Deal: Buy Finnair Avios from just 1.13 cents each (50% discount)

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Note: Apologies for the incorrect headline showing 0.113 cents/Avios which was live for ~2 minutes.

Finnair Plus is now running a new Avios sale in which it’s offering discounts of up to 50% for Avios purchases made through 20 November and the price you’ll pay per Avios will vary depending on how many Avios you buy. Unlike some other Avios sales, however, the price won’t vary depending on where your Finnair Plus account is based, and for some people, there may be a good deal here.

Key terms & conditions

• The promotion is running through 23.59 UTC+2 on 20 November 2024
• A maximum of 200,000 Avios may be purchased.
• Bought Avios are non-refundable and non-transferable
• Avios Points are issued subject to Finnair Plus Terms & Conditions

Full terms and conditions can be found on the sale page

The promotion

This is the promotion that we’re seeing in our accounts and as it doesn’t appear to be targeted, this should be the promotion that you see too.

• Buy 1,000 – 4,000 Avios and get no discount
• Buy 5,000 – 19,000 Avios and get a 35% discount
• Buy 20,000 – 49,000 Avios and get a 40% discount
• Buy 50,000 – 74,000 Avios and get a 45% discount
• Buy 75,000 – 200,000 Avios and get a 50% discount

With this being a discount-based promotion rather than a bonus-based promotion, a maximum of 200,000 Avios are available in this sale.

The numbers

The way the promotion has been structured, the price per Avios gets better every time the discount increases (obviously), but it the price will also vary within each band.

What this means is that you shouldn’t assume that just because you’re buying enough Avios to trigger the 50% discount that you’ll be buying Avios at the best price this sale is offering.

Here, for example, is what it would cost to buy 75,000 Avios in this sale:

And here is what it would cost to buy 200,000 Avios in this sale:

Buying 75,000 Avios with a 50% discount would see you paying €0.0110 per Avios (~$0.0118), while buying 200,000 Avios with a 50% discount would see you paying €0.0105 per Avios (~$0.0113).

That’s not exactly a big difference in price, but when you’re buying significant number of Avios it can add up.

Is this a good deal?

As always, this comes down to what the Avios will be used for and when they’ll be used.

Let’s get this important point out of the way before I go any further – If you have no immediate use for any Avios that you buy, you shouldn’t be taking part in this sale. It’s never a good idea to stockpile miles and you never know when a program will decide to implement a sudden and painful devaluation (my golden rule applies).

The best use of Avios is often to be found on short-haul flights within Europe (where taxes and fees are capped) or within regions elsewhere in the world where taxes are naturally low.

They can, however, also be put to good use on Aer Lingus Business Class flights to/from the US and on Iberia Business Class transatlantic flights as both Aer Lingus and Iberia charge considerably lower fees for Avios bookings than British Airways.

They can also, in certain cases, be used for good long-haul flights with Qatar Airways and Finnair.

Don’t forget that Avios held in a Finnair Plus account can be transferred to all the other airlines that use Avios (often via the British Airways Executive Club) and they can be transferred back again too.

If you’re thinking of buying Avios in this sale, the sensible thing to do is to is this:

1. Check that awards are available on the route(s) you’d like to book.
2. Price up the reward flights you’d like to book (based on the cost of the Avios you plan to buy) and compare that to the actual cash fare and to whatever price you would normally be prepared to pay for that booking.

If the cost of booking the reward flight is cheaper than the cash fare and is at least as low as the price you’d normally be willing to pay, then buying Avios in this sale should work out well. Otherwise, move on.

Anyone with a British Airways 2-4-1/companion voucher may do well in this sale too.

Don’t forget that you’ll still have to pay any taxes and fees due on the second ticket, but with two people flying for the Avios cost of one, buying Avios in this sale and then moving them across to British Airways (so you can use a 2-4-1/companion voucher) may be an economical way to book a nice trip – you just have to check the numbers to see if the costs work out in your favor.

Related: How to link Finnair Plus & British Airways Executive Club accounts

Use the right credit card

Finnair Plus Avios sales are processed by Points.com so that eliminates the scope to earn a travel/flight/airline bonus by using a credit card that offers bonus points for shopping in one of those categories (e.g. The Platinum Card® from American Express – terms apply).

With that option closed off, this makes this sale a good opportunity to use a credit card on which you’re working towards a strong welcome bonus.

If you’re not working towards a card’s welcome bonus, the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express which offers 2 points/dollar on the first $50,000 of purchases in a year (1 point/dollar thereafter – terms apply) would be one of the better options to use.

Bottom Line

At 1.13 cents (US) per Avios, this is one of the better Avios sales that we’ve seen this year and although our relatively low valuation of Avios (1.0 cents) would suggest that this is a sale to stay away from, the fact that we often get over 2.0 cents per Avios in value when booking reward flights means that there’s definitely scope for this sale to be of use – you just have to make sure that you do your due diligence and that you run the numbers to check that you’re coming out ahead.