Finnair here's how loyalty program rules change ahead of switch to British Airways Avios
Last August, the Finnish carrier had announced the revamp of the Finnair Plus program in 2024. The announcement had [...]
Finnair
Oneworld
Last August, the Finnish carrier Had announced the revamp of the Finnair Plus program in 2024. The announcement had made it clear that more details would come during the last months of 2023 to define the crucial points: Accumulation of qualifying points and Avios and award tickets.
What we already knew
In this article:
The program will become "revenue based" that is, where the accumulation of award miles will no longer be based on the distance traveled, but on the expenditure incurred to buy the ticket and Avios will be the new loyalty currency.
By the end of January 2024, the switch off
The Helsinki-based company plans to implement these changes by the end of January 2024., the effective date will be announced by mid-December; until then, everything will continue with the current rules on both reward point and level accumulation and status. The Finnish carrier promises that many of the benefits, rewards and opportunities for collecting and using loyalty currency present today will remain even after the change is made.
Accumulate level points and Avios
With the adoption of the spending-based Finnair Plus program at the end of January 2024, people will be able to accumulate Avios, achieve tiers from flying and travel with extra purchases with Finnair based on money spent. Unlike in other programs using Avios, there will be no distinction between Tier/Qpoints and Avios.
The money spent will be converted into level points and Avios with a level-specific multiplier, which is 6 for Finnair Plus Basic members. The multiplier will be the same for level points and Avios, so you will always collect the same amount of level points and Avios. For example, buying a ticket for 100€ will give you 600 level points and 600 Avios.
Multipliers will be different depending on the level, here is an example of how many points you accumulate with a 500€ expenditure
- Finnair Plus Basic x6 accumulates 2,850 level points and Avios
- Finnair Plus Silver x7 accumulates 3,325 level points and Avios
- Finnair Plus Gold x8 accumulates 3,800 level points and Avios
- Finnair Plus Platinum x9 accumulates 4,275 level points and Avios
- Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo x10 accumulates 4,750 level points and Avios
Target to achieve status
The entry level is Finnair Plus Basic, which is free and requires no points. To obtain the next level, the Finnair Plus Silver, will need to accumulate 15,000 points, which after bonuses and promotions means spending a minimum of €2,500 on tickets and extras in a year.
The transition phase will be managed in two stages: all members will see their tier point balance automatically converted in January 2024 With a 3:2 ratio. This means that those who have accumulated 15 thousand points at the end of the conversion will have 10 thousand points. The level will be reviewed again at the end of the current monitoring period. You will also have the opportunity to exchange 3 Avios for 1 Finnair Plus level point. Once during each monitoring period to increase the level point balance.
The other levels will be:
- Finnair Plus Gold (oneWorld Sapphire) 45,000 qualifying points
- Finnair Plus Platinum (oneWorld Emerald) 80,000 qualifying points
- Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo 300,000 (including 250,000 raised by Finnair)
Extra rewards with milestones
Goals will be a totally new benefit in the Finnair Plus program.
- You will be rewarded with 3,000 extra Avios when you reach the Finnair Plus Basic member milestone points target of 12,000 level points.
- Upon reaching the Silver level, or 20k points so will have two vouchers for lounge access
- When you get the Gold level you will receive two vouchers for as many upgrades
- With platinum you will get 4 more vouchers for class upgrades
- Upon reaching the Lumo level you will have 8 more vouchers for upgrades
Moving from economy to business on short/medium haul will cost 1 voucher, while on long haul it will depend on the original class: from economy to business will need 4 vouchers, while from PE to Biz will need 2 vouchers. Of course, these are segment prices.
Avios: more opportunities to accumulate and use loyalty currency
At the end of January 2024, existing Finnair Plus award points will be converted into Avios with a 3:2 ratio. For example, 24,000 award points will become 16,000 Avios after conversion.
The same will happen in case of average award tickets, prices will change with the 3:2 ratio, but some prices may increase or decrease instead of following the exact 3:2 conversion. Again, Finnair promises to publish Avios prices for award flights and travel class upgrades One month before their entry into force.
It will be possible to link Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club accounts and Transfer Avios between these accounts with a 1:1 ratio. This option will be available later in spring 2024.
Minimum of guaranteed award places
As more and more Finnair carriers do has put in black and white the minimum amount of available award places On each flight:
- Short/medium range 6 places (2 biz, 4 echo)
- Long range 8 places (2 biz, 2 pe, 4 echo)
