Finnair Plus Guide: Avios Redemptions, New Transfer Partners, and a Shortcut to Oneworld Status

Finnair is the flag carrier of Finland and a longtime Oneworld member, with Helsinki serving as a convenient “northern shortcut” between Europe, North America, and Asia. Its loyalty program, Finnair Plus, has seen a major transformation in recent years.

By adopting Avios as its points currency, Finnair has unlocked the ability to freely move points to and from other Avios programs like British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar Airways. Add in new transfer partners from major bank programs, and suddenly Finnair Plus is far more accessible than it used to be.

On top of that, Finnair offers some unique perks: guaranteed minimum award availability on every flight, solid award pricing on nonstop routes, and even a surprisingly affordable pathway to Oneworld Emerald status for those willing to plan strategically.

Here’s everything you need to know about how Finnair Plus works today — and where it can deliver real value.

Finnair Plus Elite Status Tier Requirements

Finnair Plus has four elite status tiers beyond the entry level. The tiers are Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Platinum Lumo. To move between tiers, you need to collect tier points.

Tier points are earned for flights with Finnair and partners, including other Oneworld carriers. You need to earn the following tier points to move between levels.

Membership Tier	Points Needed
Finnair Plus Basic	0
Finnair Plus Silver	15,000
Finnair Plus Gold	45,000
Finnair Plus Platinum	80,000
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo	300,000 — of which 250,000 must be earned from Finnair flights

In addition to reaching status each year, you can also reach Finnair Plus Lifetime status as follows:

Lifetime Finnair Plus Tier	Tier Points needed
Lifetime Gold	2,000,000
Lifetime Platinum	3,300,000

Earning Avios and Tier Points With Finnair Plus

Within Finnair Plus, not all earnings are treated the same. How many Avios and tier points you'll earn depends on whether you are flying on Finnair metal or a partner.

Earning from Finnair flights

For flights on Finnair, you earn tier points and Avios based on the cost of your ticket in Euros and your status with the Finnair Plus program. You will earn Avios and tier points on the cost of your base fare, extras, and carrier-imposed surcharges, excluding taxes and fees. Your status determines the rate at which you earn tier points and Avios as follows:

Membership Tier	Multipliers for tier points and Avios per €1 spent
Finnair Plus Basic	6 tier points and Avios
Finnair Plus Silver	7 tier points and Avios
Finnair Plus Gold	8 tier points and Avios
Finnair Plus Platinum	9 tier points and Avios
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo	10 tier points and Avios

Credit: Finnair

Earning from partner flights

Earning Avios and tier points from Finnair partner-operated flights differs, including codeshare flights. Your earnings are based on your booking class, travel class, and distance flown.

One thing to note: Finnair now uses miles, not kilometers, for these calculations. This is a subtle devaluation of partner earnings, as 1 mile equals approximately 1.61 kilometers. Therefore, you need to fly 61% more distance to earn the same number of points as you earned before the change.

Milestone Rewards

Finnair Plus offers Milestone rewards, giving you additional benefits when you hit certain thresholds — on top of the benefits of your elite status level. The new Milestones are as follows:

Membership tier	Tier points needed for the milestone	Milestone reward
Finnair Plus Basic	12,000	3,000 Avios
Finnair Plus Silver	20,000	2 Lounge Passes
Finnair Plus Gold	55,000	2 upgrade benefits
Finnair Plus Platinum	95,000	4 upgrade benefits
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo	310,000	8 upgrade benefits
Finnair Plus Platinum Lumo	320,000	4 upgrade benefits

One thing worth mentioning is that the lounge passes can only be used when flying with Finnair from Helsinki Airport at either of the following lounges:

• The Finnair Business Lounge in the non-Schengen area
• The Finnair Lounge in the Schengen area.

Related: The Best Ways To Redeem Avios in the Americas

How do Finnair upgrade benefits work?

