Finnair restricts Avios flight reward bookings in business class

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One Mile at a Time is reporting that Finnair has started to block its business class availability for partner airline award redemptions beyond 60 days in advance.

This means you will no longer be able to book Avios tickets on Finnair as soon as flights are released. Other oneworld and Finnair partners face the same restrictions.

Whilst this is annoying, Finnair is not the first airline to do so. Lufthansa, SWISS and Singapore all restrict First Class availability to their top frequent flyer members up until a few weeks before departure (or, in the case of SWISS, never offer it at all).

Finnair A350

It looks like Finnair may be limiting availability for all but its top tier Platinum and Platinum Lumos members. Unfortunately there is no formal announcement of these changes that clarify the exact restrictions that have been imposed.

Economy does not appear to be affected by this change – these appear available beyond 60 days in advance.

Here is an example – Helsinki to London is available for 22nd March in Business Class:

…… but not 23rd March, or any day thereafter:

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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.)

Category

Finnair and Finnair Plus

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

I LOVE TO HATE says:

24 Jan24 January 04:08

Finnair only losers travel with them.
The only thing good about them is their glasses.
- Su Pollard says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 04:11
  
  Is that you Morrissey?
  - Cat says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 06:33
    
    Bigmouth strikes again.
    - BJ says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 07:04
      
      OT @Cat, might have missed it but did you manage to solve the whisky Christmas gift problem to the satisfaction of your OH?
      - Cat says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 07:25
        
        Yes, sorry, I should have given an update! I got a bottle each of the Yamazaki 12yo, the Hakushu 12yo from Loch Fyne whiskies, getting about 1400 Avios on Voldeportal) and the Smokehead at a dramatically reduced rate on Amazon!
        They went down a treat (and are now being consumed at an alarming rate!). The Yamazaki is the favourite.
        Thanks for the advice all!
      - BJ says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 07:29
        
        Great result, especially getting the few avios on top too 🙂
      - Shoestring says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 07:32
        
        nice one 🙂
        
        update on the £600 of Xmas Radley handbags that I got for £150! my wife liked 2 of them so I’m selling the other one on the usual marketplace, given the offers I’ve had should get back £100 making £400 of handbags for £50, I have right-sized Xmas pressies at last lol
      - Cat says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 07:49
        
        Harry – have you ever considered a side gig as a personal shopper? You could take a % cut from the money you save people. You’d make a fortune in the run up to Xmas! 😉
        I’ll keep an eye out for similar deals next year!
- riku2 says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:02
  
  As a BA gold card holder I get nothing in economy short haul travelling on BA – not even a glass of water. Finnair are giving everyone tea/coffee/juice and gold card holders an additional drink for free or a smoothie or even champagne. And 115e HEL-LHR return is pretty good (with one checked suitcase for free due to a BA gold card). BA do not give a free suitcase on HBO fares for gold card holders, unlike AY.
  The glasses on finnair are nice though, i have fruit bowls and dessert bowls at home in the same pattern.
  - BJ says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 07:09
    
    AY is excellent IMO. In the past the food got a lot of criticism but even that I found more suited to flying than the heavy greasy stuff offered on most other airlines.
    - John says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 10:03
      
      The J meal on my last AY flight was almost all grease! But still reasonably tasty….
    - ankomonkey says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 10:12
      
      +1. AY have been great when I’ve used them recently.
    - Doug M says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 10:34
      
      I like Finn, but generally not the food. For completeness this is the food on the airline, not the country.
  - Riccatti says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 07:35
    
    Btw, as OW Sapphire/BA Gold — you will get free food box and drink on American Airlines domestic, and they address you by the name.
    - MD says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 08:18
      
      @Ricatti You mean OW Emerald?
  - Shoestring says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 07:38
    
    if the glasses are that nice I imagine quite a few people have glasses at home in the same pattern 🙂
- Rob says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 10:07
  
  They sent us two free glasses for Christmas!
  - memesweeper says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 12:43
    
    you should put them in the next raffle! they’re lovely aren’t they? … take a look underneath, there are three ‘bumps’ on the ones they use on the planes, and I believe four on the ones stocked in the shops… I assume so you can tell if they’ve been pinched or not!
    - riku2 says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 13:02
      
      The ones they sell in iittala shops in Finland also have three lumps on the bottom because I’ve seen them balanced at an angle on the display. At one point the size of glasses used on Finnair wasn’t sold in the shops but they have started selling that size in the shops again. https://www.iittala.com/fi/fi/search/klevu?q=ultima%20thule
      - Shoestring says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 13:10
        
        they are rocking/ they rock
      - memesweeper says:
        
        24 Jan24 January 13:11
        
        oh lovely… but those prices!
    - Rhys says:
      
