Finnair Plus Avios Program: Everything You Need to Know

Finnair is Finland’s flag carrier and the largest full-service legacy airline. Headquartered in Helsinki Airport, Finnair operates a large network of routes around Europe as well as many other routes to every other inhabited continent.

Finnair also has an extensive frequent-flyer program called Finnair Plus, which has just undergone some serious changes. Up until recently, the Finnair Plus program used its own rewards currency known as Finnair Plus award points. However, the Finnair Plus program has begun using the Avios rewards currency.

You might have heard about Avios because airlines that are part of the International Airlines Group (IAG), such as Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, use the Avios currency in their respective loyalty programs. Qatar Airways also adopted the Avios currency in 2022.

The advantage of the Avios currency is it can be freely transferred at a 1:1 ratio between any of the programs that use it. For instance, you can freely transfer Avios from Iberia Plus to British Airways Executive Club or from British Airways Executive Club to Aer Lingus AerClub. While Finnair Plus doesn’t currently allow transfers to other Avios-using programs, the airline has stated that this ability to transfer Avios between Finnair Plus will be available starting May 22, 2024.

On top of switching to the Avios currency, the Finnair Plus program also underwent some other major changes, including:

• All existing balances of Finnair Plus award points have been converted to Avios at a 3:2 ratio.
• Rewards earnings on Finnair-operated flights are revenue-based.
• Members can now earn rewards for spending on flight extras (such as seat selection, extra baggage, meals and more) when flying on Finnair.
• Elite status is based on Tier Points only (and will no longer be achievable with flights).
• Milestone rewards within elite status tiers have been introduced.
• Simplified upgrade benefits for Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo members.
• The number of Classic award seats has been increased.
• All Finnair Plus members receive complimentary internet connection for messaging on Finnair short-haul flights operated with Airbus 319, 320 and 321.

All in all, these changes have made Finnair Plus a more valuable program for points and miles enthusiasts. Avios is a much more valuable currency than Finnair Plus award points were, and the elite status program received added benefits. However, there are some negative changes that took place, such as the switch to a revenue-based earnings system.

The Finnair Plus is definitely a program worth being aware of, especially due to its recent adoption of the Avios currency.

Let’s go over everything you need to know about the Finnair Plus program, including the different ways to earn and redeem Avios through Finnair Plus, which redemption options offer the most value, how to transfer Avios to other frequent-flyer programs and Finnair Plus elite status.

Finnair Plus Program Overview

The history of Finnair dates all the way back to 1923 when a Finnish consul founded the airline under the name Aero O/Y. Then, during World War II, the airline played a major role in evacuating refugees to Sweden.

After the war concluded, Finnair broke into the transatlantic market when it operated its first flight to New York City in 1969. Finnair continued to expand its network in the decades that followed, adding routes to Los Angeles and Seattle and becoming the first operator to fly nonstop from Western Europe to Japan.

The airline made a major strategic move in 1999 by joining Oneworld alliance, thus greatly expanding its list of airline partners. In 2024, the airline’s frequent-flyer program converted to the Avios rewards currency, giving Finnair Plus members the ability to transfer their rewards freely to any of the other loyalty programs that use the currency.

The Finnair Plus program allows members to both earn and redeem Avios with any of its Oneworld partners.

Oman Air is expected to join Oneworld in the second half of 2024.

On top of the Oneworld partners listed above, Finnair has partnerships with several other non-alliance members with which you can earn and redeem Avios.

While you can collect Avios on flights with BRA, Juneyao Airlines and LATAM, you can’t earn tier points (which are required for earning Finnair Plus elite status) on flights with these partners. However, you can earn tier points on flights with Oneworld members.

Finnair Plus Elite Status

Like most other major frequent-flyer programs, Finnair Plus has an elite status program that rewards members with special benefits for flying with Finnair and its partners. The Finnair Plus program has four elite membership tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo. There are also two Lifetime elite status membership (which have no expiry): Lifetime Gold and Lifetime Platinum.

To earn elite status with the Finnair Plus program, you need to accumulate a certain number of tier points. Tier points can be earned by flying with Finnair and with Oneworld partner airlines, buying travel extras on Finnair flights, spending on Finnair co-branded credit cards or by exchanging Avios for tier points.

