I'm Tempted: Finnair Plus Elite Promotion

It is irresponsible of you to promote the access to the Platinum Wing at HEL. It has been closed for a long time and FI has made no commitment when it will reopen.

Can I use Chase points to pay for this through pay yourself back?

This only works if you're based in one of the 4 cities Finnair flies to/from. I'm based in DC. I'd have to book a positioning flight to MIA or JFK separately. Availability of connections from HEL or ARN seems very limited as well so if that isn't your destination you're booking another flight. So IAD to LHR becomes 3 separate tickets. No thanks.

Fully agree, just like it s irresponsible to promote (i.e. anyone to post any pictures) of the Notre Dame Cathedral since it has been closed for a long time and the French Government has made no commitment when it will reopen.

This is intriguing for those of us with a lot of AA miles now because of Simplymiles! I know AA frowns on booking an award ticket with another program and then switching to AA number, but what about the reverse? Is it possible to book an award ticket through AA and then switch number afterward to Finnair number, to enjoy benefits of status that might be earned thru this promotion?

What constitutes a short haul - any intra-Europe flight?

I agree. Also, the maximum points you can convert online per transaction is 45000 (costing 135k bonus points) and you can only do it once online per tracking period.

I recommend calling the customer service at once and convert all tier points needed to reach Platinum by only paying the 20 euros service fee.

Wish I saw this updated post sooner before I actually bought the points. He didn't mention you can open a new Finnair account which will then give you Platinum for almost 2 years.

Finnair connections from Helsinki fall under the award chart, they do not "cost extra". 4 shorthaul vouchers can be converted to one longhaul so there's that.

All intra-europe flights, TLV and DXB plus the Canary Islands. The Nordics and certain Polish cities fall under the "Nordic" chart.

In your original post, you encouraged people to use Chase Freedom Unlimited to pay for the purchase. But since this is charged in euros, so wouldn't that incur 3% foreign transaction fee?

Bought 320k miles and received the Sapphire status through Jan 2024 and the four short-haul vouchers. This Emerald soft-landing aspect may have changed my decision (interesting if so).

Could not book seats for $0 on my BA revenue flight since Finnair Plus was not specified as my FF program. BA would not allow a FF change to my booking but Royal Jordanian did.

So guessing my AA short haul flights will be earning Finnair miles if I want $0 Main cabin and access to Flagship first.

How does Oneworld status work in practice when flying? Does the highest earned status override any lower status earned from other airlines?

If I earn Emerald from Finnair and have Sapphire from Alaska, will any future booking through AA and Alaska get me lounge access domestically and any Oneworld carrier get me lounge access internationally? Or do I need to credit all flights now to Finnair in order to have that Emerald status recognized?

Deal is interesting if Oneworld status is awarded independent from carriers but much less interesting if I suddenly have to credit all flights To Finnair for 2 years to get lounge access.

Could someone confirm if getting a platinum status through buying points still grants you the perk of gifting someone gold status, and if so does the gifted gold has the upgrade vouchers?

Will you be able to convert 210k into 70k tier points and reach platinum as well? Curious on this

I think you should do this and just base yourself in Finland for a few months to take full advantage. It’s a wonderful country and there is so much to explore! Maybe do a Helsinki/Talinn review….take the train to St. Petersburg (probably tough to get a visa these days) or go up to north and stay in one of those Lapland hotels that let you see the northern lights from the room. Rovaniemi, kittila, and ivalo are good jumping off points to the North!

Good point on positioning flights.

Think Finnair now flies nonstop to JFK, MIA, ORD, DFW, LAX and (soon) SEA.

Eh. I took Finnair paid business from HEL to LAX a few months ago. Despite a paid fare, I was very disappointed to pay for assinged seats in business, and I was already OW Emerald. Not sure I want to buy loyalty with the OW network... doesn't seem to save money when it really matters.

I am EXPLAT on AA and I credit my flights (let us say Miami to Havana) to AA and use QR Gold (OW Sapphire) to get into Flagship. I love the catering and the Champagne at Flagship and I always go a couple of hours early to take advantage of this benefit.

Not true. I converted the necessary 50k tier points online in two separate transaction at the total cost of Eur 20.