Upgrading is pretty straightforward and can be done online. However, there are two separate pages: one for upgrading to Business Class and one for upgrading to Premium Economy. The upgrade benefits can only be used on Finnair-operated and Finnair-ticketed flights. The number of upgrade benefits needed for a given one-way upgrade is as follows:

Zone	From Economy Class to Premium Economy	From Premium Economy to Business Class	From Economy Class to Business Class
Finland and Northern Europe	-	-	1 upgrade benefit / 1 European upgrade benefit
Central Europe	--	-	1 upgrade benefit / 1 European upgrade benefit
Western and Southern Europe	-	-	1 upgrade benefit / 1 European upgrade benefit
Canary Islands, Madeira, Eilat and Tel Aviv	-	-	1 upgrade benefit / 1 European upgrade benefit
Doha, Dubai and India	2 upgrade benefits / 2 European upgrade benefits	3 upgrade benefits / 3 European upgrade benefits	4 upgrade benefits / 1 long-haul upgrade benefit
Most of Asia and North America	2 upgrade benefits / 2 European upgrade benefits	3 upgrade benefits / 3 European upgrade benefits	4 upgrade benefits / 1 long-haul upgrade benefit
Japan, Singapore and Los Angeles	2 upgrade benefits / 2 European upgrade benefits	3 upgrade benefits / 3 European upgrade benefits	4 upgrade benefits / 1 long-haul upgrade benefit

To use upgrade benefits, Finnair classifies all flights within Europe as short-haul. However, long-haul flights include routes between Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.

How to easily get Oneworld Emerald status with Finnair Plus

One of the quirks of the Finnair program is that — with a lot of planning and taking advantage of some interesting ticketing rules — you can earn Finnair Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) really economically.

This offers a wide range of benefits, including access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges and Alaska Airlines lounges when traveling domestically in the United States.

While the exact methodology to do this is too long to explain here, it works by taking advantage of the following:

The Oneworld Global Explorer round-the-world ticket (caution PDF link), which allows you a journey of 34,000 miles and requires a minimum of two free stopovers, with no more than four in any one region.

The ability to exchange Finnair Avios for tier points, allowing you to hit status quicker. Avios are exchanged for tier points at a ratio of 3:1, however, the number of tier points earned is limited by your status as follows:

• Basic and Silver members can exchange Avios for up to 7,500 tier points.
• Gold members can exchange Avios for up to 22,500 tier points.
• Platinum and Platinum Lumo members can exchange Avios for up to 40,000 tier points.

Several online data points provide a detailed breakdown of how to use the round-the-world ticket to earn Finnair Platinum at a very economical rate (much less than $10,000). However, the process requires patience and a spreadsheet.

Minimum Award Availability With Finnair Plus

Finnair guarantees a set number of award seats on every flight. Finnair guarantees the following number of awards:

Routes	Economy Class	Premium Economy	Business Class
Flights within Europe	At least 4	-	At least 2
Flights between Europe and Asia, North America and Dubai	At least 4	At least 2	At least 2

This increased award space is a real boost to Finnair Plus and adds substantial value to the program. This is especially true if you are looking for long-haul flights from the West Coast to Asia via the transpolar route.

Finnair Avios Award Charts and Rules

Finnair has two award charts: one for flights on Finnair metal and one for flights on partner airlines. In addition to the Avios cost of an Award, Finnair also has a surcharge in euros on every award flight. The Finnair award chart is as follows:

Zone	Economy Class	Premium Economy	Business Class
Finland and Northern Europe	6,500 Avios		10,000 Avios
Central Europe	12,000 Avios		18,000 Avios
Western and Southern Europe	13,000 Avios		20,000 Avios
Canary Islands, Madeira, Eilat and Tel Aviv	15,000 Avios		25,000 Avios
Doha, Dubai and India	28,000 Avios	42,000 Avios	55,000 Avios
Most of Asia and North America	30,000 Avios	43,500 Avios	62,500 Avios
Japan, Singapore and Los Angeles	30,000 Avios	43,500 Avios	62,500 Avios

The surcharge for each award is as follows:

Zone	Economy Class	Premium Economy	Business Class
Finland and Northern Europe	€10		€10
Central Europe	€15		€15
Western and Southern Europe	€15		€15
Canary Islands, Madeira, Eilat and Tel Aviv	€30		€30
Doha, Dubai and India	€30	€35	€60
Most of Asia and North America	€45	€65	€100
Japan, Singapore and Los Angeles	€45	€65	€120

When it comes to award pricing, Finnair is less than generous with connections. The airline treats any awards between destinations outside Zone 1 as two separate sectors. Based on the above, an award from Central Europe to Central Europe via Helsinki in economy will cost 24,000 Avios and €30.

Finnair Zone 1 includes all of the following destinations:

• Bodø
• Copenhagen
• Gdansk
• Gothenburg
• Oslo
• Riga
• Stockholm
• Tallinn
• Trondheim
• Vilnius
• Visby
• Warsaw

Credit: Nimu/Unsplash

Finnair Avios Partner Award Charts and Rules

Historically, Finnair partner awards provided poor value. They were overpriced, and you could do much better by booking through another program. Things got a bit better when Finnair switched its points currency to Avios, but you'll still need to be strategic to find good value using Finnair Plus.