Flying with Finnair

As part of the new version of the Finnair program, all tier points earnings on Finnair-operated flights are spend-based. Each membership tier in the Finnair Plus program has a different earnings multiple, which are as follows:

These earnings apply to airfare purchased with Finnair (minus taxes, fees and airport and service charges) as well as flight extras purchased on Finnair flights, such as seat selection, extra baggage, meals and more.

For instance, if you were to spend 300 euros on airfare and extras for a specific Finnair flight (excluding taxes, other fees and airport and service charges) and you were a Finnair Plus Basic member, you’d earn 1,800 tier points (and 1,800 Avios) on this flight (300 euros x 6 = 1,800 Avios). However, if you were to spend the same amount on a flight as a Platinum member, you’d earn 2,700 Avios (300 euros x 9 = 2,700 Avios).

Flying with Partners

Whereas Finnair flights award tier points and Avios based on spending, members earn tier points and Avios on partner flights based on the distance flown (in miles), the travel class and the booking class. Each partner airline has its own earnings chart.

For instance, here’s the earnings chart for American Airlines:

So, if you were to take a 1,000-mile flight on American Airlines in business (booking class C), you’d earn 2,500 Avios (1,000 miles flown x 250% = 2,500 Avios). However, if you took the same flight in premium economy (booking class W), you’d earn 1,500 Avios (1,000 miles flown x 150% = 1,500 Avios).

Spending on the Finnair Visa Credit Card

The third way to earn tier points is to sign up for the Finnair Visa Credit card, which is issued by Aktia Bank and charges a monthly fee of 6 euros ($6.50) or 72 euros annually ($78). With the Finnair Visa Credit card, you’ll receive 300 tier points every time you spend at least 1,500 euros in a calendar month.

Converting Avios to Tier Points

Finnair Plus gives members the option to exchange Avios for tier points at a 3:1 ratio (with a minimum exchange amount of 500 tier points). For instance, if you were to exchange 3,000 Avios, you’d receive 1,000 tier points.

Of course, this is a pretty poor deal in most cases and you should try to earn elite status organically rather than exchanging a bunch of Avios for tier points. To make matters worse, there’s a service charge of 10 euros ($10.80) for exchanges made online and a service charge of 20 euros ($21.70) for exchanges through customer service.

However, if your tracking period is coming to an end and you’re only a few hundred tier points away from earning the next elite status tier, then exchanging Avios may be worth it. Exchanged tier points will appear in your account instantly.

The maximum number of tier points you can exchange per tracking period is based on your current elite status:

• Basic and Silver members can exchange up to 7,500 Avios per tracking period.
• Gold members can exchange up to 22,500 Avios per tracking period.
• Platinum and Platinum Lumo members can exchange up to 40,000 Avios per tracking period.

Of course, you probably shouldn’t be nearing these maximums whatsoever since exchanging Avios for tier points is a poor deal.

Finnair Plus Elite Status Tier Requirements

Now that you understand how to accumulate tier points, let’s look at how many you’ll need to reach each elite status tier. Here’s how many tier points you’ll need to accumulate during your tracking period to reach elite status:

• Silver – 15,000 tier points
• Gold – 45,000 tier points
• Platinum – 80,000 tier points
• Platinum Lumo – 300,000 tier points (at least 250,000 of which need to be earned from Finnair flights)

Your tracking period is based on the date that you signed up for the Finnair Plus program or the date on which you upgraded or downgraded to your current status tier. Once you upgrade to the next higher elite status tier, your status benefits will be valid for the remainder of your current tracking period and the entire following tracking period.

In addition to the elite status tiers listed above, you can earn Lifetime elite status with the Finnair Plus program. Lifetime elite status is earned by accumulating a certain number of tier points over the course of your lifetime (rather than over the course of your tracking period). Lifetime elite status benefits have no expiration date.

Here’s how many tier points you need to accumulate over the course of your lifetime to earn each Lifetime elite status:

• Lifetime Gold – 2 million tier points
• Lifetime Platinum – 3.3 million tier points

All tier points that you collect over the lifetime of your Finnair Plus membership will count toward earning Lifetime elite status.