Thank you - your post just saved me a lot of money. If Finnair charges extra for a seat assignment even on a paid business class ticket, I don't even want to think about what it would be like to fly them on an award ticket. I also read recently that their business class catering took a nosedive into the basement. I was close to joining their program and making the big mile purchase with this promotion, but I've now reconsidered - better things to do with my money.

Hi, greetings from a longtime Finnair Plat, or Platsku as we say in Finnish.

Yes, SSSSS is correct. Furthermore, you can convert 4 SH vouchers to one LH voucher by contacting CS.

I wonder if this promo will dry up award inventory for the next two years... But I decided to go for it, too, even if it doesn't affect my status. But 445150 points for 2575 EUR (taking into account crecit card spend and threshold gift) gives longhaul J tickets a very good value.

Just as a side note, though: AY longhaul J soft product has been seriously reduced (in the name of "sustainability") and the food is definitely nothing to write home about, more on par with Premium Economy, to be honest.

Thanks for the update on this opportunity Ben. It has become more interesting with the potential for a status soft landing together with upgrade vouchers. Would you be so kind as to further update this post as soon as you are able to confirm your assumptions regarding vouchers and status soft landing?
Thanks again.

Yes, this should be true. However, when you try to buy such an award ticket, it will be priced segment by segment, ie 90+25 for USA-HEL-EUR. We don't know if it's a glitch in the system or if it is supposed to work like that now.

I don't think Icelandair has much info on when the Finnair Platinum Wing will reopen, if it will. 😉

AY = Finnair (from Aero Oy, former name)

Interesting update. I just bought the 200,000 like your said. The transaction went through immediately. Note: I was a new member of Finnair - just signed up. Well, surprise. A good one I think. Got the 200,000 extra point BUT also got 150,000 tier points right off the bat! So instant Platinum! What a deal. And Finnair is an awesome airline our of Miami. Thanks Ben!

The real cost of utilizing the Flagship perks is having to fly American Airlines.

Can I presume the cheapest way to get platinum is to buy 150K + 150K bonus, and convert 225K of the points to tier points to make it 150k tier points in total?

You can fly Alaska

@Rock
so you didn't have to convert 150,000 points into 50,000 tier points.... you were given 150,000 tier points and still have 400,000 point remaining.
is that what you are saying. ?

Why are people considering this "deal"? For Emerald status in OW? I tested AY's site for award availability (ex NYC or back) and getting nothing. Thanks in advance for your insights.

@Ben, you've clearly done a lot of thinking on this promotion and you've written about OW Emerald benefits before as well. Why don't you put some more analysis into the benefits side? You've identified costs at the 400k and 320k mile thresholds, but how about tallying up the benefits (I hate to compare a potential valuation ala TPG on status tiers). X number of Flagship first lounge visits, Y number of extra-legroom seat assignments on OW carriers, Z value of upgrade vouchers (that you could actually use). The only tangible benefit of OW Emerald status on domestic flying in US appears to be lounge access, but I could be completely off-base.

Signed up, getting the mileage was easy and simple. However buying up status tier was awful, though I got it done eventually. Not a user friendly experience. Quite possibly the worst FF website I have ever encountered. That says a lot as my go to FF program is Life Miles.
Takes two transactions. 45 +5 for me to upgrade to Platinum.. Hint after your first transaction you have to log out and back in to find the tier purchase option again, as it will disappear. Additionally, when you try to log in it does nothing , you have to search for a new small log button that will then appear on the other side of the page, somewhat downward. Another odd thing is that if even one letter in your name(s) originally used in the account sign up, the tier purchase will fail. In Latin countries, some cards have a USA style two or three names and some you definitely make sure match your passport with four names.There seems to be no way to edit your card to match what your card actually says ( if slightly different from the account name). I see no way to use a third party card ) or any other method) to buy the tier upgrade.

If you are going to use all those AA miles you got from SimpleMiles, maybe you want to get Emerald status this way - and not go for AA EXP.

Thanks, so do you have to specify somewhere on your ticket that you are QR Gold/OW Sapphire or is that automatically coded in the system at the time of booking through AA?

