Finnair to Change Rewards Currency to Avios in 2024

Finnair Plus will be replacing its current rewards currency with the Avios currency in early 2024, according to a press release. Avios historically has been the rewards currency of Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus (as well as other smaller airlines). In March 2022, Qatar Airways adopted Avios as well.

The advantage of the Avios currency is that it can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio between any of the airlines that use Avios as their rewards currency. It’s expected that Finnair Plus Avios will be allowed to be transferred to British Airways Executive Club in the spring 2024.

For existing Finnair members who currently have a balance of Finnair Plus points, those points will be converted into Avios at a 3:2 ratio. However, current Finnair members need not worry about devaluation because “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,” according to Finnair’s website.

While existing balances of Finnair Plus points are going to shrink when converted to Avios, the prices of redemptions through Finnair Plus will also shrink by the same 3:2 ratio.

In addition to Finnair Plus changing its rewards currency to Avios, several other significant changes will also be made to the program in early 2024. Finnair Plus will be shifting to a revenue-based system for awarding Avios to its members for Finnair-operated flights (whereas they currently base earnings on distance, fare type and booking class).

On the other hand, Finnair Plus members will earn Avios on partner-operated flights based on distance flown, fare type and booking class. However, distance flown will no longer be measured in kilometers and instead will be measured in miles.

All in all, these changes are bittersweet for Finnair Plus members. While the switch to the Avios currencies will open up many more redemption options, many Finnair Plus members may not welcome the shift to spend-based earnings. So, to help you decide for yourself whether these changes are good or bad, let’s run through all of the changes that will be made to the Finnair Plus program in depth.

Finnair Plus Switching to Avios

As mentioned, Finnair Plus will be switching to the Avios currency in early 2024, meaning that Finnair Plus members will start earning and redeeming Avios through the program. The Avios currency is owned by International Airlines Group (IAG), a Spanish company that’s 25% owned by Qatar Airways. The currency is used by Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Vueling Club. You can also earn and redeem Avios on LEVEL, a Spanish low-cost airline.

The benefit of the Avios currency is that they can be freely transferred between any of the frequent-flyer programs that use them. However, it can get a bit complicated when transferring Avios between certain programs.

While Avios can be transferred between most programs directly through Avios.com, transfers between certain programs (such as Iberia Plus and British Airways Executive Club) can only be made through the British Airways website. To complicate things even further, Qatar Airways Privilege Club requires you to first transfer Avios to British Airways Executive Club before you can transfer them to Qatar.

If you want to get a better idea of how to move Avios between programs, check out our article about how to combine Avios.

It’s believed that Finnair Plus members will be able to link their accounts to their British Airways Executive Club accounts and move Avios freely between the two by spring 2024. Once they arrive in your British Airways Executive Club account, you should be able to move them to any other Avios-using program.

Members who have a balance of Finnair Plus points will have those points converted to Avios at a 3:2 ratio, which means that they’ll end up with fewer Avios than they had Finnair Plus points. Although this may initially seem like a devaluation of those points, redemptions will also be priced down according to that 3:2 ratio, meaning that existing Finnair Plus points balances won’t be devalued whatsoever.

So, the shift from Finnair Plus points to Avios is an entirely positive change. Finnair Plus members will now have access to a much wider range of redemption options, and existing Finnair Plus points balances won’t experience any devaluation.

Avios Earnings Will Be Spend-Based for Finnair Flights

Once Finnair Plus replaces its current rewards currency with Avios, the program will also be shifting to a revenue-based earnings system. That means that all Avios earnings will be based solely on how much money you spend.

Currently, Finnair Plus awards points based on the distance flown, ticket type and booking class for both Finnair-operated and partner-operated flights. However, when the program switches over to Avios, members will earn Avios based only on how much money they spend on their airfare and travel extras when taking Finnair-operated flights.

Up until these changes, Finnair didn’t allow members to earn points on travel extras. Now, Finnair Plus members will be able to earn Avios for spending on the following:

We expect that Finnair will have a constant earnings rate (as well as bonuses for elite status tiers) of Avios per euro spent on airfare and travel extras and that it will reflect rates offered by other Avios-using programs. For instance, here are the earnings rates offered by Iberia Plus for Iberia-operated flights:

• Base: 5X Avios per euro
• Silver: 6X Avios per euro
• Gold: 7X Avios per euro
• Platinum: 8X Avios per euro

In all likelihood, Finnair Plus earnings rates will mirror these Iberia Plus earnings rates pretty closely, especially considering that Finnair Plus also has Silver, Gold and Platinum elite status tiers (plus a fourth tier called Platinum Lumo).

If you book a flight with Finnair before these changes are implemented in early 2024, that flight will earn Avios and tier points on your airfare and any travel extras based on the ticket type or booking class or region (even if you purchase the travel extras after the changes take effect).

Avios Earnings Will Be Based on Distance and Class for Partner Flights

Finnair currently awards points on partner flights based on the distance flown, ticket type and booking class. Each partner airline has their own earnings chart, which you can find here on Finnair’s website. For instance, here’s the earnings chart for Alaska Airlines:

Using this earnings chart, you’d multiply the distance flown (in kilometers) by the percentage that corresponds with your ticket type and booking class. For instance, a 1,000-kilometer first-class flight (booking class D) on Alaska would earn you 2,000 points.