Finnair Plus Elite Status Benefits

Finally, let’s look at the benefits that come with each status tier. The following table includes all of the different status tiers that come with Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo elite status.

As you can see, the Finnair Plus elite status program offers some seriously valuable benefits for members who fly with Finnair or its Oneworld partners often.

While Platinum Lumo status is extremely difficult to earn (requiring you to earn 300,000 tier points in just one year), Silver status is fairly easy to achieve (requiring just 15,000 tier points per year). That means you’d have to spend about 2,500 euros ($2,708) within a tracking period on Finnair flights and travel extras to earn Silver status since the earnings multiplier for Basic members is 6 Avios per euro spent (15,000 Avios / 6 Avios per euro = 2,500 euros).

Even though it doesn’t take much to earn Silver status, it comes with some pretty solid perks, including 10% bonus Avios on Finnair flights and certain partner flights, 50% discounts on checked baggage and advance seat reservations, and the ability to purchase Finnair Lounge access at an affordable rate.

If you achieve Finnair Plus Lifetime Gold or Lifetime Platinum status, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits included with regular Gold or regular Platinum status for the rest of your life.

How to Earn Finnair Plus Avios

When it comes to earning Avios through the Finnair Plus program, the most straightforward way to do so is by taking flights on Finnair. However, you can also earn Avios in many other ways, including paying for flight extras, flying with partner airlines, transferring credit card points, spending on the Finnair Visa Credit card, booking hotels, renting cars and more.

In the following sections, we’re going to look into all of the ways for you to rack up Avios through the Finnair Plus program to help you get closer to that next award flight.

Flying with Finnair

Of course, the Finnair Plus program awards Avios for taking flights on Finnair. Points used to be awarded based on the distance of your flight as well as the cabin class you were flying in. However, when Finnair Plus switched over to the Avios currency, the program also switched over to a spend-based earnings system.

Now, the number of Avios you earn is based on the amount of money you spend on your airfare and travel extras as well as your status in the Finnair Plus program. The Avios earnings chart for Finnair flights is the same as the tier points earnings chart for Finnair flights, which you can find above.

For convenience’s sake, here’s the Avios earnings chart for Finnair flights based on euros spent and your status in the Finnair Plus program:

So, for instance, if you spent 400 euros on Finnair travel extras and airfare (excluding taxes, other fees and airport and service charges) and you were a Basic member, you’d earn 2,400 Avios (400 euros x 6 = 2,400 Avios). However if you were to take the same flight as a Platinum member, you’d earn 3,900 Avios (400 euros x 9 = 3,600 Avios).

The travel extras purchases that are eligible to earn Avios include seat selection, extra baggage, meals and snacks, Wi-Fi on board, Finnair Lounge access, travel class upgrades, sports equipment, pet in cabin, special assistance (for disabilities and medical conditions), shopping through Finnair Shop and cancellation coverage.

You can also collect a fixed number of Avios for booking holiday packages that are organized by a third party and that include charter-based flights that are operated by Finnair. The following table includes the number of Avios you’ll earn on those flights:

On most Finnair-operated flights, you’ll earn Avios based solely on the amount of money that you spend (in euros) and your status tier in the Finnair Plus program.

Flying with Airline Partners

In addition to earning Avios on Finnair flights, you can earn Avios for taking flights with Finnair’s airline partners, regardless of whether they’re Oneworld members or not. When flying with partner airlines, the number of Avios you’ll earn is based on which partner you fly with, the flight distance (in miles), travel class and booking class. Each airline partner has its own Finnair Plus Avios earnings chart.

For instance, here’s the Avios earnings chart for flights operated by Malaysia Airlines:

So, if you take a 700-mile flight on Malaysia Airlines in business class (booking class D), you’d earn 875 Avios (700 miles flown x 125% = 875 Avios). However, if you were to take the same flight in first class (booking code F), you’d earn 980 Avios (700 miles flown x 140% = 980 Avios).

Each of Finnair’s partner airlines has its own unique earnings charts. Once again, it’s worth noting that you can earn Avios for crediting flights with any of Finnair’s partners to the Finnair Plus program, including non-Oneworld partners BRA, Juneyao Airlines and LATAM). According to Finnair’s website, you also can earn Avios on Oneworld connect partner Fiji Airways. However, Finnair doesn’t have a published earnings chart for Fiji Airways.

