Buying miles or – in this case – points can be a lucrative endeavour. Today, you can buy Finnair Plus points and the airline will double the amount of points you’ve purchased.
You can theoretically (the route is currently suspended) buy a roundtrip from Europe via Helsinki to Dubai in Finnair’s A350-900 Business Class for 60,000 points = €322 + taxes & surcharges.
Economy roundtrip from Copenhagen/Warsaw/Krakow/Gdansk via Helsinki to Iceland at 15,000 points = €97 + ca. €67 taxes & surcharges = ca. €125. In contrast to regular economy tickets, these include a checked bag up to 23 kg and can be changed for free up to seven days before departure.
You need to purchase a minimum of 5,000 points + 5,000 bonus points = 10,000 at €64,38. This results in a points value of €6.44 per 1,000 points. Maximum purchase are 200,000 (plus 200,000 bonus equals 400,000 points).
Info
Sadly, Finnair allows only people who have sufficient points to check award flight availability. Because of that, we can’t give further information about taxes, surcharges or overall availability.
On the upside, Finnair announced that it will remove fuel surcharges from long haul award tickets. This makes this offer more appealing.
Sweet Spots
Every frequent flyer program has certain sweet spots
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– routes that allow maximum value award tickets:
Award Flights
At the current price per point, you can score the following award tickets in business and economy class. These prices are without taxes or surcharges:
Region
Economy
Business
Within Northern Europe
15,000 €97
25,000 €161
Within Europe incl. Tel Aviv, Dubai
30,000 €193
50,000 €322
Europe to Asia
90,000 €580
160,000 €1,030
Europa to North America
90,000 €580
160,000 €1,030
This list contains every airport Finnair counts within Northern Europe:
All Finish destinations
Billund
Copenhagen
Gothenburg
Gdansk
Krakow
Minsk
Moscow
Oslo
Stockholm
St. Petersburg
Reykjavik
Riga
Tallinn
Tartu
Tromsö
Visby
Vilnius
Warsaw
Tel Aviv and Dubai are counted as European destinations. Because of that, business class tickets from Helsinki are attractive sweet spots.
Long haul tickets to America or Asia allow for a stopover in Helsinki.
Here are some of Finnair’s most interesting destinations prior to the Covid-19 outbreak:
Award tickets can be changed without a free up to 7 days before departure. All economy tickets include a checked bag up to 23 kg.
Upgrades
Finnair allows Upgrades from any booking class. This enables you to upgrade to business class, even when purchasing an economy light fare. This is Finnair’s upgrade table for oneway flights:
Region
Points
Within Northern Europe
7,500 €48
Europe incl. Tel Aviv, Dubai
10,000 €64
Europe to Asia
50,000 €322
Europa to North America
50,000 €322
If you purchase a €500 roundtrip to Asia, you can upgrade each long haul flight at a price of 50,000 or €322. This would add up to a €1,144 business class roundtrip – a marvellous price for two long haul flights in lie flat seats. The catch is that an upgrade must be available for your specific flight. You can check this out easily here.
Bottom Line
Buying points with such an incredible bonus can pay off. That you cannot check availabilities before your purchase is a huge downside, nonetheless. Please remember that hoarding points is never a good idea, since airlines may devalue them at free will.