Once the Finnair Plus program switches to Avios, partner flights will continue to earn Avios based on distance flown, ticket type and booking class. However, the program will be switching from kilometers to miles.

Elite Status Will Be Achievable Only with Tier Points (Not Flights)

The Finnair Plus program has four elite status tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo. Currently, you can achieve these status tiers either by earning a certain number of tier points or by completing a certain number of flights. Under the current rules, here’s how many points or flights you need to reach to achieve each status tier:

• Silver: 30,000 points or 20 flights
• Gold: 80,000 points or 46 flights
• Platinum: 150,000 points or 76 flights
• Platinum Lumo: 450,000 points (at least 350,000 earned from Finnair flights) or 150 Oneworld flights (at least 100 flown with Finnair)

Once Finnair Plus makes the shift over to Avios, members will no longer be able to earn elite status by completing flights. The only way to achieve elite status with Finnair Plus will be to accumulate tier points, which will be earned in a similar way to Avios.

Just like when earning Avios, the number of tier points that you’ll earn for a Finnair-operated flight will be spend-based. Also, the number of tier points that you’ll earn for partner-operated flights will be based on distance flown, ticket type and booking class.

As of right now, Finnair hasn’t made any announcement about how many tier points you’ll earn per euro spent on Finnair-operated flights or how many tier points you can earn with airline partners. However, all existing balances of tier points will undergo a conversion using the same 3:2 ratio.

For instance, if you had 3,000 tier points in your Finnair Plus account, you’d end up with 2,000 tier points in your account after the changes took effect. So, we can assume that tier points limits required to meet each status tier will also undergo the same conversion using the 3:2 ratio (so as not to devalue existing tier points).

To reiterate, Finnair Plus members will be able to achieve elite status only by earning tier points and will no longer be able to achieve elite status with flight segments. Exactly how many tier points you’ll earn for each flight and how many tier points you’ll need to achieve each elite status tier remains to be seen.

Milestones Within Elite Status Tiers Will Be Introduced

One major change that’s good news for all Finnair Plus members is that the program will begin offering milestone rewards within elite status tiers. For example, whereas you might achieve Silver elite status when you reach 20,000 tier points and Gold elite status at 50,000 tier points, you might receive milestone rewards for reaching 30,000 tier points and 40,000 tier points.

Like many other aspects of these upcoming changes, Finnair hasn’t released all the details about milestone rewards. However, its website does allude to the fact that Finnair Plus Basic members may receive extra Avios as a milestone reward, Silver members may receive lounge passes and Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo members may receive upgrade benefits.

Finnair is expected to release more details about milestone rewards later this year.

Other Notable Changes

In addition to the previously mentioned changes to the Finnair Plus program, several other changes will be implemented in early 2024. Here are some of the changes that Finnair Plus members can expect:

• Simplified upgrade benefits for Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo members
  • Instead of separate long-haul and European upgrade benefits, there will be just one type of upgrade benefits.
  • One new upgrade benefit equals one current European upgrade benefit.
  • The required number of upgrade benefits will vary between long-haul and short-haul flights and travel class.
• The number of Classic award seats will be increased.
  • There will be a minimum of four award seats on Finnair flights within Europe and eight award seats on Finnair long-haul flights.
• All Finnair Plus members will receive complimentary internet connection for messaging on Finnair short-haul flights that are operated with Airbus 319, 320 and 321.
  • Supported messaging apps include WhatsApp, Viber, Kakao Talk, WeChat and iMessage.
• Gold and Platinum members’ 30-minute Browse package will be updated to the Stream package on short-haul flights operated with the Airbus A319, A320 and A321.
• Improved digital customer service for Gold, Platinum and Platinum Lumo members starting in October 2023.
  • Priority chat service in the Finnair mobile app or online
  • 24/7 WhatsApp service

Overall, these changes are good news for all members of Finnair Plus. The increased award availability on Finnair flights means that booking Finnair flights with Avios will be much easier in the future. Plus, the simplification of upgrade benefits makes it easier to redeem your Avios to access higher cabin classes on Finnair flights.

The Bottom Line

The upcoming changes to the Finnair Plus program set to take effect in early 2024 are, for the most part, good news for Finnair Plus members as well as members of other Avios-using frequent-flyer programs.

Once these changes take effect, Finnair Plus members will be able to freely move Avios between Finnair Plus and the other programs that use Avios as their rewards currency, including Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. This means that Finnair Plus members will have far more flexibility in terms of redemptions than they’ve had in the past.

All existing balances of both Finnair Plus points (the rewards currency that’s currently used) and tier points will be converted using a 3:2 ratio. For instance, if you currently have a balance of 3,000 Finnair Plus points, they’ll be converted to 2,000 Avios.

As all redemption prices and elite status tier limits are expected to undergo a conversion using the same 3:2 ratio, in theory, this should not affect the value of your Finnair Plus points or tier points. However, it’s impossible to know if that’ll hold true until the changes actually take effect.