It should be noted that Finnair Plus elite status members will earn bonus Avios on flights with American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia.

Here’s how many extra Avios you’ll earn with all three of these airlines at each Finnair Plus elite status tier:

• Silver – 10%
• Gold – 15%
• Platinum – 25%
• Platinum Lumo – 25%

To illustrate how these bonuses work, here’s the Finnair Plus Avios earnings chart for American Airlines:

So, if you took a 300-mile flight on American Airlines in business class (booking class R) as a Basic member, you’d earn 450 Avios (300 miles flown x 150% = 450 Avios). However, if you took the same flight in the same booking class as a Silver member, you’d earn 495 Avios since Silver members earn 10% more Avios on American Airlines flights.

Booking Hotel Stays

The Finnair Plus program partners with several hotel chains as well as third-party hotel booking engines that allow you to earn Avios for booking eligible stays. The following table includes some of Finnair’s hotel partners and how many Avios you could earn for spending with each of them.

According to the Finnair Plus website, members also can collect Avios for booking hotel stays with GLO Hotels, Hotel Fabian, Hotel Haven, Hotel Kämp, Hotel Klaus K, Hotel St. George, Hotel Vanajanlinna, Interhome, Kaligo, Lilla Roberts, Sappee Chalets and Strawberry. However, there’s no mention on the website of how to earn Avios with these partners or how many Avios you could earn for staying with them.

It’s worth mentioning that both IHG One Rewards and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts have their own rewards programs. If you choose to earn Avios on stays with either of these two hotel chains, you’ll be forfeiting the opportunity to earn that hotel’s native rewards currency.

IHG One Rewards and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts also have partnerships with many other airlines that allow you to earn miles with these hotel chains. So, before you decide to credit your stays with these hotel chains to Finnair Plus, you may want to consider whether you’d rather credit your stays to another frequent-flyer program first.

Booking Rental Cars

The Finnair Plus program has partnerships with several car rental companies that allow you to earn Avios for qualifying rentals. The table below includes Finnair’s car rental partners and how many Avios you could earn with each one.

To earn Avios on eligible car rentals, make sure to include your Finnair Plus number when making your booking. You should also make sure to make your booking directly through these partners as bookings made through third-party travel agencies may not be eligible to earn Avios.

All of these car rental partners also have partnerships with many other airlines in addition to Finnair. So, before you decide to earn Avios on your next car rental, consider whether you’d rather earn another loyalty currency instead.

Spending on the Finnair Visa Credit Card

In addition to earning tier points with the Finnair Visa Credit card (issued by Aktia Bank), cardholders can rack up Avios for making everyday purchases. This card charges a monthly fee of 6 euros ($6.50), equal to 72 euros ($78) annually, and offers between 1.7X and 2X Avios on all purchases as well as certain other valuable benefits.

The Finnair Visa Credit card offers a flat rate of Avios on all purchases, depending on your status in the Finnair Plus program. Basic members will earn 1.7X Avios per euro spent while Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo members will earn 2X Avios per euro spent.

As previously mentioned, you’ll also earn 300 tier points when you spend at least 1,500 euros per month, regardless of your Finnair Plus status, meaning you can earn up to 3,600 tier points annually by spending on the Finnair Visa Credit card. Cash withdrawals, service fees, interest charges, bill payments and bank transfers don’t count toward the spending requirement.

The Finnair Visa Credit card also offers an interest-free period of up to two months per year (with an average interest-free period of 30 days). You can use this card to make contactless purchases of up to 50 euros ($54) as well as connect your card with Apple Pay and Google Pay and pay food purchases with your smart device.

Transfer Partners

Finnair Plus members can also boost their Avios balance by transferring points from American Express Membership Rewards as well as IHG One Rewards. Also, due to the fact that Avios can be transferred freely between all of the frequent-flyer programs that use the currency, you can effectively transfer points from any of the major credit card rewards programs to an Avios-using program and then transfer those Avios to Finnair Plus.