I'm wondering if Lucky's concern in his post is that he already has OW Emerald so getting it from another carrier might cause confusion. So for people with OW status from one source or top status from only one carrier, there won't be any issues.

I recently purchased the miles and upgraded to Finnair platinum. How do I add my newly acquired one world emerald status to my AA account? Thanks for the help!

Is award availability better for AY members/bookings? Otherwise LAX is pretty much non existent.

Does anyone know how long the upgrade vouchers are good for?

Wrong. Any Oneworld airline gives you access.

A bit confused
Finnair's website says it allows award bookings for BA, IB, AA, QR, to be made online.

However when I put dates and destination for a route that definitely has award availability (e.g. IAD-LHR on May 25 in business on BA) the website says "no availability found"

The chat function doesn't connect properly, so I assume the only option is to call in

Seems like quite a convoluted and unhelpful system. Am not going to take advantage of this given the hoops needed to redeem.

(Looks at Finnair earnings charts)

(Laughs out loud)

I mean… you’re basically buying OWE lounge access and a few TATL J flights… but it’s a terrible program you would be insane to dump earned status in unless you actually flew AY a lot, right?

No, he said it would normally recommend that one or the Citi Double Cash, but advised against it because of the FTF's.

"Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi® Double Cash Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t be a good option in this case."

I thought the same
Also some insiders wrote, that you can convert 2 short haul vouchers to 1 long haul voucher 😉

the other point is with the status, if I understand it correctly
almost 2 years Platinum -> 1y gold (softlanding) -> 1y silver (softlanding)
+ giveaway status: 1 year gold -> 1y silver (softlanding)

really not bad promotion

Until end of your tracking period.

Softlanding is completely unofficial, and is not mentioned anywhere. Thus they might not give it for accounts without any activity.

I think you got lucky. I wasn't able to do it online (only 45k max).

More freeloaders in F lounges. Great .

Freeloaders in F lounge?

Maybe you mean 2575 Euroloaders?

Finnair's webs(h)ite is next to useless for pretty much anything more complicated than booking a straightforward A to B flight on their own metal. Their award booking particularly is very fragile and the availability it shows is but a small subset of what it actually is.

Sadly they shut down their best call centres too, now you'll get connected to Bulgaria or Zimbabwe or something with agents that... well they're cheap and let's say they're only worth their cost if you know what I mean.

This is a sad state of affairs, unfortunately and given how they've been bleeding money for the last 2 years don't expect it to get better anytime soon.

I am curious about this scenario. If I buy the 400,000 points, convert 150,000 to get Finnair Platinum - I can then gift Finnair Gold to my wife, correct?

Can she then purchase a reduced number of points, covert to earn Platinum? I cannot seem to do the math is that is cheaper - but it would seem like you would receive more vouchers this way as well with gifting.

Is that useful for two-players, or perhaps for a family that flys?

WARNINGS that should be up there.

Most people here are not familiar with the AY FFP.
There is a reason no one really talked about crediting OW flights to AY. Because it sucks for people outside Scandinavia.

1. Availability on AY before Covid sucks, a little better now.
2. On partners, cost will be more depending on airline.
3. You pay more for connections. And many more confusing rules.
4. They ran this exact promo last year. It was well received. Let's guess how many of those who bought it last year actually redeem flights already. Again, availability sucks.
5. Platinum Wing is still closed.
6. Soft landing is unofficial. And I don't think there is DP for new members with no history.
7. Their system is kilometers. Hail to the glory miles, inch, acre, gallon, oz, and lbs.
8. They don't really give you many exceptions unless you are Lumo.
9. Think of what you get as OWE vs OWS. Is it really worth it to spend $3k for it? How many F lounges will you visit. Chances are if you use it that often to make it worth, you probably reached OWE already. You want basic lounge when flying domestic? Ever consider Citi AA Executive card for $450, equivalent to over 6 years for the same cost.
10. Fees everywhere.

A good investment? Think again.

Wont work. She will have 0 points and will need 150k to platinum.

And I need to add, that by converting 150k points, you are essentially paying around 960 Euros to get the 50k missing tier points.

Some other worse math?
You can get OWE with the least amount of money for almost 2000 Euros and some points left.

