Finnair Plus Award Booking Instructions

Finnair is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Finland and a member of Oneworld Alliance. The airline also operates its own frequent flyer program, called Finnair Plus, which is the most recent frequent flyer program to adopt the Avios currency. Avios are also used by Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Club, Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Executive Club and can be freely transferred among each of these programs, typically with British Airways being the intermediary or bridge between the programs.

Among the programs that use Avios, Finnair Plus probably isn’t the most relevant to U.S.-based consumers unless they travel frequently to Finland. In general, the most beneficial time to use the Finnair Plus program is when booking transatlantic flights operated by Finnair. Finnair Plus usually charges the same number of Avios for these flights as British Airways Club but doesn’t levy high surcharges.

There are certain times when using the Finnair Plus program could save you a fair amount of money. In this article, we’re going to discuss how to book award flights through the Finnair Plus program. And, if you’re ever having trouble making your booking, you can always refer to this article for a step-by-step guide.

Joining Finnair Plus

In order to earn and redeem Avios through Finnair Plus, you first need to be a member. To enroll in the Finnair Plus program, visit the Finnair website and click the “Join Finnair Plus” button in the top-right corner of the homepage.

Once you click that button, a drop-down menu will appear, where you’ll need to enter your name, date of birth and gender. Then, you’ll press the blue “Continue” button to proceed to the next stage of the process.

Still in the drop-down menu, you’ll next enter your phone number, email address, country of residence and a password. Once you’ve entered all of that information correctly, check the box to accept the terms and conditions and then click the “Continue” button again.

Finally, you’ll be asked to check boxes for any of the marketing communications you want to receive from Finnair Plus, including flight offers, travel inspiration, exclusive membership offers, event invitations and advertising for Finnair products and services. If you want to receive minimal communications from Finnair, don’t check any of these boxes.

Once you’ve checked the boxes you want to check, click the blue “Join Finnair Plus” button at the bottom of the drop-down menu to complete the registration process.

You’ll then receive an email to the address that you entered containing your unique Finnair Plus membership number, which you’ll need to log in to your account and earn Avios through the Finnair Plus program.

You can use your membership number to log in to your account at any time. If you ever want to see your Avios balance, you can click on your name in the top-right corner of the homepage and choose the “My Finnair Plus” option to see your account overview.

How To Earn Finnair Plus Avios

Now that you’re a member of the Finnair Plus program, the next thing you’ll need to do is earn enough Avios for an award flight redemption. Award flights through the Finnair Plus program require at least 6,500 Avios (which is the rate for Finnair-operated flights within Finland and northern Europe). So, you’ll need to have at least that many Avios before you make a flight redemption through the Finnair Plus program.

There are many ways to earn Avios through Finnair Plus, but some are much more effective than others. In the following sections, we’re going to look at a few of the most effective ways to quickly earn Avios through the Finnair Plus program.

Transfer Avios From Other Frequent Flyer Programs

The Avios currency is used by several frequent flyer programs, including Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, Qatar Airways Executive Club and several other smaller airlines. Avios can be transferred between these programs, typically using British Airways as the intermediary for transferring. So, for instance, if you have 100,000 Avios in your British Airways Executive Club account, you can transfer those to Finnair Plus and receive 100,000 Avios in your Finnair Plus account within a few days.

It’s worth noting that you can’t transfer Avios directly between certain frequent flyer programs. For example, you can’t currently make a direct transfer of Avios between Aer Lingus AerClub and Finnair Plus. In this case, you’d have to first transfer from Aer Lingus to British Airways and then from British Airways to Finnair. Please refer to our article on how to combine Avios if you need help with this process.

Transfer From Credit Card Rewards Programs

Another great way to earn Avios with the Finnair Plus program without having to commit to this program as your frequent flyer program of choice is to transfer points from credit card rewards programs. The only credit card rewards program that allows direct transfers to Finnair Plus is Capital One Rewards.

So, if you had 50,000 Capital One points, you could transfer those points to the Finnair Plus program and have 50,000 Avios within minutes.

If you have a credit card from any other major credit card rewards program (including Bilt Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards), you can transfer points to another Avios-using frequent flyer program and then transfer those Avios to the Finnair Plus program.

For instance, if you have 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you could transfer those to the British Airways Executive Club program and receive 60,000 Avios. You could then transfer those Avios from the British Airways Executive Club to Finnair Plus.

For most U.S.-based consumers, transferring points from credit card rewards programs is probably going to be the best way to quickly earn Finnair Plus Avios.

Flying With Finnair and Airline Partners

Another way to earn Finnair Plus Avios is to credit paid flights on Finnair or one of its airline partners to the Finnair Plus program. To do this, you’ll need to choose Finnair Plus as your frequent flyer program of choice and enter your membership number either when making your flight booking or when checking in for your flight.

