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Earlier this year, Finnair adopted Avios points for its Finnair Plus frequent flyer reward programme, meaning its members now earn and redeem the same currency as schemes including British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus.

As with these other programmes, the key benefit here is that you can move your Avios around between these programmes free, instantly, and at a 1:1 ratio, simply by moving them into ‘hub’ Avios partner British Airways Executive Club, then across to the scheme of your choice.

All you need is a frequent flyer account with each of your preferred partners (a BA account is a must, as you can see), then simply link your accounts, which is easy enough to do between Finnair and BA – see this guide.

This process is fully reversible too, so this gives you lost of flexibility with Avios points and the opportunity to redeem on a variety of non-Oneworld airline partners too, like Bangkok Airways (via Qatar Airways).

Buy Finnair Avios with up to 50% discount

Most of our readers don’t have a Finnair Plus account, so the airline’s occasional miles purchase promotions don’t usually generate much interest here in Singapore, however the new link-up with Avios makes the programme’s latest deal worth a look.

Between 6th November 2024 and 20th November 2024, you can buy Finnair Avios points with a discount of up to 50% on the usual rate, as shown in the following table.

Finnair Plus
Buy Avios Promotion

Finnair Avios points purchased	Discount	Cost Per Avios point
1,000 – 4,000	None	2.70 EUR ¢ (3.86 SG ¢)
5,000	35%	1.76 EUR ¢ (2.52 SG ¢)
6,000 – 10,000	35%	1.53 EUR ¢ (2.19 SG ¢)
11,000 – 19,000	35%	1.43 EUR ¢ (2.05 SG ¢)
20,000 – 49,000	40%	1.32 EUR ¢ (1.89 SG ¢)
50,000 – 74,000	45%	1.21 EUR ¢ (1.73 SG ¢)
75,000 – 200,000	50%	1.05 EUR ¢ (1.50 SG ¢)

  Buy Finnair Avios points

This is one of the cheapest opportunities to buy Avios points we have seen in recent years, and remember you can immediately transfer these Avios points 1:1 into other programmes like British Airways and Qatar Airways, for some great value redemptions.

One downside is that you’ll have to commit to a large purchase of at least 75,000 Avios to get the cheapest rate of 1.05 Euros (1.5 Singapore cents) per Avios point. For smaller top-ups, you’ll be paying more.

Purchase transactions must be completed between 6th November (00:00, UTC+2) and 20th November 2024 (23:59, UTC+2) to benefit from the discount.

That means for most of our readers the deal ends at 05:59 Singapore Time on 21st November 2024.

Avios will be added to your account 1–3 days after your purchase. You can buy a maximum of 200,000 Finnair Avios each calendar year.

You don’t need to have interacted with the Finnair Plus programme before to purchase miles, so it’s possible to simply sign up for a new account, and then buy points at a discount right away.

Unlock valuable redemptions

For our readers based in Singapore, there are some great value redemptions using Avios points, primarily via the Qatar Airways Privilege Club or through the British Airways Executive Club.

One example is to take the excellent Qatar Airways Qsuite to Europe or the USA in Business Class.

Here’s an example of how you can use this Finnair buy Avios promotion, then transfer to Qatar Airways via BA, and fly from Singapore to Athens or some other cities in Business Class on Qatar Airways for just 70,000 Avios + S$350 in taxes during off-peak dates.

QRPC Cathay Pacific
Business Class redemptions from Singapore
(one-way)

Route
	QR Avios	Effective Cost (buy Avios bonus)	KF Miles
Singapore Athens	70,000 +S$350	S$1,050 +S$350	n/a
Singapore London	75,000 +S$350	S$1,125 +S$350	103,500 +S$65
Singapore New York	95,000 +S$494	S$1,425 +S$494	111,500 +S$89*

* S$125 if routing via FRA

As you can see, a purchase of 75,000 Avios for S$1,125 is enough to get you from Singapore to London via Doha in the Qatar Airways Qsuite Business Class, with around S$350 in additional taxes and fees to pay.

That’s a very good deal compared to parting with 103,500 miles + S$65 with KrisFlyer, if you don’t mind a stop in Doha.

While a transit in Doha is potentially inconvenient, do remember that Qatar Airways is serving many cities in Europe and the USA which require a transit anyway when you fly with SIA – like Mykonos, Sofia, Madrid, Boston or Washington.

Do ensure that it’s regular award space you’re booking on Qatar Airways flights, not one of the airline’s ‘Flexi award’ options, which offer additional space at double the usual rate (not dissimilar to Singapore Airlines Advantage awards).

Flexi awards have a “Flexi” label, so beware of that – it’s really bad value!

Qatar Airways also now applies ‘peak’ Avios award pricing on more popular dates over busier periods, with around 20% more Avios needed, which obviously come in at poorer value and should also be avoided.

