Finnair Plus Adopting Avios As Rewards Currency In 2024

Some major changes have just been announced to the Finnair Plus program. While details remain limited, this could potentially be decent news, at least for some.

Finnair Plus making major changes in 2024

In early 2024, the Finnair Plus program will be completely overhauled:

• Finnair Plus will adopt Avios as its rewards currency, which is the same currency used by transatlantic joint venture partners British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia, as well as Qatar Airways and Vueling
• Finnair Plus will award Avios and elite status based on how much you spend on both tickets and ancillaries, rather than the distance you fly (British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus are doing the same)
• Finnair Plus will introduce new benefits, including milestones and a new internet package, as well as simplify the upgrade benefits system (it’s not yet clear what exactly all of this means)
• Finnair Plus will increase the number of “saver” award seats available on flights

These are all the details that we have as of now. Further changes are expected to be communicated later this year, including the exact dates when the program will be revamped.

Why I’m cautiously optimistic about these changes

If you’re a Finnair frequent flyer, it’s understandable that you’re probably not excited about these changes based on what we know so far. Revenue based points earning is rarely intended to reward the average consumer more, and on top of that, the promise of upgrades being “simplified” probably isn’t good news either.

That being said, I feel pretty positively toward these changes, given the current limited value of Finnair Plus points:

• It’s possible to transfer Avios between the various “currencies,” so I suspect we’ll see free 1:1 transfers between British Airways Executive, Finnair Plus, etc.; since I consider other Avios “flavors” to be more valuable than Finnair Plus points, that’s a good thing
• Finnair Plus currently has horrible redemption values on partner airlines, so when it uses the Avios platform, hopefully that will improve
• I’m excited about the promise of more saver awards; perhaps Finnair will be like British Airways Executive Club, and have an award seat guarantee, which would be great, given the current state of Finnair business class award availability

So I’m not trying to be delusional here and suggest that Finnair Plus is making these changes to do us all a favor. However, from a redemption perspective, I think this could be a positive development.

Bottom line

Major changes are coming to the Finnair Plus program as of early 2024. We’ll see Finnair adopt Avios as its rewards currency, and also introduce revenue based points earning. On top of that, Finnair is promising more award availability (potentially good) and “simplified” upgrades (definitely not good).

For those who just casually collect Finnair Plus points, I’m hopeful these changes will be a net positive, given the current limited value of redemptions through the program.

What do you make of these Finnair Plus changes?