Finnair is a member of Oneworld Alliance, which means that you can both earn and redeem Avios with any Oneworld airline. Here’s the current roster of Oneworld Alliance airlines:

Aside from the Oneworld partners mentioned above, you can also earn Avios when flying with several other non-Oneworld airlines, including the following:

When taking paid flights on Finnair, the number of Avios you’ll earn depends on the cost of your airfare and your status tier in the Finnair Plus program. Here’s how many Avios you’ll earn for Finnair flights at each status tier:

For instance, if you were to book a Finnair flight that cost 300 euros, you would earn 1,800 Avios on that flight as a Basic member (300 euros x 6 = 1,800 Avios) or 2,700 Avios as a Platinum member (300 euros x 9 = 2,700 Avios).

When it comes to earning Avios on partner flights, the number of Avios you earn is calculated based on your booking class and the distance of your flight in miles. Each partner has its own unique earnings chart, which you can view on the “Collect Avios and tier points from flights” page of the Finnair website. To calculate your potential earnings, just find the chart for the partner airline you’re flying with and multiply your flight distance by the percentage associated with your booking class.

Other Ways To Earn

There are plenty of other ways to earn Avios through Finnair Plus, including booking hotel stays, renting cars, shopping, booking cruises, taking tours and more. However,none of these earning methods are particularly effective compared to the ones mentioned above.

Still, if you want to use Finnair Plus as your primary frequent flyer program, it’s worth looking into these other earning methods.

How To Book Award Flights Through Finnair Plus

Now that you understand how to join Finnair Plus and the best ways to earn enough Avios for an award flight, let’s discuss how to book your award flight.

You can book award flights operated by Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Qatar Airways online through the Finnair website, but the only way to book award flights operated by other airline partners is to call the Finnair customer service line or use the chat feature on the Finnair website, both of which can be a bit of a hassle.

Booking Award Flights on Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Qatar Airways

You can book an award flight operated by Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas or Qatar Airways through the Finnair Plus program on the Finnair website. The first step is to go to the Finnair website and sign in to your account by clicking the profile icon in the top-right corner of the homepage and entering your membership number and password.

From there, you’ll be brought to the homepage where you’ll see the flight search tool. In order to search for award flights on Finnair instead of cash flights, all you have to do is click “Award flights” in this flight search tool box.

Once you’ve done that, the process of searching for award flights is pretty much the same as searching for cash flights. You’ll enter your departure airport and arrival airport, type of flight (round-trip or one-way), travel dates, desired cabin class and number of passengers. Then, you’ll click the search button to see the results.

It’s also worth noting that, when selecting your travel dates, you can check the “Dates are flexible” box at the bottom-right corner of the calendar. Then, when you search for your award flight, you’ll see the rates for award flights up to three days before and after your departure and arrival flights. In certain cases, this can help you find a cheaper flight if your travel dates are flexible.

Next, you’ll see a list of flight results that match your search query. These results will include any available flights operated by Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas or Qatar Airways as well as their prices in Avios. You can choose to filter these results by departure time, arrival time, travel class, price or travel time.

Once you find a flight that meets your needs, add it to your itinerary by clicking on the bubble next to the class in which you want to book. Repeat this process for your return flight if you’re flying round-trip.

After you’ve selected your flights, you’ll be able to see your total required Avios and total taxes and fees (in euros). You then need to enter some personal information for any other travelers on the itinerary, including name, date of birth, gender, passport document number, phone number and email address.

Finally, you’ll need to enter a payment method to cover any applicable taxes and fees. Once you’ve entered a valid payment method and confirmed your flight booking, you should receive a confirmation number for your award flight. You can also find this number in a confirmation email that Finnair will send to you.

Once you’ve made your award booking, the required Avios will be immediately deducted from your Finnair Plus account balance. If you cancel your award flight more than 24 hours before your scheduled departure date, you should be able to get a full refund of your Avios and any taxes and fees.

Booking Award Flights With Other Partner Airlines

If you want to book a partner award flight with any of the airline partners not mentioned in the section above, you’ll need to call Finnair Plus customer service or use the chat feature on the Finnair website.

Whichever option you choose, we recommend finding award availability before calling or starting a chat. If you’re searching for award availability on a Oneworld Alliance airline, we recommend searching for availability through the British Airways website. If you’re looking for availability through one of Finnair’s non-Oneworld partners, you’ll probably need to search through that airline’s own website.

Once you’ve found the award flight you want to book, contact Finnair customer service either over the phone or via the chat feature (we recommend using the chat feature and keeping your award flight information in another tab).

When you get in contact with your customer service agent, you should inform them that you want to book a partner award flight and tell them the airline, date and flight number of the flight you wish to book.

The agent will then check if the flight you requested is available to book with Finnair Plus Avios and if you have enough Avios in your account to book that flight. If everything looks good, the agent will walk you through the process of completing your booking.

Just as with booking other award flights, you should receive a confirmation number that you’ll need to check in for your flight. You should also receive an email with this confirmation number.

The Bottom Line

In general, most U.S. consumers won’t have much use for the Finnair Plus program. Most rates for award flights are the same if not better through the British Airways Executive Club program and earning Avios and spending Avios through British Airways is much easier then through the Finnair Plus program.

But, if you’re planning on booking a Finnair-operated award flight, it’s a better idea to book that flight through Finnair Plus. The rates for Finnair flights are the same through Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club. However, Finnair Plus charges much lower taxes and fees on its own award flights.