Finnair boosts Lapland flights to fill the gap left by Thomas Cook

Finnair has always run special flights to Lapland over Christmas, but from the UK the market was dominated by Thomas Cook who offered direct services.

With Thomas Cook now out of the picture, Finnair has upped its services for families looking to visit Santa this winter.

The capacity increase means there will be up to three extra flights a day between Helsinki and top resorts in Lapland – Rovaniemi, Kittilä and Ivalo.

These services will run between 20th December and 5th January.  You can fly to Helsinki on Finnair from Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh or Dublin, or on BA from Heathrow, before changing aircraft.

Finnair also runs direct services to Lapland from London Gatwick.

Flights to Ivalo run from 8th December to 22nd March while flights to Kittilä operate from 15th December to 8th March.

As Finnair is a oneworld member, you may be able to find Avios redemption seats on these flights.  You will also earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points if you book these services for cash at finnair.com and credit them to a BAEC account.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)