However, the only credit card rewards program that allows you to make direct transfers to Finnair Plus is American Express Membership Rewards, which offers a 1:1 transfer ratio.

To transfer Amex points to Finnair Plus, you’ll need to log in to your Membership Rewards account and select the “Transfer Points” option from the “Redeem” drop-down menu. Then, select Finnair Plus as your desired partner and how many points you want to transfer. The minimum amount of points that can be transferred in one transaction is 1,000 Amex points.

If you have Bilt Rewards points, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Citi ThankYou Points and you want to transfer them to the Finnair Plus program, you can do so by first transferring your rewards to another Avios-using program and then sending them to Finnair Plus.

For instance, Bilt Rewards is a transfer partner of British Airways Executive Club. So, you can first transfer Bilt points to British Airways and then to Finnair Plus. If you want to use Chase points through Finnair Plus, you can first transfer them to British Airways Executive Club and then subsequently move them into Finnair Plus.

IHG One Rewards members also can transfer their points to the Finnair Plus program. Unfortunately, you can convert IHG One Rewards points only in chunks of 10,000 in exchange for 2,000 Avios. That’s a transfer ratio of 5:1, which is miserable. If you have IHG One Rewards points, you’re much better off using them in their native program.

Shopping Online or In-Person

The easiest way to earn Avios through Finnair Plus on merchandise is by shopping through the Finnair Shop website where Finnair Plus members can earn Avios on every purchase. The number of Avios you’ll earn depends on your status in the Finnair Plus program.

Here’s how many Avios you’ll earn at each status tier:

So, for instance, this Samsonite Magnum Eco Spinner luggage bag is available through the Finnair Shop for 218 euros ($236).

If you were to purchase this bag as a Basic member of the Finnair Plus program, you’d earn 1,308 Avios (218 euros x 6 = 1,308 Avios). However, if you purchased the same bag and you were a Platinum Lumo member, you’d earn 2,180 Avios (218 euros x 10 = 2,180 Avios).

There are a wide variety of products available for purchase through the Finnair Shop, including electronics, kitchenware, appliances, sporting goods, tools, apparel and much more. No matter what you purchase, you’ll be rewarded with Avios when you sign in to your Finnair Plus account.

You also can earn Avios by shopping in person with Finnair’s retail partners. You can earn 0.75X Avios per euro spent at Balmuir Concept Stores (a Finnish lifestyle brand) at Helsinki Airport, Helsinki city center and Oulu when you provide your Finnair Plus membership number.

You also can earn 3X Avios per euro spent at Decanter stores (retailers of wine accessories and kitchen utensils) in Helsinki and Espoo when you shop in-person and provide your Finnair Plus membership number.

And, finally, you can earn Avios on purchases from Lindroos (a watchmaker and goldsmith company). However, there are no details provided about how many Avios you’ll earn on purchases from Lindroos.

Tour Operators and Cruise Lines

Finnair Plus also allows members to earn Avios for booking tours and cruises through certain partners. The following table includes some of Finnair’s tour operator and cruise line partners and how many Avios you can earn with each one.

So, if you plan on booking a tour or a cruise with any of the aforementioned partners, make sure to include your Finnair Plus membership number in your booking and rack up some Avios while you’re at it.

Buying Avios

You have the option to purchase Avios with cash either for yourself or as a gift for another Finnair Plus member. Unfortunately, doing so typically provides poor value. The exact price per Avios you’ll get depends on the number of Avios you buy in one transaction. However, in general, the price you’ll pay per Avios is almost always greater than the value you’ll get out of them.

You can buy up to a maximum of 200,000 Avios per calendar year whether they’re for yourself or for another Finnair Plus member.

Avios purchases through Finnair usually take about one to three days to process. So, make sure you keep that in mind if you’re trying to buy Avios to make a last-minute award flight redemption.

The only instance in which you may want to consider buying Avios is if you need just a few thousand more to purchase a specific award flight and you have no other way to earn those Avios. Most of the time, you should avoid buying Avios.

How to Redeem Finnair Plus Avios

Now that we’ve covered all of the many ways to earn Avios through the Finnair Plus program, let’s look at the different ways that you can redeem these rewards.