Now I'm not sure if readers do understand that offers like this, even without affiliations, indirectly influence readers. The more you spend the sooner you might want new card with some spending bonus. How convenient if people wanted to maximize the Venture X spend requirements by purchasing points.
Pitching credit card is one thing, (unintentionally) convincing inexperienced people to invest without a single downside or warning is going a bit too far.

I recently purchased the miles and upgraded to Finnair platinum. How do I add my newly acquired one world emerald status to my AA account? Thanks for the help!

Lucky, you must have patience of an angel to deal with this daily… You posted information that MAY be useful to some people (about the Finnair promotion). Not a referral link, just a “hey, guys, look what I found”. You also provided a lot of disclaimers and warnings, and yet, people are upset because they can’t figure out how to use the site, the promotion doesn’t work for them or they can’t find availability or ….
Happy holidays, Lucky and thank you!

He literally links to another of his article’s that discuss the benefits in the first paragraph. You may have gotten excited and skipped across it.

I was hoping I could buy the 400000 points/miles Finnair thinking it would be a good deal since I missed the incredible buy 1 million points/miles with american. Kick myself but don't know If I would of had enough time to first get the AA chase card in time though. Realized that Finnair miles awards when using there miles with other one alliance partners is terrible . Crossing my fingers that Delta airlines or United would have at-least Finnair if not the AA promotion.
SC

What is the best way to use the emerald status earned with Finnair on an (existing) BA booking, for example to get free seat reservations? When I call BA, they tell me, they can add my Finnair account number to the booking but that way probably the miles and tier points will get credited to Finnair. I would rather have them credited to my BA account, however. Any advice on how to do that? (preferrably online, the wait times at BA‘s hotline are horrible at the moment).

Yes.

Simmer down y'all, it was a joke.

Hey Eric,

I just purchased as well the 200k which gave me 400k but then when i went to convert to tier points it only gave me up to 45k tier points option. How did you convert?

well holly fizz congrats!

Interesting - if this happens then you lose the 4 SH upgrade vouchers that would come with earning interim gold status before platinum but you save a huge 150,000 award points that would otherwise be needed to purchase the extra 50,000 tier points at a 3:1 ration to raise the 150k platinum target - result! I will be a new member and taking advantage of this promo too so will post if it works for me too...

Does anyone here know if status matches in Star Alliance, Sky Team or with Virgin Atlantic could be successfully made with Finnair Gold or Plat levels? I've had a look on statusmatcherDOTcom with no result. If such matching was possible then it would definitely add value to this offer...

Log out and then log back in. You should be able to convert another 5k tier points.

I am really tempted at this as well. Before I buy- I need to run this offer with my wife and convince her how amazing this is- will someone be able to provide a "spouse version" of the brilliant perks and Downsides too? Thank you!

thanks in advance

Use Royal Jordanian website to change your Frequent Flier Program to Finnair (worked for me).

Purchased 320k miles and was granted Oneworld Sapphire. Just booked two nonstop RT flights on A350 in Business from DFW-HEL for same 320k miles plus $80.

This included three checked bags and seat selection for both flights — all for $0. Reasonable change and cancellation policies.

This Finnair mile purchase was a 68.5% discount to paying cash for same flights.

Being based in DFW, Oneworld Sapphire access to AA Admirals Club and Flagship First will be nice for domestic flights.

Happy with promotion even if won’t be able to find use for the four SH vouchers.

I was seriously considering this, but the availability to use the points on Finnair is terrible. I am based in Seattle and I could not find any availability for 2 Business Class tickets for the entire month of June, and as my Wife and I are adoption and are basically on call for the adoption July through December that would likely be my only chance to use those points. Though the lounge access would have been nice for multiple trips through Colombia for the adoption.

Does anyone know if they allow you to use your Upgrade Certificates on Awards Bookings, because there is plenty of Economy space available.

Curious about this Seattle is nonexistent too

Raymond--did that end up working for you? I think there is also an option to call

Log out and in, the tier upgrade option disappears after the first tier purchase (45K). After the 2nd tier purchase (5K), log out and in for a third time and it will show Platinum status. Beware when trying to re-log in as the log-in button will move to another part of the page after you attempt to click on it. Any issues simply call them, they are conveniently open 9-5 M-F.

Do it!

Thanks. But then the miles will also be credited to Finnair, I assume? If I want to avoid that, what would I do? Change the FF program to Finnair on the Royal Jordanian website, book the free seats and change it back to BA (where I want the miles for the flight to credit)?

Exactly, the net result will be better. I really appreciate if you can post your result so we can have an additional data point. I'm still undecided but that could really push me to go for it.

@Rock
Was this an error? Do you still have Finnair Plus Platinum and OW Emerald or was it corrected now? Curious as I’m thinking of doing this for a new Finnair account.

BEFORE ANYBODY RUSHES INTO THIS PROMOTION, I wish to report on my shocking (sorry, I am not hysterical but see no other word) experience yesterday December 21 in Business Class between Paris CDG and New York JFK, using AY 1572 CDG-HEL and AY 15 HEL-JFK.

We all know that European Business Class is the same as Economy with the middle seat blocked, but this was the first time that I found a seat pitch which cannot have been more than 30", practically the same as Ryanair and (at least feeling) well inferior to Easyjet. The plane was a new "sharklets" high density A321 which they use to mid-range resorts. I do not remember such a tight pitch on AY's older A320s.

The Business Class meal consisted of some inedible goo which looked like it might have been good before it was recycled, accompanied by a narrow tartlet which I tasted and was unable to determine as being chestnut or anchovy. It was brownish, that's all one can say. Neither I nor my neighbor on the window side ate it, but I asked for coffee which was not Instant but BAD Instant.

I asked whetherI could have a chocolate with it, which I was given, but for which I was then charged 2.50 euros. I would have refused as a matter of principle (in Business Class !!!) but had already eaten it. I asked whether it was a joke (it wasn't) and I have kept the Amex receipt just to prove that I am not making this up, which probably crosses a few minds.

AY 15 HEL- JFK, empty in Business Class , 8 for 32 seats but 2/3 full in Economy, was not much better. I was refused a 2nd helping of almonds ("That's all we have") but offered peanuts from the back, for which I was not charged. Both main dishes looked and smelled inedible but I was offered a 2nd plate of cheese instead. The whole cabin crew, by the way, was absolutely charming and apologetic, with one sad comment "And you can imagine what WE eat".

I flew AY because the one-way Business Class trip was 57,500 AA miles, vs 110,000 and 135,000 on AA. The difference represents A LOT of almonds or chocolates, even at 2.50 euros a piece.

AY offered an outstanding experience only 5 years ago, the only airline to offer 5 wines including a Sauternes, sort of what Qatar Airways provides now. The fall is impressive and they now provide the worst product (by far) of all the Oneworld carriers.

So while I respoect Ben's calculation of the number of upgrades this promotion offers, I definitely want neither the upgrades nor the Economy product. This may be worth considering before buying the promotion.

Data point - as promised, having decided to push the button on this offer today, I can confirm the following:
- I paid Eur 2,575 and my points purchase email receipt confirms a total of 400,000 award points (200,000 purchased plus 100% bonus). I used a Wise virtual debit card having purchased the Euros for GBP2,197 net of fees
- However, on my Finnair Plus account (which I set up two days ago - 20 Dec) it shows that I have (i) 200,000 award points ?! (so it is NOT showing the 200k bonus) and (ii) 150,000 tier points (so like Rock I have enough for instant Plat without buying any additional tier points)
- The tier progress page shows me at Silver (150,000 ex 30,000 point target!)
- My tier benefits on the account show 8 SH vouchers, 2 LH vouchers and also 1 gold card to gift (all expiring 22 Dec 2022) which is what you would expect from the Gold and Plat levels as per my earlier note above.
- My tracking period shows as 20 Dec 2021 - 31 Dec 2022

Bottom line is that it seems Finnair IT is struggling with this promo and may need some manual intervention in the background to update everything. I am up 50k tier points but down 200k award points 🙁
If I can get them to manually add the 200k award points without any downward tier point adjustment then I will be in the same position Rock reported - i.e. 150k award points better off. I will leave it overnight to see if the system fixes it first.

It also seems that you get both the Gold and Plat vouchers too so that would be a win-win. Fingers crossed and I will report back!

Thank you very much for reporting back, i'm still deciding but in the other OMAAT post regarding this topic, another user posted the very same experience of you. Now i'm reconsidering taking this offer.

Thanks for this and keep us posted before we pull the trigger as well. Definitely a glitch but here to hope that you get to keep Platinum and get the 200,000 award miles!

That would be the best possible outcome, and TBH that's the only way i'm pulling the trigger (with this two data points, even knowing i'm taking a risk).

Good luck and please post your outcome

Great observations, thank you.

I just did this for my wife and everything went fine. Got the 400,000 Points and Gold status was instant and immediately converted to Platinum via 2 transactions totaling 50,000 Tier points. Platinum status was instant. Everything went well for me for mine and my wife. We plan on gifiting GOLD to both our kids. I hope this helps you.

Paid in the morning, still nothing posted. But sad to read your data point. The outcome i'm hoping for is the reported by Rock. I just can't find the real value to burn 150K miles just for the hop to One World Emerald. The only valuable perk at the moment for me could be the possibility to gift gold.

Ben- Reading elsewhere that award flights booked on AA with either AA miles or partner miles may not be given access to Flagship Lounge with Finnair earned Sapphaire or Emerald oneworld? Please let me your thoughts. Merry Christmas!

Data point. Pulled the trigger Dec-24 in the morning, points posted some 15 minutes ago (more than 24 hours later) as originally expected 400K redeemable and 100K tier. Was really hoping for Rock & Guernsey result. Wanted plat and OWE but thanks to other insightful opinions of other commenters like Eskimo, i'm not finding real value to burn 150K redeemable for the additional benefits. May decide later.

Yes I checked all flights what available from Australia and virtually none comes up for 1 year ahead-only domestic ones-if you have cash to burns it's ok but otherwise this promo sucks

Does anyone know if a long-haul award flight can be upgraded with a corresponding certificate?

May I buy 180k points recive a total of 360k points and 90k Tier points,
Then convert 180k award points into 60k tier points in order to achive the 150k tier points?
Or may I missing something?
thanks

It worked for me - used the 45,000 tier point purchase option, logged out and logged back in and was then also able to select and pay for the 5,000 in addition. The two amounts immediately credited to my Finnair Plus account, my status showed as Platinum and all benefits/upgrades also showed under the tier progress and benefits section of my profile (i.e. 8 Euro upgrades, 2 long haul upgrades and 1 gold card gifting all available).

So update on my data point above: although I immediately got 150k tier points (TPs) I had only received 200k of my 400k award points (APs) purchased. Having waited a few days to see if the bonus 200k APs would credit I contacted their customer service as my overall position was net 50k APs down (as if I had received the 400k along with only 100k tier points TPs and needing to buy the additional 50k for platinum I should still have had 250k APs remaining). Of course I was hoping they would adjust the APs up but not the TPs downward but that didn't happen. They restored me to 400k APs and 100k TPs and so I had to purchase the extra 50k tier to hit plat. So looks like Rock was the only lucky one as I ended up in the position expected under the terms of the promo. As that includes Platinum status and all benefits/upgrades (i.e. 8 Euro upgrades, 2 long haul upgrades and 1 gold card gifting all available) then I am OK with the outcome. Still value to be had in this promo I think, as long as you are able to utilise the miles and upgrades these in themselves are worth the purchase price. The 2 years of Platinum status / One World Emerald were just the icing on the cake!
Wishing a happy New Year of travel to all.

I pulled the trigger on this at the 11th hour after a couple of days of thinking. I was two months into my AY tracking period, so I’ll have OWE for 22 months.

A tangible, immediate benefit of OWE for me was that I was able to book economy comfort seats on our upcoming AY transatlantic flights for three for free. That’s 6 x $134 in savings.

Hi ,
If I don't buy the miles, but instead I'll transfer my Amex Membership Rewards 1:1 ratio =150k miles & then convert to 50k tier points
Is that possible to get Finnair Platinum Plus? If I understand it correctly, basically you use the 150k miles to buy the Oneworld Emerald status.

Thanks

You don't have to switch FF numbers. You can book the ticket from your account as though you're booking for someone else. List your name and the desired frequent flyer number from the beginning. I do it all the time