Last year, Finnair Plus announced a series of major changes to the program; chief among them is its transition to Avios, the same loyalty currency used by British Airways and Qatar Airways.
Another change that was hinted at last year was the ability to convert Finnair Avios to British Airways Avios. Finnair Plus has finally enabled the option to convert your Avios between the two programs at a 1:1 ratio, as of May 22, 2024.
Finnair Plus Enables 1:1 Avios Transfer to British Airways
After switching to Avios as its loyalty currency, Finnair Plus takes the next natural step in integrating into the Avios ecosystem: enabling transfers between its own program and British Airways Executive Club.
As of May 22, 2024, Finnair Avios may already be converted to British Airways Avios at a 1:1 ratio and vice versa.
Recall that Qatar Airways Privilege Club, upon adopting Avios as its currency in 2022, has enabled 1:1 transfers to British Airways as well.
This move adds flexibility to Finnair Avios by adding more redemption possibilities – from British Airways Club World business class to Qatar Airways Qsuites. Keep in mind that Avios may be transferred among participating programs in a somewhat roundabout way.
More importantly, it puts the Finnair Plus on the radar of Miles & Points enthusiasts in North America, where Finnair Avios were otherwise relatively difficult to earn.
As things stand, Finnair Avios only has one transfer partner in the US, Capital One Miles, and none in Canada. Not even Marriott Bonvoy, which has a long list of 40+ airline partners, allows transfers to Finnair Plus.
On the other hand, British Airways Avios are far easier to obtain. In Canada, British Airways Executive Club is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards and RBC Avion. The co-branded RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† is offered in the market as well.
In the US, you may convert your points from the following programs to British Airways Executive Club:
Moving forward, points collectors who have access to British Airways Avios have one more program to play with and many more redemptions to access.
Finnair flies between Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) and five destinations in the US: Seattle (SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Miami (MIA), and New York (JFK). In total, the airline flies to 80 destinations in Europe, Asia, and North America.
How to Transfer Avios Between Finnair and British Airways
Transferring Avios between Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club is straightforward, but you must link your accounts first.
To link your Finnair and British Airways accounts, you must first set up multi-factor authentication on both accounts. You may do so by going to the account settings of both your accounts.
As a simpler alternative, on your “My Finnair Plus” page, you’ll find the box that shows you how to link between Finnair and British Airways. The box shows you that the first step is setting up multi-factor authentication on Finnair Plus, and it’ll lead you to your British Airways settings as well.
When multi-factor authentication is set up on both sides, your account may already be linked. For the linking to be successful, your name must be an exact match between your two accounts.
You’ll receive a confirmation email once your accounts are linked.
To transfer Avios between Finnair and British Airways, you must do so through the British Airways Executive Club website. You’ll see the option on your Finnair Plus account as well, but the link will just lead you to the British Airways website.
You may convert a minimum of 1 Avios, and there doesn’t seem to be a maximum limit.
Upon confirming your transfer, you’ll see a “pending” message. However, you’ll also instantly receive an email confirming that the transfer has gone through.
Likewise, you’ll see the transaction on both your Finnair and British Airways accounts right away.
Should You Transfer Your Avios to Finnair?
Depending on the specific redemption, it can be a good idea to transfer Avios to Finnair Plus in order to book at more favourable rates than via British Airways Executive Club. Fortunately, Finnair Plus allows you to browse award redemptions with a zero Avios balance, unlike Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
Finnair Plus uses a fixed redemption chart on its own flights without peak/off-peak pricing, unlike British Airways Executive Club. The same chart applies to flights operated by its subsidiary, Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra).
For example, a one-way flight between New York and Helsinki costs 62,500 Avios + $141 (USD) in taxes and fees if booked via Finnair Plus.
Meanwhile, if booked via British Airways Avios, this flight would cost you 62,500 Avios + $1,426 in taxes and fees! By converting points to Finnair Plus, you’d stand to save a small fortune on the cash surcharges portion of the redemption.
With Finnair Plus, the cost of connecting flights is added cumulatively, except for within Finland and Northern Europe. This means a one-way New York–Helsinki–Singapore ticket in business class costs 125,000 Avios + $170 (USD) in taxes and fees.
Like many of the other varieties of the Avios program, Finnair Plus guarantees a number of “Classic” awards per flight.
Finnair Plus Avios can also be redeemed via the Finnair Shop, in exchange for hotel vouchers that may represent good value in certain scenarios. We’ll be sure to publish a full guide to Finnair Plus sweet spots in the future, now that this 1:1 transfer possibility has been confirmed.
Conclusion
Finnair Plus is enabling 1:1 transfers between Finnair Avios and British Airways Avios, and the feature is already live as of May 22, 2024. This step, which comes as Finnair Plus fully integrates into the Avios ecosystem, opens up new redemption possibilities for members of both programs.
We’ll follow up this article with a deep dive into the new redemption possibilities, as well as potential sweet spots, that are now accessible via Finnair Plus.