In general, the best way to maximize the value of your Avios through the Finnair Plus program is to redeem them for flights with Finnair and its partners. Alternatively, you can also transfer your Avios to the other frequent-flyer programs that use this currency to take advantage of sweet spots in those programs as well.

There are also many other ways to redeem Avios through the Finnair Plus program, including booking hotel stays, renting cars, buying merchandise, donating to charity and more. However, these redemption options tend to provide far less value per Avios than redeeming for flights.

Nonetheless, in the following sections, we’re going to cover each of the different ways to redeem Avios through Finnair Plus and how much value each of these redemption methods provide.

Flying with Finnair

Unsurprisingly, you can redeem your Avios for award flights operated by Finnair. Award prices for Finnair-operated flights are priced according to a region-based award chart. It’s worth noting that if you book your award flight through Finnair’s customer service phone line, there’s an additional charge of 500 Avios for one-way bookings and 1,000 Avios for round-trip bookings.

Here’s the Finnair Plus award chart for Finnair-operated flights originating or landing in Helsinki.

To book any of the award flights above, you’ll need to pay an additional surcharge on top of the number of Avios listed in the award chart above. Here’s how much you’d have to pay in additional surcharges to book these award flights.

Both the award prices and the additional surcharges in the charts above are for one-way travel. For round-trip travel, you can simply double the values in the charts above.

You can often find great value on Finnair-operated award flights, particularly on business-class flights between Helsinki and destinations in Northern Europe. For instance, we found a one-way business class flight between Helsinki (HEL) and Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH), for 10,000 Avios plus about 28 euros ($30) in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flight entirely with cash, it would cost you about 494 euros ($535).

So, by booking this flight with Avios instead of cash, factoring in the taxes and fees that you’d have to pay on the award flight, you’d be getting a value of about 4.6 cents per Avios in euros (which is equivalent to about 5 cents per Avios in U.S. dollars), which is a fantastic value.

You can also find great value on Finnair-operated business flights between Helsinki and other cities in Northern Europe, such as Stockholm; Oslo, Norway; Warsaw, Poland; and more.

Another way to get great value through the Finnair Plus program is to book business-class award flights between Helsinki and the United States. For example, we found a round-trip business-class award from Helsinki (HEL) to Chicago (ORD) for 125,000 Avios plus about 309 euros in taxes and fees ($335).

If you were to book this same flight with cash, it would cost you about 2,814 euros ($2,990).

So, by booking this flight with Avios instead of cash, you’d be getting a value of about 2 cents per Avios in euros (about 2.1 cents per Avios in U.S. dollars at the current conversion rate), which is pretty solid.

As you can see, redeeming for Finnair-operated flights through the Finnair Plus program is one of the best ways to redeem Avios.

It’s also worth mentioning that Finnair does give you the option to pay for flights with a combination of cash and Avios. However, doing so typically yields a much lower value than if you pay for your entire flight with Avios. We recommend saving your Avios until you have enough for an award flight.

Upgrades on Finnair Flights

Avios can also be used to purchase travel class upgrades on Finnair-operated flights. You can either choose to pay for an economy ticket and then use your Avios to upgrade to premium economy or business class, or you can pay for a premium economy ticket and then use your Avios to upgrade to business class.

To upgrade your travel class, you need to have already booked an upcoming flight. Then, sign in to your Finnair Plus page and go to the “Upgrade your travel class” page. From there, enter your booking reference number and your surname and search for your flight.

You’ll then be presented with any available upgrade options and their prices in both cash and Avios.

Since upgrade award prices are based on your specific flight and which travel class you wish to upgrade to, it’s hard to predict exactly how much value upgrade awards provide per Avios. However, we expect that redeeming your Avios for award flights rather than travel class upgrades is probably a better way to maximize their value.

Finnair Plus members can waitlist for an upgrade no earlier than 360 days prior to departure and no later than 40 hours prior to departure. Finnair will then confirm your upgrade no earlier than 59 days prior to departure and no later than 37 hours prior to departure. Upgrades are available only for scheduled Finnair flights with AY code on the ticket.

Flying with Partner Airlines

In addition to redeeming Avios for flights operated by Finnair, you can use your Avios to book flights on any of Finnair’s airline partners (both Oneworld and non-Oneworld partners). Similar to the Finnair award chart, each partner airline has its own region-based award chart that prices award flights according to route and cabin class.