      24 Jan24 January 13:33
      
      Nope, I’m keeping them!
Nick_C says:

24 Jan24 January 05:01

“JAL only releases domestic tickets in its network to partners 60 days in advance”

No longer true. Think this changed in September 2019. You can now book domestic JAL redemptions through BA up to (about) a year in advance. (Only in Y though.)
- Simon says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 05:16
  
  Minimum 72 hours before departure I believe
  - Nick_C says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 05:33
    
    Maybe three days as opposed to 72 hours? You can currently book 06.30 from HND to ITM on Monday through the BA app (64 hours from now).
- BJ says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:15
  
  I had a feeling that I had seen flights (including J) available via Flying Blue more than 60 days out but I didn’t want to say as I cannot be certain of the timescale I searched. Given your comments, it would now seem worth a look for anybody who needs such flights.
- Waribai says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:54
  
  Yes, for the past 10 years, I’ve regularly booked HND-FUK and FUK-CTS on JAL. Always more than 60 days out.
  I know though paid domestic fares were previously subject to that rule if bought within Japan.
- Rhys says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 09:05
  
  Noted!
Shoestring says:

24 Jan24 January 06:34

Matt https://tinyurl.com/t9oyep8
- Chas says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:43
  
  😆
Simon D says:

24 Jan24 January 06:56

O/T Am I right in thinking that I won’t get any status benefits with IHG if I book with Amex travel? Thanks
- BJ says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:21
  
  You shouldn’t but generally down to the hotel. After booking call or email the hotel to add your IHG number, or just try your luck at check in. The benefit from the amex offer is very likely to outweigh losses from IGLHG rewards unless you miss out on a generous future accelerate promotion.
  - Simon D says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 07:23
    
    That’s great. Thank you!
BJ says:

24 Jan24 January 07:00

Thanks for the info on Finnair as I had been contemplating transferring points from Bonvoy to Alaska MP and buying more miles in a sale to redeem on AY J. I always search AY options on BA and had noticed something odd going on. BKK, KBV and HKT have all but disappeared, HKG is rare but TYO was still there for next December as little as a week ago. It may since have gone depending on whether this is going to be a general or managed rule. Routings to Japan and Asia from Helsinki on JAL via TYO is excellent although redemption rates are no
longer so attract7ve as they once were before BA devalued its partner chart. Readers should however be reminded that many Asian destination exHelsinki fall into one zone lower than they do from the UK so that helps. Regarding JAL, an easy way to get round the domestic restriction for those with time and flexibility on their hands is to consider Japan-Korea-Japan routing and enjoy a short break in Seoul.
- Nick_C says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:15
  
  What domestic (JAL) restriction?
  - BJ says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 07:22
    
    Release of seats, but after posting this I saw your earlier comment so added to that too.
- Lyn says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 15:44
  
  BJ, Alaska often seem to have more limited availabilty in J and F on partner airlines, so it is worth checking to get a feel for this before transferring or buying their miles.
  
  Having said that, I don’t know if Finnair flights show up when searching on the Alaska web-site. I do know it is the case for Qantas flights for example, which do show up on their web-site, but with less availability than booking via either BA or Qantas.
  - BJ says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 17:57
    
    In light of this news today I’m not sure I will trust anything I see anyway so this option will go on the back burner for now. I am not in any immediate need anyway.
Rash says:

24 Jan24 January 07:08

OT: Received an email from Virgin Atlantic flying club (as I’m sure many of us did) highlighting new perks one of which was triple miles with Virgin for renting from Hertz. Nothing further when clicking on the link, no mention of having to use any certain CDP codes or booking from a certain page.
Steve says:

24 Jan24 January 07:21

I can never get a business reward seat on American domestics either, only economy which books into the lowest hand baggage only fare. Not sure if the same rules apply as has happened here with Finnair. Example, Miami Cancun.
- BJ says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 07:26
  
  A while since I flew domestic on AA but unless something has changed I think the premium cabin is First so you need to search First availability?
- Nick Burch says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 08:07
  
  Some regional AA jets don’t have a first cabin, so can’t be booked.
  
  Otherwise, it’ll show up for booking if the AA Saver seats are available for AA redemptions. If it’s only the more expensive AA Anytime miles seats available, you can’t book those with Avios. You can book AA domestic first on avios, I did so a few weeks ago when they had no economy redemptions left just first!
- Anna says:
  
  24 Jan24 January 08:14
  
  Miami – Cancun is not a domestic route! But AA First is very peasant indeed, much better than Club Europe.
  - BJ says:
    
    24 Jan24 January 08:33
    
    LOL 🙂
E says:

24 Jan24 January 07:34

Air France also restrict awards in First Class, not on a timing basis but only available to their Gold and Platinum status holders.