Amidst a year of significant shake-ups in the world of partner redemptions for American Airlines flights, award travelers face a new dilemma. Finnair, following British Airways and Qatar Airways, has quietly introduced modifications to its award chart without prior notice. This devaluation primarily affects domestic flights within the U.S. and Canada, travel between North America and the Caribbean, Mexico, as well as flights in South America, with price hikes of up to 50% in some cases.

Fortunately, the changes stop short of affecting the remaining sections of their award chart, keeping Finnair a viable option for long-haul flights, particularly those bound for Hawaii and Central America—still priced at 15,000 Avios for economy seats. With Finnair’s zone-based award chart, travelers can maximize value on longer journeys, maintaining a strategic advantage despite the new changes.

Despite the disappointing increase in award costs, particularly for domestic travel, the ability to transfer Avios among Finnair, British Airways, and Qatar Airways provides a pathway to optimize value. For example, while Finnair falters on short-haul and some medium-haul redemptions, Qatar now emerges with relatively competitive rates, particularly for flights under 3,000 miles.

American Airlines

Our Take

These recent devaluations undeniably present challenges for frequent flyers and puts a damper on spontaneous domestic award redemptions. With Finnair’s sudden increase in award costs for popular routes, it appears that maximizing the value of Avios across partner airlines will require more strategic planning and foresight. However, adaptability remains key. Leveraging the ability to transfer Avios among Finnair, Qatar, and British Airways allows travelers a lot of flexibility with redemptions, particularly where distance pricing can offer better value such as using Qatar for affordable domestic travel.