For instance, here’s the Finnair Plus award chart for flights operated by American Airlines:

All of the values listed above are for one-way flights. If you want to know the award price of a round-trip flight, simply double the values on the award chart.

So, if you were to book an American Airlines-operated flight in business class between Tampa, Florida, and Buenos Aires, Argentina (which would be a “North America-South America” route), it would cost you 55,000 Avios.

As you can probably already tell from the American Airlines award chart above, you can find some solid value on partner award flights through the Finnair Plus program.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the only way to book partner award flights is either by calling customer service (which carries an additional charge of 500 Avios for a one-way trip or 1,000 Avios for a round-trip itinerary) or using the Chat service on the Finnair website.

Either way, this makes booking partner award flights through Finnair a hassle. If you’re set on booking partner awards through Finnair Plus, then a good way to search for award availability is to use the British Airways website (considering the Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club have many of the same partners).

However, if you’re not going to redeem your Avios for flights on Finnair (or BRA or Juneyao Airlines), then you’re probably better off just transferring your Avios to British Airways. The British Airways Executive program allows you to book partner award flights online, and there are plenty of solid sweet spots. However, in some instances, it may be advantageous to transfer your Avios again to Aer Lingus, Iberia or Qatar Airways.

So, in general, if you’re planning to use Avios to book flights on Finnair, BRA or Juneyao Airlines, then the Finnair Plus program is a great place to do so. Otherwise, you’re probably better off transferring them to British Airways Executive Club and redeeming them through the British Airways website (which is easy to use) or moving them along to either Aer Lingus, Iberia or Qatar Airways.

Combine Avios

As mentioned above, it could make sense to transfer Avios from Finnair Plus to the British Airways Executive Club program and then either spend them on award flights through British Airways or transfer them again to either Aer Lingus, Iberia or Qatar AIrways.

In general, British Airways is the most versatile of the programs that use Avios and, more often than not, is going to be the best program through which to redeem Avios. However, in certain instances, it can be advantageous to transfer your Avios from Finnair to British Airways and then from British Airways to one of the other Avios-using programs.

For instance, if you want to use your Avios to book a short-haul flight on Aer Lingus (between the United Kingdom and Ireland, for example), Aer Lingus AerClub is the best program for that. So, if you want to move your Avios from Finnair Plus to Aer Lingus AerClub, you’re going to have to transfer them to British Airways first and then transfer them again to Aer Lingus.

We have an entire article about how to combine Avios between the different programs that use this currency. But, to simplify, Finnair Plus can transfer Avios to British Airways only. Then, from British Airways, you can transfer to any other Avios-based program.

Hotel Stays

Avios can also be redeemed for part of the price of hotel stays through the Finnair Plus program in the form of award vouchers. Most of these award vouchers are valid for six months and are redeemable for a one-night stay. The nights on which you can redeem these vouchers are subject to availability, so we recommend not waiting until the end of the six-month validity period to try to redeem them.

When you purchase a hotel award voucher through the Finnair Shop, you can choose to pay for that voucher entirely with Avios or partially with cash and partially with Avios. You’ll also have several options for combinations of cash and Avios (in increments of 500 Avios) that you can use to purchase your voucher.

For instance, you could choose to pay for a stay at Sokos Hotels with a combination of 103.41 euros ($112) and 500 Avios.

Alternatively, you could pay for the same stay with a combination of 84.41 euros ($91) and 2,000 Avios.

You can also choose to pay for your stays entirely with Avios. Unfortunately, when you purchase hotel award vouchers with Avios, you’ll typically get less than 0.5 cent per point (in U.S. dollars) regardless of what combination of Avios and cash you choose to pay with.

Nonetheless, the following list includes all of the different hotels with which you can redeem Avios for vouchers:

It’s also worth noting that Finnair gives you the option to convert Avios to two hotel rewards currencies: IHG One Rewards points and Strawberry points.

You can convert 15,000 Avios to Strawberry points at a 2:1 transfer ratio, meaning you’d receive 7,500 Strawberry points. This is a poor way to use your Avios as you could get much more out of them by redeeming for award flights.

