Book Avios-earning £1,040 Finnair business flights to Bangkok – or £835 ex-Stockholm

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It’s just like the old days on HfP, with multiple excellent cash flight deals turning up this week.

The snag on this one is that you are taking a punt on Thailand opening. The odds are looking pretty good for next month, however, and you can book this deal until well into 2022.

Finnair is offering some very aggressive pricing to Bangkok from across Europe. Even with Air Passenger Duty, the UK fare is very reasonable – and you can also fly from Manchester and Edinburgh as well as Heathrow.

Finnair has a very decent business class product which is a substantial step up on British Airways Club World – see above. Our review of Finnair business class on their A350 fleet is here. There is no guarantee that you get an A350 but the seating on their other aircraft is also better than Club World.

Finnair’s website is terrible at showing you the flight details and total fare in one convenient place, so I can’t cut and paste any screenshots. Trust me that the flights are definitely there at £1,040 from London and SEK 9,984 (£835) from Stockholm.

There is a snag though ….

These are VERY restricted Business Light tickets.

We covered the new Finnair Business Light fares here and, to be honest, we don’t like them.

Be very clear what you are (not) getting here though:

no lounge access (I’m not sure if oneworld status would allow this)
no checked baggage (unless you have BA status – this is definitely OK)
no advance seat selection
no fast track security
no fast track boarding

You will earn standard Avios and tier points.

In terms of tier points, Heathrow to Bangkok would be 80 + 140 + 140 + 80 = 440 tier points return, which is an excellent return on a £1,040 ticket. You would earn 80 fewer tier points from Stockholm because of the shorter hop to Helsinki.

Be aware of the terms and conditions of the fare. You can change the dates if necessary, but your ticket will reprice. If Finnair isn’t selling any dirt cheap flights to Bangkok at the time you come to reprice, you could face paying a substantial sum on top.

From the UK, the best way to pay is with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which gives double points – 2 per £1 – on airline spend. If booking from Stockholm or another starting point not priced in £, you should use any card you have which does not charge FX fees.

The Finnair home page is here.

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: