the British Airways Executive Club network’s rewards and partnerships. Furthermore, you can link a British Airways Executive Club account to Qatar Airways Privilege Club or Iberia Plus account, if you have one. This will widen your opportunities to collect and spend Avios even more and make your Finnair Plus membership even more useful to you.
Plus there are several options to earn more Avios through transfer partners. You can transfer from American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou points.
Spend-Based Earning
As part of the announcement it was also revealed that the Finnair Plus program will move to a new spend-based platform. That’s normally bad news, even without knowing the full detaills.
“The move to a spend-based program rewards customers directly for their spend, just like many retail loyalty programs do,” said Ole Orvér, Finnair’s Chief Commercial Officer. “These moves allow us to leverage the full potential of our loyalty program and make it attractive to a wider audience.”
Finnair will communicate the exact date for the changes to the members later this year.
Better Availability
As part of the changes, Finnair says that it will also increase the number of award seats, which are the most popular award among members. The airline will guarantee at least 4 award seats on Finnair flights within Europe and 8 on Finnair long-haul flights.
New Benefits
The program will feature new milestone benefits to enable members to receive extra rewards, such as additional upgrade benefits, when reaching certain point limits within their existing tier.
And as an extra incentive to join the Finnair Plus program, its members will now also receive complimentary internet access for messaging as a new benefit on Finnair’s short-haul European flights operated with the narrow-body Airbus fleet, regardless of their tier status.
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