Although Finnair doesn’t have a transfer ratio published on its IHG One Rewards partnership page, we expect that this is an equally poor way to use your Avios.

All in all, we recommend purchasing your hotel stays with cash (or hotel points) and saving your Avios for award flights.

Tour Operators

You can redeem Avios through Finnair Plus for vouchers with Finnair’s tour operator partners, which are valid for six months from the date of purchase. Just as with redeeming for hotel stays, you can choose to either pay for these tour operator services entirely with Avios or with a combination of cash and Avios (in increments of 500 Avios).

Unfortunately, also as with hotel partner redemptions, tour operator partner redemptions typically only provide less than 0.5 cent per Avios, which is poor.

You can redeem Finnair Plus Avios with the following tour operators:

Once again, we recommend forgoing tour operator partner redemptions in favor of redeeming for award flights through Finnair Plus or another one of the Avios-based programs. However, if you have no interest in flying, then using your Avios to book a tour or a cruise might be a nice option.

Dining at Restaurants

Through Finnair Plus, Avios can be used to purchase award vouchers for restaurants. These vouchers are valid for six months and guarantee different dining experiences at some excellent restaurants. With most of Finnair’s restaurant partners, you can choose to either purchase a €50 voucher ($54) or a €100 voucher ($108) that can be used to offset the cost of your bill.

However, with certain partners, you can purchase a dining experience package. For instance, with Restaurant Muru, you can choose to either purchase a voucher for the “menu of the day for two” or you can purchase a “menu of the day for two with glasses of champagne” voucher.

While redeeming your Avios for restaurant vouchers usually provides better value than redeeming for hotel or tour operator vouchers, the value you’ll get from restaurant voucher redemptions is far less than what you can get from redeeming for award flights. In general, purchasing award vouchers for restaurants will give you a value of about 0.7 cent per Avios, which is still poor.

Nevertheless, here are the restaurant partners with which you can purchase vouchers with Avios through Finnair Plus:

Most of the restaurants listed above are located in Finland. So, if you happen to be in Finland, you could redeem your Avios for restaurant award vouchers. However, you’d be much better off saving them for award flights instead.

Entertainment and Sports

Finnair also has partnerships with several sports and entertainment companies with which you can purchase award vouchers with Avios. Once again, purchasing award vouchers with these partners provides poor value, and you’re much better off redeeming your Avios for award flights.

Here’s a list of the entertainment and sports partners with which you can purchase award vouchers with Avios through the Finnair Plus program:

Purchasing sports and entertainment vouchers is definitely an interesting and fun way to use your Avios. Unfortunately, redeeming this way also provides abysmal value.

Donating Avios

Like many other frequent-flyer programs, Finnair Plus allows you to donate your Avios to help select charities. Currently, Finnair Plus allows you to donate Avios to six different charities, including:

Donations can be made in increments of 500 Avios. Although donations don’t provide the best value for your rewards, they’re a great way to use your Avios to help a good cause.

The Bottom Line

The Finnair Plus loyalty program has begun using the Avios currency and also implemented several other changes. To name a few, Avios earnings on Finnair flights are now spend-based; elite status can now only be earned with tier points (and not qualifying flights); and milestone rewards have been added to the elite status program.

Now that Finnair Plus has adopted the Avios currency, members will soon be able to transfer rewards between Finnair Plus and British Airways freely. Additionally, Avios can be transferred freely between British Airways and Aer Lingus AerClub, Iberia Plus or Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Thus, Finnair Plus members now have far more flexibility in terms of how they earn and redeem Avios as they essentially have access to the partner airlines and award charts of every Avios-based frequent-flyer program.

However, due to the fact that Avios can be redeemed through several loyalty programs, there’s rarely a reason to redeem this currency through the Finnair Plus program. In general, Avios are better redeemed through British Airways Executive Club, which is a much more versatile and easy-to-use program.

With that being said, Finnair Plus is still the best place to book Finnair, BRA and Juneyao Airlines award flights with Avios, and some of these awards offer incredible value (as shown in the examples above). So, regardless of which program you earn Avios through, you should definitely be a member of the Finnair Plus program so you can take advantage of this program’s sweet spots.