Finnair Plus revolution arrives: Avios points will be shared with British, Iberia and Qatar

Frankly, I have no idea whether what I am about to write is good news or bad news., but the announcement of the Finnish flag carrier is bound to make a lot of noise, because if in the previous changes of Iberia, Qatar, and British we were talking about companies that were linked at the level of corporate structure, Finnair is a "mere" alliance and commercial partner that's why the change is one that is bound to shift several balances for frequent flyers halfway around the world.

New Finnair Plus in 2024

The news announced by the company are certainly interesting, but it is often what is not said that hides the unpleasant part. The news in summary are:

• Finnair Plus will adopt Avios as the currency for award tickets. Already, Finnish FF points are called avios, but what is new is that they will be cumulative and moveable to British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia, Qatar Airways and Vueling
• Finnair Plus will award Avios and elite status based on spending incurred for the ticket and not the distance traveled, a novelty already in place with Iberia and coming in the next few months with British Airways
• Finnair Plus will increase the number of award seats "savers" available on flights
• There will also be other advantages and status-related benefits, but it is currently unclear what these are.

Here are the changes that will become effective at some point in 2024.

The flip side of the coin

Judging from what is being said is definitely a change for the better in Finnair's loyalty program, especially for those who do not have elite status in the eponymous frequent flyer, but what about the positive aspects of Finnair Plus? Today, the Nordic FF is the best at the European level when it comes to fees and surcharges applied to award tickets, while the Executive Club is probably the worst.

Avios revolution also touches Iberia, now you can combine "Spanish" miles with Qatar miles

When we talk about more premium seats we can only think positive, but won't this result in a devaluation masquerading as an improvement? At the moment it is hard to say. If you were an elite status holder of this program you will instead be very concerned, because with the communicating vessels for avios between programs there will be much more competition for award seat reservations. Finnair Plus is also one of the few European loyalty programs that give away, among the status benefits, real vouchers to get upgrades on medium and long haul, and it is not certain that the updated version of the program will retain this very valuable benefit.

In conclusion

The interesting news of point sharing among the 4 companies is really great news, now we will see if sooner or later Delta which is a partner in various companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Air France/klm, Aeromexico and Korean Air does not do something similar in response to the actions of competitors. Otherwise, we will stay to see the upcoming announcements and details of the changes as they are made public by Finnair.

Certainly Avios points become even more of a currency to be highly valued.

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