You can also now book Cathay Pacific awards via Qatar Privilege Club online at attractive rates, with no fuel surcharge added, as we recently reported.

QRPC
Business Class redemptions from Singapore
(one-way)

Route
	QR Avios	Effective Cost (buy Avios bonus)	KF Miles
Singapore Bangkok	16,500 +S$67	S$248 +S$67	24,000 +S$67
Singapore Hong Kong	22,000 +S$65	S$330 +S$65	34,000 +S$65

These awards represent significant savings on the KrisFlyer Saver award rate with Singapore Airlines, and allow Oneworld lounge access, arguably a superior pre-flight experience in Cathay Pacific lounges and those of their partners like Qantas.

There’s also the option to redeem flights between Singapore and Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways, a Qatar Airways partner, for just 6,000 Avios + S$126 in Economy Class.

This can be a great way to circumvent high fares on this route (and yes, even Scoot’s fares can be eye-watering!).

There’s also a range of (mainly short- to medium-haul) redemptions you can unlock with the British Airways Executive Club, by buying Finnair Avios at a 50% discount, then simply transferring them across.

Here are some examples.

BA Avios via QRPC
Business Class redemptions from Singapore
(one-way)

Route			Using KrisFlyer orAsia Miles
	BA Avios	Effective Cost (buy Avios bonus)
Singapore Kuala Lumpur (MH)	12,500 +S$79	S$188 +S$79	21,000 +S$65
Singapore Colombo (UL)	22,000 +S$194	S$330 +S$194	43,000 +S$65
Singapore Perth (QF)	38,750 +S$108	S$581 +S$108	40,500 +S$96
Singapore Helsinki (AY)	62,500 +S$87	S$938 +S$87	89,000 +S$87
Singapore Sydney (QF)	62,000 +S$113	S$930 +S$113	68,500 +S$104
Singapore Tokyo (JL)	62,000 +S$283	S$930 +S$283	52,000 +S$65
Singapore London (QF)	108,250 +S$69	S$1,624 +S$69	103,500 +S$65

As you can see you can unlock some attractive “fares” with this buy Avios deal.

A standout deal here is the Singapore to Helsinki option with Finnair, at just 62,500 Avios + S$87 in taxes, which you can effectively unlock with a S$938 Avios purchase during this sale.

You can also redeem this product via the Finnair Plus programme directly, which even has access to additional award space between 355 days and 360 days in advance, if you’re able to plan your travel early.

Remember that even relatively basic awards like Malaysia Airlines Business Class from Singapore to KL are also your ticket to Qatar Airways’ superb Premium Lounge at Changi Airport, for some pre-flight champagne and à la carte dining.

Which card to use

If you are going to buy miles in this promotion, and assuming like most of our readers you are based in Singapore, you’ll want to achieve the maximum number of credit card miles for the purchase itself when buying Finnair Avios.

The transaction happens in Euros. Payment is processed by points.com, under MCC 7399.

You can earn the most extra miles for the purchase transaction by using one of the following Singapore issued credit cards if you can.

Card	Earn Rate	Notes
Citi Rewards (see our review)	4 mpd	4 mpd on all online spend per statement month, capped at S$1,000 per card.
UOB VS (see our review)	4 mpd	4 mpd on all overseas spend of at least S$1,000 in a statement period, capped at S$2,000 spend.
Maybank HVS (see our review)	3.2 mpd	All non-SGD spend, subject to $800 minimum card spend in the same calendar month, as part of this promo.
SCVI (see our review)	3 mpd	3 mpd on all non-SGD spend, provided total card spend (any currency) is S$2,000+ in the same statement month.
UOB PRVI Miles (see our review)	2.4 mpd	All non-SGD spend.

Note that the DBS WWMC card now specifically excludes MCC 7399 from points earning, so while this card previously had ‘hit-and-miss’ success with Points.com transactions, which could usually be rectified later via customer service, it’s now well and truly on the ineligible list.

You can’t really go wrong buying Avios as cheap as 1.5 Singapore cents each, which is the latest deal being offered by the Finnair Plus programme.

Now that Finnair is fully integrated into the Avios ecosystem, this allows you to effectively top up your British Airways or Qatar Airways Avios balance at this excellent rate.

Used correctly, Avios should return you much more than 1.5 Singapore cents each in value, through future First and Business Class flight redemptions with Oneworld carriers including Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Even Economy Class redemptions with Bangkok Airways can make a lot of sense as an Avios redemption, as can long-haul Finnair Business Class awards.

For most of our readers taking advantage of this deal will mean opening a Finnair account, then linking it to your British Airways Executive Club membership (and Qatar Airways via British Airways). It all sounds a bit complicated – but it’s actually quite easy.

  Buy Finnair Avios points

(Cover Photo: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock)