In 2023, the Finnair Plus program adopted Avios as its rewards currency. I’d consider this to be a positive development, given the ability to transfer Avios between the various “flavors” of the rewards, with programs like British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
When Finnair adopted Avios as its rewards currency, the airline also introduced an award seat guarantee, whereby the oneworld carrier guarantees a certain number of award seats per flight when the schedule first opens. The thing is, many people have been frustrated and disappointed by this feature, because they don’t actually see the award seats when the schedule opens.
Well, there’s a trick to unlocking this award space, so I wanted to cover that in this post.
Details of Finnair’s award seat guarantee
As anyone who has ever tried to redeem miles can attest to, finding saver level award availability can be difficult at times. That’s why it’s always great when an airline guarantees a certain number of award seats.
Along those lines, Finnair has an award seat guarantee, promising anywhere from six to eight award seats per flight:
- On short haul flights, Finnair promises at least six award seats, comprised of two in business class and four in economy
- On long haul flights, Finnair promises at least eight award seats, comprised of two in business class, two in premium economy, and four in economy
To be clear, this applies when booking through Finnair Plus, and that guarantee doesn’t exist when booking through partner frequent flyer programs, like Alaska Mileage Plan and American AAdvantage (though they may sometimes have access to award space as well). There are some additional exclusions to be aware of:
- The award seat guarantee doesn’t apply on flights to and from Doha
- The award seat guarantee doesn’t apply on flights that aren’t to and from Helsinki
- The award seat guarantee doesn’t apply on flights where tour operators have reserved the majority of seats
Historically Finnair hasn’t been great about making award seats available, so I’d consider this guarantee to be a great perk, since you at least know that you’ll get access to a decent amount of space when the schedule opens. Given the limited fees for redemptions on Finnair, this is also a great use of Avios. I’m also generally a fan of Finnair’s long haul business class, as it’s a quirky product, due to the no-recline seat.
The secret to Finnair’s award seat guarantee
I’ve seen a lot of people mention how Finnair’s award seat guarantee doesn’t actually seem to exist. And indeed, I can see how people reach that conclusion.
If you go to Finnair’s website in the United States and search for two business class award seats between New York and Helsinki as far out as the schedule goes, you might not actually see any award availability. I did exactly that search with flexible dates, and got a message saying that there are no seats available.
This is where the trick comes into play. If you switch the country of the website to Finland (even if you keep English as the language), you should suddenly see that award space.
I did exactly the same search again…
…and as you can see below, every date had two business class award seats available (each seat costs 62,500 Avios, which is where the cost of 125,000 Avios comes from).
So yeah, to use Finnair’s award seat guarantee, you have to use the Finland version of Finnair’s website.
Now, I can’t actually tell you why this quirk exists. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or if it’s a tech glitch. Regardless, it’s good for those who are in the know, since it makes award availability easier to find. And just to be totally clear, you’re not violating any rules by visiting the Finland version of the Finnair website, as you’re not claiming to live there, or anything.
Bottom line
Finnair has an award seat guarantee, whereby the airline promises at least two business class award seats on virtually all flights (along with a certain number of seats in other cabins).
The catch is that you’ll often only find this award availability when accessing the Finland version of Finnair’s website. So if you don’t see availability when the schedule opens, just change the website location to Finland, and you should have much better luck.
Have you taken advantage of Finnair’s award seat guarantee?
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