Take, for instance, the route between New York (JFK) and London (LHR). Several carriers — including Finnair's Oneworld alliance partners American Airlines and British Airways — operate one of the busiest international airline routes in the world. Finnair prices one-way AA awards as follows:

• Economy: 23,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.
• Business: 65,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.
• First: 85,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.

That's not bad. But, since Finnair prices its partner awards per segment, the best deals are for direct flights. If you're connecting onward from Helsinki, the total Avios price may mean you are better off booking through another program.

Related: The Best Finnair Sweet Spots You Can Book With Avios

Compare award rates between Avios partner airlines

When it comes to the other Finnair partners that use Avios, such as British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar Airways, you will need to double-check the pricing to ensure you are getting good value. Especially in the case of Qatar and Iberia, there is often a clear price difference between Finnair and the other airlines.

Take, for instance, a one-way Iberia business class flight from Boston (BOS) to Madrid (MAD). During off-peak travel dates, Iberia charges 40,500 Avios plus taxes and fees, while peak travel dates cost 59,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.

Booking via Finnair, that same flight will cost substantially more at 75,000 Avios each way, plus taxes and fees. You are much better off transferring your Avios to either Iberia or Qatar and booking the award directly with them. Until IAG aligns all its Avios pricing across the multiple programs using the currency, these opportunities will continue to exist. Until then, if you are considering booking an award with Avios, it pays to check with all the other programs to determine if there are any arbitrage opportunities.

Credit: Finnair.com

There is no difference between British Airways and Finnair award pricing, as Finnair takes its pricing directly from BA, including charging per segment.

Transferring Avios Between Partners

Currently, there are seven airlines that use Avios as their mileage currency:

• Aer Lingus
• British Airways
• Iberia
• Finnair
• Loganair
• Qatar Airways
• Vueling

Compared to other airline mileage programs, the standout feature of Avios is that you can transfer them between different airlines. For instance, Avios in your Qatar Privileges Club account can be transferred to British Airways at a ratio of 1:1 with no fee.

From / To	Aer Lingus	British Airways	Finnair	Iberia	Qatar Airways
Aer Lingus	--	Use this British Airways webpage	Transfer to British Airways, then Finnair	Transfer to British Airways, then Aer Lingus	Transfer to British Airways, then to Qatar Airways
British Airways	Use this British Airways webpage	--	Use this British Airways webpage	Use this British Airways webpage	Use this British Airways webpage
Finnair	Transfer to British Airways, then Aer Lingus	Use this British Airways webpage	--	Transfer to British Airways, then Iberia	Transfer to British Airways, then Qatar
Iberia	Transfer to British Airways, then Iberia	Use this British Airways webpage	Transfer to British Airways, then Finnair	--	Transfer to British Airways, then to Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways	Transfer to British Airways, then to Aer Lingus	Use this British Airways webpage	Transfer to British Airways, then Finnair	Transfer to British Airways, then to Iberia	--

Finnair Plus Transfer Partners

Historically, the value of the Finnair Plus program has been limited due to the lack of flexible point transfer partners. For years, you could only really transfer Capital One miles to Finnair Plus.

However, Finnair has become a favorite new transfer partner for newer transferable point programs, including Mesa Homeowners and Rove Miles.

Plus, since joining the Avios ecosystem, the ability to move Avios between accounts is a game-changer for the Finnair Plus program. Now you have a way to transfer points from every major flexible points currency to Finnair Plus. The following points can be transferred to an Avios partner and then can be moved to Finnair:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Bilt Rewards
• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Citi ThankYou^® Points
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Wells Fargo Rewards

Our Take

Finnair Plus has shifted from being a niche, hard-to-use program into one worth a closer look. Thanks to its Avios integration, you can now move points from nearly every major transferable currency into Finnair — and then on to other Avios programs if needed. That flexibility alone makes it more valuable than in years past.

For award travelers, Finnair can shine on nonstop routes (where segment-based pricing works in your favor) and with its guaranteed minimum award seats. And for elite-status seekers, Finnair offers a backdoor to Oneworld Emerald that may be cheaper and more achievable than with other programs.

It’s not a program for everyone, but if your travel patterns line up — especially if you fly to or through Helsinki — Finnair Plus deserves a spot on your radar.